WHEN Raymond Horsley moved into his house in 1954 the mobile phone and the Rubik’s Cube hadn’t been invented - but 70 years later and he could stake a claim to being the longest-serving resident in Barnsley.
Now 95, Raymond moved into his house on Rufford Avenue in Athersley North on July 17, 1954.
He’ll mark his 70th anniversary of living in the property on Wednesday - and he’s got quite the story.
“I’ve never really lived anywhere else,” he told the Chronicle.
“This was my first house and I’ve never moved.
“I moved in when it was first built by the council and then bought it under Margaret Thatcher’s scheme.”
When a similar property scheme in Nottingham collapsed, councils across the country were put to task to try and demolish them.
But when Barnsley Council offered him four times what he had paid for it to move out - he politely declined.
“I paid £5,000 for it and they offered me £18,000 - I refused their offer,” he said.
“I’m the only one on the street who has been here since the start.
“There used to be a newsagents at the end of the street, the Mansfield WMC and The Wellington pub but there’s none of that now.
“There’s no footfall.
“It’s changed so much.”
