Ex Brierley residents let us know where they are now and how they are keeping. So come on all you ex pats, don't just visit the site, write and let us know where you are now and how life's treating you.

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Stephen (Bruff) Wilkinson
February 2007

I was born at 17 Hilltop Brierley in 1957 to Nat and Freda Wilkinson. My brothers and sisters were Jillian, Jeff, Linda and Peter.  I spent many a day playing football on the green with Pete Dean and Jimmy Cavanagh, do you still remember Jimmy, he used to have a ginger dog called Rusty. Stephen Dodd (Plodder), he was another one I played with, but he was a bit older than I. I wonder where he went. Then there were the Hough's. I forget their first names but they lived in the bottom corner of Hilltop. I also remember the Vamplew’s very well, Steve, Alan, and their sisters whose names I can’t remember. It must be old age creeping up on me. I remember playing with Alan on his bike, and somehow, he got his arm stuck in the back wheel. I thought I'd be in right trouble, but his mum, good old Margaret came and told me not to worry. Do you remember going down to the cowie's to walk through the mile tunnel, very scary at such a young age? After attending St Paul’s, Milefield and Willowgarth schools, I left in 1972 and started work at a cobblers in Cudworth. There is an amusement arcade there now. I can still remember hammering nails into souls all day long and going home with my hands totally blistered five days a week plus Saturday morning and all for a fiver. At this time I mated about with David Steele (Stella) Gary Hotchins (Hockey) and David Reece (Reecy).  I left Brierley 30 years ago in 1977 to get married. I lived on the New Lodge Estate for 7 or 8 years and worked at Woolley pit up to 1986 before being transferred to Selby. I was then made redundant in 1994.  While in Selby I lived in a Village called Ricall for about 10 years. After a brief spell as a bar man at the Greyhound pub, I moved to Cleethorpes in1996, and I have been here ever since. I now work as a coach driver after working for Stagecoach for 8 years. I have three daughters, Donna who's 29, and twins Amanda and Nichola who are 23. I also have 6 grandchildren. My sister Jillian Gamewell lives in South Hiendley and is a regular writer to the Brierley Village website.