We moved to Coventry in April 1977 because my dad was playing football for
Coventry City. We rented a house from Jimmy Hill, who was then chairman of
the club. It was my fourth birthday when we moved into 19 Cannon Hill Road.
We didn’t have a cake, and I remember lining up pop bottles and pretending
to blow them out like candles. My sister, Louise, was three, and my brother
Daniel was nine months old; my other brother, Jordan, wasn’t born until
1986.
Jimmy was getting divorced at the time, and his wife had gone to live a mile
up the road. She had taken their dog, Sally, but Sally didn’t want to leave.
She kept getting out and returning to her old house. We said, “Look, we’ll
have her.” So we got a white miniature poodle with the house.
My parents decided they really liked the area and bought the house from Jimmy
for £42,000. It was probably built in the 1950s, with an in-and-out drive
and a garage at the side. It had a front garden and a huge back garden that
was split in two. One half had a couple of playhouses and lots of trees in
it; the other was a field with a bungalow at the bottom that my parents
rented to young, unmarried Coventry City players. You can’t imagine that
happening these days: Premiership footballers living at the bottom of
another player’s garden.
No 19 wasn’t huge, but it felt big when I was a child. My dad probably only
spent a few thousand on renovations, as he had a friend who was a builder
and electrician, and did him favours. It had a decent-sized hall, where my
parents put a bar and a table and chairs; people played darts there. The
hall had a dark-cream carpet that went up the wall behind the dartboard. To
the right was the dining room, which was lovely and not for everyday use. My
mum was big on interiors. She decorated the room in charcoal grey – she was
ahead of her time – and installed a black baby-grand piano.
The lounge led to the garden and was a bit over the top. It had pink velvet
sofas, a cream shag-pile carpet and lots of baroque furniture – a kind of
Footballers’ Wives look. The large family kitchen had pale wood units, white
tiles on the floor – my mum was forever washing them – and a cream Aga. As
well as Sally, we had Sadie, a chocolate-brown standard poodle. They both
used to sleep by the Aga. Sally was tiny, but she was the boss – Sadie
didn’t get a look-in.
My parents extended the kitchen and added a playroom. I can’t believe they
didn’t extend upstairs as well, we had were only three bedrooms and one
bathroom. There was a loo downstairs – I had a birthday party once, and one
of the children got locked in – but two loos is not a lot by today’s
standards. My parents’ bedroom, which overlooked the garden, had a walk-in
wardrobe and a sink. My mum made it very glamorous, with a purple velvet
headboard, a bedspread that looked like sheepskin, mirrored wardrobe doors
and a shag-pile carpet. It was a bit of a porn palace. Louise and I shared a
big bedroom at the front; it had a pink sink and was done out in Laura
Ashley. The wallpaper was burgundy with white flowers on, and we had
matching bedding. Then there was a tiny bedroom where Daniel slept.
Louise and I went to St Thomas More, a state Catholic school. Our best friends
lived on the same road and either my mum or their dad would drop us off at
school. Their mum would pick us up. She had a minivan, and we rolled around
like Maltesers in the back. Nobody bothered with seat belts or car seats in
those days.
We used to go up to the shops on our bikes, but my mum didn’t really like us
to play in the road. There was a stream in the middle of our street, with a
little bridge over it. Sometimes, kids would congregate underneath, and I
remember one night, when we were seven and eight, my sister and I went down
there. My mum appeared at the top of the bridge with rollers in her hair,
screaming at us to get home. I was never allowed out again without telling
her where I was going. Mostly, we played with our friends in the garden. We
had a tree house and a big wendy house where we kept an old television that
didn’t work. We used to pretend we were a television station and put on
programmes. One year, my mum had a big permanent paddling pool built. It was
about 3ft deep and, in summer, we all used to strip off and sit in it.
We lived on Cannon Hill Road until 1981, when we went to live in Vancouver,
where my dad played football for the Vancouver Whitecaps. My parents rented
out the house, and eventually sold it for £78,000. When we came back in
1982, we lived for a short time in a flat in Coventry, then moved to Leeds,
as my dad joined Bradford City. Coventry doesn’t get the best press, but we
had amazing, halcyon days. In my memories, it’s always sunny – even in
winter – and I think that says a lot about the time we spent there.
Gabby Logan is taking part in The Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes on 3 August
www.volkswagen.co.uk/touareg
and www.kingofcowes.com
