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Goole-on-the-Web

This is an unofficial guide to all things Goole-related. For those of you who haven't heard of the place, it's not a search engine based in East Yorkshire, but a small town in Northern England full of Goolies. It is unusual because it's an artificial town, originally built to serve the Aire & Calder Canal. It is one of the few places in this country that knows exactly when it was formed. The Clock Tower marks the year, 1826, when Goole opened its doors (or should that be lock gates?)

Goole Cenotaph

Purpose of this site

This site was set up by an expat to see if anybody out there is interested in the town. Judging from the feedback, there is some demand. Hopefully, by browsing this site, it won't just be the people of Zlotow who've heard of the place.

I do value your comments and contributions. I read all feedback, although I'm notoriously unreliable for replying to them. Most feedback is for lots more historical information. Being a sea-port, the Goole genes have spread around the world and people are trying trace their ancestors. There is now a lot more of this, which hopefully will be of interest to people in the town as well.

Please send questions, compliments or complaints to feedback@goole-on-the-web.org.uk

What now?

If you're trying to track down relatives from the area then visit the genealogy page, if your ancestors sailed from the port then try the ships page, if you want to see where Goolies are around the world then dip into the Goole Gene Pool, if you want to view feedback or even send some of your own then go to the emails page, if you've got a funny nose then try The Reedness Test, if you've ended up here because you can't spell then you probably want Google, otherwise feel free to browse or use the search box in the top-left.

Disclaimer

Remember that this site is completely non-commercial, was written firmly tongue-in-cheek and should be taken with a pinch of salt. If I make a light-hearted comment about syringes in parks, then it does not mean that national newspapers should quote the phrase out of context. If I have a webcam and subsequently say that the pictures are hand-drawn by a primary school, then assume it's not for real. Be careful about using this material for radio phone-ins in case I've got my facts wrong.

Where Is It?

Goole is found in God's own county of Yorkshire. This is the largest county in Britain and also the friendliest (in any Yorkshireman's opinion). Yorkshire stretches from the Holderness coast in the east to the Dales in the west, and from Middlesbrough in the north to Sheffield in the south.

Originally, Yorkshire contained three Ridings. It is currently split into North, West and South Yorkshire. Due to popular revolt, the old county of Humberside has been split into the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and Hull.

It is the home to Tetley Beer, sheep farming and coal mining. It is also a cultural centre containing the National Film, Railway, Armouries and Pop Music Museums. The 0 degree meridian passes through Cleethorpes (and Greenwich). In the sporting world it is famous for cricket, football, Rugby League, whippet chasing and pigeon racing. It is the home of the world's largest kebab, the world's largest Yorkshire Pudding and the world's longest single-span suspension bridge (after that new one in Japan).

Yorkshire has friendly rivalries with Lancashire and Lincolnshire as well as the general north/south rivalries within Britain itself.

Goole is situated where the River Ouse meets the Aire and the Don. It's the most inland port in the country. Being such a popular place, various counties have laid claim to the town. Although it currently resides in East Riding of Yorkshire, it has belonged to Humberside and West Yorkshire in past decades. Goole is a very isolated town. The nearest large towns are Selby, Doncaster, York and Hull - all over fifteen miles away. This isolation helps give the inhabitants an identity.

How to get here

  • By Car - The M62 motorway runs past the edge of the town - leave at Junction 36 and follow the signs for the town centre. There are nice views of the town from the Ouse Bridge which carries the motorway over the river.
  • By Bus - There are regular bus services from York, Hull and Doncaster.
  • By Train - There is a frequent service from Doncaster and Hull. The Inter City service from Hull to London once passed directly through the town (at 125mph).
  • By Cycle - The surrounding countryside is flat and ideal cycling country. Goole lies close to the Trans-Pennine cycle route and the Sustrans Hull to Middlesbrough cycle path.
  • By Canal - The Knottingley/Goole canal is a popular trip for recreational canal boats. There is also a canal to Doncaster.
  • By Air - There was a plan to build an international airport on Thorne Moors in the 1960s. This never took off, so you'll have to fly to Leeds/Bradford, Humberside or Doncaster airports.
  • By Ferry - In the old days, you could get direct ships to the continent as part of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway service. Nowadays the nearest ferry is from Hull to Zeebrugge.
  • By Steam Packet - In the old days there was a steam packet service linking to Selby and Hull.
  • By RAF rescue dinghies - A sore point with the villagers of Gowdall, Cowick and Snaith

Quick History

Goole. It is part of a flat countryside where dykes and canals, windmills and willows, are everyday things; it stands where the Ouse is met by the Don, known on its journey between Snaith and Goole as the Dutch River, a cutting begun in Charles Stuart's day for draining the marshes of Hatfield Chase, now 70,000 acres of fertile land. Though it makes paper and has engineering, chemical, and other works, Goole looks to the sea for most of its living, the sailors (who love it) calling it Sleepy Hollow.

In less than a century it has become a notable port. England's farthest port inland, 50 miles from the sea. Its liveliest scenes are on the water front, where ships from far and near come up on the tide to enter the fine docks; funnels and masts, cranes and warehouses, making a ragged skyline, with the tall spire of the 19th Century church rising by them.

Between the town and its neighbour Hook is a bridge carrying the railway over the Ouse. Said to weigh 670 tons, it is 830 feet long, and has a movable section of 250 feet which can be opened in less than a minute. Two miles from Goole the fine new Boothferry Bridge takes the road traffic to and fro.

Goole's great Water Tower, the biggest in England, is 145 feet high and holds three-quarters of a million gallons. The peace memorial is a small copy of the Cenotaph in Whitehall, standing in green lawns among roses and orange blossoms. Close by are fine schools in their own pretty gardens.

In the cross-shaped church are memorials to heroes of land and sea. The portrait of one is in a window, an aeroplane over his head; an inscription to another tells us that he ran to his death leading his men in the first year of the Great War. There is a tribute to those who went down with the Calder in 1931, and another to the men of the Colne who sailed from Goole in 1912 and vanished with their ship.

"The King's England", edited by Arthur Mee

The word Goole is a Middle English word meaning "a small stream" or "water channel." Goole did not exist until the early 1800s. Until then there were small farming villages nearby at Hook, Airmyn, Howden. The rural past is reflected in some of the street names such as Westfield and Marshfield.

In 633 AD the area was the site of the Battle of Hatfield in which the powerful Northumbrian King called Edwin was defeated by Penda, King of the Mercians (the Midlands). The King's head was laid in a small chapel in York which was later to become the site of York Minster. In later centuries Hatfield became the site of a manor and a famous Bishop of Durham called Thomas Hatfield was born here. His tomb lies below the bishops' throne in Durham Cathedral. For most of its history, the land surrounding Hatfield was known as Hatfield Chase. The chase was a swampy, fenland area and stretched far into Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

The history of Goole begins when a Dutch engineer, Cornelius Vermuyden, diverted the river Don by ten miles to make it flow into the River Ouse rather than the River Aire. This was done at the request of the King who liked to go hunting on Hatfield Chase near Doncaster and was fed up with the land always flooding. This allowed the land around Goole to become more habitable. His name lives on in Goole when the old Grammar School was renamed as Vermuyden School.

Map of Marshland

In 1826, the Aire & Calder Navigation Company opened a new canal from Leeds to Goole. This was the start of Goole as we know it and a large town built up exporting coal from the West Riding of Yorkshire to the Continent.

Various shipping lines set up in the town, each one having their own fleet of ships, ensigns and offices in the town. The railway came a few decades later with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway using the port as its outlet to the North Sea and boom time came.

Other Goole engineers such as Stanhope, Aldham and Bartholomew invented radical ways to improve the efficiency of the docks. The most famous of these were the coal hoists. These allowed small barges (Tom Puddings) carrying coal from the Yorkshire coalfields to be lifted from the water and their contents loaded directly into waiting ships. These were in use until the mid-1980s and only one of the original five remains. This is now a listed building.

At its peak, Goole was a rival to Hull. A mural at the L&YR's Victoria Station shows the prominence of the town. There were passenger ferry services to Europe and the world, and local steam packet services to Hull and York. For a town of 10,000 people there were three cinemas, two theatres and a ridiculous amount of pubs serving both the locals and visiting sailors. Various municipal parks were built and the town expanded to the surrounding countryside. Goole benefited greatly from the manufacturing power of Yorkshire and rail links were built to Selby, Hull and Doncaster. A shipyard was built across the river in Old Goole.

The Victoria Pleasure Grounds were built and Goole Town FC was successful in the local leagues. Famous Goole landmarks such as the "Salt and Pepperpot" water towers, the cranes, mills, the Grammar School and chimneys were built.

Despite its prosperity, Goole was still quite isolated and surrounded by beautiful flat countryside. It became known as "the Port in Green Fields".

The town was bombed during the zeppelin raids of World War I. A mass grave for the victims, when a theatre was hit, still exists in the cemetery. It was only bombed once in World War II by a lost plane. Goole's merchant sailors played a great role in keeping supply lines to Scandinavia open (Norway provide the town's Christmas tree every year as way of thanks), and sections of the Mulberry Harbour, used in the D-Day landings, were constructed in Goole and floated down to France.

Postcards

Postcards - Then and Now

Visitor Comments

Posted by Ken on 12/10/1998

Aloha! I was cruising the web on things Goolie and found your page. The picture caught my eye, I have been on top of both water towers, the new one legally and the pepper pot maybe not so legally! As I recall they are 159ft high. One of my mates walked around the outside of the pepper pot parapet, if he fell off I think his next stop would have been the abattoir below but that was in 1962 and before.

I was trying to reconnect with some of my school friends and looking for likely email and web pages, yours looks like a good start. I went to Alexander Street School (and the nursery school before that when I was four), Kingsway County Primary and Goole Grammar. I finished at the Grammar School when I was sixteen (born in 1946) and we immediately moved south to Stevenage so I lost contact with everyone. I have family still in Goole but they never really knew my school friends or what happened to them.

Anyway I would be interested in your experience of Goole and if you could help me get to contact someone. Goole gets a lot of bad comments but I thoroughly enjoyed my childhood there. I went back a few times to visit and was somewhat disappointed with what has been torn down and moved for the convenience of cars in the name of progress. I don't think the average Goolie realises what an historic treasure they have. The combination of the docks, canals, railways, etc. produced some very interesting architecture, etc. and was a dream for a boy's playground - witness all the trouble I used to get into!

I now live in Hawaii after a time living in California. I think I can safely say that I am the only Goolie in Hawaii :)

Posted by Raffer on 25/10/1998

Hi. Glad to find your web page on Goole. And I'm interested. My mother's side of the family were "Goolies" - all Depledge by name, most of them seafaring men. Great-grandad captained the Blythe at the turn of the century and died in 1930 at 95 years old in Bradford, while living with us. I was five at the time.

I've lived in Northern California since 1959, but spent many happy hours in Goole visiting relatives and listening to all the seagoing stories.

Posted by Ken on 02/11/1998

Aloha! It is funny but I have been to a few of the world's corners but have never met anyone ex-Goole. Definitely a need for a Goole website, a very misunderstood town, even by the residents! Goole has (had?) a lot more going for it than people realise.

I had contacted The Goole Times at the same time as I emailed yourself and now they want me to write an article on how-come an ex-Goolie ends up owning a coffee farm in Hawaii :). I will let you know when I send it. I have done the draft but need to reduce the word count.

My mother's side hails from Leeds and Aunt Nancy still lives on Meanwood Road I think opposite t'destructor if that still exists. Two of my cousins were in the Leeds group called the Grumbleweeds. I don't know if they are still going.

I would like to contribute some stories when I have time (after the coffee picking season which is hot and heavy right now).

I searched a few times and got nothing of interest then I tried the Lycos engine and came up with your page and Ye Olde Goole Times.

Anyway nice talking with you and look forward to keeping up the communication. If you have the time to ask around I am particularly interested in trying to contact Paul McAlinden who I was at Grammar School with (with whom I was at the Grammar School? … guess I didn't learn much!) We just lost touch when I left and it would be nice to try and find him again. He should be age 52 now, a lot of people should remember him.

Posted by Linda on 02/11/1998

Hi. The Goole-on-the-web site was interesting and amusing. It kept me occupied for a good couple of hours. I will add it to my home page but at the moment I am in the process of building a new one.

Please put me a red dot on your map. I am from Perth, Western Australia. I escaped the town when I was 17 years old and have only ever been back for short visits. So please do tell why are you so interested in such a boring place? When I was younger we called it Sleepy Hollow. Has it changed? It hadn't six-and-half-years ago when I was there.

The town itself is maybe a bit more modern but the people have never changed. When I have been back for a visit it's like I have never been away, only my accent gets ten times stronger LOL.

I have to sign off now so I will watch for any other pages you may add to the site. Bye for now.

Posted by Carol on 13/11/1998

G'day. We are ex-Goolites living in Brisbane, Australia. We would be interested to find out what the current population of Goole is? It would also be interesting to hear about more of the pubs which we frequented in our misspent youth! Ie. the Dock Tavern, Mariners Arms and The Canal Tavern. There seems to be some argument as to the name of the pub that was in Boothferry Road just down from the North Eastern Hotel. I think it was the Railway Hotel and my husband thinks it was The Canal Tavern. Please settle this for us!

I spent many years in Goole, my maiden name was Carol Denby and my parents were Jim and Myra Denby, both deceased. They were well known in their day.

Posted by Chris on 15/11/1998

I've decided to do the family tree thing and want to give my dear old mum as much of her history as I can. Would you mind posting a message to any helpful parties who may know of anything of the Tasker family who lived at 30 Cecil Street, Goole in the early part of this century?

I have a few names to go on who will all be relatives and who would probably know my mum, (Marjorie Acaster). These may or may not all be Taskers: Edward (Ted); his son John and daughter Peggy (my mum's cousins); May (mum's auntie); my mum's mother Sarah Ann who died quite young had married Stanley Acaster; there was also another cousin called Herbert (Bert).

I would love to hear from descendants or people with any information. Does Cecil Street still exist in Goole?

Posted by Jonathan on 19/11/1998

Hi. As an ex Goolie I found the web page amusing and refreshingly honest. Although I found the pub guide a little misleading as all the pubs in the "centre" have their quota of teenagers and slappers. Although my family still live in Goole, I find the marginal attractions of London more to my favour. If only I'd have known then that Alan Hardwick once lived nearby, perhaps my career choice may have been entirely different.

Delighted to see that the internationally renowned McDonalds cuisine is doing so well. It's good to see that the residents of Goole have an alternative to Heroin. Although the jury's out on which one is worse for the health.

As this is now a bookmark on by browser I will no doubt visit the site again when I need cheering up.

Posted by Darren on 21/11/1998

Well - what can I say but what a brilliant site. I moved out of the town to live in York earlier this year and for some reason I kinda miss the place. It's great to read about the town and catch up on all the gossip. I guess living in a city that stories don't get around like wild fire as they do in Goole. Thanks for the read, and keep up the good work!

Posted by Penney on 01/01/1999

Excellent site. Can you include more historical stuff please for us family historians who have discovered that our ancestors arrived in Goole around 1826 with the opening of the port? Searching BELL, BROMLEY and PEARSON ancestors in the Goole area. Thanks.

Posted by Malcolm on 13/01/1999

I am revisiting your site and I am impressed with what you have added to it. I especially liked the mini-cam shot of Boothferry Road and would welcome seeing other views. The site looks great but check out your Look Alike page, you have the captions on the wrong photos. Have you ever entertained the idea of asking people if they would mind having their e-mail addresses posted so that old friends could get in contact with them? Keep up the good work.

Posted by Mein Name on 27/01/1999

Howdy. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Goole! I grew up in Goole Fields, went to Leeds for ten years, then three years in the USA and now I live in Germany. I still enjoy going home to visit family and friends there and catching up with the local gossip. Please keep up the good work and I will add this to my favourites!

Posted by Chris on 18/02/1999

As the Halifax born son of a native Goolie, I don't know if I merit a red dot on your map. But, as I now live in Bray, south of Dublin, Ireland, I think you could chart the spread of the Goole gene pool. Or is it a Gene puddle?

Posted by Dave on 23/03/1999

G'day. Just thought I would let you know that there is a Goolie thriving and well in a little town called Bungendore, which is just outside Canberra in Australia. The Goolie is Colin George Hall and was born in Goole in August 1946. He immigrated to Australia in November 1971 with his young family.

How do I know this? I am his daughter and thought you might want to add his name and location to your map of Goolies.

Posted by Sarah on 29/03/1999

I am from Goole but currently studying in Oxford, in my second year of a Geography degree. I don't get home very often and find myself feeling a little bit homesick sometimes. Your website was a nice surprise and brought a smile to my face. Whenever I meet people in Oxford they instantly pick up on my non-local accent and ask me where I'm from. Only a handful have ever heard of Goole, nobody seems to know where it is, those who have been there seem less than impressed by it!

Your website captured the character of Goole in a humorous way. I particularly liked the pub reviews, the news and the comments from past residents. It would be nice to see somebody I know on GooleCam, next time I'm home I'll try and get on it myself!

Posted by Norman on 02/04/1999

Another Paul Chessman, former resident of Mendip Avenue (the more desirable end of town) now lives in Quebec. The Paul I refer to is my brother not my cousin Paul who you list already on the site. Whilst all the family of Chessman's lived in Goole from birth none of us now reside there. I (Norman) live in Nottingham and my other brothers live in Hull and Hornsea on the East Coast.

