Written by Gillian Livingstone and based on an interview with Margaret York, by Louise Weissel on October 29th 2024
For Margaret York, the Old Dump was a favourite place to play. She was born in post-war Bradford on Avon, and has lived there all her life. She grew up in the early 1950s and recalls the freedom she had to explore the open spaces in and around the town. Access to the countryside is something she cherishes and she regrets that today’s children living in built-up areas do not always have this.
The Old Dump was certainly not as idyllic as the fields and woods where she ran free. She was probably one of the children Joan and Terry Allen watched with concern as she played in what was to them an unsafe and unhealthy environment. Trucks came nearly every day, ‘heaped with your rubbish and whatever else’ and dumped their contents up and down the site. The young Margaret played there, knowing nothing different, ‘running down the slope and standing on the piles’ of refuse, because as a child, ‘you get used to your surroundings, so you don’t pick up on it.’ She was aware however of a horrible stench, always there but particularly strong during the summer. It even reached as far as Margaret’s house, 100 metres away.
The summer also brought the flies and Margaret’s home was filled with fly papers as her family tried to keep them at bay. In Judith Christensen’s history, she relates how her mother became extremely ill with respiratory difficulties and swelling of her limbs. Both were later attributed to the flies emerging from what the trucks were depositing: namely, festering piles of toxic waste. The children themselves were ill with tummy upsets. Local residents’ complaints about the flies eventually forced the Council to move their rubbish facilities to another site. But as Judith recalls, the Old Dump continued to be a magnet for children to explore its slopes and hummocks, a tradition that continues today with children making dens in the upper part of the site.
Margaret is anxious about what the proposed development might bring, (more traffic, more air pollution, fewer trees), and what it might uncover. Based on her childhood memories, she reflects, ‘There must be a lot more stuff further down, because it’s not safe; it just isn’t safe.’ Margaret deplores the short-sighted commercial values of the present proposal and the fact they are not taking into consideration the needs of local people, who should have easy access to green spaces for their well-being and recreation. A place for dog owners, walkers and nature lovers. A place for children to have adventures, just as she did once.
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