Billericay, Catholic Church c1955

Catholic Church, Laindon Road, Billericay

This old church was modernised, including an extension at the front, sometime in the 1980s (I believe). My cousin Marion got married here, early 1980s, and the modernisation work took place sometime later - need to find dates. Personally, I did not think the modernisation work was in keeping with the original architecture.

Memory Lane 1950 - 1957

I have wonderfull memories of Billericay, Church. As a child my Mother would take my Brothers Paul, Barry & Sisters Margaret & Angela & I to the Sunday Service. Father Alawyshes Roch was the priest at that time. He was a good family friend to the Gurnett's. I believe Father Roch wrote a couple of books. While listening to the Choir we would always sit & try to pick out my Grandmother Alice Gurnett & Aunt Agnes Lyons voices. If we heard them we knew we would get to visit with them after the service. We would also look around to see if Auntie Jo & Auntie Eileen were there. I recall the Processions & the Benediction Mass along with all the incense. I distincly remember the wrought iron staircase leading up to where the choir was. The Baptism font seemed so big. The people always seemed so sad clutching their Rosaries & many would have tears in their eyes. Just down from the church on the corner was where they would set up the Circus tents when they came to town. Just a little distance away was Lake Meadows where we would go for the odd picnic & see the swans. If I recall correctly Father Roch lived close by this area.

RELATIVES IN BILLERICAY

1929-1939
I didnt live there mydad's family lived there .they came down from tottenham.
they were in the building trade. an address for my uncle is st helens slicers gate mill
road. I wonder if any one remembers the family.

My uncle left to build his own house over the river fenn creek woodham ferrers.
My dad Gordon helped to build broomfield hospital.I would love someone to give me some memories of my dad. manningvc@aol.com

The Wheatsheaf Pub at Little Burstead

It seems this is the first memory to be posted. My grandparents (Florence and Max Vetterlein) had the Wheatsheaf pub for about six years to 1957. They were tenants of the brewers Charringtons. There was the saloon bar and the public (known as the spit & sawdust bar). An extra penny was charged on a pint in the saloon. There was a very large garden at the back and so overun with nettles that a goat was borrowed to devour them. My brother and me were given our first Levis and we were thrilled that we could kneel in stinging nettles and not be stung. The customers' loo flushed but the living quarters was a bucket type with Jeyes fluid poured in, then emptied into a hole in the garden. Mrs Scroggins in the next door cottage called it the bumbee hole. Once we heard a dog whining all night. Next day we found it had been standing in the sewage and died when its strength gave out, unable to climb out. We saw Princess Grace get married on a 9" TV with a magnifier over the screen at Mrs Scroggins. We learnt to play chess with her grandsons. There is a stream down a lane nearby that we did our best to dam up. The Clock House owners used to have a St Bernard dog - big to us boys! Wheat was grown somewhere opposite the Dukes Head and horses were used. It was cut and put into stooks. We used to walk to the main road from Laindon to catch the bus to Billericay. There we learnt to row. The lake was divided into the kids' section and the adults had most of the lake. The old boat house still stands I see. Note its old roof tiles. Now Health & Safety have put a stop to rowing due to algae, so I hear. We used to go to Southend from Little Burstead for the day and into the evenings. We had fun at the Kursaal and used to go on an aeroplane ride that took us up high. The Southend lights were to me just as good as Blackpool's. At the entrance to the pier was a row of about 12 stalls run by one family, all selling cockles and whelks and seafood. My grandad died in 1957, two years after grandma, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the chuchyard. I returned to Little Burstead in 2007 to go down memory lane. After 50 years the old Wheatsheaf pub is gone, replaced by a new structure. Do they have all the old garden, I wonder. Wheatsheaf Cottage next door used to be a terrace of four cottages with old Mrs Scroggins in the end one by the pub. For fifty years Little Burstead has changed little and that is surprising. Of course properties will be modernised and maintained, I didn't come accross any housing estates or new roads cutting through the heart of the place. How thankful I was. So I can forgive the passing of the Wheatsheaf pub and can accept the black shiplapped house that stands in its place. I reside in Brighton which is just too hectic, but will never forget those idyllic school holidays 50 or more years ago in Little Burstead. Today's residents, please keep it as it is, you have a gem of a village. Bruce Bagley, Rottingdean, Brighton.