I would like to react to an article in the Pickering Beacon page 6 of Issue no. 39 by Ryewriter, Wyn Moore.

          As a Pickering resident, born and bred, I can assure her that far from the bleak impression she gives of post-WW2 Pickering, it was in fact a thriving market town of which the tightly-knit population was proud. The “environment” as such was not a matter that the inhabitants would be concerned about at that time! I cannot recall the “general air of shabbiness” described; instead I remember a self-sufficient town with a great community spirit which acted as a vital centre for numerous neighbouring and remote    villages. After all it had two cinemas, a bus and a railway station, a police station, a gas works, a post office, a labour exchange, a coal yard, a library, eight large grocers (which all made home deliveries), plus numerous smaller shops and several businesses, including a clothing factory, a world-renowned nursery, building contractors, two printers, corn and agricultural merchants, a sawmill, and two quarries. So there was employment for young people in the town. The young men did not need to join the army as up to 1960, they were called up to complete their two-year spell of National Service.

          The local people were full of drive and enthusiasm, mainly chapel goers, and involved in various clubs and guilds, and amateur dramatic and operatic societies, which put on plays and shows, amongst which a highly appreciated annual pantomime. There were amenities for cricket, bowls, tennis and especially football: the Town had a very well-supported and successful club called the Pikes, which regularly attracted crowds of spectators on match days. Also much anticipated was the annual Sunday School treat to Scarborough, as was the week-long annual carnival, and there were regular dances at the Memorial Hall for young and old.  Residents took pride in their gardens and allotments and the then Urban District Council, which employed up to 10 men, looked after the town's amenities and kept the town clean and tidy with roads and verges regularly swept.

          All in all Pickering was a great place to live and a town to be proud of, and although times were hard, we were hardly “struggling to overcome the disruption caused by WW2.” Let’s set the record straight! 

 Ian F. T. Hodgson.