Goole has the ability to stimulate movement from the town - either because of the rich culture (such as Aire street on Friday night) or because actually most of our culture is underpinned by a history of accommodating other visiting sea-goers, being exposed to railway, motorway, canal, or venturing out to work in mines, steel, or on board a ship.

I have heard Goole described as a shit hole on many occasions by those from Beverley and surrounding areas. While my silence has colluded with these put downs; whenever I return (usually once a year) to get drunk in Aire Street, the town usually charges me with ire and a strange sense of pride that I have been able to live through and move from the town.

Posted by Dionne on 06/04/1999

Being someone who used to live in Goole, I can only say that the primary schools are a disgrace. My son went to one for six months and what I saw was horrendous. I had no choice to but to move him to a different school in a different area. Please note we are just an average normal family who were brought up in nearby town Selby, but surly something has to be done with Goole. At the moment it is just a dead end town with no future whatsoever.

Posted by Dave on 10/04/1999

Hi, to all Goolies at home or abroad. What has happened to the old place? I was there about three years ago but it was in winter, saw some old friend, had a good time but did not have time to chat. Bye from Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Posted by Pam on 14/04/1999

G'day. I am writing on behalf of my husband who is a Goolie by birth but a North Queenslander by choice. Our daughter discovered your website but the vagaries of the Internet are beyond my husband who is only just coming to terms with the fax machine, hence my intervention.

Bernard left Goole 49 years ago for Australia and has not so far returned. After living firstly near Newcastle and later in Sydney he has now been living the laid back life of the tropics for almost fifteen years. We will be visiting the UK in May and June and naturally Goole will be on the itinerary. He is keen to revisit but concerned that much of what he remembers will have changed or no longer exist. Thus your website has been studied in depth, thank you.

Should you wish to place a red dot in his honour on your world map we live just outside of Townsville, Queensland's best kept secret.

Posted by David & Sarah on 15/04/1999

G'day. Originally from Leeds, I was living in Sydney, Australia and met a girl from Goole. Within six weeks I had flown back to Yorkshire. It was January 1997 and I was wandering around the Pioneer supermarket with this glowing suntan. The girl on the checkout asked why I had such a nice tan. When I explained that I had just moved to Goole from Sydney she stared at me disbelievingly and cracked out laughing.

Having travelled around Australia twice, climbed Ayres Rock, seen an opera at the Opera House and scuba-dived on the Great Barrier Reef, I can honestly say that the most beautiful sight I had ever seen was in Goole. However, we have now got married and moved back to Sydney so your loss is my gain.

Anyway, some of the things that will always remind me about Goole are the friendly people, the food at the Blacksmiths, the fog, the bad bends at the end of "Wezzie" Banks and my wife's parent's farm at Swinefleet.

Posted by George on 27/04/1999

Hi everyone out there.

Saw your website when I searched for information about Goole. I was born in Old Goole, Cooper Street 1919. Left Goole 1934 to go to London to work. Went into the army 1940. Immigrated to Canada 1957 (with my family) to Ontario until 1995. We are now living in Alberta. My wife was born in Hensall, a village outside of Goole. Those born in Snaith will know the place.

Posted by Paul on 28/04/1999

Fascinating site! I escaped when I was eleven but still have family around Goole. Mark me on the gene pool map in Washington D.C.

Posted by Susi on 06/05/1999

My name's Susi and I live in Hook. I just want you to know that

1. Fanny Craddock never lived in Hook (well, not to my knowledge anyway), it was Grace Mulligan. (I think she did a program called "Farmhouse Kitchen" or something like that)

2. There is no such place as Vermuyden High School, the name is simply Vermuyden School. (No school in Goole could contain the word "high" in its name - it sounds way too posh!)

My brother is now living in Philadelphia, USA. I'm just about to e-mail him about this site, so perhaps you could enter him into the gene pool?

Posted by John & Brenda on 06/05/1999

From two ex Goolies living in Melbourne Australia. Enjoyed the site, it brought back a few memories of a misspent childhood. Expect to see another red dot on the map the next time we visit the site.

Posted by Aidan on 25/05/1999

OK, so I'm one of the saddoes who looked up Goole on the web… and guess what I found?

I also have the word Goole in my CV, so perhaps you might be interested. Like a lot of hacks littered around the country (probably around the globe) I began my career in journalism on the rightly venerated Goole Times. I'm now, after various other roles including an eight-year sentence as sports editor of the Sunderland Echo, internet editor and single-handed web developer of the Evening Star in Ipswich (Britain's Evening Newspaper of the Year, no less).

One of my contemporaries at t'Goole Times (1978-1981) was Tim Moynihan, now senior reporter and sports-news specialist for the Press Association. Another was Sarah Haw, who I believe is still editor of the mag Your Horse (or is it Horse & Pony?), based in Peterborough. A near-contemporary, Brian Groom, is I believe editor of Scotland on Sunday.

Incidentally, the person who remarked on your site that the present Goole Times seems to have no continuity with the old Chimes might like to note that the person who coined the phrase Gruel Chimes is today the editor of that publication, as was his father before him for many years. Goole wouldn't be Goole without the Butler family.

PS. I'm thrilled to discover from your site that Goole Town FC is extant once more. I spent three happy-ish years reporting their progress in the old Northern Premier League, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Charlie Green, Mally Thompson, Tony Taylor & co.

Posted by Marco on 02/07/1999

Hello to all the people of Goole. Do you know there are many people in Belgium who have "Goole" as their last name? More than likely our origin lies in your town. I hope to visit it some time.

Posted by Garry on 02/08/1999

Greetings from Ontario.

What a great site! Our family records state that in 1831 George and Hannah (Demeline) Caldwell left Goole and came to Canada where they settled in Oro Township, just outside what is now the city of Barrie, Ontario. Today many of their numerous descendants still reside in the Barrie area.

If anyone has info on my great-great-grandfather's family, I would love to hear from you. Thanks and all the best to Goolies everywhere!

Posted by Graham & Susan on 02/08/1999

Hi. We were thrilled to find this site, now we can prove to new friends that there is such a place as Goole. Keep up the good work.

We, Graham Whitehead and Susan (Welburn) Whitehead both attended Goole Grammar School and wondered if any of your other correspondents did.

We immigrated to Alberta, Canada in 1982; spent 1991 to 1994 in Venezuela, returned to Alberta for a couple of years and are now living in the States for a while. There must be something about Goole that make Goolies want to travel!

Posted by Joyce on 15/08/1999

Debbie Kitselman of Coeur d'Alene ID came to spend the day with me, gave me your site address. I am Joyce Duval, better known as Muriel King when I went to school, (GGS 1945-1953, Pasture Rd and Boothferry Rd, 1939-1945). My dad was "Dick" King, worked in Goole Post office 1923 to 1953. Yep, they transferred him from Poole to Goole, often wonder if it was a typo!

Have a little puzzle, I always thought it was two Liberator Bombers that collided over Goole, not Spitfires, also the Humber ends where the Ouse and the Trent join, at least ten miles downstream from Goole, I'm a geographer so get nitpicky on that kind of thing, but loved your site, still have lots to browse through - I will return. And who was it who contacted you from Bonnie Lake WA, about 300 miles from me, but the home of my daughter?

Posted by Julie on 15/01/2000

Why is there not a guest book? I wanted to write something wonderful and witty.

How does one get on the list of ex-residents? (And why has it been almost 18 months since anyone was listed?).

This site is hilarious, by the way. I actually stared at the GooleCam for ages, wondering why nobody was moving. I was so excited at the thought of seeing people moving in Boothferry Road. I never knew they did!

Posted by Chris on 19/03/2000

Surfing things about Goole came across the site. Interesting to see names from the past. I now live in Singapore.

Posted by Emma on 23/03/2000

Hi! I thought I'd like to add to your list of people around the world with a little Goolie in them. My parents live in Saudi Arabia (where I'm mailing from) and my mother is from Goole. Exciting or what! Another dot to add to the map (Ras Tanura, on the Arabian Gulf). Long live Goolie domination!

Posted by Justine on 23/03/2000

Good Morning,

I have just found your website and would like to say how great it is to read about Goole on the web! I am currently living and working in Hong Kong but my parents still live in Hook! It's great to read up on the news on the Goole Times website! Keep up the good work

Posted by Paul on 30/03/2000

I couldn't believe it when I was surfing for a florist to send some for Mother's Day and found this amazing site. I too left Goole as soon as I got the chance, I worked in Hull for a few years in the, what was then, Fosters Menswear (used to be in the Goole shop). I then left the North to search for a higher standard of living, which I'm glad to say I've found in London.

I really enjoyed reading the feedback page and some of the opinions of people who no longer live there.

I want to go down on the record to say I loved life in Goole, even though getting a regular head kicking down Blood Alley wasn't a highlight. I hope some of the girls still remember the Chocksta with fond memories (I wish). Good to see photos and keep up the site, it's pretty cool

Posted by Margaret on 16/04/2000

I was born in Goole 52 years ago. I now live in Mackay in Queensland Australia. I am looking for my relatives, surname of GANLEY, I know some of them still live in Goole, but I am going back to the 1850s. My grandfather used to own a pub in Goole, don't know the name of it. Can you add me to your map please?

Posted by Peter on 05/06/2000

G-Day Mate,

Just been laughing at the website, I'm sending this from Port Macquarie, N.S.W. Australia.

In the finer traditions of "Colditz" I would like to report a "home run", but I fear my escape has been discovered and as I write this, the authorities are closing in on my location and I think I will be returned (by force) in time to read the "Cruel Times".

Seriously I've been on a two-month holiday, but it's been nice to see Goole on the web.

Posted by Jan on 08/07/2000

Thanks… for the GooleCam and the Look-alikes… I haven't laughed so much since I escaped from Goole myself in 1964!

Posted by Paul on 03/08/2000

You just can't escape Goole, wherever you go. I was browsing the Internet and for a laugh, I entered Goole, not knowing there would be a website for it, good on you. It's good to know things haven't changed. Scrapping in Aire Street and interbreeding. I left Goole in 1993 for Hull (some move eh?) and moved to Phoenix, Arizona USA with work sixteen months ago so it's good to see the old country, and thank God, I escaped.

Posted by Richard on 12/11/2000

I cannot really claim to be a Goolie, but I did live in Goole as a seven-year-old for one year.

My mother (Gladys) is a war bride and married a Canadian, Bill Hetherington. They are retired and live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I am their son and have lived in Dublin, Ireland for the last few years. My grandmother, Mary Hall, ran the Lowther from well before World War II into the 1960s. That is where we lived for the one year. My wife and I do visit Goole on occasion as we have long time family friends, but no family. The only family in Goole are all buried there. A pleasant experience to come across the site on the web. Much appreciated.

Posted by Mark on 17/11/2000

Just thought I'd drop you a line from sunny Clearwater Beach in Florida. I guess that I am only a part-time escapee from Goole, as I have a holiday home here and spend between three to six months here, so I don't know if I'll qualify, I hope so. Your website is great, they say there is nothing funnier than the truth and you seem to have captured that in your website. I'm glad I am not the only one who knows that Goole sucks, but am still I dumb enough to keep returning?

Bye for now - gotta catch up on my tan.

Posted by Russell on 16/12/2000

Well done on producing a very well and wittily presented site. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through it and wholeheartedly agree with a lot of the issues raised. I live in Goole at the moment but go to school out of town and people always give Goole a hard time. It isn't really as bad as people make out!

You may wish to include that the subways have now been defaced (moustaches and glasses drawn on people as predicted!) and someone has written "Trotter's Independent Traders" on the side of a yellow van!

You may also want to mention the fact that we have in excess of eight charity shops, three supermarkets, six banks and two shops of any significant use.

Posted by Peter on 06/03/2001

Keep up the good work. It's nice to see and hear about the Sleepy Hollow, even out here in Portugal. I had some good times in Goole, great people too.

Posted by Brian on 13/03/2001

Great Site - Light hearted approach with accurate data. Left Goole in 1951 but have recently been revisiting to trace family tree. Noticed my cousin Ken has visited the site from Hawaii. I still have relatives living in Goole.

Posted by Vivienne on 19/05/2001

I was born in Goole in 1944, lived in Elm Avenue, went to Boothferry Road Infants, then Juniors, then to Goole Modern for a year, then on to Selby Tech, leaving in 1961. I moved to Manchester to work and have been here ever since, doing missionary work, spreading the word of Goole. I had two brothers, Terry and Bernard Toolan. Goole people tend to spread over the globe, we did, my brother Terry's children are in New Zealand, Bernard is in London but we are all still Goolies at heart.

So, where are all those people who are now 56 who rampaged round Goole in its heyday; dug in the sandpit at the corner of Kent Road; had street snowball fights; frequented the Copper Kettle and the three, yes three, cinemas; danced at the Baths Hall and ate chips and scraps on the way home; and went to the youth club opposite the football ground entrance.

And is the Mick Armitage mentioned in this week's Goole Times the same Michael Armitage I used to know? What happened to John and Mary Clark, Jenny Massey, Ted who had the Velocette, Spud Tate from Kent Road, Kath Warrington, Kath Oliver? Happy days, but to stay would have driven me daft. Manchester is bigger and busier, but Goole was good to grow up in.

Posted by Stephen on 30/06/2001

After reading this website I'd like to say that it is a total insult to Goole and its people. Anyone who isn't from Goole will think what a dump it is and won't want to come here. Why not say something good about it for once, eg. Wesley Square?

Posted by Ronald on 27/07/2001

I was born in Goole in 1938 and lived in Elm Avenue at No. 12 and also went to Boothferry Road and the Grammar School, before being called up for National Service at 18. Since then I haven't been to Goole very often, although I was there for three days (that was enough) at the end of May this year.

Goole has changed only a little compared to most other places but from reading the Goole Times each week it seems most Goolies are frightened of change and don't want it anyway, although I fear what has changed hasn't bettered the place much anyway. Despite all that I guess I still have an affection for the place or I wouldn't read the local rag regularly.

I have lived in Sydney since 1979 and have lived in North Bondi (ten minute walk from the beach) for the last fifteen years. I guess there are more Goolies away from the place than in it, so another spot on the map is warranted.

Posted by Peter on 20/10/2001

I was just surfing and came across your website.

I attended GGS between 1959-1966 and have never lived there since!! I joined the Brit Army, emigrating in 1981, and the closest I ever got to Goole again (except for visits) was a two year stint at Kirton-in-Lindsey near sunny Scunny.

I have lived in Australia since 1978 and cannot ever imagine returning to Goole except to visit my mum and sister Sue. I now live in the Dandenong Ranges just outside Melbourne.

Every time I have been back I have never seen any of the old school gang, which is disappointing and I often wonder where they all are. From the other gene poolies, it seems that they will be spread far and wide.

It was interesting reading the other e-mails and reminiscing over some of the teachers - I remember Miss Potter, Mr Petch, Arnie Chappel, Boilerhead, Mr Hutchinson, Mr Townsend and Lennie the Head, who once saw fit to give me the cane.

Goole appears to be largely unchanged and it is difficult to draw a parallel with anywhere else I have ever been, but then I have never been to Zlotov.

Love to hear from anyone of the same era who remembers me. Regards from Down Under

Posted by Michael on 17/12/2001

How come so may Goolies live in Australia? Well you can't get much further away can you…

Lived in Goole 1951-59 and went to Boothferry Road Primary and GGS. Remember well all the bikes, particularly when Burtons came out. I think there were more bikes than people. Passed through the town summer 2001 and all the bikes have been replaced by cars. Took 30 minutes to get from the motorway to the cemetery. Still have relations living there so it can't be all bad.

Posted by Gordon on 29/12/2001

My name is Gordon (Jim) Deighton. I emigrated in 1974 and now live in Australia, close to Surfer's Paradise in Queensland. I have many fond memories of Goole, not the town so much but the people. I had many years working on Drax Power Station and Eggborough during their construction. I worked in the concrete gangs. There maybe someone out there who remembers me. If so I would be only too glad to communicate with them. I also worked at Garden King Frozen Foods from 1970-74 before emigrating.

Posted by Marv on 20/01/2002

Dear Goole-on-the-Web

My grandfather's-grandfather was from Rawcliffe. Is that close enough to earn me a dot on your map of the Goole gene pool world?

I enjoyed your site very much. But I don't want to pester you… Goolie from Utah USA

Posted by Rich on 10/03/2002

Hey, just checking out your website on Goole - it's really very good. I like the GooleCam especially for those homesick days. I loved your reviews on the bars - I used to bartend in Goole in at least three of the bars (Flappers included) and agree wholeheartedly that it probably is better of as a burnt out husk.

Anyway, I am in Orlando, Florida and probably will be moving to Miami in a year to go to med school (hopefully). Keep up the good work.

Posted by Angela on 15/04/2002

Being off work sick I stumbled across this site and it cheered me up no end. I'm an ex-Goolie (spent eighteen years of my life there) and I cut my teeth as a reporter on the Goole Courier about ten years ago.

I spent many happy (well kind of) teenage years at Goole Grammar School as it was then, buying dodgy meat paste sandwiches from Cooplands (or M&S if you were feeling flush) on a lunchtime, browsing round Woolies record section before returning up Boothferry Road for a nice snooze during double chemistry in the Science Block.

