By Martin Plant
SADDLEWORTH VOICES: Local people’s lives, memories or stories are captured in this special feature
In this latest edition, taken from a recorded interview by Martin Plant, Elizabeth Hardie discusses Delph through the ages – and really bad winters.
ELIZABETH Hardie was born in 1936 at home on King Street in Delph and, apart from three years at college in Liverpool, has lived in Delph all her life.
“My great grandfather came to Slaithwaite from Scotland looking for work,” she said. “My grandfather moved to Delph when my father was five and we’ve been here ever since!
“My father had an upholsterer’s shop in Delph but during the war worked in an armaments factory in Oldham.
“Later, he returned to his shop, selling and repairing electrical products. My mother was a housewife and looked after me and my two sisters, Mary and Anne.
“I attended the infant school in Delph, where St Thomas’s Church Hall is now and which we called Toffee Bells – perhaps because the bells were so small!
“Then I attended Hill End School before going to Hulme Grammar School. I think I was well-behaved, though I did once receive a school report that said, ‘Elizabeth must learn to restrain herself when the time is inopportune for mirth!’
“I completed A-Levels in chemistry, biology and maths before going to Liverpool’s I M Marsh College of Physical Education.
“Liverpool in the mid-1950s was still recovering from the war. Food rationing had only just ended. I received a grant from West Riding County Council, which, of course, Delph was part of at that time.
“During the war, our cellar was used by the ARP (Air Raid Precautions) later CD (Civil Defence).
“When the sirens went, our parents took us down there too, though after the first few sirens I think we just stayed in bed!
“The sirens were on top of what was the Liberal Club. Our elderly neighbours had a flat in that same building and the sirens were so loud they often came to our house for shelter from the noise!
“We used to hear the German bombers overhead and sometimes the sound of explosions when Oldham was bombed, which was frightening.
“I was also upset because I was too old to receive a Mickey Mouse gas mask, so I had to have an ordinary one!
“I remember a van arrived in Delph for people to go in and test their gas masks under gas conditions – a neighbour’s dog followed him in (and was fine!)
“In those days, practically every building on the main street was a shop, including four butchers, three or four bakers, two greengrocers, two fish and chip shops and a bank.
“The shops thrived because there were a lot of mills. Hull Mill did a lot of dyeing and I remember that Hull Brook was a different colour to the River Tame where they met!
“There were four churches – St Thomas’, which then was at Heights; St Hilda’s, which became St Thomas’ when Heights closed, the Methodist Church, of which I’m a member and the Independent Church which is now derelict.
“All were thriving in those days, unlike today where congregations have fallen substantially.
“The Whit walks are different now in Delph. Fewer children participate and when I was little each church had its own band.
“There were three bands in Delph, three processions and we would meet up for a joint service in the square at lunchtime.
“Now our church has a joint procession with St Thomas’ with Delph Band.
“It was a very happy childhood. We played out all the time, especially in Swan Meadow where we also had sports days, May Queens, band contests.
“Actually, the whole of Delph was our playground! We had so much freedom. The churches ran youth clubs and social evenings. Sometimes we went to Uppermill and the cinema.
“The Delph Donkey railway line was in use until the time I went to college. My sisters used it to go to school. The train went to Clegg Street, Oldham, where you changed if you wanted to go to Manchester.”
Elizabeth taught PE at Counthill Grammar School, later Counthill Comprehensive School, for 34 years.
The school has now been replaced by Waterhead Academy. Nowadays, Elizabeth is busy at the Methodist Church, where she is a steward (and where her grandfather was once choirmaster).
She helps with the running of the church, at coffee mornings on Saturdays and when refreshments are being served on Whit Friday and the Rushcart Festival.
The Minister is peripatetic and has responsibility for five churches in Saddleworth and Shaw. He relies on his stewards because ‘quite a lot of the services we have to do ourselves.’
“I am still a member of Saddleworth Players,” Elizabeth added. “I started as a young girl when they were based in the Mechanics Institute, which was situated where the car park is now, opposite the Millgate Theatre.
“The Millgate was once the Co-op! Where the library is presently situated used to be the Co-op greengrocer’s. The Mechanics Institute was demolished in the 1970s.”
After retiring from teaching, Elizabeth was a governor at Delph Primary School, a volunteer at Age Concern (now Age UK) in Uppermill once a week and helped with front of house at The Millgate Theatre.
She enjoyed playing tennis, netball and badminton up to the time of Covid and was a tennis coach for the Delph team taking part in Saddleworth Olympics.
“They talk about a bad winter now, but people don’t know what a bad winter is!” she recalled.
“In 1947, I was a pupil at Hill End School, which was closed that winter for about four weeks because of the snow and ice.
“We were free to do as we wanted, which we thought was absolutely wonderful! We used a field off Grains Road as a sledging track!
“Also, at this time, prisoners of war were still being held at Glen Mill in Oldham POW camp and some were used to help in snow clearance.
“We saw them being marched through Delph to clear the road between Delph and Denshaw.
“I remember the snow was so thick that I recall walking along a road with lampposts at our feet!
“The prisoner work force and food for Delph came through on the train. The local policeman and postman then towed the food on a sledge to Denshaw!”
Elizabeth has made up for living all her life in Delph by travelling widely. She has visited most of the countries in Europe, as well as the USA and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
She is still a keen walker and swims once a week at Uppermill Pool and Leisure Centre.
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