The Day the Rains Came Down
Article by Elsie Procter
In the 1970s the area that is now known as the Bentilee Valley was a large expanse of waste ground where people dumped their rubbish, but with the help of government grants, the City Council, and interested local residents a plan was drawn up to convert the land into a landscapes area, with trees, walkways, playgrounds, bridges, seats, etc. When it was completed, it was a wonderful sight!
There is a brook that runs length of the valley, which has its source somewhere around Hulme, up in the sandhills. Normally a trickle, it can become a torrent when it rains heavily. Where the nursery now is, on the corner of Chelmsford Drive and Beverley, the brook runs through steep banks and sometimes gets flooded.
One day, in the summer, we had the mother and father of all thunder storms; the brook filled up and filled up and spread out unttil we had a lake; it was quite impressive!
The rain stopped, the sun came out and so did the kids. They came from everywhere, carrying makeshift boats in the form of baby baths, tin baths and hastily constructed rafts of all kinds, and descended on the lake with great glee. They used their hands as oars and were soon sculling around. Those without boats put their swimwear on and paddled about in the shallow parts. There was lots of laughter, shouting and splashing; they certainly enjoyed themselves.
Mums and dads came out to watch, and we stood around chatting and watching the kids, calling "Be careful!" now and again, and drinking cups of tea.
After a hour or two, the flood subsided, the kids came out of the water, picked up their boats and vanished as quickly as they'd appeared, and all was quiet again.
My own kids came home bedraggled, muddy but thoroughly happy, to be bathed, dried, and fed. Then, thoroughly tired out from their rowing, they fell asleep.
What a wonderful afternoon that was! Completely spontaneous, it was one of those golden moments in time that you recall now and then with great fondness. Something never forgotten. I lived in Chelmsford Drive for 26 years and never saw it happen again, but I will treasure the memory of it: the day that the rains came down.
Elsie Procter, as well as once living on Chelmsford Drive,
was involved with "UBB", the magazine published by the
Bentilee Valley Project, which was set up to campaign
for the cleaning up of the brook area.She now occupies herself as a volunteer tutor for the
Willfield Open Learning Centre, writing for this mag
-- and loads more!
Copyright The Bentilean 1999
The last paragraph above is no longer accurate as the Centre has long since closed and there hasn't been a new issue of The Bentilean since August 1993.Back to: The Contents Page | The Archive | The Bentilean Main Page
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