My parents came from Goole - well actually my dad, Richard was incomer from Middlesborough but after 20 years I think became naturalised. But mum Helen is Goole born and bred and came from quite a large Goole family - that belonging to Tuts and Walter Kitchen. There's a huge dynasty of Kitchens, Roberts and Boasts now. My sister Susan, was also once married to one of the sons of Peter Teed - the well-known head teacher of the Grammar School. I now live in Leeds with my fiance.

Anyway enough rambling - thank you for an excellent site, very well researched, full of local humour and it made me laugh out loud several times, quite painful when you've got stomach ache!

Posted by Karl on 21/05/2002

I'm an ex-Hookie who now lives in freezing Sweden where the beer is expensive and tastes like piss. I moved out from Goole in 1989. My brother Martin still lives in Goole with his wife Louise. My father Loz (Harold) has moved to Selby, my Mother Sheila used to work at the Brassa club in North Street. It would be great if some of the people I knew then could get in touch with me.

I now have two children and work for a medical company in a small town called Karlskoga. I still visit Goole and my family. I'm coming over this summer to enjoy a few good pints at Heppy's and down Aire Street.

Looking forward to see it all again.

Posted by Alison on 18/06/2002

Hiya fellow ex-Goolies!!

I left Goole in 1985 after spending ten happy growing up years there (well most of them were happy - some were just boring!) I went to Alexandra Street Juniors, Bartholomew Middle and good old Goole Grammar and I'd love to hear from anyone who may remember me.

It's great to visit this site and see how Goole has changed, all the time I lived there the only change happened when a ship crashed into the railway bridge over the river!

Still I've got two kids now, and I'd happily bring them up in Goole so it can't have been that bad.

Posted by Paula on 06/08/2002

I loved visiting this site and want to thank you for doing this. The photographs are terrific but please tell me how it got its name Sleepy Hollow.

My mother was born in Goole and her name was Clarice Cutter. Her mother's maiden name was Fanny Appleyard. My grandmother was a widow at an early age as her husband was killed in World War I. She operated a boarding house and many of the patrons were from travelling theatre groups as the theatre was close by. My mother told me of an African fire eater who polished his skin with black boot polish to make it shine.

My mother was born around 1910 and her mother died on my mother's fifteenth birthday. My mother then went to live with her guardian (eldest brother) and I remember that he had a hook instead of a hand. When my mother married Alfred Robinson they lived in a railway cottage until they moved to Hull before I was born.

I have lived in Canada for 33 years and the majority of my siblings still live in Hull. I live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. If there is any information about my mother's side of the family I would love to hear from them. One of my mother's sisters was called Dot (presumably Dorothy) and she married a Dutch man with the last name of Vander-Tachs. They had twins named Jean and Joan.

Posted by Chris on 30/08/2002

I'm approaching 58 years of age and I'm ashamed to say that I've never been to Goole, been past on my way to Finningley, but alas my education has been left incomplete thus far. This omission will be remedied on Wed next (4th September) when I have the unfortunate duty of attending St. Mary's church in Old Goole (not mentioned on the site - as far as I can see) to see one of my old workmates off on his last trip to Scunny crem.

It was good to look on your site to see the names that I've heard him mention many times, almost like I was native of the area myself.

Someone told my old mate once, when he owned up to coming from Goole, "No-one actually owns up to that, they all say that they come from just outside Goole". The look on my friend's face was a study, first and only time I think I saw him lost for words.

The humorous quips are great and you are to be congratulated on both your application and hard work in producing such a good organ of publicity for your, and my friend's, home town.

By the way is it "Goolie" or "Gooly", with "Goolies" as the plural. Are you sure you are definitively correct in your usage of "Goolie"?

Posted by Sam & Ruth on 01/09/2002

My father, Bernard Milner, was born in Goole in 1924. His nephew, Howard, owns and operates "Milners" Florist and Pet Supplies in Goole. I had always heard so much about Goole and my relatives. I am thrilled to report that I finally made it to Goole in January. I stayed with my father's good friend, Dorothy Thompson and met my Milner relatives for the first time. I was especially delighted to meet Samantha - my past "friend-friend" in the flesh!

While it was only a short stay, I have lovely memories of Goole. It was freezing with snow covering the ground, which was quite a novelty for my husband and I who are both from North Queensland. We had the tour of Goole and saw dad's school - Goole Grammar, the river, the docks and some of the pubs. We were also treated to a trip into York. It is lovely to be able to picture the people and places of dad's stories.

Posted by Gary on 29/09/2002

I'm Gary, formerly of Ilkeston Avenue, Goole (left in 1981), now of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Posted by Gary on 01/10/2002

Gday… sorreee just had to say that!

I'm a Goolie in Oz! Was just surfing around looking for some info on Goole to show my partner. I grew up in Hook and spent my school years at the Grammar School. Any old schoolies out there want to contact me? Great website… love it!

Posted by Alison on 03/01/2003

I just found the site and was born in Goole Maternity Hospital in January 1967. I now live in Dallas TX. I went to live in Sydney, Australia when I was seven and came to live in the US eleven years ago. I come back to Goole (my roots) almost every year. I was just there in October and plan to be back in December of 2003.

I'm very proud of where I am from and love to talk to my American friends about the differences in the lifestyles. They love to hear me when I put on my Yorkshire accent - they don't understand a word I'm saying! "Eee by gum lass" just doesn't translate!

I have just spent the best hour looking at the website - keep up the brilliant work! The pictures make me home-sick and just might lure me back!

Posted by Peter on 01/05/2003

Boy, what you can find when you browse Google looking for "Swinefleet, Yorks, England"! 72 items, no less - which led me to your excellent site. I didn't know anyone in Goole had the wit and expertise to produce such a great site. I immigrated to Canada in 1959 but still keep in touch, relative in Reedness and friends in Leeds. Win Walters, who used to run the North Eastern with Sid, who died in 2001, lives close by in Prince Edward Island (Summerside) with her son Michael, who immigrated to Toronto a few years back.

There are two more spots for your gene pool! Although I never knew either of them, I got in touch, via Debbie Kitselman, with Joyce Duval to set her straight about planes crashing on Goole during WW2. Could anyone put me in touch with Mike Marsh, who I understand was also interested?

My family owned Advance Buses. I went to school at Drax GS with, among others, Andrew Clark of the fishmongers in Pasture Road.

Why did you let them screw up the North Eastern - last time I was in there, about 20 years ago I went in and turned right round and left. Also Mary Hall wouldn't have let them do that to the Lowther.

Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed my half dozen hits on your site since I discovered it a week ago and look forward to revisiting soon. Despite my disdain for the place when I lived there, I couldn't wait to get out, there is still a lot of nostalgia for it. Keep up the good work.

Posted by Steve on 10/08/2003

I love the site. One thing about Goole is that if you come from there you leave with a sense of humour. Your site is the only Goole site (OK, there aren't a right lot to choose from, but still) that puts that across for the world to see. Lucky buggers eh?

Posted by John on 23/01/2004

Dear Goole-on-the-web

I think this is one of the best and funniest sites I have come across. I had often looked at maps showing Goole and wondered what this most-inland seaport was like, but you prompted me to actually get of my backside and visit.

I've now been twice and have also written a description of Goole's townscape for a soon-to-be-republished historic map of the town. I'm looking forward to my third visit.

Highspots: how Aire Street turns into a footpath meandering through the docks (how many ports can you get into the docks these days?); a nice pint (the Victoria on Hook Road, or that new Wetherspoons pub); some of the old dark red brick commercial buildings; the friendly people in the shops; the way that the cranes and silos stand out when you are approaching the town by train; the two excellent museums; the way that walking around the side streets you can suddenly get views of the church spire or the water towers framed down a back lane.

I wish I were a photographer - I should spend all my time in Goole.

Posted by John on 27/01/2004

G'day.

Congratulations on a great site. I was born in Goole in 1964 at No. 6 Pasture Road. As you can tell from my intro I now reside on the beautiful Gold Coast which is in the state of Queensland, Australia. I have been in Oz since 1974 and love it here but your site has brought back many memories, all good.

Posted by Sheila on 14/03/2004

Hello, I was really pleased to see your website. My name is Sheila Limbeson (Leeden). I live in Deming, Washington State, about 300 miles north of Seattle. I would really like to hear from any of my old school chums. I went to the Secondary Modern School. I usually get to "come home" about every couple of years. Unfortunately my mum passed away late last year, but my brother Clive is still a Goolie.

Posted by Robert on 02/06/2005

Wasn't Goole once twinned with Gibraltar? What happened to that? I guess they weren't good enough for us.

It was twinned in 1969, and you can read an account of how this came about on page 4 of the Goole Times of 25 August 2005. Further evidence of the twinning is the existence of Gibraltar Court in Goole, and two buildings in Gibraltar - Goole House, and George Jeger House named after the Goole MP of the time. The article mentions that the twinning arrangement faded away after a few years, to be replaced more recently with the Zlotow pairing, although I recently noticed there is no mention of Zlotow on the new Goole road signs.

Posted by Ben on 04/06/2005

Zlotow? Where the hell is Zlotow? Just down the M62 mate.

Posted by Magdalena on 21/06/2005

I am from Poland and I know Zlotow very well, it's a very nice place though :) I am very surprised that Goole and Zlotow are somehow connected. My boyfriend lives in Goole and he is not very happy, he is from South Africa. Polish girl :) xxx

Posted by Hannah on 31/08/2005

I am a local teen that goes to the local school, and I have actually been on a trip to Zlotow in Poland and it is really nice!

Posted by Marek on 22/08/2006

I was trying to find a map of Zlotow on the Internet when I found this site. Most interesting. Na razie.

Posted by Mykell on 07/09/2006

I'd just like to say hello to all Goolies. I live in Zlotow and had several chances to meet the youth from Goole. You're all awesome and we have a great time together every year you come. It's a bit annoying when someone from Goole asks "where's Zlotow". Most people in Zlotow know where Goole is, with your traditional accent and culture. If someone needs more information about Zlotow, just visit www.zlotow.pl and choose the English version.

I'm looking forward for the next drama performance!

Posted by Sally on 04/07/2005

Love the name of your town. Greetings from Connecticut.

Posted by Michelle on 27/07/2005

I was born in Goole in 1969, I now live in Perth Western Australia my grandparents still live in Goole. It's wonderful to look at this website to see how Goole is developing. It also brings back a lot of childhood memories of walking some of the streets that are pictured.

Posted by Gary on 29/08/2005

I was born in Wakefield, where the eldest of everyone from Goole was born, in 1952. I came to Australia in 1969 but have been "repommyfied" several times since. This site is great to browse through, looking at photos, maps and familiar names. Kind of makes one feel homesick. Don't miss the weather though.

Posted by Adrian on 07/09/2005

Nice to read about Goole, where I lived and worked, 1990-2005. I am now settled in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Interesting to see the lengths some people will go to have a change of scene… Hi to everyone at the jailhouse.

Posted by Daniel on 27/09/2005

Goole is a great place, like any other place you have good and bad points, to be honest we are a famous town. And another fact… Goole is the furthest inland port in the world!!! Isn't that cool? Look it up!

Posted by Pedro on 12/03/2006

Alas Goole is not the furthest inland port in the world but it is in Britain. In the world try Iquitos, Peru - blimey, you sail the length of the Amazon.

Posted by Maggie on 27/09/2005

Nice to read about the old town. I lived in Goole for too many years but now live in a quiet bit of France where there is no crime and the only drugs you get are from the doc. I will say that I will come back to Goole to see my sister next year (wonder how long I will stay?) Let's see, the Limousin or the haute-Goole? Sorry, Limousin wins but Goole is full of very nice peeps. All the best.

Posted by Philip on 21/10/2005

Great to hear that Goole is still on the map and thriving.

My mom was born in Goole and nearly every summer we took the trip from Birmingham to Goole to visit my grandparents. It took about five hours on the coach back in the 1960s. I'll always remember everyone had a bike, not like Birmingham where it was a bit risky venturing out in traffic on a bike.

My grandparents lived in Richard Cooper Street, which was quite near the docks. You could hear the gulls in the evening before we fell asleep. I was about eight or ten then. My grandfather had been a ship's captain or master mariner I think it was called, a real whisky drinking Scot. To be honest we were a bit in awe of him but he wouldn't have hurt a fly.

We always went to see Goole Town play, can never remember if they won or lost the matches we saw, but it was good fun anyway.

It was nice to see that Goole is still going strong. I live in Denmark now in a town called Holstebro. It resembles Goole in many ways, in size and the amount of bikes and the friendly people.

Posted by Samantha on 31/10/2005

It's nice to see Goole is still on the map, even though it's only a little place. It can be a nice place to live. I have lived here for 20 years. It has changed a lot. Hope you enjoyed reading about Goole as much as I did.

Posted by Kirsty on 11/11/2005

i think that goole is a great place to live ,i lived there for 6 yrs until i mooved away 2 sunny cyprus yay !i went 2 vermuyden n thats rokz tis da best skool eva !i fink ppl shunt dis bowt the life coz it is class!

Posted by Jimnbob on 04/12/2005

Well done on an amusing and yet quite interesting insight into Goole. I'm now pointing anyone who asks about Goole toward the site.

Posted by Adrian on 24/12/2005

Happy Christmas to the people of Goole, from Kentucky USA

Posted by Clive on 26/12/2005

I lived in Goole until immigrating to New Zealand in 1964. I still come back to Goole quite often to see my mother and family, there's nothing better than travelling on the M18 and catching a view of the two water towers - it makes you speed up to get to Goole. I did all my schooling at Goole and have fond memories of supporting Goole Town. I lived in Pasture Rd and when I come back to Goole I can't get over how narrow the road is.

The first thing I do is buy some teacakes and a good Goole made pork pie. You can't get decent pork pies in New Zealand and they don't make teacakes.

Posted by Wizz on 12/01/2006

I'm not from Goole and I haven't even visited Goole, but it looks like a good gritty Yorkshire town and full of character.

Posted by Hetty on 19/02/2006

I have visited Goole a couple of times. It's a lovely small quite place, I will keep in touch with the Goole Times, it has made my day a lot happier, My best friend and her husband live in Goole. Lots of love to you all from Heteren Holland.

Posted by Janet on 23/03/2006

I've enjoyed looking at your website, having to smile about some of the less than flattering comments about Goole. My mother was born in Goole and I have many happy memories of holidays visiting my grandparents Edwin and Laura Law (sadly now deceased). I came back last year, while up North, nostalgia time! Don't worry Goole,I know where you are,and I like you!

Posted by Pedro on 27/03/2006

The path from the riverbank to the Riversdale Drive seemed endless. I even remember potatoes growing there, we would take a few and roast them on a fire of driftwood. As kids, we called the bankside the "target" for some reason. The grass would grow some three feet high. I still have my dad's salmon fishing license to fish from about the Ocean Lock area up to Hook Railway Bridge. Unlicensed fishing was poaching and carried a ten shilling fine. The guy who swung the bridge lived at Laxton and would call the police if fishermen ventured further than the bridge.

Posted by Geoff on 27/03/2006

My auntie Vera Bateman (nee Storr) lived at 6 Riversdale Drive. I remember the path cutting through to the river but we used to get into trouble for sneeking off there when visiting my aunt.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 29/03/2006

Thanks to your excellent powers of recall the vivid boyhood days are reminding me of the potato field and the riverbank walk from the old town library back to Riversdale. Books came in a variety of colours - brown green and red drudgy shades, carefully stacked under the watchful eye of that librarian who maintained silence in the Reading Room - Uriah Wood. You had to be nine before you got a borrower's ticket of your own.

Posted by Pedro on 29/03/2006

The old library was then in Carlisle Street next to the Tower, Kath Myers also worked there. I remember perusing the Lloyds List for information on returning troopships after the war, on which my brother was returning from the Far East, aboard the EMPRESS OF CANADA. After they demolished the Carlisle school rooms, Eddie Eastham built his furniture shop on the site that is now the library and museum.

Posted by Ian on 03/07/2006

I left Goole in 1955 when I was ten years old but reading some of the memories and comments made have brought back many pleasant memories to me. We lived on Riversdale Drive opposite the path that led to the river bank (No. 19) and my "best friend" who also lived there was Keith Studer, grandson of Mr Studer of the LEP factory. I went to school at Gwalia Preparatory School which was on Hook Road at the corner of Richard Cooper Street until 1954 and then attended Hook Church of England School.

Posted by Keith on 20/02/2007

Only today have I stumbled into this site by chance and saw the message from my old "best friend" Ian. We haven't seen each other since 1955! We won't have changed a bit. Are you there Ian? I was brought up first in Riversdale Drive and then on Hook Road, where my father lived until his death only a couple of years ago. Nostalgia!

Posted by Pedro on 04/03/2007

Keith, I guess your dad was Ronnie. I well remember his dad the, old man with his beret and Churchill cigar, catching me smoking in a no smoking area of LEP Transport (Adelphi works). After giving me a rocketing for smoking I pointed out he was smoking a cigar as large as a rolling pin. To which he replied in his accented English "do as I plutty say not as I plutty do".

Ron Pantry was his chauffer and Mrs Ellis his housekeeper.

Posted by Michael on 03/04/2006

I love Goole - it is awesome; the most down to earth place I have ever been to and is full of traditional Yorkshiremen. SUPERB.

