IT can often be hard to remember street names even in cities as small as Worcester, but three families will never forget a certain area that has played a big part in their past, and now their future.

City councillor Mike Layland, May Pollard and Joan Nicholls (née Bevington) are all set to get new streets named after them in Diglis after developer Bryant Homes asked for people to come forward with their memories of the area.

Layland Walk, Pollard Court and Bevington Court will all be unveiled at a special ceremony on Saturday.

Coun Layland, who was nominated for the honour by old friend and fellow Diglis resident Tony Hail, was born at 15 Diglis Road in 1935, the second of seven children.

Educated at St Peter’s School, which is now the Worcester Porcelain Museum, he worked for many years at British Rail and also served with the 1st Royal Battalion Worcester Regiment as a physical training instructor.

Coun Layland, who was elected to the city council in 1966 and went on to hold positions such as city chamberlain from 1972 to 1973, high sheriff of Worcester between 1973 and 1974 and mayor of Worcester in 1981 and 1982, remembered his childhood in Diglis Road with great fondness.

“Our house had just two bedrooms and a small box room,” he said.

“The toilet was at the top of the garden, there was no electricity and we only had cold running water in the outside washhouse.

“Our house faced the Townsend flour mill and we used to watch Dolly, the big grey horse, pulling the cart that delivered flour around the city.

“Bread and coal was also delivered by horse and cart and Mr Perkins the milkman would deliver milk at midnight in an old Austin.

“I remember the Diglis area being home to many local businesses; the Porcelain, Astons timber yard, Baggots Engineering who made munitions during the war, Harry Corbett & Family coal merchants and W.F. Tansell road haulage which is still there to this day.”

Coun Layland said Diglis Basin was a major part of his childhood.

“I remember helping the boat owners with their repairs and taking the horses that pulled the barges up to Donkey Meadows with Mr Watton the lock keeper,” he said. “School holidays were spent camped by the river in the field next to the withy beds where we swam and fished, only going home when we were hungry! But there are some sad memories too. My brother Terrance drowned in Diglis Basin when he was just eight-years-old.

“I am both honoured and privileged to have a road named after me in the Diglis area. My family are very happy for me and proud of this achievement from such humble beginnings.”

Alice May Pollard, known all her life as May, was born in Diglis Road in 1909 and lived there until she died in 1981. The second child of Fred and Alice Spinner, May also went to St Peter’s School. She left at 14 and started work at Royal Worcester Porcelain where she remained for 24 years.

After giving birth to her only child Gillian, May took an outworking position for Fownes Gloves and then took a part-time job at the company’s factory on City Walls Road. During her time there, she hand-finished a pair of racing gloves for Formula One driver Jack Brabham and a pair of gloves for Prince Phillip to mark his visit to Worcester.

After many years of tireless devotion caring for her husband who never enjoyed good health, as well as her father who lost his sight and lived until he was 94, May herself was diagnosed with cancer in 1971. She underwent major surgery and she enjoyed a further 10 years of life with her three young grandchildren.

May’s daughter, Gill, remembered her happy childhood growing up at 36 Diglis Road.

“Our house was built in around 1880 and mum told me it was originally a shop,” she said. “There were two downstairs rooms and a kitchen leading to a coal house and outside toilet. We didn’t have a bathroom until I was 12, and I remember Friday would be bath night in a tin bath in front of the fire.

“I remember there were two shops in Diglis Road, one run by Mrs Knight at the top opposite the Albion pub and one run by Mrs Battersey further down the road towards the Anchor. Granny’s treat was to take a small brown jug to the Anchor to be filled with beer which she would then bring back home and put on the hearth to warm.

“It was lovely living by the canal. I spent many hours watching the horse-drawn and later motorised narrow boats going past the bottom of our garden. I got to know families who lived on boats moored along the tow path and fed bread to the swans that made a nest on the bank opposite to us every year.

“Our family has such a long history with Diglis and mum lived there all her life. She was such a special lady and it is hard to put into words just how much in means to our family to have an area of Diglis named after her.”

Joan Nicholls, née Bevington. known by her friends as Bevy, moved to Diglis Road with her husband and four children in the early 1950s and ran Maxwell Nicholls, the cardboard box manufacturers. Based at 48-52 Diglis Road, the company supplied many city businesses including Worcester Porcelain, Fownes, and Dents, as well as making punnets and baskets for local farmers.

Joan’s daughter Maxine said: “When we first moved into Diglis Road I remember there were stables, a house and two cottages. The cottages eventually became two offices and a canteen for the factory workers. I remember helping the factory girls when we were small and going out visiting local companies in the van. I also remember factory outings to the seaside by bus. My parents really valued the hard work and loyalty of their staff, many of whom they kept in touch with after they retired.”

However, Joan’s real passion in life was swimming and as a coach for over four decades, she taught thousands of youngsters to swim. Her many positions included president of Worcester Swimming Club, Chairman and Coach of Droitwich Dolphins, West Midlands Regional Secretary of the Amateur Swimming Association and a member of the British Swimming Association.

An accomplished swimmer herself, Joan won the last Mile Race in the River Severn before the Second World War.

In 1994 Joan received the prestigious Alfred H Turner Award in national recognition of her services to swimming. She died 10 years later at the age of 84.

Her daughter Maxine said: “Mum was an exceptional lady who led an exceptional life. It’s incredible to think that a part of Diglis will now bear her name.”

Bryant Homes regional sales and marketing director Anne Wallace said: “It has been absolutely wonderful to hear the different stories and memories of life in Diglis Road. There was obviously a very strong sense of community here and we’re delighted to now be breathing new life into the area with new homes and businesses.

“We’re really grateful to Mike and the families of May Pollard and Joan Nicholls for sharing their stories with us and we feel it is a fitting tribute to be remembering them by naming three areas of Diglis Water after them.”

Diglis Water consists of more than 400 homes comprising mainly apartments and townhouses, as well as retail and leisure facilities. The scheme also includes the restoration of river and canal areas and will feature a new public riverside park. For further information call 08456 724033 or visit bryant.co.uk