Craven Vale Community Association

Heritage Lottery Project Pride of our Valley

Interview with Alan Cooke 31st December 2012. Interviewers - Ruth and Betty B. Do you remember what year you moved into Craven Vale? A. Yes, it must have been about 1989, something like that. B. Did you move in alone, or with other members of your family? A When I came back to Brighton I lodged with friends in Craven Vale for many years before buying myself a flat on the Craven Vale Estate. B. What do you remember about the kind of heating that was in your home when you arrived? Has it changed since then, and if so when did it happen? A. If I talk about where I am living now, I think the original heating was a back boiler, but this had been replaced by central heating by the time I moved in. The central heating and the immersion heater must have been put in by the people before me. Im not quite sure when that would have been though. B. We take so many household appliances for granted nowadays, such as fridge, washing machines and so on. What are your memories of how you, or your mother, managed years ago. A. Well, I remember the arrival of the first Hoovermatic twin tub. It meant that we didnt have to worry about the mangle and the boiler, putting the blue rinse into the boiler. That made such a change to mothers way of life. Not to mine of course. R. Craven Vale Estate is built on a hill and has slopes and steps everywhere. Has this ever been a problem for you? A. Well not when I first got to know the estate. I used to cycle up the lower part, and walk the bike up to the top of the hill. Now I find that I walk up the first part of the hill. The second part I take a bus if I can with my bus pass. It does get rather steep. R Actually we were going on to talk about the bus service. Can you remember what the bus service looked like when you moved in? A. Well, when I moved in there was a time when the number two went up Freshfield Road, and the 2a went up Queensway so it was probably only about one an hour. Now its about three times an hour so the bus service has improved but they still have trouble getting through the parked cars, thats for sure. R. So when Craven Vale was built, obviously not so many people had cars. Did you ever have a car in those days, when you moved in? A. Not when I first moved in. I didnt have a car until twenty-five or thirty years ago so I didnt notice that people didnt have cars; it was quite normal. If you lived in Brighton you didnt really need a car. It seems to have changed now. You cant really not have a car nowadays.

R. The way we keep in touch with one another has changed over the years, for example more people have telephones. What changes have you noticed? A. Well, when I was a boy, before we moved to Craven Vale we didnt have a telephone. In 1953 we certainly didnt have a telephone. We probably didnt have one until about 1958 and that was only because I insisted the family had one so I had to pay for it. Now it is difficult to imagine living without a phone. People used to write in those days. Your letters would arrive the next day and I think weve pretty well forgotten how to write now. Its all email and mobile phone, so yes, it has changed quite a lot in my lifetime. R. Do you remember the old prams and pushchairs of the 50s, 60s and 70s? A Yes. I remember the one I was pushed around in. It had lovely big wheels, a bit naff. Mother got rid of it as soon as she could. The best bit about prams was that they had big wheels and you could make motorcars out of them. We used to race them along the road. You cant do that now. Pram wheels just arent big enough to make those fun vehicles. Mind you, I wasnt living in Craven Vale then. It wouldnt be much fun here, or it would be great fun, you could set off on top of the hill and then crash into something in Eastern Road, I suppose. R. Do you think it is easier for young mothers on the estate now to get around with their babies and toddlers? A. Well, I dont know. Most of them struggle as far as the bus stop and put these huge, great fold up buggies on to the bus. You dont see them walking around, up and down the hill much. Of course the other trouble is that most people have got steps up to their houses. You see them struggling with these massive great buggies with steps. I dont know how they do it. Im glad I dont have to do it any more. I remember when my daughter was born, we had very small, lightweight pushchair, which you could just fold up and carry under one arm. You cant do that today. R. You werent here as a child, but what do you remember about the schools around here years ago? A. Not much. I remember St John the Baptist School Catholic School being built up the top of the hill. Im not sure where it was before then. But, no Ive got no real involvement with the schools in this area. r. Did your child go to school? A. Not here, No. R Do you have any memories of where children played? Did your children play..? A. No, only where my friends children played. I havent been long enough on this estate, nor did I have a child in this estate. R. Right. A. I used to see them. It is nice now. There are a number of younger children and you actually see them playing on the estate. Theyre not all sitting at home playing with their IPads or x- boxes or whatever. But you do see them still, playing out on their bikes and just being kids. I dont know whether any of them go up in the woods nowadays. I know if had been here as a youngster, you wouldnt have kept me out of these woods if Id lived here. 2

R. Looking at the medical side of things, if someone in the family wasnt well, where did you have to go for chemist or doctors or hospital care? A. Well, in all the time that I have been here there has been no chemist, no doctors, nothing here. I find it odd that we are nearer to hospitals than we are to any GP. Youve got to go further. My GP closed recently and I had to find one in the centre of town. I find that I need one on a bus route, to be on the safe side. R. So you wouldnt say that things have improved over the years? A. Certainly not. No. I dont know whether there were more facilities when this estate was built but I have always thought that this estate was built with the intention of having absolutely no facilities on it whatsoever. R. Can you tell us a bit about where you went for your shopping, and how you got there? A. Well since Ive been here the local shops in Bakers Bottom have never been of much use. Ideal if you just want a pint of milk or something else but generally speaking I go into St Jamess Street, which provides all the basic day-to-day shopping that I need, but of course youve got the centre of town for bigger purchases. B. How about work in the 50s, or even when you lived here. Where did people go to work and if women worked, was there a childcare problem? A. Well, I can only speak for myself. When I moved in, in 1989 I was working up at Heathrow, so I had a lovely long car journey each day, to and from Heathrow. I really didnt get to know many other people. I was hardly ever here apart from going to sleep. I dont know where most of the other people worked, I can only talk about me, but fortunately, for the last few years, I have been able to do most of my work from my house. I just go to the head office in Croyden once a week or once a fortnight. Thats a much better way of living nowadays. B. Was there crime around here? What was the relationship with the police? Did you feel safe? Do you still feel safe? A. Ive always felt safe. Not just here, wherever Ive been. Its just a state of mind. I know people around here feel that crime is dreadful but I cant see it. You never used to see any policemen up and down. You now get the PSOs, who I occasionally see, but they dont often seem to make it to the top of the hill. They seem to find the lower part of the hill easier to access. Im aware of events going on the occasional murder the occasional this that and the other, but it passes me by, Im pleased to say. B. Did you feel that you were part of the community living in Craven Vale, some years back? A. No, when I first moved here it was just a dormitory place for me. I used to spend most of my time travelling to and from work. Now, Ive felt more a part of the community since I was working from my flat. And then I got involved with the Community Association here about six or seven years ago and I havent looked back. I find that it is a great little community to work and I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy their company and Ive got no problems living in this place at all. I love it. B. How about entertainment? Cinemas or sport or television?

A. Early days for me on the estate, not much, get back collapse in front of the television. Now I do a bit more. I like the occasional concert down in the city centre and now Im a season ticket holder for the football. Keeps me occupied most Saturdays, at least during the winter. I like my music and my football. Thats probably about it for me. B. When Craven Vale was built it was surrounded by countryside, woods and grassland. Did you ever go there? A. I arrived as a middle-aged person and my days playing in the woods were over. Now love walking in the woods and working in the woods. Im quite happy to be part of the team that is clearing the woods and planting trees and trying to improve the number of birds and insects and animals that we see up in those woods. Thats a very important part of life for me in Craven Vale. B. Well thank you for your interview today. It has been most interesting. A. I enjoyed it too. Thank you.