Posted by Ashley on 03/04/2006

My family are from Goole both sides, one from Old Goole and one from near the town centre. I have had to laugh at some of the comments. None of my friends know anything about it so it is good to show them all the places I've seen where my parents grew up. I think it's mad with all the predominantly old people and broad accents.

Posted by Chris on 05/04/2006

Goole is a good place - I love it there. I went to the local schools and it is great and it is quite friendly

Posted by Richard on 07/04/2006

Am I right in thinking Goole is an Anglo Saxon term for "Open Sewer"?

Posted by Stuart (Webmaster) on 08/04/2006

The name Goole is mentioned…

- in a medieval lawsuit referring to the "juntion of a drain (goul) with the Ouse" - JD. Porteous
- marked as Gula in 1362, Golflete in 1552, Goule in the 17th Century "which is probably French in origin and means a hollow or creek in a deep river" - B. & M. Chapman
- Gowl in the 17th Century - J. Mankowska
- "Goole was once the name for a small stream or ditch" - thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk

Pay your money and take your choice. My old school teacher used to refer to the "open sewer" which in effect that's all a drain was, so that's the one used on this site.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 18/04/2006

Don't forget that the one and only sewer in Goole's port development was the Hook Drain that meandered through all the low fields either side of what is now the Hull railway line. It eventually formed the divide along North Street, before it was covered in, to empty into the river at what is now Lock Hill. So sluggish was it, due to low ground, that it must have been a health hazard. Also the Goole drain across what is now the Dutch River was used as a sewer too when housing was first erected between the Ouse and Swinefleet Road.

Posted by Kimberley on 26/03/2007

The word "Goole" actually means "drain", deriving from the fact that Goole was once a swampy marshland and it has strong connections with water, the docks, and the canal company, the Aire & Calder which used to have its board meetings overlooking the dock of the upstairs room in the Lowther Hotel, once the place to be. Goole gained hundreds of visitors and new residents through its dock developments, the large market that was held temporarily down Aire Street after a great fire bombed the market in the blitz. Everybody wanted to live in Goole.

It was truly a great place, now it is no more than the waste land it used to be, inundated by immigration, a place of no hope or prosper, no inspiration or opportunity, far different from what it used to be. Goole is a place where people want to escape from not build their lives in, not unless you are foreign in which it seems to be a great draw. It's sad a town once desired and prestiged as Goole has become so run down, forgotten and disliked, not only by its residents but all those who hear of it!

Posted by Stanley on 03/05/2006

Couldn't wait to leave Goole. Stayed there for over a year a few years back and have been told it's not improved. The local media will try to portray a different image, but Goole won't get any better. It does have some excellent buildings, but its biggest drawback is its people with their negative and insular attitude. Until they learn to evolve they'll continue to make this place a laughing stock.

In most towns in the UK a large influx of immigrants would not be a bad thing, but in Goole it would help to combat the parochial attitude that's been allowed to fester for far too long. If anyone from the education department from the local council happens to read this, they should take heed of the sort of people that the one senior school in the town is turning out.

To those that disagree with my comments I'll ask one question. Why is it that the towns and villages surrounding Goole are increasing their population figures and yours is dropping? Think about it. Could it be that anyone that's ambitious, forward thinking and wants to bring their children up in a better environment feels they have no choice but to leave Goole.

Posted by Nigel on 12/05/2006

It's true what they say - you can't get out of town soon enough, but we all go back at some point and have fond memories. I have lived all over the country and now in Spain. I even read the Goole Times online. The place never changes.

Posted by CJ on 22/05/2006

I was looking for "maps google" and got Goole. Wasn't I lucky? Just love your website. I live in Darlington and may now have a trip to Goole to see your port.

Posted by Brent on 05/06/2006

I was the first manager of the Jailhouse (pub) on Aire Street. I first enjoyed being in Goole but you soon come to realise that it is a small town with a small town attitude. If the people have a grievance with someone it sticks for life. You can 100% guarantee that give them a drink and they will fight for bugger all!

Posted by Sandy on 14/06/2006

I've lived here nearly all my life. I like the fact that I know lots of people. They went to school with me, their parents went to school with my parents. Last week I talked to an old man that had been to school with my grandad. We know each other's history. Goolies are one big family.

Posted by Ed on 24/06/2006

I was born in Goole in 1935, lived on Jackson Street, Mount Pleasant Road and Woodland Avenue. Worked at Crappers Butchers until 1951 when I ran off to sea, spent ten years living in Southampton sailing on the "Queens" then moved over to NJ USA in 1968. Goole is still a great place and a great place to visit. On my many trips to the UK I always do a one day trip to Goole.

Posted by Sye on 21/07/2006

I'm originally from Goole, I've been living in and around Bradford since 1993. I'm so proud to say to people that I meet that I'm from Goole. They usually ask "where's that?" but I soon put them right. I've been back home recently, I'd forgotten how nice it is there, none of the stress you get living in a city like Bradford, not as many buses everywhere, it's wonderful. I walked along the riverbank to the cemetery, it was so quiet, I'm seriously thinking about moving back to Goole - plus I miss my family, who all live there!

Posted by Fred on 28/07/2006

I was born in Old Goole 14/01/1935 but we moved to a new council house, Chiltern Road, up Pasture Road.

My dad was a canal boatman. My grandparents (Welham) lived on Spencer Street near the town centre, market at the end, fairground in front. Though we left when I was only six and have few memories, those I have are with affection, Sleepy Hollow is OK!

Posted by Diane on 01/08/2006

I was born in Old Goole (Swinefleet Road) 1950 left Goole 1965, now living in Spain. Enjoyed the freedom as a child living in Old Goole. Still visit now and then, not quite the same place now, but still have very fond memories of Goole.

Posted by Vicki on 01/08/2006

I am disappointed to read the negative views on Goole. I live in one of the peripheral villages and work and shop regularly in Goole and have done for 18-ish years. I have always found Goolies very nice and friendly on the whole. There are unsavoury characters wherever you go. I thing Goole gets a bum-wrap. There are far more narrow minded people in the world. In Goole the shopkeepers are friendly and helpful. Maybe visitors expecting Goole to be unfriendly act in such a way as to get what they expect.

Posted by Golden Oldie on 14/08/2006

As a septuagenarian, long absent from Goole, and recently connected to broadband, I have read a lot of the postings with great interest and nostalgia. I do recall often visiting the crypt of the Clock Tower for the usual reason. I understand that this is no longer possible but also I am very intrigued to read that the tower has been moved from where it stood but not very far. How was this done? Brick by brick or big hydraulic jacks?

Posted by Cat on 07/09/2006

Goole is brilliant for teenagers there is loads of things to do like stand on street corners and swear at people i am not part of this but that is what most teenagers from goole do

Posted by Karen on 26/09/2006

Kindness of a stranger.

Hello, I am an Aussie. I was driving up to Whitby, around the end of September. I was really spinning out by the time I got to Goole, early evening, I had no idea where I was, let alone where to stay. I drove over a bridge and found myself in a long deserted street, I drove down the street a long way, saw a pub, can't remember what it was called, but it was a very down market pub. I was desperate to find somewhere to stay, I went into the pub to ask directions. A young woman gave me directions to somewhere, I was so tired and spun out that I just couldn't really take in what she was saying. She sensed I was desperate and in an act of total kindness, she gave me her flat to stay in for the night. That really blew me out. Her name is Donna. She was so friendly and trusting and generous. I will never forget her act of kindness to a total stranger. I am back home now, if anyone reads this who knows Donna, please tell her I have posted this story.

Posted by Darren on 06/09/2006

Claim to Fame! I remember the time that Goole was mentioned on Coronation Street, when Curly's girlfriend left him to take over a supermarket in Goole.

Posted by Gail on 18/09/2006

I was born in Goole in 1951, left to go to University in 1970 and spent the last 36 years in Hull, Birmingham and Leeds. Never thought I'd ever live in Goole again, yet suddenly it's 2006 and I'm back. I think people with the Open Sewer/Sleepy Hollow opinion of Goole are seeing what they want to see.

Well, so am I. I can go to Goole's The Gate and Howden's Shire Hall to hear the live music I couldn't get tickets for when I lived in the cities.

I can sit in peace outside the Waterways Museum with a coffee on a Sunday afternoon and see boats from all over the world, or go to free World Music events in the West Park. I can thank Chris Sherburn for being regarded as a world class musician and still living in Goole, and Sam Pirt (another Goole resident) for using his nationally acknowledged musicianship and organising skills to make the town a little brighter. I can look at my dad's photo in many books about Goole's historic Tom Puddings, and I can watch Jamie Noon play rugby for England and remember his dad as a child in Goole.

Insular? Moi?

Posted by Gail on 20/09/2006

Oh dear, I've just re-read my previous posting and I sound a right swot. Just to redress the balance, my sister lives near Reedness and I've thoroughly interrogated her using your Reedness Test. She does indeed own a tractor, but we got a bit stuck with the "are your sister, mother and wife the same person" bit, and now we can't work out whether or not we're married. If it turns out we are not, will she have to leave Reedness?

Posted by Gail on 04/10/2006

Been digging around in other bits of this site and am struck by how much of Goole's heritage is actually my own heritage too. I was born in Phoenix Street (we lived upstairs, another family downstairs) and my dad worked on the Tom Puddings. If that doesn't confirm my Goole working class credentials I don't know what does.

And yet I went to the wonderful Goole Grammar School where I think I had an excellent education. Goole didn't hold me back, it gave me wings. A couple of years ago I went to a school reunion, the first time I'd met any of my school friends since leaving Goole, and was struck by how well we'd turned out, many of us in respected professions.

The sad thing is that Goole can't offer many of those kind of jobs, which is why, although I now live in Goole, I still work in Leeds. I say well done to the decent people who've stayed and made good lives here.

Posted by Mike on 24/09/2006

I found the website really very interesting with a cross section of views how people see and relate to Goole - it reflects people's differing attitudes and perceptions of the place they know well.

I am a newcomer who lives outside of Goole; I discover something different about Goole whenever I visit. I always get to feel there is more to Goole than meets the eye, you just need to have the right attitude, and look in the right places.

Posted by Charlotte on 26/09/2006

This site is right snazzified. im 14 and go to Vermuyden school. And i live in Goole. can't there be any more stuff for us kids to do… pleeease i beg of you!! i get so bored on a night, theres nowt to do. All there is to do is to stroll down the street with your friends, and people sit outside of tesco watching the world go by!!! Anyways i gotta skidaddle, im in my business lesson at the minute!!

Posted by Charlotte on 12/10/2006

im a goolie!! yeah the name of the town sounds gloomy, but it is actually a nice place if you know where to go! i go to vermuyden school. its nice from boothferry road, but it aint from the others side! anyone agree?! anyways, gotta go! im in my lessons *shh*

Posted by Charlotte on 06/02/2007

I find this rather funny. I post comments on here just to say that I am a Goolie, and then my dad reads these and complains about how bad my grammar can be. Goole is ace, with a lot of good history to it, but then again, it is a rather dull place. The only thing good here is that my friends are here, and that's just about it. Yeah. Things are trying to be improved, but it doesn't seem like it, at all!

There are too many chavs walking around, and people like me and my mates are always getting nasty comments thrown at us! It's chav infested I tells ya! Oh well, at least there is a Tesco! WOW! Tesco rocks my socks! Oh well. I'm going to carry on with the dull I.T work =[. See ya!!! x

Posted by Well-Known Local on 28/09/2006

There is also a "Gol" in Norway and in Norsk it'll sound like Goole… Showing the routes of local placenames and the origins of a good share of the English language… East Riding Of Yorkshire, England corrupting from the Viking for "The eastern third of the lands surrounding the horse creek in the land of angels"

Posted by Jon on 05/11/2006

Terrific website. Well organised, plenty of content, simple restrained style. All the apostrophes in the right place. No mission statements. Lots of memories.

I was actually born in Selby, in 1953, but we moved to Goole in 1956 and stayed there until the mid-1960s, before moving to Carlton for a couple of years, and then heading South. In the 1970s I fetched up in mid-Devon, and am still here. It's beginning to look as if I'm staying.

We lived at 36 Marshfield Avenue. I went to Alexandra Street Infants School, Kingsway Primary and the Grammar School, until the end of what was known as the third form before schools decimalised. I don't remember Alexandra Street, but I have positive memories of the other two.

Goole does have a bit of a low profile, doesn't it? During my forty year exile I've only met one person from Goole, and I've come across too few people who have even heard of it. I've watched carefully for Goolies hitting the headlines, but these have been limited to Gavin Briars, Tony Melody and Jimmy Mann. (I was in the same year as Mann, and a David Briars who I think was related to Gavin).

Please keep up the good work, and put a red dot over Crediton.

Posted by Gail on 17/11/2006

Anyway, to take up Jon's comments about this website's excellent standard of presentation, I too think the webmaster should be congratulated for portraying Goole so affectionately and articulately. This site feels much more like the Goole I know than the formal, dreary, official sites which tell the world nothing about our lives here.

Posted by Andrew on 13/11/2006

GOOLE ROCKS

Posted by AL on 30/11/2006

My father was born in Spaldington and spent pretty much all of his life in Goole. I was brought up in Goole, first living in Fifth Avenue then Malvern Road, until I was about ten years old. I remember very little about the people I once knew, but I do remember attending Pasture Road School and Boothferry Middle School (I watched the M62 bridge being built from there) before my brothers and I were taken South in 1978. My father and his family remained there. Five years ago I revisited Goole and met my father again for the first time in many years. I made several more trips, though sadly my last trip was to attend his funeral during November 2006.

As a child I probably paced every single street in Goole. There were some allotments at the end of Malvern Road and if you followed the pathway through them it would eventually lead onto open fields of corn and barley. I see now it has all been built upon, though the allotments are still there. Even as a child I used to think the walk along the riverbank to Hook was beautiful; we had quite a few picnics along there. I also spent many hours wandering through the cemetery reading the headstones… it's just as peaceful now as it was then.

I also remember following the dyke, which flowed between our back garden and the railway lines, under Kingsway bridge… it eventually led us to a bottle dump, though I can't quite remember its exact location? I now wish I kept some of those bottles I eagerly broke to collect the marbles! There were tadpoles in that dyke too, but now it appears to be overgrown and has become a bit of a dumping ground. Back then the docks were a fantastic playground for me and my brothers. It amazes me, even today, how we ever avoided tragedy there. Finally, seeing the salt and pepper pots on the approach to town still sends a small shiver down my spine. Only true Goolies call them that.

I still have family in Goole and have every intention on revisiting the place. Goole holds many fond memories for me. I realise the town has its unique (or not so unique) social problems. There have also been some changes to the fabric of the town, but to me it is essentially the same old place as it was then all those years ago. My biggest disappointment is how untidy it looks.

Posted by John on 05/12/2006

We went to Goole over the October half term. It was fantastic! What a town! There was a ship in from Belize when we walked around the docks, and I had a chat with the guys (I used to live in Belize). We went to one of the dock pubs, the locals were interesting and friendly. The museum was extremely interesting - loads of history - that Dutch guy that diverted the River Don, those pudding boats that carried coal… The chefs were all out on day release from prison! After, we talked to a family who lived on their boat in the marina. Again, very interesting.

We live in Sheffield. Goole is only about 50 minutes away on the train. We'll come again, the kids loved it…

Posted by Barbara on 18/12/2006

Claim to Fame! I remember Michael Bentine asking (at Weston super Mare or somewhere else equally sissy down south) "is anyone here from Goole?"

Posted by Hamish on 28/01/2007

I sailed out of Goole in the early 1950s with such characters as George Cannon and Billy Guy, and still think it is the safest port in the world to be in because, if the end of the world was tomorrow, it would not happen in Goole until twenty years hence!

Posted by Jean on 16/02/2007

What a great website. I was born in Goole, as was my husband, Mike. Both our children were born in Goole also. We all live in Australia now, in fact since 1978. Although a long time since living in Goole we get back there about every two years. It was a great place to grow up in during the 1960s..We see a change every time we return. Sad to see the place so empty of things to do. No movies, dance halls, etc. No wonder the kids get up to mischief!

I am proud of being a Goolie, as are all the family, but we are glad we spread our wings and moved!

Posted by Murph on 20/02/2007

My mum is Irish and my dad is Italian, he was welding something to a power station in the area and I was accidentally born in Goole in 1958!

I shall be making my first trip back to Goole since then on Saturday as I pass through on the way to the Hull v Birmingham football match!

I live in Warwick, do I qualify to be a "Goolie" and added to the gene pool? I enjoyed the site.

Posted by Anon on 03/03/2007

Great to read all the old memories of the home town. Reading this in Australia, and had to add to the Whiteley stream, Betty youngest of the Whiteley clan, still living in OZ. Reading this with Mary Taylor, nee Whiteley, visiting family, great memories.

Posted by Kizzy on 07/03/2007

I don't believe in Goole. I won't believe it until I see it with my OWN EYES!

Posted by Michael on 01/04/2007

I lived there briefly, I couldn't believe it either.

Posted by Tony on 16/03/2007

I have never lived in Goole but, like hundreds of others all over the world, we reckon we are Goolies, why? Because it was our home port. We came from all over South Yorkshire to that tiny little office (Shipping Federation) in East Parade. When we signed on a ship, it didn't matter where, and somebody said "where do you come from" it wasn't Barnsley, Doncaster, York or Wakefield it was Goole and we were proud of it.

