The allotments were near some fields which were part of the green belt
between Birmingham and West Bromwich. There were a few farms at the
time and they had cows and fields of corn. There were a couple of lanes
where we used to walk and there was an old ruined priory - Sandwell Priory
which had a well. I was fascinated by this. There was also a very old
building - Handsworth Old Town Hall near where we lived and the rumour was
that there may have been a secret passage between it and the Priory, a
distance of about a mile. I think that this was highly unlikely but it
was a nice thought for an imaginative young girl. There was also a coal mine - Watson pit, and pit Pool not far from the priory. There were swans on the pool and it was nice to walk round. This and the priory were about a mile from our house. There was a small railway from the pit up to the factories and railway the other side of the main road. On the railway were trains of trucks; only about three foot square joined by a continuous steel rope. There could be anything from three to ten trucks in a train and the rope pulled the full trucks up on one side and the empty ones returned on the other. There was a little bridge where the lane crossed the railway line. I used to go for walks with my mother and often we would arrive about 11 am which was the morning break and the trucks would stop. We would wait for them to start a again and watch them trundling along. In this area was a golf course which we did not go on and lots of small trees which I liked to climb. There was also an old army camp called "The Camp" left over from the war. The guns were gone but the shelters
were still there and the lookout buildings.
