A Privilege To Grow Up Here!

A Memory of Buckhurst Hill.

I was born in 1961 in Thorpe Combe hospital in Walthamstow and brought up by my parents in Forest Edge Buckhurst Hill. I consider myself very privileged to have lived there for the first 26 years of my life and have many fond memories of the town that few have heard of, and the people I knew there. My parents lived next door to my mothers parents - my grandparents- until I was around 7 and my grandfather died and my grandmother moved away to the Bexhill area. We lived opposite the Lords bushes part of the forest and spent many a day in the forest and around Knighton pond which used to freeze over in Winter with people able to go on the ice. I also spent a lot of time with friends on the banks, or indeed paddling and catching small fish, in the River Roding. My memories of the shopping area of Queens road are of the Loreli cafe where my Mum used to take me quite a lot, Toon’s and Moore’s the newsagents, Hobley’s and Murray’s the bakers, Metsons the school outfitters, Odell’s and Sorrell’s the greengrocers, Roarke’s the upmarket tobacconist and sweet shop and the small supermarket called International. Ginger’s the newsagent and sweet shop in Princes road was just around the corner from where we lived and I was a regular in there buying penny sweets on the way to and from Buckhurst Hill county primary school, also in Princes Road. I was privileged to have been able to be part of the centenary celebrations at this school in my last year before going to secondary school in Epping. There are just too many great memories to share on this site but I hope anybody reading this recognises some of the things I’ve mentioned.

---

---