Posted by Hamish on 16/03/2007

I agree with you Tony, but wasn't it funny when you joined a ship in some far flung outpost like Falmouth, and the lads asked where you were from, and then the next question "where the hell is that?". Still a great little town with many fond memories for me anyway!

Posted by Tony on 17/03/2007

What I thought even funnier was the look on the faces of the "Old Man", Mate and the Bosun as they suddenly went white around the gills at the sound of that one word "Goole". Ships that up until then had been pretty liberal with the booze all at once became "dry". I wonder why?

Posted by Hamish on 17/03/2007

Maybe they had "got the word" from the railway boat skippers, or maybe a collier or two. A couple of bottles every week out of bond was not a bad deal on the railway boats - them were the days that was!

Posted by Pete on 17/03/2007

Met a guy in the bar aboard ship who had lived in Barbados for sixteen years. During our conversation he told me he used to be a long distance lorry driver. He said to me he used to visit a small port years ago and the dockers were the best ever, helping him to secure the load and tarpaulin his lorry, unlike others in Liverpool and London, etc. Sez to me you won't know it, it's a place called Goole. After I enlightened him on my birth place, we got positively pi**ed.

Posted by Gary on 24/03/2007

What a great site! Clock Tower (now minus the toilets); Salt and Pepper Pot (I too get goose-bumps when they rear into view when approaching the town on the freeway); Tom Puddings (I often have trouble convincing people that they actually existed); celebrities still living in the town (I know the feeling, John Farnham lives just down the road from me now); picnics on the riverbank and syringes in the park. Who said Goole is a boring place? And I have heard that there is now a Goole Marina, but I don't believe it myself.

I had a wonderful evening recently when I was entertained by four Goolies travelling with the Barmy Army. I don't think they enjoyed the cricket as much as they had hoped but I certainly enjoyed their company. They were great ambassadors for the town.

I never shower at my local Gym. Nineteen years I've been going there but I don't use the showers. But one day last month, as I was going out afterwards, I had a shower there. Now I don't as a rule talk to strangers in a communal shower but somehow I struck up a conversation with the only other bloke there. You guessed it - he was a Goolie, on a round-the-world trip. I left Goole 38 years ago to come to Australia and I would loved to have had a beer with him but I was already running late for an appointment. Before I left I asked him which street he lived in. You guessed it again, he lived in the same street I did. But I bet you wouldn't believe he lives in the house next door to where I grew up. I've had some coincidences occur to me in my life, but that surely beats them all. Sorry Big Nick but I had to get this story on the Net.

I reckon someone should cash in on modern technology and change its name to "Google". Now that would put the place on the map. Then I suppose we'd all be called "Googlies". On second thoughts, perhaps leave it as it is.

Posted by Joanne on 24/03/2007

I was born in Goole in 1973 and lived there until I was seven. I went back a few years ago and only a few changes have been made. I'm sad to hear Pasture Road primary is to be closed as I went there and still have vivid memories. I went back to see the old house I was born in, the lady caught me peeping over the garden wall and invited me in for a cup of tea! How bizarre was that? Maybe I'll buy that house one day…

Posted by Stu on 27/03/2007

I used to work for the port last year and moved to a small village near Doncaster after been made redundant. Since leaving I have to admit I really miss the town and its people. I miss the warmth of how friendly Goole folk are. I try my hardest to get back to see family and friends every four weeks. You never know what you've got until it's gone!

Posted by Sandra on 02/04/2007

I am so pleased that I found this site. I was born in Old Goole and enjoyed life there. Actually it was all I knew. I've lived in the USA since 1965 after I left Old Goole to join the WRAF. I still make it home once a year, have relatives in the area and love to travel Europe.

Posted by Lane on 04/04/2007

I am considering visiting Goole in search of info concerning the Duckels brewery. Being a descendant, I hoped to find a pleasant town and perhaps the original home site. Some of the negative comments about Goole make me wonder if a trip from New Mexico, USA would be worth the expense? Give me some encouragement!

Posted by Pedro on 10/04/2007

Don't listen to all the negative comments of sunny Goole. The furthest inland port in Britain. In this day and age one can find problems in any community. I find in most cases ex-Goolies always return, even for a short visit, to meet family or friends or trace history links. We have a very helpful library to assist in your search.

I do speak from experience, born in Goole, travelled the world working in India, China, America and countries too numerous to mention. Living in South America for ten years - now I'm back. You will find most people helpful and friendly so come and visit.

Posted by Priscilla on 25/04/2007

I am an old lady now, but I lived in Goole from being two years old, 1929 and came to Canada when I was 19 years old, and have never had the chance to return. I remember very many pleasant years there, the parks, the riverbank was a favourite walk, my father is buried there. I had all my schooling in Goole and it has stood me in good stead.

I still get homesick at times, and I can still visualize many of the streets and places, I lived on Burlington Crescent. Life moves faster than we think so enjoy every day no matter where you are.

Posted by David on 01/05/2007

Another trip down memory lane, for me at least. As a boy my grandfather Joseph Lea used to take me for long walks along the riverbank towards Hook. Sometimes we used to call at a very large house that faced onto the river, the first one you came to approaching from the docks, the back garden had a gate leading onto the bank.

I recall having soft drinks and cake there whilst my grandfather chatted and have often wondered "who lived in a house like that". Any answers? Thanks.

Posted by Pedro on 01/05/2007

That house even had a gazeebo actually on the riverbank, also a covered trellis of honeysuckle. I believe it was the vicarage.

Posted by David on 03/05/2007

Pedro, thanks for that, I've often wondered where I'd been, not the first or last time mind you. If you are right about it being the vicarage I can understand my grandmother being there, what with her involvement with the Salvation Army etc. After he retired my grandfather was never far from her side and, whilst not a Salvationist, he gave her unconditional support in her beliefs.

The garden made a big impression on me. It was the ability to walk out onto the bank and see the dinghies, etc. lined up on the bank.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 04/05/2007

I thought the remains of the gazebo might have been at Studer's place, by the Poplar trees that are no more. Although the first house was the Old Vicarage and I still use it as a turnaround for the short evening amble.

Posted by David on 05/05/2007

Your last thread started the "cogs" to turn. Mention was made of Wadsworth House. When my grandfather was skipper of the LOWLAND he associated with Colin Wadsworth, therefore I'm left wondering if it was his house I used to visit. It's all history now but at least I now know where I might have been.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 16/05/2007

I think it may have been Colin Wadsworth - C.P., but possibly his family were the first residents, before him. I believe it was G.B. Wadsworth who had the house built.

Checking the Goole Cemetery Monumental Inscriptions (Boothferry Family and Local History Group publications), Vol. 1 contains their entry - Colin Pearson W. died August 29th 1969, aged 82 years.

Their home was between Studer's and the Vicarage.

Posted by David on 19/05/2007

I would like to thank each of you for coming back with the answers to the many seemingless questions that I put to you. May I say that I never get bored when on this site.

Posted by Fiona on 11/06/2007

Concerning the gazebo on the river bank; it was part of Studer's house, River Lodge. It had gone before I was born, but I think I have pictures of family members there as they knew the Studers.

Posted by David on 02/05/2007

I live in Goole and it sh*t

Posted by Stuart (Not Webmaster) on 02/05/2007

Goolie and proud of it. I'm not ashamed to tell anybody where my roots are. The biggest problem is explaining where it is. People in Leeds, Bradford, Cleckhuddersfaxmondwyke seem convinced that it's a suburb of Hull. Those in Hull tell me it's across the Humber right next door to Scunthorpe?

Born, raised, educated in Goole. Travelled a bit. Been half way round the globe three times but I still come back. Why? It's a fantastic place to come back to. It gets better all the time. What a relief after big city life. So there's nothing for people to do? In my day we said that too. Now I know that's the beauty of the place. A bit of peace and quiet for us old-timers. shopping without the need to drive for miles, cheap (often free) car parking (try to find that in Leeds) for those who can't be bothered to walk or catch a bus, loads of decent ale, riverside walks, riding a bike with no hills for miles around. In Goole you can even listen to the sound of nothing but birds. How many other places can boast of that? I could go on but that's enough for now.

Posted by Shirley on 07/05/2007

Am looking for info on Goole Barracks, just have not been able to find anything. Have census records of family being there so would like to know something about the building and its history, whatever it is. It sounds like it should have some history but can't find it. Thanks.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 06/06/2007

In library reference room I found info in Garside News Cuttings Vol.1. Harold Garside was a great local historian. He had copied extracts from Goole Town Book 1722-1811 (subsequently burned in fire at Goole's first Market Hall).

Quotes this from a talk he gave, reported in Goole Times Nov. 27 1954:

"In 1738 five persons occupied the alms houses known as The Barracks paying rents varying from 12s. to £1 a year, payable at Martinmas and May Day."

Later census details show some twelve to eighteen properties in the area occupied by Goole Barracks (to my uncertain knowledge, these were along Swinefleet Road), mostly occupied by former farm workers or their relatives.

Posted by Shirley on 07/06/2007

Thanks for your info, I had thought it was a whole building not separate dwellings. I do have them on a map next to what is now Swinefleet Road. I thought it was a whole building as it seemed to be on the river side of what is now the road and thought it might have some military history. I believe that a past relative lived there, by the name of Coates/Coats on 1851 census, but the timing of her date of birth makes her difficult to find until 1871 when she is living with her sister in Durham.

Posted by Shuffleton Streets on 08/06/2007

Like you I found the building later, on historic map, and agree it appeared to be on the river side of the roadway shown. It may have been one building too, with separate "apartments" (or "compartments/rooms") for many residents, as you say a bit like a military barracks. I imagine it rather like the later Union poor law building in Boothferry Road Goole, known as the "workhouse" - a complex of rooms and separate accommodation for males, females and children.

Many entries in census appeared under The Barracks - suggesting separate accommodation, although it may not have been.

As for the Coates family - if you ever get time or are in the neighbourhood, I can recommend a day or more reading closely the Garside and Gardiner notes, and cuttings, because there are references, often in passing, to early residents - for a variety of purposes, not all of them positive! They can be rooted through for clues that would otherwise have been lost. Garside noted interesting bits from the Goole and Marshland Gazette (also I think those mid-1850s editions onwards are still available on microfilm at the library).

Gardiner has handwritten pages of historic finds as well as notes of interest. Garside has a book of yellowing cuttings too from newspapers.

Posted by The computers in the local library are handy!! on 10/05/2007

all new, cant be bad eh : )

Posted by Moira on 04/06/2007

Great site! Lived in Goole 1980-1995 in the vicarage in Clifton Gardens as married to the then vicar Tim Leach. Very happy memories of our time there. Still visit most weeks to see family.

Very photogenic place - Tim published "Glimpses of Goole" when he was vicar in aid of Parish Church funds. Does anyone remember the "Stop the Rot" appeal to repair the church roof and ceiling? Would love to hear from anyone who went to the Parish Church Toddler group - at one stage we had 140 children on the books! Perhaps details of the Church could be added to this site? Will keep in touch.

Posted by Elizabeth on 06/08/2007

My mother, Kathleen Watmough came to Adelaide after my step father died, 27 years ago. She passed away last year, at the age of 90. My Grandfather, Richard Jolley was a diocesan lay reader to the dioceses of Sheffield and York. He was the superintendent of the Parish Church Sunday in the role taken over by my mother after his death. Mum and dad were also Sunday school teachers and ran the youth club. I have two copies of your husband's book. The co-writer Mr Ferriman was my English teacher at the Grammar School. My late ex-husband, his mother, uncle, aunt and cousin (all Woodheads) and my cousins Jean Ellerington and Jane Chevis all attended the school too. These are all things remembered kindly.

Posted by Robert on 12/07/2007

Claim to Fame! I carry in my head a couple of occasions when comedians used Goole. Les Dawson once started off a story by saying it was about an incident that happened once when he was working as a wash leather ringer-outer for a one armed window cleaner in Goole. The other is a Two Ronnies news, or rather weather, item - "it'll be dry in Rye, cool in Goole, choking in Woking and if you live in Lissingdown, you'd better take an umbrella."

Posted by AE on 18/07/2007

As an Irish man I always found Goole very enjoyable to visit, so much so that I married a Goole girl. We both now live in Northern Ireland but we visit as much as possible as most of my wife's family live in and around Goole. Don't knock Goole, there's a lot worse places to live.

Posted by John on 27/09/2007

I have very happy memories of Goole - it was the nearest town to my village (Fockerby) and where we went market shopping. A lady at the Tower Cinema always seemed to be chewing apples and had brilliantly white teeth! Mrs Storr for flowers; then across the road for a pot of cream; followed by a look at Milners to see if our Storrs flowers were better or worse; Keith Anderson's window for a bit of daydreaming. My elderly aunts always moved about the town by car, never seemed to walk anywhere, and we always ended up at Timms the Chemist, near the docks. A wonderful old chemist's shop, with polished wooden shelves and drawers; Victory Vs a-plenty; buying toilet tissue and having it wrapped in brown paper for the sake of decorum. Very happy memories of Hackforth's cafe, and the imposing Mrs Richardson, the manageress. I think a three course lunch was under three shillings. Goole, to me, as a schoolboy was a great place - Woolworths toys, fantastic!

Posted by Anthony on 01/11/2007

Claim to Fame! I remember when a couple of the guys from Emmerdale Farm opened Barry's fishing tackle shop on Pasture Road.

Posted by Jamie on 22/11/2007

Claim to Fame! Goole made a brief appearance in a recent episode of Top Gear, when James May drove an Alfa Romeo from Hessle foreshore to Barton south bank without using the Humber bridge.

Posted by Ken on 03/01/2008

Goole has changed over the last 30 odd years or so. I was born in Goole in 1928 in Richard Coopers Street, at one year old we went to live in Kingsway. At various years in the army when I was asked where I came from I always said, "Goole near Doncaster", I was quite surprised when people said "Oh I know where Goole is," or I have heard the name. I have had some good times in Goole, it was one busy place. I was always pleased to get back to Goole on my leaves while in the army after some the places I was posted in. Goole had some of the best pubs around, the Station, Jacky Watsons, the Sydney, Burlington, and one of my favourites the Crown, but like most places things change, unfortunately not always for the better; and that goes for the country too I am afraid to say.

Posted by Geoff on 05/01/2008

I was born in 1945 and lived in Goole until 1975. I now live in Scunthorpe. Occasionally I visit Goole cemetery to lay flowers on my parent's grave. I never recognise nor seldom see any familiar faces. I can remember Gavin Briars and his brother Quentin at Kingsway School, (I was there from 1953) - he was walking stiff legged, swinging his arms and pretending to be a zombie. I remember also the Sherburn family. I was associated with them at the Goole Folk Club which survived long enough to cultivate young Chris into a fine entertainer. I am ashamed to admit that I have lost touch with many good friends that I once knew. I would imagine that like me, many left the town for better job opportunities.

Posted by Christine on 07/01/2008

Seeing the name LeVogeur this evening brought back memories of Maurice who I was at school with me for a time. He would have been born in 1938/39 and I think his mother was a Cawkwell. I'm unable to remember if it was at Alexandra Street School or the Grammar School. I wonder if Maurice was a relative of yours Geoff? My maiden name was Townsley and I grew up in Alexandra Street.

Posted by Geoff on 13/01/2008

I have three brothers, Lawrence born in 1933, Maurice, born 1939, Philip born 1947. (Our maternal grandparents were Cawkwells). Lawrence and Maurice attended Alexandra Street School then Goole Grammar School.

Posted by Shaun on 29/01/2008

I met a gal named Diane who was in Goole and we chatted a bit online. She was an awesome lady, miss her friendship. Anyone know her? I would love to hear from her again. The Guy from North Idaho…

Posted by Corby on 03/02/2008

I read these pages and it's like going back in time. Almost 70 years in fact when I first attended Alexandra Street School. Some classmates were Lawrence Levoguer, Frank Depledge, Alan Dixon, Eric Holt, Geoff McGrath. I see their faces when I read articles written by possible siblings or children.

Posted by Harold on 27/02/2008

This is the first post I have made on the "Goole on the Web" site but I have kept an eye on it for quite a long time as I was born in Morley Street Old Goole during 1956. I will mention some of the connections that have come up if you know what I mean but you will have to fill in the rest because of time.

I remember the mother and toddler group at the parish church organised by Moira Leach and building them a play house when my two sons were young and attended the same with their mum. I remember a Dutch coaster blocking the river Don near Fisons with its bows on one bank and its stern on the other. Tom Puddings sinking near the middle(?) bridge on Bridge Street. My grandmother (Lotti "Charlott" Smith) organising trips to Skegness using Bens Buses from Old Goole. I remember watching the many launches of boats from the boat yard in Old Goole, especially the trawlers.

But most of all I remember the Ballroom (Modern, Latin also Disco) Dancers of Goole who along with my sons (Jonathan and Russell) travelled the country along with their dance school and parents promoting Goole. We had a great time. All the best Harry

Posted by Clive on 19/03/2008

G'day. While I did not come from Goole, I shipped out of there for about five years in the late 1950s early 1960s. I now live in Perth WA. I was wondering if you knew a girl named Mavis Morton who lived with her parents in a house alongside one of the locks on Goole docks. I used to go out with her and I have always wondered what became of her. Regards.

