The reservoir used to be where the playing field is now. There was a concrete causeway, about a foot below the water surface, across to the island. Susan Skelton advises: “Bubbles can remember all the frogs and his brother Frank. In my childhood the frog pond was near the swings.”
Image and information courtesy of Joe Ward, thanks to Susan Skelton for the update.
My grandfather, Harry Brown, was in charge of the winding engine at the pit until it closed. He used to keep ducks on the reservoir.
I well remember in the 1940’s the track next to the reservoir being covered in small frogs, and later on the dried flattened bodies of mature frogs having been squashed by passing vehicles.
I remember the reality of those times; dogsand kittens were put in hessian sacks, then tied and then dumped to drown. We boys would fish them out when we could and save them. Many families were HAPPY to House Them.