The History of Ruddington Depot
HomeThe StoryInterviewsPhotographsResources
Wartime Operations
Growing up on The Avenue
When Tim Bloodworth woke up in the summer time he could
see out through his bedroom window, because the curtains were not drawn when
he went to bed before it was dark. 
Map of The Avenue In the early morning when he woke, he often saw rabbits
nibbling the grass on the lawn. After school and at weekends he played outside
with his friends:
“We had space at the top which we called the Top Field and at the bottom we had another smaller space which we called the Bottom Field. I believe the Ministry owned all the land but rented the fields out to various farmers. When we were very young we used to play Cowboys and Indians and wars and that kind of thing to keep us entertained. It wasn’t a case of having to go into the village for your entertainment. There was a wood at the bottom of the garden of the ‘Big House’, the Commandant’s House, and in November it was a wonderful place to get blue buttons (a species of fungi).”
Rosalind Wilson (nee Pygall) was three years old when she went to live on The Avenue, and although Rosalind left in 1964, her mother didn’t leave until 1968 when the houses were demolished:
Plan of bungalow interior“The rent was 3 shillings a week when
my Mum first moved in and 17 shillings and sixpence when they left. There
was a Front Avenue and a Back Avenue. We had to walk a mile and a half to
school I remember. We lived in two different houses. My Dad got promoted and
as they wouldn’t move the telephone we had to move house. The accommodation
was reserved for key workers and my Dad, being the Security Chief, had to
be available 24 hours per day, and also people like plumbers and repairers
who might be required at short notice.
The rooms and windows were massive. We had a dining suite and a three piece suite in our kitchen and in fact, the pantry was like another room. Even the bedrooms of the bungalows had bay windows. Some of the gardens were 60ft long. Because we lived on a corner, we had a hedge on two sides and there was a lot of hedge to cut. The gardens for the flats had a lot of bricks and rubble so they just used to grass them and use the area for putting up the washing line. In the gardens between the flats were flower gardens with lawns.”
Rosalind Wilson used to go and feed a pony called Poll who was kept in the bottom field. To her it was always Poll’s Field, and even today when she walks around the Country Park she remembers Poll when she passes the bush that stood beside the gate to the bottom field.
The Story > Chapter 4 > Section 4.02