Posted by Pedro on 24/04/2008

I took a nostalgic walk along the riverbank today (between showers) and noticed a pleasure craft high and dry on the sandbank. While I was watching, the RNLI arrived, they must have had a long trip as the nearest station is at Spurn Point. Other commitments prevented me from seeing the outcome of the rescue. Hopefully the boat would refloat as the tide came in. Still aware how treacherous this river can be to weekend sailors; and of course the debt of gratitude we owe the RNLI.

Posted by Dave on 09/06/2008

Salt, Pepper, Gherkins and "Gooleyes". This site is a fine and fun piece of work, informative, educational and nostalgic. For me, the photos really bring back memories of riverbank rides, Hook Gala, old-time dancing lessons at GGS, "games" on a bleak and windswept Western Road, the annual cross-country school run, the G and D, buying my first pint in the Buchanan at 14, as it will for many who grew up there in the 1970s. But were we really all so mad and happy in those days or was it just a myth? Time plays funny tricks, suppressing bad memories and exaggerating the good. Take the town itself for instance - it was never beautiful, but was it really as ugly then as it is now?

Maybe it's my imagination, but looking through the photos here what it so desperately needs is "regeneration", as the term has it. Gateshead, a town which at one time wasn't so different to Goole, being northern, a port and in similar need of renewal, seems to have benefited enormously from lottery money and gained a series of stylish architectural projects.

So why doesn't the council persuade Foster, Rogers, Alsop and co. to come up and do the same to Goole? Just imagine - a Gherkin-style office block and shopping centre next to the salt and pepper pots, Hudson's Mill rebuilt and restored, turned into a fancy art gallery, reached by a chic new footbridge over the Aire. Docklands and Shuffleton could become the bohemian quarter, full of stylish converted warehouse apartments, indie clubs and cinemas, while the banks, bars, boutiques and restaurants would fight to attract the wealthy punters blowing in from the M62. What price the Victoria Pleasure Grounds transformed into a vast indoor multisports/concert arena, and while we're about it, let's bring in a docklands light railway, or even an underground system to connect it all up - with a prize for the best provisional route map… And who needs an Angel of the North, let's have a big wheel - and call it the "Gooleye" - down by the riverside! Oh, dreamland!

But seriously, here is a town desperately in need of some proper regeneration with attractive urban architecture to lift the spirits and please the eye. The real strength of the town is its people; we surely deserve better than the town's planners and architects have bequeathed us.

Posted by Tim on 04/07/2008

21 February 1329 at Westminster:

Grant in fee simple to Geoffrey le Scrope, in recompence of a like grant to him by the late king of the manor of Brakon [Bracken], co, York, late of Henry Tyeys, and the manors of Burghwaleys and Neutonwaleys, late of Richard le Waleys, which escheated to the said king by forfeiture through the quarrel of Thomas, late earl of Lancaster, but which are now restored to the heirs of the said Henry and to the said Richard by virtue of the statute [1 Edward III., statute 1, cap. 3]; and also in consideration of the said Geoffrey having granted to queen Isabella, in fee, the manor of Eltham Maundevill; of a pension of 100L. out of the Exchequer, as well as of the reversion of the manor of Whitegift, and lands and rents in Ouseflete, Swyneflete, Rednesse, Houk, Ayremynne and the moor of Inklesmore, co. York, now held for life by the said queen, and of the yearly value of 50L., On his succeeding to the manor and lands the pension is to cease.

By K. & C.
C.P.R. Edward III, vol. 1, p. 401 Years: 1327-1330

15 Dec 1330 Westminster:

Grant in fee, with the assent of Parliament, to Geoffrey le Scrope, in consideration of the great place which he holds in the kingdom and in recompence of the manors of Braken [Bracken near Kilnwick, E.R.Y.], Burghwaleys and Neutone Waleys, co. York, lately taken from him under the statute of Parliament for restitution of the lands forfeited by reason of the quarrel of Thomas, earl of Lancaster,and of a yearly sum of 100L. granted to him for the life of queen Isabella,of the manor of Whitegift with the lands and rents in Ousellete, Swyneflete, Rednesse, Houk, Ayremynne and the moor of Inklesmore, in the same county, lately held by the said queen, together with the knights' fees, advowsons and such other appurtenances as she had.

By K.
C.P.R. Edward III, vol. 2, p. 31 Years: 1330-1334

Posted by Priscilla on 08/07/2008

I used to live and spent my entire school life in Goole. I now live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was Priscilla Shadwell and am now Priscilla Laybolt. I lived there from 1929 to 1946. I would love to hear from someone from Goole. My last address was 52 Burlington Crescent, on the corner of Carlisle Street. I miss the walks on the top of the bank by the river.

Posted by Ashley on 23/08/2008

Born and bred in Goole. Born in 1968, lived in Goole until 1984, then moved to London. Currently living in Roehampton SW London. Went to Bartholomew and Goole Grammar but have lost contact with old mates over the years if anyone remembers me please say hello. Still visit Goole a couple of times a year to visit family. Really enjoy the site it brings back many happy memories.

Posted by John on 28/08/2008

I lived in Capstan Street, opposite the Vermuyden pub, Old Goole in early-1960s with my parents. The old coal yard was opposite and I used to get under the gate in winter and get coal for my mum in a bucket and leave a trail in the snow to our door. I was cheeky to a worker and he put me in his JCB bucket, lifted me up, and went for his lunch - I wasn't cheeky anymore. Has anyone got any photos of this area around these dates in the 1960s/70s? Thanks.

Posted by Alan on 11/09/2008

I have a map showing Capstan Street and a photo of Bridge Street in its heyday. I can send them to you.

Posted by MM on 29/01/2009

Is that the Alan, who'll now be approaching late 60s and once lived opposite Shorts' Greengrocers?

Posted by Alan on 30/01/2009

Michael, is that you from over Cheshire way, used to stay with your grandma in Colonels Walk?

Posted by Alan on 14/02/2009

Thank you GOTW. I have made contact with Mike after approx. 53 years. Great.

Posted by Graham on 06/11/2008

I don't get back very often, but did visit to show my American wife where I came from (apologies to the poor people in Fourth Street who had this stereotypical American blonde woman taking pictures through the window) I went to Pasture Road School and then to Alexander Street (which I couldn't find when we did the tour, has it been demolished?). I have fond memories (as very young kids, we left when I was nine or so) of running around the docks, stealing turnips form the railway trains at the end of Fourth Street and wandering far and wide. Amazing to consider given the paranoia of today. My grandfather owned Cowells pop works and Shorts until late 1957 when they were liquidated. I see both buildings are still going strong. Love to hear from anyone with whom I went to school! I'm now living in Oakland, California where I have been for twelve years.

Posted by Gary on 15/03/2009

I lived in Fourth Avenue until I was eight, about 1961, and went to Pasture Road and Alexandra Street Schools. We lived at the railway line end which is of course now a car park; at least the last time I was there it was. My neighbours were Steve Foster, David Jackson, Michael, Paul and Chris Andrews, Raymond Alcock (or Elcock), Keith and Russell Noon and my cousins, Richard and Clive Ellis. They weren't turnips in those train carriages, they were sugarbeet, and Mr Huby had the shop at the corner of St. Andrews Terrace. There was also a woodmill type place next door to the Baths Hall. I remember running up to the Baths Hall clock and back to see the time, because we couldn't afford a clock of our own. Now I live in Australia and can afford many clocks.

Posted by Andy on 29/11/2008

Does anybody have any pictures of a house in Goole called "the Poplars"? My father Alan Thompson grew up there in the 1920s and it would be nice to see some photos of the place. Thanks.

Posted by Corby on 01/12/2008

I remember a house on Hook Road called "The Poplars" because of the row of these trees along the back fence. The house was somewhere between East Park bowling green and the bandstand. I seem to recollect also that it may be the only house along there which had a lift installed. As a child I could not resist the fine crop of gooseberries which grew along the rear of the property and finished up tearing my brand new pants on the three rows of barbed wire which surmounted the high chain-link fence. Boy, was I in trouble that day

Posted by Mike on 19/01/2010

Have just found this site. Regarding The Poplars, my aunt owned the house, from when I'm not sure until her death in the early 1960s. It was a beautiful house, the most prominent room I remember was the billiard room. My parents were both born in Goole in the 1890s. Haven't been there since about 1965. Moved to Western Australia in 1974

Posted by Pamela on 09/11/2014

Family linked somehow to a house on Hook Road Goole called The Poplars. Would love to know if anyone knows the family name who may have lived there in or around 1940, so I can match the connection.

Posted by Fiona on 25/12/2014

My mother used to tell me that there were two women living together in the house at the end of the 1940s. Presumably a couple, there was some suggestion but I cannot remember the names. They played golf apparently.

When I was growing up in the 1960s the house was owned by a family named Wardle.

Posted by Trevor on 29/01/2009

I was born in Goole, Lime Tree Gardens, in 1944. I found your website a breath of fresh air. I now live in Manchester and believe me the people of Goole have a lot to be thankful for. The time I spent there, especially the 1960s. I would not exchange for a gold nugget. I have been back on three or four occasions and the memories grow stronger each time.

Posted by Gary on 21/02/2009

My mother was born in Goole but I was born in California. I started going for the summers when I was five in 1964 and my grandparents lived on Pasture Road. The toilet was at the end of the backyard and they still delivered milk with a horse and cart. My nana would give me a cube of sugar for the horse. They had to boil water to put in a tin tub.

My grandfather worked at the docks and I remember traffic jams of bicycles at dinnertime (lunchtime in America). We rode around in my uncle's motorcycle that had a sidecar. I loved walking along the banks to Hook and the docks. My grandfather had an allotment. He got my brother and I bicycles and I loved riding there to his garden.

I live in San Francisco and have a lot in The Potrero Hill Community Garden (one of the best views in San Francisco). I think I inherited that passion for gardening from him. He loved his garden and his roses. I have fond memories of Goole. I haven't been for 23 years and will be visiting in May. I'm looking forward to it.

Posted by Ken on 31/05/2009

I married a girl called GAUTRY whose father's ancestors immigrated to Goole from the Huguenot persecutions in 15th Century France. I wonder if there are still Gautrys that reside in Goole? The name is derived from the French "Gautier".

Posted by Geoffrey on 08/10/2009

The names mentioned are on my mother's side of the family. There was Kathleen (my mother), Enid, Mary, Ann, Dorothy, David. By the way the name is spelled "Gawtry". If you need more info then let me know and I will try to help.

Posted by Sean on 22/10/2009

Born and bred, the town is part of me. The only downfall was Wesley Square taking the fair's spot! You can't compare the new car park spot to the former glory that was the waste ground just after Alexander school was raised. I mean bungee jumping from where Argos is now - you just don't get that anymore!

Posted by Jane on 07/02/2010

My dad, Roger Freeman, came from Goole and had many fond memories of Goole Grammar School, class of 1963, and Goole in general. He talked about the "Copper Kettle", cups of coffee and a Park Drive; sneaking off cross country runs to have a sly cigarette but still arriving back in a respectable place. We used to go back often to visit relatives when I was a lot younger, and I remember swimming in the Municipal Baths, the beautifully kept cemetery on Hook Road (which I still visit annually) and Snells ham for tea. Dad would be horrified at the demise of the New Bridge Street Hotel, run at one time by his grandfather, Arthur Calvert.

Posted by Sue on 20/02/2010

Did he live on Pasture Road and go on to medical school? If so, I had a mini-crush on him!

Posted by Jane on 22/02/2010

Yes he did, on both counts! How extraordinary to think someone had a crush, albeit a mini one, on dad! Were you at school with him and do you still live in Goole? He used to tell great stories about growing up there.

Posted by Sue on 23/02/2010

He wouldn't remember me - I was a chubby little third former when he was in the sixth form - I worshipped him from afar! I now live in the US about 30 miles outside Boston.

Posted by Jane on 25/02/2010

That's a long way from Goole! Dad went off to medical school in Leeds, and eventually moved to Newcastle. He was always a Goolie at heart though! He would have loved this website as he and I had got quite into family tree, etc. and had had a trip round Goole and Swinefleet looking for stuff shortly before he died.

My grandma lived at 110 Pasture Road for years, until she came to live with us in Newcastle. I think she was a dinner lady at the school - she told us she had to serve the peas at the end of the line because she was left-handed and would have clashed spoons anywhere else!

Posted by Pauline on 06/03/2010

I was born in Red Lion Street Goole in 1956, I went to Pasture Road School, then Alexandra Street School, then Secondary Modern School between 1967 and 1971. I left Goole in 1974, for Bridlington where I still live. It would be good to hear from anyone who remembers me.

Posted by Frank on 08/03/2010

When asked a question you didn't want to answer you would say "It was Icky from Bubwith". Anyone know how this expression started? I know it was used in the 1920s and 1930s in Goole.

Posted by Geoff on 08/03/2010

We used "Ickey from Hook"

Posted by Bill on 16/06/2019

If, like me, you are intrigued by the variety of Yorkshire accents you might want to catch a programme that was on Radio 4 this afternoon at 4.30, called "Tongues and Talk: The Dialect Poets". One word I had forgotten was "croggie", which, when I was in Goole, meant giving someone a lift on the crossbar of your bike.

Posted by Corby on 17/06/2019

I've given many "croggies" in my time, also being "croggied". A word that springs to my mind and it may only apply to Goole is the word "mawngie" It may be spelled wrongly but as you may know, "miserable"

Posted by Bill on 17/06/2019

You're quite right. Our mum was often telling us off for being "mawngie". And Goole is the only place I've heard it used.

Posted by Dave on 27/07/2010

I visited Goole for the first time in a long time last week to see my friend Alex Bristow. I just wanted to say how friendly the town seemed compared to previous years when I've been and how welcome everyone made us feel. The character of the town was what stood out the most and there was a genuine neighbourly air around the whole place. This seems to be something that is increasingly rare around all parts of the country and there's something quite touching to see people on this website who seem proud of where they are from. Cheers.

Posted by Ian on 31/08/2010

My mother was of the Duckels clan and the ancestral home of that branch until the 1920s was Bridge House Farm (now Bridge Farm?), immediately south of the Dutch River Bridge. Every eldest Duckels son was named Thomas, the last being my uncle who worked at the former Cleveland Petroleum Company depot at the north end of Hook and who will still be remembered in the town.

Posted by Jan on 13/11/2010

Claim to Fame! I remember seeing Wilfred Pickles and his wife Mable coming out of fish and chip shop in Montage Street. He had been recording his radio show at the Baths Hall. Early 1960s.

Posted by TJ on 01/04/2011

Love reading everyone's memories of Goole - bringing back so very good ones of my own. My dad and his parents are from Goole and I visited there many times from 1972-1990s. Family lived on Oxford Road/Street and grandad kept his car in a garage miles away (or so it seemed to my little legs) walking to get the car with him to "warm it up for nanna" and arguing with my brother about who would sit in the front and in the end we both would share the front seat (how times have changed - no car seats back then!). Remembering the dog that always seemed to be on the roof of the Viking as we arrived and left Goole for the summer holiday stay. These are some of my happiest warm feeling memories! Many thanks!

Posted by John on 13/05/2011

I spent an interesting hour wandering round the museum upstairs at Goole Library yesterday. I came away having bought a copy of the disappearing Goole photo booklet and have had a nostalgic evening looking at pictures of parts of Goole I recall from my youth but which no longer exist. Of personal interest were the railway tracks in Aire Street opposite Jack Pettys motorcycle shop, the Globe Cafe, Ouse Street where the buses back to Howdendyke set off, the Sydney Hotel, the list goes on. There is a photo of the Peacock with the area of the present single storey section in ruins as a result of a wartime aeroplane crashing into it following a mid-air collision.

I suppose what shows the most retrograde development is the area around the Market Hall and the Clock Tower where the old outside market was and the three cornered island under the clock were "improved" but in my opinion the heart of the town was destroyed. Town Planners have a lot to answer for!

Posted by a.n.other on 02/06/2011

So this is an interesting site. Left Goole for uni in 1968 and never came back apart from to see family but no reason to come back now. Sad to see the state of the town centre these days, Goole planners clearly had lots on their minds other than planning. Had a discussion with friends about roots the other day and they tried to convince me that people who never leave their sleepy hollow are basically happier because they know nothing better, but I suggested they visit Goole.

I know it's an easy target but really what happened to the dignity and working class drive to improve life? Maybe it died with Thatcher's demolition of the Yorkshire coalfields and steel industry. But believe me I have travelled a thousand places and never seen a place where every inhabitant walks round looking like they have just lost a tenner and found 50p.

But it was not like this. In the 1950s/1960s GGS was full of great teachers and pupils were inspired to reach for the sky. And the secondary modern school so derided as a second class option fed countless pupils to GGS who went onto great things. So comprehensives came, the great teachers left, the parents who cared put their kids on the bus to Scunthorpe of all places and the Vermuyden School strived valiantly for mediocrity. And a generation of kids with potential floundered and… I saw a mention of Keith Burton the head boy tragically killed on his bike at Greenawn Corner. That was a horrendous time and I remember Mr Teed keeping a photo of him on his desk. Burton was on his way to Cambridge to read Maths, a product of the remarkable teaching of Appleyard and Elvis the physics teacher.

How many other people are in debt to teachers like them? I remember Bobby Todd maybe the smartest of many who took the alternative route of playing football. So much was good then, yes a lot was bad, but is it better to condemn everyone to mediocrity so the Town Council can feel politically correct? Oh well maybe I envy those still there.

