The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991
Ipswich which was a nice little semi-detached house with 3 beds, bathroom, lounge, dining room, kitchen and small cloakroom off the hall. We stayed there until Oct. ‘33. The most important event during that stay was the arrival of Jean in the early hours of Aug. 12 , 1931. I don’t know if there was a scarcity of telephones then but I do know that I got my motorcycle out to go and fetch the nurse and the thing wouldn’t start so I ran all the way to Brook Street to the Nurses Home! th
Moving to Needham Dad had bought a piece of land on the Stowmarket Road and built a nice house into which they moved shortly after we married so I never lived there. I travelled to and from Needham or to the various jobs by motorcycle during this period and in the meantime Dad had purchased some allotments from Mr. Dan Kerridge on the Stowmarket Road as a speculation-building site. The first customer was Mr Swain whose home and shop had been destroyed by fire in 1932. Following completion of this house on the Gypsy Lane corner Mr. Frank Morris who had been appointed secretary of the local branch of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (M.U.I.O.F.) wanted a house and it was decided to build a pair and we would have the other one which became Berryhead No.2 and we moved there in 1933. I was sufficiently accomplished to be able to design and make the drawings for 27
