Rackham's Court, near St Peter's Street in Norwich, pictured in 1934. The yard was probably demolished soon afterwards to make way for the new City Hall.

'We didn't have many toys but we did have
a very happy childhood'

Who remembers the Saturday “walks,” a weekly treat for the hundreds of children growing up in the old courts and yards of Norwich?

Evelyn Attoe of Hellesdon does. She was born in Starling Yard off Botolph Street.

“Each yard had a Saturday designated to them. Mothers brought crepe paper and the children, helped by the older ones, used this to dress as different characters — Red Riding Hood, Bo-Peep and the like.

“They then walked through Magdalen Street, Colegate, Duke Street, Botolph Street and back home,” said Evelyn. “Mothers would have tables in the yard with sandwiches, cakes, jelly and custard.”

Her sister, Elsie Jones, of West Earlham was born in Wrestlers Yard in Barrack Street, opposite Silver Road. “From there my parents moved to Ship Yard in Cowgate where my brother was born. It was still only two rooms but larger,” she explains. “They then moved to a two-room house at Starling Yard where I was born. We were all baptised at St Saviour’s Church in Stump Cross, where we also went to Sunday School,” said Evelyn.

“Although life must have been hard for parents. Dad worked in a shoe factory and we always had three meals a day. We were always happy and contented.

“We were encouraged to do well at school and my parents were very proud to have six children at grammar school in the 1930s and 40s — happy to make sacrifices to give us the chance they never had, she added.

When the cows came through

>A picture taken in 1938 of Hooks Yard, off St George’s in Norwich, brought back some happy childhood memories for Alice Payne.

“In it was a house with a fence where our parents, Mr and Mrs Grimwood, brought up four sons and four daughters,” she says. “I remember that cattle came through the street and one tried to get into the yard.”

“Later, one son passed away, but there are still seven of us left — that must say something about the constitutions and lifestyle of that generation. Many are now in their 90s — God bless them,” says Alice.

Meeting a mouse in the morning

Edna Montague, aged 80, of Norwich, lived in Looses Yard, off Magdalen Street.

"We had no running water. My dad used to fill a pail at night and put it in the cupboard. There was often a mouse floating on top in the mornings."

Communal bathtime

"Each Friday in the warm weather all the children would be bathed in large tin bathtubs in the centre of the yard and taken inside to dry off," says Fred Tobin, now 73 and living in Sprowston. He was born in Dial Yard, Oak Street.

We didn't have many toys . . .

"The kitchens used to be dark with no electric, only gas mantles. Our parents didn't have a lot of money. We didn't have many toys but we did have a very happy childhood," says Phyllis Larwood, of Norwich, born in Grapes Yard, Colegate, in the 1920s.

Fond memories of an old tin bath<

Freda Hall of Shorncliffe Avenue, Norwich, wonders if anyone still has any old pictures of Bath House Yard, off Oak Street, in the 1930s.

“I was born there in 1930. I can remember houses on both sides of the yard with a brick wall going along the bottom. The River Wensum was on the other side,” says Freda. “I also remember bathing in a very old and very long tin bath. Times were hard but we had a very happy childhood,” she recalls.

Wonderful friends

Beatrice Eastick recalls how her family of five lived at Jarretts Yard, off Bull Close, in a one-up, one-down home. Her dad, Billy Ward, worked in a shoe factory during the week and at a fish shop at the bottom of the close on a Sunday morning.

“My mother, Susan, scrubbed floors at Bull Close School where I went with my three brothers and sister. We also had many friends who lived at White Entry Yard and Bull Row,” she says.

Beatrice has never forgotten the wonderful bond of friendship between those living in the humble yards and many of them went to the Sunday School at Cowgate Chapel — three times on a Sunday.

“Sadly, we lost touch with each other when the old place was pulled down before the war and we were all moved out to various estates — us going to Plumstead. I would love to hear from anyone who remembers old Bull Close,” says Beatrice.