Ide Hill, Kent

My Best Years

I was born in Tunbridge Wells, but my parents had a flat in Riverhead and we moved to London Road, Riverhead when I was a baby. My grandparents lived at the Heights, next to the church. I remember the steps the way they are in the photograph, but also I remember when there was only the one road through Riverhead and there was a row of houses opposite us which were all pulled down when I was very young and the new through road was built. I went to Amhurst School as did my dad and aunties and my grandfather was a caretaker at the school but sadly he died in 1968. I'm now 53 but love going through Riverhead and seeing the places that were all familiar to me. I remember Mr Tye the butcher and Mr and Mrs Nightingale who had the shoe shop. My own great-grandparents came from Dunton Green where they had a cobblers, they are mentioned in another book about locals and he was known as Snobby Hollands. I used to go and ask for horseshoes at the farriers on the way to school. I belonged to the Brownies in Riverhead and I think everyone knew everyone else, times were good then.

Our first home was in Robyns Way, Riverhead

Elizabeth and I married in 1971 and moved into our first home which we bought together at 21 Robyns Way. From our house we could walk round Pontoise Close and along a path at the edge of a sandpit, past a ramshackle village hall and into this church which we attended frequently. We lived in Riverhead for more than four years and loved the town of Sevenoaks, the local Scout Troop and Cub Pack where we were both leaders, and the Bradbourne Lakes at the end of our back garden. Evntually business took us away from this lovely place and we went to live and work near Glasgow in 1975.

Walking to lunch

When I first started school we would walk up the High Street in a "crocodile" to a cafe were we had our lunch. We then walked back to school for the afternoon lessons.