MEMORIES: Carole Longo, a Bradford native who now lives in New Hope, sent us some memories to share.

“Amazing, I never rode a school bus,” she said, adding she’d always walked to school at 5th Ward, junior high and Bradford High.

“This memory of the noise by our house at 45 E. Main St. is for Clayton Vecellio,” she said.

“My neighborhood was a colorful, noisy and dramatic combination of a daily soap opera, Little Rascal episodes and the Food Network. The set was alive with characters, aroma of Italian food, and all activities of life from birth to death.

“Italian immigrants continued traditional customs. Sometimes a bride, on her wedding day, walked to the homes of elderly neighbors to receive bona fortunata kisses, pinches on the cheeks with the customary compliment, Como c’bella! (How beautiful you look!). The grateful neighbor generously presented the bride with an envelope containing money.

“Residents didn’t need an alarm clock. Noise determined the time of day. Every morning at 6 aluminum beer barrels from Bradford Beer Distributor rolled down metal conveyor belts into the waiting delivery trucks. BAM BAM. The noise sounded like hammers banging on metal trash cans.

“A huge multi-colored neon-bowling pin flashed off and on through the living room window at #45, day and night, luring the muscled day laborers into the Recreation Lanes to see how many strikes they could make. The shrill whistle announcing the arrival of a Baltimore & Ohio cargo train passing couldn’t drown out the loud WHACK of the 25-pound bowling balls plopping in the lane and bouncing in the gutter. THUD! THUD! The sixteen-pound solid oak pins slammed up against a rubber backdrop.”