Wyken Slough

Greg , I note you lived in Purcell Rd in the 50s. I went to Courthouse Green school throughout the 50s and had many classmates in the Heddle Grove and Purcell Rd area. Did you know Barry Macpheat, Roy Kirby, Doug and Ernie Annals, David Cutts, Roy Smith, Christopher Nansen, Les Belford, Barbara Chambers or Cheryl Potts by any chance? Just to stay on topic, the name "Slough" has always intrigued me. According to my dictionary it means marshy depression but the term is considered to be an Americanism, although the Americans have retained many words from the 18th century that have long gone out of use in England. I well remember the boats, some had rotating paddles which made the boat go nowhere with a great deal of effort. The rowing boats were a few pennies dearer to hire. There was the burning path nearby which was quite scary for youngsters because of the sulphuric steam and smoke emitting from ash spoil. In the summer if you could afford an ice ceam (a D.Di) you got a thousand midges instead of hundreds and thousands.

We went on the boats a lot, and when your time was up the chap used to call you in and we made sure we were as far away as we could and pretend we had not heard him....

I was already at secondary school when I moved there in 1955 so, sadly, I don`t recognise any of the names you mention.

We moved to Alderman's Green in 1959 when I was 11, my brother about 9 or 10. We spent many happy hours at the Slough. My father, Stan Pollock, always took his grandchildren to the Slough to feed the swans, right up until he died in 1990. My mother was a dinner lady at Alderman's Green school for years. At one point in my childhood my grandmother worked a summer or two in the little cafe at the Slough, too (we got free sweets sneaked to us). My best friend lived in Potters Green and I would ride there, up the lane beside the slough and out onto "the pits", it was quite a narrow path along the top and, yes, there was smoke coming out here and there, quite eerie. Oh we also loved going to the basin at the top and seeing the boats moored there, it seemed a romantic way to live. I'm glad the Slough is now a nature reserve; I have to say I used to often see water voles there and in fact they were present in the little brook that runs alongside Aldermans Green Road from Bell Green. I have very fond memories of Aldermans Green, and all your helpful comments have brought back memories. Walrus: I recognise nearly all the names you mentioned! I went to Courthouse Green School too (have you seen the photograph in the "Photo Mysteries" section?)

Somebody asked about the meaning of the word 'Slough'. It was certainly used in the late 17th century in English literature - John Bunyan referred to 'the Slough of Despond'. As a child I could never work out the relationship between the phrase and the fun that we had at 'our Slough'. But what about the word 'Wyken'? We have a brilliant daughter-in-law who is Danish. She speaks excellent English but with a Danish accent. To her the place is called 'Vikin'. Did her forebears ever settle there?

It's quite possible, on older maps it's spelt 'Wiken'. Many Coventry locations have Danish/Viking place names.

As a Coventry Kid I visited Coventry this year in September 2012 and took some photographs of places where I used to live from 1951 to 1975. You can see them on my Facebook page here : Coventry Revisited I live in Plymouth UK and it was nice to go back and see the areas where I grew up as a youngster. My dad went with me and we had a look at where he was born in Booths Fields. The house has gone but we were able to judge where it stood.

That could be my Uncle Eddie lived there all his life! Still visit them regularly and they come and stay with us in Wales. I remember the playground, boats and refreshments from the late 60's and early 70's. Also went yachting with Caludon Castle Sixth Form in 1978, had a hangover after the Sixth Form party the previous night, and we managed to capsize! Fortunately it was only a 5 minute walk to my Aunt and Uncle on Alderman's Green Road to dry and change Spent many a happy hour birdwatching around the Slough as a teenager in the 70's each time I visited my relatives, and also did circular walks going around the Slough up to the Basin via the former mine earthworks and back along the canal.

Apologies for the knock-kneed pose in this, but my excuse was that it was cold in the shallow end! You can clearly see at least one of the boats here, and if you look very closely there are several more almost merged into the background. You can also clearly see the old Aldermans Green power station. This must have been taken around 1958 by mum on the old box Brownie. We walked down there regularly in those days and approached via the path at the side of the Parry and Amos houses which were eventually flattened to make way for the road. (Actually, I'm not so certain about the Amos family home going as it may have been a couple of doors down. Memory plays tricks. I know for sure that the Parry house went though).

I have just read through this topic, Les Mac mentioned pike in there and it reminded of the day we were waiting at the bus stop outside the Slough, and this chap had a large pike wrapped in newspaper and he said he had caught it by hand from one of the motor boats. This was about 1950...

I vaguely remember visiting the boat house at the Slough with my boss, a chap called Colin Chamberlain. We were responsible for engine maintenance on the motor boats and as a trainee mechanic I was being shown what was where. I remember one of the boats had a big two stroke engine but I can't recall what engine the other boat had. I believe the two stroke boat got moved to the boating lake at Coombe Abbey later on but I have no idea what happened to the other one.

Yes I remember this very well. Used to follow my big brother up here even tho he would try and shake me off! used to hire out the pedaloes as well. I went to Aldermans Green infants school and used to get sweets on the way home from the sweet shop on the corner. I would have been 5 or 6 so 1971,72. Happy days!

I used to go on them boats, my mother's side of the family lived in Bell Green for many years before Woodend & other parts were built, also my brother in law Bill worked in the boat house for a little while.

Many is the time in the mid sixties that I went with my friend from across the road down from Exhall to Wyken Slough on our pushbikes. There we would get a rowing boat and have great fun. There was no other boating facility in the area, and so this was a unique experience for us, and well worth the journey!