John Waddington-Feather was born in 1933 at Keighley, Yorkshire, a mill-town in the Aire Valley. His verse-plays "Garlic Lane" and the longer "Easy Street" were first performed at Leeds Civic Theatre in 1973. This edition of "Garlic Lane" is an up-dated version of the original.
The author based both plays on Lawkholme Lane, where he was brought up in the post-war 1940s and '50s. Community life was strong and closely knit. There were still lively churches and chapels, pubs and choirs - and a rugby league team at the bottom of the lane, not one of whom was a full-time professional. Pigeon-racing, dog-racing, brass bands and glee clubs were vigorous. Bingo clubs and their ilk were only just making their appearance as new affluence spread.
And down the lane, vice rubbed shoulders with virtue. Vice especially was keenly observed by the womenfolk; everyone seemed to know everyone else's business - and shortcomings. Gossip crackled like a bushfire when neighbours telegraphed scandal, not all of it true, up and down the lane. But gossip was confined to the town; for global gossip, like the television, had not yet arrived. International tittle-tattle held little meaning in Keighley then. Even Bradford ten miles down the valley was a foreign place! Home-grown vices were sufficient to sharpen the palate in a community where Victorian values - and hypocrisies - were still alive, though dying fast.
"Garlic Lane" tries to re-capture something of the old Lawkholme Lane and Keighley, which now, like the people who once lived there, have disappeared into history.
Genre: General Fiction
The author based both plays on Lawkholme Lane, where he was brought up in the post-war 1940s and '50s. Community life was strong and closely knit. There were still lively churches and chapels, pubs and choirs - and a rugby league team at the bottom of the lane, not one of whom was a full-time professional. Pigeon-racing, dog-racing, brass bands and glee clubs were vigorous. Bingo clubs and their ilk were only just making their appearance as new affluence spread.
And down the lane, vice rubbed shoulders with virtue. Vice especially was keenly observed by the womenfolk; everyone seemed to know everyone else's business - and shortcomings. Gossip crackled like a bushfire when neighbours telegraphed scandal, not all of it true, up and down the lane. But gossip was confined to the town; for global gossip, like the television, had not yet arrived. International tittle-tattle held little meaning in Keighley then. Even Bradford ten miles down the valley was a foreign place! Home-grown vices were sufficient to sharpen the palate in a community where Victorian values - and hypocrisies - were still alive, though dying fast.
"Garlic Lane" tries to re-capture something of the old Lawkholme Lane and Keighley, which now, like the people who once lived there, have disappeared into history.
Genre: General Fiction
Used availability for John Waddington-Feather's Garlic Lane