Diane Catstrey (nee Parry) grew up in the Blockhouse area of Worcester. Her home, a terraced house in Nash’s Passage, no longer exists. It’s now under the dual carriageway on the City Walls Road. Di describes the family circumstances as tough. There were 9 in the house; her parents, her gran, 3 brothers and 3 sisters. They shared a communal washhouse across the yard which backed onto Crocketts bottling factory. Aged 7, Di can recall helping out with washing and labelling Guinness bottles at the factory.

You can listen to Di’s full interview by clicking on the YouTube video below. You can also download a PDF with a detailed summary of Di’s interview via the download button below.

In Part 1, she vividly describes the Blockhouse area, playing in the streets as a child and the various shops in Carden Street, Temperence Street, Charles Street and Bowling Green Terrace. She remembers going pea picking in Kempsey straight after school in summer, and trips to the Gas Works in winter to get coke for the fire. She also describes the route through Worcester to visit her other granny in Russell Terrace (in Cripplegate Park), playing table tennis in St Helen’s old church hall and joining the TA in Worcester.

In Part 2, she recalls some of the factories and pubs in the Blockhouse, such as the Kolynos pharmaceutical factory, the Providence Tin Box factory and The Old England Pub. Di’s first job was at Norton’s (provisions), before joining Kays and then the MEB. Later in life, in 1969, she and her husband took over the Vauxhall Pub on Rainbow Hill.