Childhood Memories Of Old Bracknell 1945 To 1957

A Memory of Bracknell.

I was born in 1945 in my aunty's cottage in Searle Street, which ran from the corner of the Station Hotel below the railway line embankment where we would wave at steam trains as they went past. There was a small shop on the other corner. Later on we would walk aunty's dog up past the station, along the lane near Ranleigh school, collecting conkers along the way. Uncle was the butcher at Jorden's in the High Street. I remember the shop with sawdust on the floor - all very clean. I grew up on Skimped Hill estate and we were one of the first lot of families to move in. A tractor ploughed the back yard before they could put fences up - very exciting.

Went to school at Priestwood infant and then primary school on the back of mum's bike. Miss Clare the assistant head was a tartar. My lasting memories are the ashphelt playground for girls with only the bike shed to play in; the boys playground with a climbing frame which I coveted longingly; milk warmed by the radiator in winter (we used to collect the silver milk tops for some charity); country dancing in the boys playground. Favorite teacher was Mr Carter who let us try and play his cornet and stay in the classroom at break when it was freezing outside. Least favourite, apart from Miss Clare, was Mr Allan the music teacher. Later went to Wick Hill Secondary school

Best memories are roaming free around the countryside around Bracknell. The "hollow oak" - under the rail bridge at the end of Skimped Hill; roller skating and billycarting down Downshire Way; Jackdaw wood at the top of Downshire Way with its big trees and autumn leaves in great drifts; the fields and stream with its tadpoles, the hazelnut trees on the way the Easthampstead; writing down car numbers with my friend Meryl while sitting outside the cinema; dancing with mum and auntie at the British Legion upstairs. Many good memories. Left Bracknell aged 12.