Gascoigne Road

A Memory of Barking.

I was born in Gascoigne Road in 1946, right opposite the school, 2 doors from Molly's sweet shop. My sisters Brenda and Betty along with our parents Rose and Arthur Cox. I have wonderful and happy memories of our life in Gascoigne Road, all three of us attended Gascoigne School as did all the kids in the nearby roads. Everyone knew everyone, the houses in all the roads were very small, two up two down, with a scullery and outside toilet, with alleys running through the back of the gardens, where we ran in and out up and down, playing runouts. The roads nearby were Howard, Boundary, Perth and Keith, we would often venture to Greatfields Park to play. I remember walking up Gascoigne Road with my mum to get our groceries in Victor Value's, passing R,Whites, through the prefabs, near the George pub. I can also recall the Electric Cinema and Shindermans the shoe shop and the old Broadway market. Jimmy Leigh's, the eel and fish stall, and the record shop, where I can remember buying my first record - Adam Faith, 'What do you want'.
I had a great school life,with loads of friends, starting in the nursery, having afternoon sleep on little camp beds. Even now to this day I am in contact with loads of schol friends. At school most of the mums were either dinner ladies or helped in the clasrooms with reading and writing, including our mum. I remember Claydens the shoe menders on the corner of Howards Road with Lewis's the grocery shop on the end of our terrace, across the road was Sonny's the tailors and further down was the post office on the corner of Boundary Road and the Gascoigne Mission, where we all went to Sunday School and Girl Guides, right opposite was the Hope Pub, where I used to go to get Guinness in a jug for my mum on a Sunday night, after buying winkles and cockles from the winkleman's cart. Then on a Sunday evening as a treat we would go to Greatfields Park to watch a show at the bandstand. Another treat was to visit Barking Park for a ride on the minature train and a ride on the paddle steamer or rowing boats. I do have lots more memories as I got older, I shall write again another time.