David Moorhouse’s Memories – Morat Street, Caldwell Street, Reay School, Hackford Road

David wrote on the site in February 2015 in response to John Morrissey, another previous local resident. David writes:

David Moorhouse here, son of Jack & Sylvia.

Just came across this site by accident only a couple of days after your post it would appear. Coincidence? Sorry, I can recall your name but can’t for the life of me put a face to it.

I remember Jimmy Beattie and a whole lot of other old friends. Two more from Morat street where Michael Penny and Raymond Cubitt. My grandparents Benjamin and Elizabeth Moorhouse lived in one of the top flats in Morat street and also ran a tobacconists shop on the corner of Clapham road and South Island place at the same time as Jack and Sylvia in Caldwell street.

Our home and shop were subject to a CPO (compulsory purchase order) so we had no say in the matter and had to move on, although it appears that our shop stood empty for some years before the site was redeveloped. I started school at Durand infants then Reay primary and finished at Hackford Road secondary. School teachers I remember where Mrs Labette music teacher (not sure of the spelling) at Reay primary, Mr. Steptoe music teacher at Hackford Road who for every lesson would put on a 78 record of Peter & The Wolf and then fall asleep only waking when the bell rang for the next lesson. The record would be clicking away as they did when finished, and during the lesson it was mayhem!

We had a very nice and perhaps too soft English teacher but I cannot recall his name, but I remember once asking him the time and he took out a travelling alarm clock from his inside jacket pocket explaining that he couldn’t afford a wrist watch. Our maths teacher was of Asian descent and would tell us ghost stories for much of the lesson. Oh the good old days! On another post on this site someone remembers Dad’s shop and the jar of sweets with the man sneezing into a handkerchief, these would have been Hacks cough sweets if my memory serves me correctly
.

Hacks

Nice to be in touch and hopefully hear more from you.


Special thanks to Chris for your wonderful work, may you continue and prosper.


Kind regards,


David Moorhouse

0 Responses to David Moorhouse’s Memories – Morat Street, Caldwell Street, Reay School, Hackford Road

  1. Heather Mckenzie says:

    Hello David
    My mother is a Moorhouse and her family came from South London. Her mother was Jessie and her grandparent Thomas and Ellen. We heard a story about some one owning a sweet shop so I wondered if it is th same family. Feel free to email me

    Regards Heather

    • David Moorhouse says:

      Hello Heather.
      Sorry for not replying for such a long time but rarely come back to this site as previously had no response from anyone.
      Non of the names you mention ring any bells with me. All my family as far as I know came from Lancashire. Myself and my parents moved from Blackpool when I was 9 months old to Caldwell street, that would have been around 1948. Yes I am quite ancient. My grandparents had two shops, one in Caldwell St. and the other in Clapham Rd.
      I don’t see any connection but am happy to speak further if you so decide.
      Regards David.

  2. Bob Morrissey says:

    Hello David,
    My brother John drew you into this site, and I remember you and your parents well. I loved your parents shop, it always smelled of your dad’s pipe tobacco. My brother other brother, Peter, was Jack’s paper boy for s few years. You might also recall my sister, Barbara, if only for the reason that tour bike was run over by a lorry when you were doing a mercy dash for safety pins on her wedding day!

    I think that I recall that you always whistled through your teeth, which I could nver learn to do.

    Best Regards, Bob

  3. Veronika Andraskova Hicks says:

    Dear Mr. Moorehouse,
    I am a teacher student at Reay Primary School and we are currently looking at the local area with Year 3 class. Many of the pupils are interested in the past and how the area looked some years ago. I have found your response and read that you were a student at our school and that very interested me. I wonder if it would be ok if my pupils would write to you and ask questions about the school and the local area. I am myself interested in the history and I would like my pupils to have someone who could share the memories with them – like storytelling. I am sure that would enhance their learning experience, if you would not mind and they could tell you about the teachers that are there now (maybe we could compare – smile).
    Please email me on vandraskova@yahoo.co.uk
    Kind regards,
    Veronika Andraskova Hicks

  4. Josephine Walker says:

    Dear Mr Moorehouse, I am 76 and I wonder if you or your family recollect a school for cripples in Caldwell St, I know it is not a nice name but I am sure that is what it was called when I attended there in the late forties early sixties. My children think that I made it up maybe you can tell me as I can find no references to it anywhere. kind regards
    J Walker.

    • Maralyn says:

      I totally forgot all about that school until your message jogged my memory. I lived in Morat Street and remember disabled children being dropped off/picked up at the end of the road. The entrance was facing Morat Street but definitely in Caldwell Street. I think the disabled school and the Reay School were on the same site, although the Reay School entrance was in Hackford Road.

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