My early life and young adulthood was spent in various parts of the North (Retford, Nr Nottingham; Platt Bridge, near Wigan; Sheffield; Leeds) as my father was a Methodist Minister and moved to those areas over the years. His last circuit was Newcastle under Lyme.

I followed my father to this area in the early 70's after joining the Probation Service (having previously trained as a teacher) and was based in Longton. Very different to the Longton of today, at that time it was a thriving pottery town, most of the people I came into contact with being pottery workers or members of their family employed in the pottery industry.

I then moved to the Hanley Probation Office as Senior Probation Officer, again a very different Hanley to the one we now know. There were the independent shops such as Bratt & Dykes; Huntbach's, Lewis's arcade filled with small independent shops. Lewis's itself (not to be mistaken with John Lewis) was a large department store favoured by shoppers, (especially at Christmas when Santa Clause came to town and children lined the streets to cheer him on).

Mid seventies saw me moving to work in Manchester as a Lecturer in Social Work with the Manchester Metropolitan University. I moved with my wife and family in December 1976 to Biddulph, mainly to cut down on travel from our previous address in Birches Head nr Hanley. Although we've moved house since, we still live in Biddulph - wonderful area with Biddulph Moor/Cloud etc., on our doorstep.

Mid/late seventies saw me working with Cheshire County Council as a Senior Social Worker, based in Congleton, then Principle Officer in Childrens Services based in Crewe, before moving to headquarters in Chester, being involved in writing the Child Protection Policy which was subsequently implemented.

I then moved to Lancaster University as Principle Lecturer to run the Child Protection training for Social Workers, before in the eighties moving to Boys and Girls Welfare Society in Cheadle Hulme as a Director.

Having left this organisation, I set up my own company, Cee Jay Care Services Ltd., which involved undertaking Guardian Ad Litem work; undertaking Reg.35 Inspections; Head of Care for an independent organisation (children], before finally retiring in my late sixties.

So, I have moved and lived in various parts of the North throughout my life, by far the longest has been living in the Biddulph Area. There have been many changes as mentioned above in regard to the pottery industry and to the shops and towns themselves. This is also true of Biddulph. When we moved to this area one of the main shops on the High Street was Woolworths, with a couple of smaller supermarkets. The face of the main street has changed - lovely Indian restaurant arrived, cafes, pharmacies; GP surgery moving to the centre of the town, and of course Sainsburys. Ever changing times, but what doesn't change is the friendliness and warmth of the people living in Biddulph and surrounding areas.

By Colin Williams-Powell November 2018