Tom Burnett
On Christmas in Leek
THERE are probably as many different ways to spend Christmas Day as there are people celebrating Christmas. Broadly things may seem similar, such as visiting relatives and watching stuff on TV but everyone does it slightly differently.
Growing up in Leek in the early 90s, I remember the Christmas lights switch-ons in the town centre.
It was a good while ago of course but things I remember that we don’t seem to have any more include the decorations on streetlights – which I seem to recall were wrapped in tinsel – and the decorations on the roundabout. It was hardly Blackpool Illuminations, but it was good enough for a six-year-old.
One thing that has been a staple in Leek town centre for many years is the Maternity Scene set up in the town centre each year without fail. Going back to childhood visits to Santa’s Grotto were also a part of the build-up to Christmas for me.
The Santa of choice was the one in the home furnishings department below the Co-op building off Brook Street. It was that part of the building that was divided into several individual shop units when Wilkinson’s moved into the upper section.
My maternal grandma worked at the Coffee Pot, a little cafe in there at the time, and we’d go there for a strawberry milkshake after seeing Santa.
We’d also spend Christmas Day evening at their house in Newcastle Road.
The entire family would be there and we’d have a buffet. It was always a good night. The night before, on Christmas Eve, we visited my paternal grandmother in Glebeville for a buffet. For a child with a sweet tooth it was an amazing time of year.
I’m not going to bore you with a definitive list of my best and worst ever Christmas presents as a child but you’d struggle to beat the full set of Thunderbirds for a five-year-old.
In 2017 my fiancee, my girlfriend at the time, paid for a trip to Lapland for us both the next month.
That was a pretty good trip – but Thunderbird Two had a button that allowed it to drop Pod 4, so I’m not sure if it was necessarily better.
As I’ve got older the family traditions have changed as well. For around six or seven years this decade we went to the Pride of the Moorlands pub in Junction Road – formerly and always the Herdsman – for a few drinks before going home for tea.
That pub closed in the summer of 2019 so last Christmas we went to the Prince of Wales in the Wallbridge area of the town. Hopefully we’ll be doing the same this year.
Of course Christmas 2020 will probably be different from how many people have spent it previously for reasons we’re all too familiar with. But it’s the exception rather than the rule.
Hopefully any traditions that can’t be carried out this year will be continued next year – and perhaps new traditions will come from the strange times we are living in.
In any event, how ever you’re spending Christmas, have a great time.