Posted by Bill on 02/06/2011

Like you I left in the late 1960s for higher education, returned seldom and now live in a relatively affluent area from which it is too easy to make criticisms of, as you say, an easy target. But you overstate the case against Goole. Post Thatcher many towns lost their working class dignity, civic pride and ability to control their own destiny. Also it was not the only town affected by changes to the education system. (Incidentally comprehensive school worked well for my kids who both went on to better universities than me). True Goole went through a very bad patch made worse by hard drugs and lousy local government. But I see it getting its act together once more and with some significant recent planning successes, e.g. the Junction and the restoration of the Lowther. So, my point is, that you and me and others like us should back off, unless we are prepared to pitch in and do something constructive to help the town that served us well.

Posted by Gail on 03/06/2011

I too went to GGS in the 1960s and on to university and am eternally grateful for the education Goole (including my Goole-born parents) gave me. I too lived in other places around the UK for many years, travelled widely and experienced other cultures through my job, and finally came back to Goole five years ago for family reasons. A.N.Other, it's really rather rude of you to suggest that the only people who like Goole are people who don't know any better. Plenty of us have seen the rest of the world and still find reasons to feel comfortable in Goole. Making sweeping judgements about people you've only walked past in the street doesn't really prove a point.

Posted by a.n.other on 04/06/2011

Dear Bill and Gail My apologies if you are at all offended by my comments and in no way was I trying to criticise those who choose to live in Goole. People are much the same anywhere in the world and indeed there is a warmth with Goole people unusual in much of the UK. But as the old saying goes if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and comes with orange sauce then it is a duck.

My only criticism of the good people of Goole would be that perhaps they have sat back too much and accepted too much rubbish from the town leaders. I know Goole is not alone in being ravaged by the Thatcher years but a lot of places have tried very hard to reinvent themselves. As far as education is concerned, and that is maybe the biggest problem, simply look at the destinations and results of those educated in Goole. Compare with the results of 30/40 years ago and ask what wonderful talented young people have been failed. Of course education is not all about the high achievers but I would bet my last 50p that the achievements at all levels have been remarkably reduced.

Look at what people tolerate as a health service in Goole. Both my parents grew old and died in a system where you could be arbitrarily sent in any direction up to 30 or 40 miles from Goole for treatment. In Scunthorpe hospital my mother lay in bed whilst the case conference around her was conducted in Urdu. The day after my father died the consultant explained that after having a leg amputated the chance of my father surviving was low, but there was no amputation. Such nonsense would be not tolerated anywhere else I have ever seen. But there are many wonderful things about Goole and maybe you need to live there to see them clearly.

Posted by Bill on 12/06/2011

No hard feelings then. You make fair comment, not least about the failings of the "local" health service.

Posted by Fiona on 06/07/2011

I think Goole started going down the hill when it lost its borough status and became part of Boothferry. As for the demise of education in the town, I know I wouldn't be where I am today if the schools hadn't become comprehensive. As a result of (undiagnosed dyscalculia) I failed my 11 plus, really struggled at the appalling Secondary Modern, where I was bullied. This school was gearing girls up for at best a secretary in a shipping office or an SEN at a local hospital, but mainly to be housewives. I got three A-levels in the comprehensive system and now have an MA and work in an FE college.

I agree that Goole has gone downhill, there has been poor planning and local government. It seems very much to have lost its confidence, identity and status post Thatcher, but it was losing those prior to her becoming Prime Minister when it became part of Boothferry. I also agree about healthcare, Scunthorpe failed my parents, appalling place.

Posted by Bill on 19/06/2011

Asked "Where were you born?" "Goole!" Blank faces and eyes to match. My grandfather was a tug-boat engineman and worked for Aire & Calder Navigation. My father also worked for them until he was called up during the war (1940). I graduated from Pasture Road School, then Boothferry Road and then spent two years at GGS until the family moved to Hornsea, East Yorks in 1947. I'm now in Sydney Australia having been here since 1956, shipped out by Blundell Spence of Sculcoates Lane Hull to manage the Factory in Mascot, Sydney, NSW. I was later manager of a Glass toughening plant at Taren Point in Sydney 50% owned by Guardian Industries who I understand have a plant in Goole. I had a good mate through Boothferry Road and GGS days called Clive Grant who lived in Jefferson Street. We lived in Rutland Road at the edge of town (as it was then). It was great to find this site. I will keep an eye on it in future.

Posted by Roy on 31/08/2011

Claim to Fame! I remember Harry Corbett and Sooty coming to Goole Baths. He stayed at the Station Hotel. It was near Bonfire night and a friend and I asked him for a penny for the guy.

Posted by Geoffrey on 05/09/2011

I was born in Goole in 1947 at 33 Oxford Road, moving to North Yorkshire at the age of three. Does anyone remember my grandparents, Lilly and Arthur Page? My gran was dinner lady at Pasture Road School and I believe my grandad was a cobbler and then caretaker at Pasture Road. My father Kenneth Page worked on the railways, I think as a shunter? His sisters were Sheila, Betty and Eileen. Betty married Cliff Hensby, who was a policeman, based at Goole for a lengthy time and also Rawcliffe Bridge.

I have very happy memories as a child of staying a 33 Oxford Road, during school holidays, and well remember the horse trough at the top of Oxford Road, well before any new developments. I got my interest in railways at a very young age, from watching the late afternoon, early evening fish trains, rattling south bound through Goole station, with the distinctive fish smell

Posted by Robert on 06/11/2011

Responding to mockery for my shelf of books about Goole, I pointed out that nowhere else is (perhaps that should be "was") quite like it? But why? Why no "Selby-on-the-web" or "Growing up in Beverley"? Did Goole's isolation create a stronger identity? Did this nurture greater talent and creativity? Why do we feel so fortunate to be from Goole?

Posted by Ted on 15/11/2011

I was in West Riding Police stationed at Goole from May 1959 until 1962. I lived at 32 Henry Street. It was my first posting and really enjoyed living there. I was married at Goole Parish Church and my daughter was born at Goole Maternity Home on Boothferry Road. I remember buying a cycle from Claude Bamforths shop. Saturday night in the winter there were dances at the Baths Hall. I have lots of fond memories of Goole.

Posted by Mike on 22/11/2011

Grew up in Old Goole. My dad had the butchers shop on Swinefleet Road and went to the local Catholic primary school where a rap on the knuckles with a ruler from the nuns was par for the course. Remember early mornings when all the pea-pullers were in trailers waiting to be taken to the farms. Also remember the regular launches from the dockyard and what a vibrant colourful community it was.

Returned to Goole recently and stayed in the Lowther where the owner had been mounting a one-man campaign to achieve city status for the town. Interesting to see the ambitious plans for urban renewal supported with European money: dining al fresco in Italian coffee shops in Moorland Road and feature themed areas centred on the salt and pepper pot. We should never spurn progress but those halcyon days will never be replicated. The characters were more vivid and colourful than any soap opera could have invented.

Posted by Mike on 28/11/2011

Is it Goole or just the fact we're are all getting older which prompts us to reminisce so much about our home town? Are there similar websites in "Darlington" or "Slough"? Probably a mixture of both - but throughout my travels I have never come across with as much character as Goole.

Didn't Ray Gosling refer to it as Venice on dustbin collecting day? I was drinking with a mate in the Mariner's Arms (Middle House?) when they started filming for that programme. A "bloke" came up to my mate and said hello Patrick, what are you doing here? My mate Paddy immediately said don't tell me dad you've seen me here! Of course the bloke was Ray Gosling who ironically had been interviewing Paddy's dad earlier on in the day about his pigeons. We had a couple of pints (probably larger and lime in those days) before leaving only to miss out on one of the most notorious events in Goole's past - ladies dancing on the table. I remember the grumbles from everyone when the programme went out. Why couldn't they film the lovely flowers on the riverbank instead!

It was in another pub in Old Goole that me and another mate were "done" for underage drinking. It was a Friday night and I will never forget having to go home and tell my folks the bad news. They were drinking in the Marshlands at the time with a bloke called Jeff Jakes (builder who played the guitar). Jeff winked at me and said never mind - you're not a proper Old Goolie until you've been done!

Posted by Chris on 27/04/2012

Growing up in Goole was great. We could walk everywhere and never worry about missing the last bus home. Walking down Old Goole to Mrs Barratt's social club for a dance and bottle of pop (now the seaman's mission) was the highlight of the week.

Posted by Annette on 11/05/2012

I moved away from Goole in 1979 but still say I am going home when I go back. Brilliant place and brilliant people. Schooldays were great and I have been to the GGS reunions organised by Wreaksy and Fling - it was really good to catch up with so many people. Always seem to bump into people from Goole on holidays in various places at home and abroad. There's nowhere like the place - I love it!

Posted by Verena on 11/08/2012

I was born in Goole in 1939. Lived in Stanley Street until it was pulled down to make way for the flats. Anyone remember our family? No-one down the street had anything but what great memories. Playing cricket down the lane with my brothers Walter and Brian, Denny Philpot, Malcom Coverdale Herbert Holiday. I seem to remember the boys' names more than the girls. My best friend was Pam Newton and I was her bridesmaid when she married. I joined the navy when I was 17 and was really never a Goole resident again. I married my fabulous husband in 1960. We have lived in many places and now reside next door to Mickey Mouse. We live in Orlando, Florida. Happy days. I still have relatives that live on Goole so get back occasionally.

Posted by Mavis on 16/08/2012

I remember you, I was born down Edinburgh Street and we all went to Alexandra Street School together. I remember Pam too, and the Cooledge twins, June and Ann. I see them sometimes. I lived in Germany for 30 years, so lost touch with a lot of Goole people, although I am back in Goole, not wanting to spend my retirement years in Germany.

Posted by Corby on 17/08/2012

Hello Verena. The last time we spoke was when you were urging sister Dorothy to organise a Street Reunion. You are bringing back all these memories. Cricket in the lane was a skill for to hit a six meant the ball was lost forever. I played also with your brothers and Alan Pounder, Wilf Hodgson and the late Dougy Scott. To lose a ball meant a collection for balls which were found on the school roof. I have a photo of you, Shirley Peacock, Jean Collins, Jacquline Giles and Pam Newton.

Posted by Corby on 19/08/2012

To Mavis. You will not remember me (age difference) but I do remember Thelma and your older brothers. In and out of school. Although my home was in Stanley Street I had friends in Edinburgh Street and Estcourt Street. Trevor Hudson, Eddie Binnington, Trevor Bramham and Gordon Shipley. My closest friend lived across the road from you. Alan Fielder. He had a pigeon loft where we often met up. Happy days.

Posted by Corby on 16/09/2012

My wife worked at Burtons. All cotton had to be purchased, plus scissors and even having to pay to have the scissors sharpened All work was piecework. My wife was on inside pockets. She had to go some to make £5 per week. She was there from leaving school in 1954 until I married her in December 1957. We have lived in Southampton from that date.

Posted by Tom on 25/09/2012

My late uncle Bill Stock also worked at Burtons, sweeping the floor and general handyman. He suffered badly from the war and this was the only job he could manage. I think all the girls knew him. My aunt Dorothy Stock also worked there.

Posted by Verena on 28/09/2012

I also worked at Burtons when I left school. I only managed the modern school so after leaving at fifteen I started at Burtons in the office. I earnt a grand total two pounds one and nine pence!! I was the lowest of the lowest in the office and remember having to go onto the shop floor to collect the work books every day. I remember being scared to death. I only stayed for one year then I went to Fisons in Old Goole. I seem to remember making over three pounds there. I stayed there until joining the navy two years later.

Posted by Corby on 02/10/2012

Still on the Burton theme. I would like to point out the difference in yours and my wife's wage only came about by the piecework system. She once made 100 inside pockets in a day. She was not unique for others were faster. This could only be achieved on stock items when all were the same colour and the spools did not need changing. This job stood her in good stead when she started work at a bespoke tailors in Southampton. This tailors main customers were the crews of Cunard and P&O vessels, which included Goole men.

Incidentally she still uses the scissors. I'm in trouble if she finds me using them!

Posted by Verena on 08/10/2012

I do remember the workers on the factory floor working so hard. Your wife obviously knows how to use a sewing machine!

Posted by Internet on 20/09/2012

Sorry I thought this was Google. My bad!

Posted by Mike on 13/12/2012

Can anybody help me?

During the now infamous Cambridge spy ring there was a fifth man. I am sure I read somewhere (Goole Times?) that a suspicious character lived near Goole (Blacktoft?), had dealings with the original four and was somehow implicated with the ring. He left under mysterious circumstances shortly after the original three were exposed.

John Cairncross and Leo Long were two names given by the original members but if anyone could shed light on this I would be grateful.

Posted by Geoff on 13/02/2013

Just a little bit of information on the Cambridge spy ring and the Blacktoft connection. There was a programme on Yorkshire TV in the 1970s about this called "The Blacktoft Diaries - True or False?". Some of the film showed Blacktoft Landing and the red telephone kiosk there. If my memory serves me well the following was suggested in the programme. That a KGB agent was there at Blacktoft to warn the spy ring that they were about to be uncovered and calls were made from the phone box. The programme suggested the agent disembarked at Blacktoft from a Russian timber ship going to Goole, and then was picked up on the way back.

Posted by Corby on 28/01/2013

There were many things to be learnt when we moved to Malvern. For instance the railway between Limetree and Malvern was little more than an open sewer. Because the rule read no use of toilet within the station, the Brough workers, also no doubt others, used the facility as soon as possible. This caused a glut of rats. The only rats I ever saw as a child were in Peachy Gott's pig sty behind the Burlington Crescent.

Posted by Harry on 28/02/2013

Corby's reference to Gott's yard behind Burlington Crescent. My grandmother, Amy Crabtree, had the stable next to the "yard" where my grandfather peeled and chopped potatoes for their fish and chip shop in Burlington Crescent, near the corner opposite Wally Hill's pub. This was in the 1930s. Our family lived in Edinburgh Street in those days.

Posted by Corby on 28/02/2013

You have started so many memories pouring back. Did you have a brother about my age, 1934?

The stables I remember belonged to Barnard's coal merchant. He had a Shire "Bob" and a Clydesdale. From a very early age I used to walk down the street to the stables where he would unhitch and put them away for the night. I believe from those moments I have always had a love of horses. Even now, but these have jockeys.

My uncle Percy Cook bought the fish shop after the war. He then lived in Edinburgh Street and owned a number of houses on Burlington Crescent. I have his will and all of his properties made very little money.

Can you remember Wally's dog? The first Rhodesian Ridgeback in the country! He used to tell us that it was a Great Dane crossed with a Hyena, but there was no malice in this dog, soft as a brush.

Posted by Harry on 28/02/2013

Yes I have a brother Douglas (named after the ship Douglas). On leaving Tech School in Hull went to sea on the trawlers, gaining his Masters ticket. After being married for a few years went to Teacher Training College and became a teacher at the Hull Nautical School. I am the only one in the family not to go to sea, except on a troopship going to the Far East in the 1950s.

We lived at 64 Edinburgh Street until dad got a shore job as a civilian instructor at the RAF Wireless School in Yatesbury. Dad sailed on many of the ships listed on these pages. I particularly remember the Don. Dad was the wireless operator/AB for I sailed with him on one trip to Copenhagen and spent my seventh birthday aboard her (23/07/38). There was another lad on board sailing with his father, Des Darragh, I think his father was fireman or in the engine room.

My dad could not stay away from the sea when war broke out and went back as soon as he could be freed from the RAF. He was a chief Radio Officer on tankers sailing the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. He was one of the lucky ones and returned safely home to us 1945/46.

After my grandmother Crabtree got rid of the fish shop I can remember coming up from Swindon during the war, to spend Christmas with relatives, finding my grandmother Melia serving behind the counter at the fish shop. She was my father's mother, and had remarried after being a widow for about sixteen years, hence the name difference. The Melia's lived at 70 Edinburgh Street. There was Minnie and husband Charles with siblings Charles Jnr, Minnie Jnr and Vera.

Posted by Corby on 01/03/2013

All interesting stuff. I must have known Douglas at the Alex. I cannot remember any Malia's other than the shop on Boothferry Road. But the numbers 64 and 70 Edinburgh place your relatives close to people that I did know. The Law family, Fielders, Bramhams and across the road Vines and Hudson.

Des's name keeps popping up in these pages. I have a photo of Des, Ken Thompson and my cousin Tommy Dunwell taken prior to all three going on separate journeys, US, Canada and Oz, after joining their ships at Hull, average age of 17½. Tommy being my gran's grandson from her second marriage.

You mentioned your father being lucky enough to return after the war. Another cousin of mine, Billie Cook of Limetree, was one of the first to come back after spending the duration of the war in a Japanese POW camp.

Posted by Harry on 01/03/2013

The world gets smaller every day, especially now with the Internet. The Laws you mention were they between our house at 64 and the Taylors at the bottom end of the block? The others ring that "proverbial bell". As for the Bramhams, Trevor and Shirley, I had a crush on Shirley but she would not have it. Trevor was part of the "gang" which extended into our teens. When dad moved the family up to Hull, I and my brother Doug would come over to Goole for the weekend staying at our grandmother Crabtree's house.

