 The site where the Social Security offices are now on the corner of Clarence Street and Dickenson Rd was the original site of Roby Congregational Church which became a United Reform Church in the 1970's. This was the first church to feature on a "live" broadcast of Songs of Praise. The church was a sprawling gothic building which had an active but dwindling congregation and also a scout troop. There was a large area behind the church which resembled a bomb site and that's where the cubs and scouts used to play on warm evenings. The upstairs room used by the cubs and scouts had a wooden floor and writing this I can smell again the wood and feel the splinters! Finally finances forced the church to sell the land and build a smaller church on the corner of Birch Hall Lane and Dickenson Rd. The Social Security offices were targeted by the IRA and a small bomb exploded in some dustbins outside the building in the 1970s (Can't remember when!). I know because I was across the road at the bus stop at the time! |