Victoria Street
Queen Victoria was reputed to have a great sense of humour - but also suffered much with flatulence. The joke goes... "Stop that, James" - "Yes ma'am, which way did it go?".
The Victoria and Ward Street area has seen great changes. The left shot would have been full of the prefabricated 'Airey' houses until they were demolished in the 1980s. These were cheap and quick to construct and had a projected lifespan of only 15 years. Constructed of concrete panels, they were built 1950-52 all over the country to accommodate the post-war boom. Reinforced concrete supporting posts deteriorated and most Airey houses were demolished. Rare ones were repaired or had their outer shell replaced.
We lived in one in Ward Street and heard that there were only eight different house keys in use. That was useful because we could borrow Mrs. Symonds' key to let ourselves in if we forgot ours.
Demolitions were in Unwin Street (now called Lower Unwin Street), Unwin Crescent, Ward Street, Dransfield Ave., Wilson Ave. and the lower part of Victoria Street. They were replaced with housing association (social) housing and old people's bungalows. A good job people look out for each other around here.
The third picture looks down Unwin Crescent. There is a large grassed area to the left with a circular flowerbed that Mrs. Hattersley and her neighbours used to keep in top condition until the council took it over for a building site in the 1990s.
