Len Botcherby
(Click the thumbnailed pics to enlarge)
Len died suddenly after a long illness on 31st May 2006 aged 84 years. After many years of living in Henderson Gardens after his wife Sadie passed away, he spent his remaining days at Vicarage Court where he would often be seen coming and going on his electric scooter.
He was born in Pump Row (on Wardley Lane) in 1922 and later he moved to 78 and then 58 Waggonway Street. Some of his teachers at Wardley Colliery School were Bella Forsythe, Miss Robson, Nellie Ellison and Miss Thompson.
Len's dad Ralph, was the Wardley football teams trainer and also an ambulance man for the pit and would bandage everybody and anybody if needed. As a little lad (c1927) he attended the opening of the children's playground which contained swings,  slide, see-saw and a roundabout (which they called a joy wheel) between the Co-op store and the Pontop line. He also recalled Billy Clayton living in Sunderland Terrace who had a 'magic lantern' and all the youngsters would give him cigarette cards to watch a 'film'. It seems Billy was "brilliant at things like that".
He married Sadie, daughter of Thomas (Topper) Simpson who, with his wife Kitty, managed a wood built shop at the end of Reservoir Street. Her Dad had been badly wounded during WW1 and had worked in the 'pit lamp cabin' and was Chairman of Wardley British Legion for 26 years. Its first wooden club house was built in 1919 next to the reservoir and near the school. The land was bought from the railway. It was called the 'Ivy Leaf Club' and became the British Legion  in 1921. The money to build it was borrowed from Kitty Simpson. Sadie's two cousins, Billy and Charlie Brown who also lived in Reservoir Street, became professional footballers. Billy played for Middlesborough and Charlie for Bolton Wanderers.
They both saw the  1935 strike when dozens of police would escort a 'blackleg' miner from his home in Third Street to the pit. The women would bang on bin lids  and bleezers when he went by. After the strike he had to leave the area.
Mayday was remembered as a happy time when Cresswell the fruiterer, the Co-op, farmer John Amos and others would dress up  their carts and floats and go through the streets to the football pitch. Opposite Ellison's shop, Jimmy Ovington  kept his cart and horse Daisy and he would take people to Roker and the seaside. Mr. Cresswell's horse, Prince, was kept in his garden/allotment that was between Reservoir Street and the back of the school.
Len had worked in the butchery trade, served in the Navy and one of his latter jobs was working as a crane driver at Springwell Quarry. For a number of years they also ran a friut and veg shop in Kier Hardy Avenue. He always remembered vividly his friends and time at Wardley and was always willing to tell a story or two about it.
His children were Terry, Alan, Christine, Yvonne and Lynne.