Wednesday 29 October 2025

Visit to see John Doble (Dobby)

 

There would be six of us today rendezvousing at Sunnyview House and today’s visitors were John Howarth, Glenn, John, Derek, Russell and Colin. 

However, before entering the Care Home we bumped in to our old friend Roger Backhouse and it was lovely to see him. 

Sunnyview House is a care home in Beeston where our dear colleague John Doble is a resident and has been for approximately four months. 

He did tell us that he was in a state of flux as to whether to return home at some point or throw his lot in at the care home. He commented on the fact that everything was done for him and it would be hard to go back to looking after himself after all the kindness shown at Sunnyview House!

We were made to feel very welcome by the staff with a cup of tea and the all staff were very friendly, chatty and pleasant. 

Dobby looked well and certainly more relaxed than he did whilst working at Chas. F. Thackray. He was a very talented man and had a wide range of skills that made his job extremely varied over his time at work starting at the company around 1962. 

There was a lot of reminiscing as you can imagine but Dobby  had an excellent memory and remembered nearly all of the names that were mentioned so after a good hour and a half it was time to leave as dinner was now being served.

We said our goodbyes to Dobby and John Howarth who had come by car leaving the care home at about 12:30 and we made our way to Park Fisheries for a lovely lunch sat outside in a little seating area integral with the Chip Shop. Saying our goodbyes to Russell who had also come by car. After this we made our way through Cross Flatts Park and discussed all the things that had disappeared over the years like the Park-keepers hut and Cross Flatts Park Annex that was for the pre-school years before they eventually went to the big school at Cross Flatts! The school is now called Park View and is a new build. The old school building was demolished and a new single story building now stands there. 

There was a big greenhouse and a Band Stand that had also gone. 

We wandered right through the park and met a lady who knew some of John Hey’s colleagues and knew where John lived on Town Street and the gardens overlooking the railway lines  

We passed the park shop where we all used to buy our sweets from when in and around the park. 

We then caught our respective buses back home with John going towards Leeds and Derek, Glenn and Colin crossing Dewsbury Road and catching the bus to The White Rose Centre, Colin alighting at Barkly Road. 

A lovely day out and meeting our old colleague John Doble (Dobby) was a lovely bonus. 

Best regards Colin

Colin Hendrick Ward