There were two "gangs" Brian Taylor's group and Billie Taylor's lot, in other words the older ones and the younger ones. Over the years they became one with some dropping out. The group finally ended with Trevor Bramham, Brian Taylor, Brian Cook, Peter Redman, Arthur Kitwood, Fred Burton and myself. We would meet up one of the houses (except gran's) then make our way over to Boothferry Road to the cafe and passed the time just talking and drinking tea, other times just staying in one of the houses and playing cards. Nine times out of ten our meeting point would end at Fred Burton's house as he was always the last one to get himself together.

Come Christmas time, oh boy what times. Money into the kitty, an assortment of beers (in crates) which would be restocked as and when required and trundled from house to house over the Christmas and New Year. We would gather at Trevor's even when the family moved to Oxford Road. Fred Burton and I seemed to have become pals. We would go to cricket matches when either of us were home on leave and we were at Headingley when firey Fred Truman created that bowling sensation.

With National Service calling up the lads, and Trevor going to sea, we all went our ways. Fred and I kept in touch up to his death. The last time I saw Brian Taylor was in Aden, he was in the RAF and the troop ship I was on pulled into the port to let us squaddies stretch our legs and see the sights, on moving to the gangway who should I bump into but Brian Taylor. He was with the RAF RTO. We arranged to meet up when he was free and show my buddies and myself the nightlife in Aden. The stay was too brief, duty called (cough cough) back to the ship and onward to help the Yanks out.

Posted by Corby on 02/03/2013

I believe that we have only scratched the surface of people we knew

Cyril Law was the guy I knew. I have a photo of his wedding. His best man, who I think you may know, was Jack Collins (ex-mariner). Cyril has long gone but I do speak to Jack.

I remember the gangs. Did they assemble at the Station Hotel corner? One of these I believe may have been Dennis Foster. I knew Dennis's wife June quite well (Alan Fielder's niece). Over the years we have visited each other at our homes. About five years ago whilst at the Foster's home in Airmyn, who was there but Brian Taylor. Brian worked on power stations up to his retirement.

Posted by Harry on 06/03/2013

My memory is not as good as it used to be, cannot recall Dennis. We did sometimes meet up on the corner of the "Station", especially when the Boothferry Road cafe closed and the new venue was the Copper Kettle, I think it was called. Just further along Boothferry Road from the "Station." I am afraid at our ages the "old mates" are dropping off one by one.

Were you in Stanley Street when they demolished one side? I can remember scrambling over the rubble there and helping the men to pull walls down with ropes. Got well and truly told off by my parents for coming looking like a coal trimmer. When the site was cleared one winter they piled the street collections of snow in the wintertime. Then the fair used to come onto the site and no longer used the land on Mariner Street, between Mariner Street and the railway.

Posted by Corby on 07/03/2013

I never frequented the Copper Kettle, spent a lot of time in the Billiard Hall though.

The even number houses were pulled down in 1941. I was seven and was involved in an accident whilst trying to walk around the small area of floor in a bedroom, falling to the rubble below and splitting my head open. I think that was my thoughts, unless the knock cleared my database.

Yes the area across from our house were like the mini-Alps. Each load tipped up by the large two wheel carts.

Posted by Graeme on 02/05/2013

My dad is Peter Redman. After stumbling on this site and finding his name I immediately texted my mum the gang's names and my dad was quite surprised when she read them out to him. I took a paper copy of the conversation round to him and he loved the trip down memory lane, set him off talking for ages. He remembers you all very fondly.

Posted by Harry on 06/05/2013

Glad to hear that Pete is still around. The biggest trouble we "Old Godgers" have now is not knowing who amongst our friends are still around. I was going to say alive, but my wife lovingly likes to point out to me "that I may be living but I am really dead especially when it comes to doing something". I reply "why have a dog and bark yourself?" I then have to lookout for the flying rolling-pin.

We had some good times and we did not go wrecking the places we went to. We did not have time to do anything else if we were calling on Fred Burton, we always had to wait for him and consequently his mother had a house full of sprawling teenagers. I would come over from Hull at the weekends, staying at my Grandmothers down Westbourne Grove.

As I am typing this memo I am looking at my pre National Service photo album, at photos of a holiday we all had together in Scarborough. Photos of the gang playing cricket on the beach when played against the rest of the guests in the guest house we stayed in. Pete is on quite a few photos, in particular there is one with a cigarette in his mouth another taking a photograph, probably one of those in my album.

Anyway, it was nice hearing from and please give my warmest greetings to your father.

Best wishes. Harry

Posted by Graeme on 09/05/2013

Hi Harry, thanks for the response.

He showed me some of those photos at Scarborough recently. Can't remember whether he was in any or not, but if he took a lot of them that would explain it. He did love his photography.

I'll print your response out and take it round to dad's next week, it will be a pleasant surprise.

Posted by Mal on 31/01/2013

Just been reading about Arthur Hutchinson the serial killer, I would have been nine years old when he committed his crimes. Is it true that he hid out at Airmyn tip for a while or is this just folklore in Goole? Also someone told me somebody was murdered down Elm Avenue in the 1970s. Is there any truth in that one?

Posted by Dave on 09/05/2013

There was an old lady murdered down Elm Avenue. I was brought up down there and remember it well.

Posted by Fiona on 14/05/2013

I remember the murder in the 1970s. The police did a house to house investigation all through the town. We lived on Hook Road and they came all that way. A number of people were arrested and questions; I think it was a relative that killed her.

Posted by Tony on 11/01/2014

We lived at No. 30 Empson Avenue and were the first and only ones in the street for nearly a year as our house was across the corner with 101 Western Road. They built from our house back along Western Road, into Oxford Road then restarted Empson from No. 2. Nobody knew where we lived not even the Postman.

I remember Pete O'Brien, Blanchards, Ridgways, Chris and Ray (Smudger) Smith, former mayor Malcolm (Suggy) South also someone called Waites or Wakes. Bernice Hewson had a brother Barry who I was pally with. I remember the street party on the grass in front of the houses, I think it was the coronation, and a Christmas Party in St. Pauls Schoolroom down Weatherall Street. Cobblers Wood and Westfield Banks across the fields were our playground.

Posted by Jan on 16/02/2014

Yes, I remember Empson Avenue as being a wonderful place to be a kid. We had lots of adventures. I remember the Coronation Street party and the parties we used to have in St. Paul's schoolroom. I remember all the names you mentioned. My dad is still alive and lives on Cobbler Hill. He is 92. We used to think Cobblers Wood was haunted!

Posted by Tony on 17/02/2014

It was a fun street to live in wasn't it, nice to hear your father is still around, I remember him as quite a big chap who we were a bit frightened of. He used to clear us off now and then when we were making too much noise on a night time. Looking at where he now lives you, will be looking out for ghosts when you visit, like the cobbler who hung himself on the lightning tree?

Posted by Hill Street Blues on 28/03/2014

As a kid I remember walking home from school down Elsie Street. There was, most afternoons anyway, an old gentleman on a certain doorstep who gave me the money and a little note to take back down the street to Ettie Hills corner shop for ten Woodbines… I always got a threepenny bit for the effort. Once, when it was raining, I was called inside. There were pictures on the wall and medals and such from the Great War. He lived in a quiet, subdued light and was reluctant to leave his little house… I digress…

Posted by Norman on 20/04/2014

I was talking to an old lady in town. I was having a good conversation with her when my wife said "take no notice of him, he's ex-Queen's Ave", "so am I," she replied. That started us both off. We stated to name everybody from Jack Lace's corner shop to Stan Powl's. It's nice to reminisce. Queen's Avenue - best bonfire raiders in town!

I was born in St. Johns Terrace but I still call myself a Queen's Ave lad. Does anybody remember the Wessack's at Westfield Banks? There was a lagoon there that we used to swim in; we used to build a fire and roast potatoes on it; we would leave home about 9am and did not get until late afternoon. We also spent time in Cobblers Wood with ropes tied to branches - this was our free entertainment.

Hope you can remember these days. We did not have much but we made do with what we had.

Posted by Corby on 27/04/2014

I consider myself lucky to have lived in Goole during the good years, especially the war years when everyone pulled together. A few years ago I sent this article to the Goole Times in the hope that it may be of interest

Waxing Lyrical

I was born in 1934 and reared in the terraced streets of Goole.

My mother passed away when I was eight. My father was a docker. I left Goole in 1957 when I married a local girl Audrey Pearce. We moved to Southampton where the prospects of work there suited my profession as a boat builder

Over the years we have made many friends down here. But have never forgotten our home town and returned many times over the years. Mainly for the cemetery run and also fleeting visits to friends and family, both now a little thin on the ground.

I have recalled many of my memories to friends over recent years and just lately a lady asked me, "Why do you wax lyrical over a dump like Goole?" I had no immediate answer to this question until, whilst seated in my garden one day, this thought came to me. Last year I counted 32 varieties of birds flying into or over my property. Each year the frogs arrive to spawn within my pond, much of the spawn and tadpoles are eaten by my fish. The young fogs who then survive on exiting from beneath the protection of the netting then fall victim to the heron and grass snake. The stag beetle and elephant hawk moth have been constant visitors.

The point to all this is life has not changed for all these creatures. They still choose to return, for it is where their roots lie.

Posted by Ted on 10/05/2014

I was a Bobby on the beat in Goole 1959 to 1961, Great place to work the beat.

Posted by Jan on 15/07/2014

I went to elocution lessons with Mrs Rushworth.

Posted by Karen on 18/07/2014

Pat (my auntie) went to elocution lessons and so did I - Gwyneth Rushworth on Hook Road with lots of cats. She was a real character too. We went to festivals in Scunthorpe and Brigg and Mrs Rushworth always got there late! Lovely lady.

Posted by Fiona on 28/07/2014

I used to go to Mrs Rushworth too. Goodness the smell of cats in her house and she used to make you do deep breathing exercises as well.

I meet people from Goole and many of them went to Mrs Rushworth. She taught my grandma and my father, who was a festival regular for her in the 1940s and 1950s. I never reached such dizzy heights and neither Mrs Rushworth or my dad managed to correct the impediment I have to this day.

Posted by Marjorie on 08/05/2015

I was born in Goole in 1944 and we left in 1960. I lived in Adeline Street and spent many happy years of my childhood at the West Park, down on the Wessaks and even enjoying a good walk to Boothferry Bridge with a pack-up of jam butties and made up lemon drink. In later years I worked at Burtons and enjoyed dancing at the baths on a Saturday night. My three sisters and I have been back a few times on a memory lane trip. I have found memories of Goole and never forget where I come from. Times were hard but happy.

Posted by Noel on 05/04/2016

My father was Noel Chessman. I'd be very interested in any stories concerning him any visitors may have!

Posted by Freda on 11/04/2016

Noel Chessman was known to me as "Uncle Noel". He was a staunch member of the Parish Church and a good friend of my grandfather, Richard Jolley and my parents, Kathleen and Charles Watmough. He had known them all from boyhood. He was in the choir with my step-father and his two sons came to Sunday School, run firstly by my grandfather, with mum and dad as teachers, along with at least a dozen other wives, mothers and what were then known as "maiden aunts." (A large number of these because of the casualties in both World Wars)

His hobby was woodworking and he made two of our clothes horses.

Posted by Tom on 30/04/2017

I have read many of the letters on this site and also some of the history of Goole. As a former Goolie, the one thing that stands out, and I am pleased to say has been said many times in your letters, is the real true gritty people that are Goolies - friendly and hard-working salt of the earth people.

Posted by Goolie Gone on 26/06/2020

Do you know what happened to the Tin Tabernacle on Bridge Street after its heyday? I used to attend regularly on Sundays - well, I got sent there - as a kid in the late-1940s and early-1950s. I just assumed that the TT reference was a local witticism, or light mockery, but found out later that it was the term used for a common type of prefabricated church building construction, made from corrugated iron that became popular in Victorian times. Were there any other tin tabernacles in our area?

Posted by Keith on 26/06/2020

Regarding the tin church on Bridge Street. I think the one you mean was originally "All Saints" run by Mr and Mrs Barrett. Later the frontage was altered to brick and taken over by the "Seaman's Mission". Hope this helps.

Posted by Bill on 26/06/2020

A section on Church stuff would be good. I have tails to tell about the choir, church lads brigade and youth club associated with the parish church in the late-1950s/early-1960s. Did the occasional joint service with the Methodists at Christs Church and was amazed how big it was inside. Did not have much to do with non-conformists' tin tabernacles but I think the Labour Party had a red(?) corrugated metal headquarter near the steam laundry -Victoria Street (?) Or was it the Toc H - whatever that was/is.

Posted by Goolie Gone on 28/06/2020

As a kid I remember hearing the term Toc H but like you I'd no idea what it meant. In time, I can recall people, occasionally me, being referred to as "dim as a Toc H lamp", not a compliment of course, meaning being slow on the uptake or having said something stupid - and not a reference to the light of the day. The Toc H lamp was, it seems, an Aladdin-type oil lamp with a dull yellow glow, and a symbol of the organisation.

Years later I found out that the Toc H organisation was a Christian charity dating back to World War I, which provided places for ex-servicemen, mainly soldiers, as an alternative to less salubrious haunts and their temptations. In the 1940s and 1950s there probably was one in Goole somewhere intended to keep our old soldiers from the delights of certain establishments. The Bridge Street area and Aire Street, in particular, had a number of inviting and interesting places of temptation and merriment, where a lonely soul could meet up, if so inclined, with a local "dock fairy" or two.

No doubt that old Toc H place did offer some, at least, an alternative for of comfort and perhaps salvation!

Posted by Bill on 28/06/2020

As I've probably mentioned in a much earlier post, the public bar of the Sydney Hotel in Aire Street was such a place of temptation and merriment. It was also very conveniently located for those of us who would pop out from the Parish youth club for a little bit of underage drinking - being careful to avert our gaze from dangerous looking foreign sailors and accompanying "dock fairies".

Posted by Goolie Gone on 29/06/2020

Thanks for the information about the TT. Yes, it was the All Saints place I was on about. So basically, the old place is still standing, though with a different frontage, and is now the Seamen's Mission

I remember the Sydney too. Small but cosy. Incidentally, "dock fairy" is a term I've never heard anywhere else but Goole (not that I've been asking around!). I can just see those little two-line entries in the Goole Times of Black and White vintage: "Molly Malone, aged 26, was fined £2 at Goole Magistrates Court for trespassing on the docks." Another regular little snippet in the Goole Times would be something like: "Charley Farley, aged 47, was fined £2 at Goole Magistrates Court for cycling down the subway." It really was a good read back in t'day!

Posted by Bill on 16/08/2020

I'm another non-Facebook user so I will continue using this site for as long as it survives. I've just returned from a visit to Goole, the first in the last ten years. My impressions were these. The decline and decay of the many shop units in Aire Street was sad to see. Similarly the Arcade is boarded up. The old Post Office is in a ruinous state. And the Conservative Club is closed and boarded up. I guess there is no economic uses that can save these premises and they are doomed. Hopefully however something will be done to save and find a use for the closed Market Hall - surely a building with great potential.

On a positive note, things along the Rawcliffe Road appear to be booming with construction on the infrastructure for the planned train building factory. Will this be the "new shipyard" that restores the town's prosperity? I was told it will employ 700 people. Also a massive new housing development on the other side of the road. Also noticed that the old Labour Exchange is now a bar and the Burlington Pub is a Gym/Health Club!

Posted by Peter on 17/08/2020

I haven't been to the town for a few years now, so it's interesting to read your account of what it's like now. Very sad, really. Of course, I remember well all the places you mention, and yes, the market hall could surely be put to active use. Many of us will remember a very busy market - outside and in - from when we were kids. Saturday mornings, most, if not every week for me. I remember there was a butcher there, the name Joss Slowen comes to mind, and some time later there was a bookstall holder called Rawnsley. I think he came over from Leeds.

After leaving school I used to visit the Cons Club in Carlisle Street fairly often with a friend whose dad was a member there. We only went there to play snooker, and have a drink. I remember being fascinated by how some of the local businessmen would robotically feed the slot machines with tanners, time after time after time. Put me off that game for ever!

Posted by Goolie Gone on 07/01/2021

I left Goole many years ago for work reasons, and it's some years now since I've been to the town centre. I do log on to this site on a regular basis, and love to read about what is going on in the town - or maybe, isn't.

Having been fortunate enough to attend GGS I look out for any postings by people I know, though these are rare these days. I'm beginning to get old.

One thing that's so clear in this strangest of times is how much we tend to take for granted. Just the little things that matter and count for so much: those memories of the town, the walks to school, over the docks to town on Saturday mornings, the old market, the VPG on a Saturday afternoon, and such. When the new normality gets here, whatever it looks like, I must get back to wander around those old haunts again.

Until then, you Goolies and Gooligans - take care!

Posted by Bill on 07/01/2021

Ah Goolie Gone, I've followed your postings in the past and it seems to me that as you're "beginning to get old" you are becoming even more sentimental (in a good way) and nostalgic than me. Whilst I endorse the point you make about taking things for granted, we now can only be grateful for those good memories and be thankful for them.

If you do get around to "wandering around those old haunts" as I did recently, try to pick up on the positive points - of which there are a few. Without doubt there is much to be sad about, but in some strange way the town in which we grew up still retains a charm which draws us back to it.

Almost time for my cocoa, no let's make that a few glasses of wine.

Posted by Goolie Gone on 09/01/2021

You're right, of course, about the nostalgia. Comes with the "becoming old" business. Though, as that guy Proust kinda said about: "Remembrance of things past… (and such)"!



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