Growing Up In Barripper Road

A Memory of Camborne.

My parents lived at 23 Barripper Road (David and Mair Hallett) and my sister Mandy and I went to Miss Blights (Elmhurst Preparatory School) in Bassett Road. I remember walking past the farm at the top of the road (now Penware Parc) and being offered a kitten by the farmer. I remember horses ploughing the field opposite Penponds School and the steam roller which used to be parked in the layby between our house and the school. We used to go to school on the Grenville bus which we caught opposite our house outside the Tregenza's house. We played with Nick and Jennifer Tregenza and with their next-door neighbour, a boy called Alan Davey(?). Up the road lived Molly and Ken Brown with Pops, the very elderly father of (I think) Ken. Molly was Irish and used to make date pasties with pastry like a bullet. We used to play in Penponds Woods - going down there on our bikes - and in Camborne Rec. My earliest memory of the rec is of the Coronation when I was two - for years afterwards I could not understand why the fairground rides I recalled from that day were no longer there. In Camborne I remember Vyvyans with its wizzy thing that carried the money from the assistant to the cashier and brought back change. I also remember the high wooden chairs. Internationals had sawdust on the floor and biscuits in glass fronted casks and cheeses to be cut up. Marks the bakers had Mr Jenkin who used to come round in his van with a wicker basket selling cakes and savouries - great sausage rolls. Other shops included Mrs Strong's sweet shop and the ice cream shop next to it (both in Basset Road opposite Vyvyans). There was a shoe shop in Trelowarren Street where your Clarks school shoes were bought and Berrimans the drapers (where my wedding dress came from many years later). As a teenager I spent many hours at the Silver Rail, the skating rink (where I was not allowed!) and the newly built bus station. I remember seeing The Who at the skating rink and also the youth centre above (that used to be Tonkins cafe where my mother would go sometimes). Growing up in Camborne was okay but Sundays were dire - as a teenager the only place open was the Wimpy Bar and the aforementioned bus station. At 11 I went to school in Penzance and used to catch the train from Gwinear Road until Mr Beeching had his way and we had to go from Camborne - Brown Cows going one way to Truro and Grey Rats the other to St Clares in Penzance.
Anyway, enough reminiscing. If anyone remembers the same things do get in touch. And if you can nudge my memory further that would be great.

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