Happy Days Growing Up In Barnes

A Memory of Barnes.

The picture of Church Road where it ran parallel with The Crescent with all those familiar shops brings memories flooding back. I started life at 33 Glebe Road in 1944 and spent 5 happy years there before moving to Madrid Road. My mother would occasionally give me ration coupons to buy real sweets at Mr Brown’s shop at the end of the parade – a large jovial Irishman with a charming welsh wife. I was a sugar junkie then and nothing’s changed. Two doors up was the electrical shop owned by an auburn haired lady and her brother. Then there was Mr Gaigiel (phonetic spelling) the greengrocer, a butcher and a barber, and further up the Honey brothers’ grocery store – I always remember their large red bacon slicer. Then the sweetshop – Barnes was knee deep in sweet shops, thank goodness. And after that Mr Luscombe the newsagent. I had a paper round there and managed to get to the shop by 7.00 am every day. Next, I think was an undertakers, and then on the corner a large shop that was a flower shop, then later a bicycle shop. I had a Saturday job there repairing bicycles. How many wheels came off and brakes failed after I’d done my handiwork I’ll never know. I think the shop was an art gallery at some stage. Further up on the other side of Grange Road was, of course, The Sacred Heart Convent. I knew a young lady who attended the convent called Elaine Devereaux. A friend of mine, Geoff Burke, also went to The Convent when he was very young. Further along on the common side was an air raid shelter, long demolished. I and my primary school pals would break in and mess around in the strange interior. On a Sunday morning at Barnes Pond people would take their motor driven radio-controlled model boats and have them roaring around - definitely not allowed now. My sister and I went to Sunday school at St Mary’s Kitson Hall. And we also took ballet classes there. I can’t imagine what I looked like. Does anyone remember the cinema, now the Olympic Cinema. I saw Bambi there in 1947. On the way to Sunday School, we’d stop at the foyer and buy ice lollies. They were made by a lady there who poured orange cordial into egg cups and froze them and cost a penny! I’ve restricted my memories to The Crescent parade of shops or I’d end up writing a book. Happy to hear from anyone who wants to wax nostalgic about Barnes.