Barking, Essex

The Capitol Cinema

I remember being taken to the Capitol by my sister to watch the Disney film Bambi. We sat through it three times, I was taken ill the next day and my sister got the blame. The Capitol had a ventilation fan under a hole in the roof, when it rained the fan sprayed water onto a big circle of seats below. We sat in the middle of the circle to keep dry! I went to Ripple Road school near the level crossing and lived near the Harrow. I remember the sweet shop by the Westbury Arms was run by Pat and John Renn, they sold records there, I still have the first on I bought.
I'm told that when I was a baby my mother left me in a pram outside Sainsbury's in East Street and went home with the shopping.

St John's Ambulance Brigade

In the early sixties I was a member of the St John's Ambulance Brigade and often on a Saturday morning I would don my uniform and present myself (as instructed by my leader) to do my duty at the Odeon.

Often there would be 2 or 3 willing volunteers and we would always pray that no-one would get sick or ill so we could enjoy the movie as well. Great days.

In those days the Odeon was massive with a balcony and lower stalls, it was huge and most times everybody behaved themselves - it would only show one film maybe with a cartoon or something unlike todays Odeons.

Shopping in Barking

I was born in 1947,  so anyone that reads this of that era can relate to the great shopping and Barking people. You could never walk through the shops without seeing a friend or neighbour and through a child's eyes everything was 'right with the world'. My mum and I would have a cuppa and egg and cress roll in Woolworths, they had a cafe along the width of the shop at the far end. Does anyone remember it?  Jimmy's the Chemist and the wet fish shop next to Burtons. The joy of looking in the market, Blakes and Broadway. And remember the live eels! And the lovely smell of fresh baked bread at Arthy's.
All lovely memories of happier days.
Edna (nee Miller)

Ripple Road

I was born in 1948 and lived behind Wallis's undertakers in Ripple Road, where my dad was the manager. I went to St Margaret's Church of England School in Back Lane, and was married at St Margaret's Church in 1970. I also did my nursing training at Barking (Upney) Hospital, before moving to Colchester. I have memories of losing my Easter bonnet into the Town Quay one Sunday morning after church.
Carol Harding (nee Leith)

London Living Memories

High Street North is a relatively undistinguished and typical London suburban shopping street: the exuberance of the Town Hall complex is forgotten. The Midland Bank on the corner of Caulfield Road (right) is one of their 1920s Classical-style single-storey buildings that add quality to many High Streets. On the left the taller Victorian brick buildings were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by bland flat roofed ones.

London Living Memories

We pass under the River Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel - the northbound side dates from the 1890s, an early project of the LCC, which was established in 1888. East Ham was in Essex until 1965, but since the mid 19th century very much a part of greater London. Here we approach East Ham’s town centre along the busy North Circular Road, which seems in places merely a casual linkage of suburban roads. These terraces of neat Edwardian bay-windowed houses survive, and lead towards the Town Hall with its tower.

London Living Memories

Our tour now heads north-east to Greenwich to a much grander building. The Royal Naval Hospital, a counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, began as a rebuild of Greenwich Palace by Charles II in the 1660s, but it changed direction in the 1690s. The second pediment from the right is Webb’s 1660s work. In 1873 it became the Royal Naval College; when that closed, in the 1990s it became part of Greenwich University. In the distance are the chimneys of Greenwich Power Station of 1902-10.