A while ago I was reading the Manchester Evening News when a letter seemed to jump out at me. It was about a football team from Bradford Road Gasworks, written by Kevin Davies. Immediately on seeing the name and the link to the gasworks I was transported back over 60 years.

In those days I lived in Sandal Street, the top end, in what as known as ‘the garden row’. As the saying goes ‘boys will be boys’ and the trouble I got into at that time was relieving my father of a packet of Woodbines and going up on the First Fields for a smoke with my pals. We would hide in one of the gullies and have a good old cough and splutter. The only trouble was, as most smokers know (Though we didn’t at the time) smoking tends to stain the fingers a bit brown.

The discoloration was spotted one night by my mother who promptly reported the find to my father. I can even now remember the belt coming off and some comment being made to the effect that “I’ll bet Kevin Davies doesn’t pinch his Dad’s cigarettes.” My reply to this according to family history, was “No he fetches his Dads cigars!”

For some reason they both burst out laughing, the belt went back to doing what it was designed for and I just got sent to bed.
Frank Taylor.