Cycling proficiency training at the old tennis courts on Blackburn Road was the place that many school children went and subsequently had their proficiency test there. I certainly remember going in the very late 1950s - early 1960s and I still have the certificate to prove it. Unlike the children of today we did not have to take a written test. If you did not pass that test it meant that you would not be able to take the practicle test. Let us hope that some consideration and help is given to those children who may have a reading problem. As we did went in later years when I was involved in the cycle training and then the testing of eight and nione year old.
Perhaps you are one of the children on this photograph which was taken about 25 years ago.
This photograph was taken during the 1960s, a time when parts of the town centre was starting to be demolished as part of the redevelopment scheme. How many readers can remember the little sweet shop on the left hand side, the one where the van is parked outside? That was where many of us would visit after attending the school swimming lesson, then make our way back to St Martin''s School. That is now almost 60 years ago.
It will be at least 50 yers since this photograph was taken of Brighouse town centre. Knowing what the town centre is like today you can clearly see how much of the centre was demolished for the bypass to carve its way through the town. Particularly the buildings in the small narrow streets behind Commercial Street.
Today's featured photograph dates back to June 22, 1911, and the coronation celebrations for the new King George V and Queen Mary. This is the preparation spit for the ox roasting at the Rastrick cricket ground. Having seen a photograph of the huge ox before its roasting it must have taken hours to cook and there would have been enough meat to feed the community for days in meat sandwiches.