A Childhood Revisited

A Memory of Andover.

So many memories, where to start? I was born 1961 and grew up in The Crescent, just off Weyhill Road.......the rattling trains full of gravel making the house shake, the outside toilet (visits in the middle of the night in winter were at olympic record level), Mrs Mabeys apple trees...scrumping i think it was called! The smell of the pig farm if the wind was in the wrong direction on a hot summers day, building camps in Gallaghers Woods and wow betide anyone who dared venture in! The Big Bonfire at King George Road playing fields, Portway School and its fantastic playground (Health & Safety bods would be quaking in their shoes now, but OMG was so fab!).

Does anyone remember the concrete railwaymen hut that was between the pedestrian level crossing (linking The Crescent and Floral Way) & 'Gleesons Bridge'? Hot summers sunbathing on top of this strange little building!

Burbidges Bakery, fab bread.....my mother would send us off to get the daily loaf only to find we'd consumed half of it by the time we got home! Sunday School at St Michaels, Littles Shop on Weyhill Road. In the 60's the caravan park where Portway Industrial park is now. The Linga Longa sweet shop.....and raiding the bottle returns and 'recycling' them for a pittance or two!

In later years, Gills Transport cafe after a night of too much indulgence, nothing worked better than a huge fry-up and mug of tea at 5am! Having to go to Martines in Basingstoke because that was the nearest nightclub, and then Flicks opening up. Chaplins to start the eve, Flicks to end it! Great times, Fab memories!


Added 23 December 2008

#223466

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