By: Drake

Drake — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:56:22 +0000

yes I love this area…very tranquil

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Love your prose Ain and incisive memories of my ex home town,exactly like yours tho’7 years earlier.Nice to know my generation is still around,After York growing up and marriage I honey mooned then lived in Menai Bridge for a while ,and remember it fondly,good luck for the future.

By: Aln Winspear

Aln Winspear — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 17:06:17 +0000

The area of Foss Basin recalls memories of the Fair on St. Gerges Fields; the St. Georges baths, where I learned to swim by being thrown in by my older brother, and the Dog’s Home which was situated immediately to the left of the ‘no parking’ gateway in the above photos.(I lost my virginity in that location one evening after a visit to the Scala cinema).
I was born in York in 1936. Myself and my boyhood friends walked everywhere to get to the multitudinous entertainment venues that York had to offer the young lad/man through the 40s and 50s. The Foss Basin was the poor relation of the Ouse after the two rivers split off at Blue bridge. Much rubbish, including dead dogs and cats were to be found in the basin and further up the Foss as it wound its way out of the city into the suburbs. Boats could not navigate beyond Foss Islands Road where the Gas Works were located. (The hours my brother and I queued there for a sixpenny bag of cinders for the fire).Among my cherished memories of York are the numerous times we used the ‘bar walls’ as out conduit to the city centre, joining at Walmgate Bar coming from Tang Hall down the Hull Road, to get off at the Red Tower to go to the Fair, the baths, or the rivers for a mess about. We would return via Walmgate where to my childhood recollection, almost every other building was a pub. ( All spit and sawdust and bursting at the seams with customers).Where has all that character gone?!
I visited York, 7th – 10th September this year and I found myself sadly disappointed at how the City officials seem to have forgotten the PEOPLE of York, in favour of the TOURIST. I couldn’t park anywhere without getting a permit or paying a machine parking fee. The roads were jam packed with traffic, including giant busses that were too big for the bus lanes; taxis that didn’t seem to care WHAT position they occupied on the road, and myriads of cyclists. My brother, who has lived in York all of his 85 years – NEVER goes into the City at all. He uses the Park and Ride facility for his shopping on the Clifton Moor complexes. ( I used to pick potatoes there as a lad, when it was all fields). I had my first flight in a light aircraft from the now defunct Clifton aerodrome. All happy memories but, if I live long enough to return to York ( I live in Wales these days), it will be only to visit my brother, and any friends still alive. I never want to go INTO York again,
Very sadly disillusioned.

By: Mike K

Mike K — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 00:40:25 +0000

Very poignant but don’t let it get you down. There are still places which haven’t been ruined by ‘modernisation’ or gentrification: small places and fairly well hidden places. Places that still evoke memories from our not so recent past. Through these pages you’re helping others to find them and you’re helping to preserve them for others to enjoy. Chin up and keep digging.

Comments on: Castle Gateway studies: a few quiet moments

By: Drake

By: Stephen

By: Aln Winspear

By: Mike K