Reading ToBW’s memories of playing bits of Tennis and Pitch and put when the relative sports were on TV, got me thinking.
When I was a kid, before Play stations, Xboxes, and mobile phones were around, and everywhere was fields 😂, me and my fellow Elyites, would pass the time playing 9 hole golf at Ely race course, outdoor bowls at the green in Plymouthwood Rd, tennis (at the same park as the bowling green, swimming at Empire pool and darts in anyone’s house whose Mum would let them put a dart board up.
Nothing seemed expensive then, as none of us had much dough anyway.
Used to save up and sometimes buy a putter or an iron at Giles Sports, and used to frequent Fry’s darts shop in Caroline St to buy stems and flights.
My Aunty used to work on the till in Asteys, so after coming out of Empire pool we’d nip over there and if she was on, we’d get a free bottle of pop and crisps.
Another favourite in the warm weather was swimming in Ely River. To this day, can’t believe I survived that 😂
Saturday mornings at the Regent cinema, watching Flash Gordon and cartoons was another great memory. The mass exodus downtown the steep steps of the cinema when it finished was more dangerous than a F1 race.
If you fell, you were history!
Used to play cricket up at Ely Rec. One day we’d acquired a real cricket ball. I was batting, and caught one as sweet as a nut, only for it to smash into the face of the hardest kid in Ely at the time. I didn’t hang about to see if he still had any teeth left, I just dropped the bat and ran home as quick as a rat up a drain pipe.
Being from the bottom of Ely, we’d regularly fight with the top of Ely, and sometimes we’d amalgamate and fight Fairwater and Pentrebane in Birdies Lane.
I remember one particular day we were scrapping with Fairwater, and I had a brand new pair of shoes on my Mum had bought me. We were a bit outnumbered that day, and as we retreated back a bit, I noticed one of my new shoes had come off during the scrap.
I had to quickly decide the easiest option. Go get my shoe back and risk a bit of a kicking, or go home and face my Mum. I decided it would be less painful to retrieve the shoe 😂
Don’t know why I’m rambling on about yrs gone but it’s a Sunday morning, so why not.