Conisbrough Old Folk Set Fine Example

May 1955

South Yorkshire Times May 7, 1955

Conisbrough Old Folk Set Fine Example

The barren wastes which are left on the completion of any new housing estate, and eventually become gardens, are already being transformed in the old people’s area of the newly-completed Windmill Estate, at Conisbrough.

With the patience and ingenuity of old age the occupants of the old people’s bungalows in Sheldon Avenue are busy turning over the hard soil around their homes, and already the first fruits of their labours are peeping through.
Patches of grass which will eventually become smooth lawns are in evidence and daffodils and other flowers are brightening the churned up soil.

The pride of these old folk in their new homes is typified by 85-year-old Mr John Gomerson and his wife, who is 78. Their front garden is laid out in the form of two flower decorated stars surrounded by what will be bright flower beds and small trees – a birthday present from Mrs Gomerson’s family.

Asked how she had managed to get the stars so symmetrical – for it is Mrs Gomerson who has planned the layout of the garden – she replied: ‘I just used Dad’s stick and if it would not come right I rubbed it out.’ She confesses that she has no real knowledge of gardening but with the aid of ‘Dad’s stick’ and her gardening instinct she has achieved some pleasing results.

Mr Fred Hallam (79), and Mr Joseph Hallam (88) are two of the most interesting characters on the estate. Unmarried they have always lived together and between them they have worked 106 years at the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries.

They lived at one time in Chadwick Road, better known as Coronation Row – now scheduled for demolition – and when asked why they had remained bachelors both laughed and said: ‘We had to work for our own living and we thought every man ought to keep his own daughter.’ Flowers are already in bloom at the front of their garden and they have some original plans for it. But it was not of flowers that they talked but of their family. They were born in Lamp House Hill and there were 11 of them. They are the only two surviving members of their family of which only one of the six brothers got married. Joseph claims to be one of the oldest Conisbrough born residents.

Our reporter eventually bade the ‘goodbye’ and they settled back to enjoy their pipes, but Joseph’s parting remark, a rueful one, was: I’m sorry I didn’t get married.’