Chingford memories
Here are memories of Chingford and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Chingford or a Chingford photo.
Chingford Hatch
I remember the Manor pub, it used to have an air raid warning siren on the building. I remember hearing it once, testing it I think as the year was about 1956. I too remember the tea van which had an awning on it in the rain. As small children my sister and I always frequented the friendly atmosphere of the tea drinking bus men, so that we could buy a sweet lollipop from the tea van owner. When we first moved to Friday Hill I can remember the children playing on banks of mud where the workmen had been finishing the main road probably. The year would have been about 1954. Up Newgate Street was Chingford football ground where my brother and I would watch all-stars like Tommy Steele, Bruce Forsyth, and others play. My brother lived down Jim's farm and rode the horses bare-back up the hill into our back garden. My mother was used to cows always coming in the garden. Once Alma Cogan, the 1950s'... Read more
A View of The Forest
Coming down from a castle in rural Scotland to live in Chingford....I never forgave my parents; soon however I discovered Joan - an early girlfriend and love of my life; but she left with her family for the tea plantations of Kenya in 1957 despite my poem to her beauty and the biggest easter egg I could buy.
Although by the late 60s I couldn't wait to leave, I have so many happy memories; pals at Whitehall juniors and fishing Connaught waters in the early morning, with my cousin and a heron for company and the mist still heavy on the water - later in the year learning to skate on the ice with maybe a hundred or so others.
The start of a lifelong love affair with the violin at school and also learning to sing "where'er you walk" by Handel in another, posher church school up the road. Spellbound in later youth by the local godesses as they passed my house, catching squirrels... Read more
Queen's Road Cemetery
My mother's family are all buried in this cemetery in Queen's Road, Walthamstow. I know this because I have frequently visited the family grave.
The Old Gatehouse
This cemetery building and a smaller one at the top of the hill fell into ruin, and during the 1960s these used to be our camps where we used to hang out as kids. The dilapidated chapel in the middle of the cemetery was also open to being explored and played in. It was quite dangerous by today's standards, but in those days nobody really cared.
Sundays
Sundays were memorable, after a proper Sunday roast we would walk from our house at Chingford Hatch, up to the Royal Forest Hotel, then through the woods to the Owl pub, we would sit in the gardens with a drink and a bag of crisps, they had some donkeys in the field next to the garden, which we used to pat, there was also a kettle on a chain in the pub garden with a sign that said 'water 'otter' ... my dad had to explain it to me! Then we walked through the woods along Woodford High Road and down Chingford Lane, stopping at the top of Chingford Lane at a little seafood stall/shop for cockles and shrimps for Sunday tea ... happy memories.
Chingford Hatch
Does anyone remember the Manor pub at the bottom of Friday Hill? It was replaced by the Wheelwrights some years later, there used to be a van selling teas and coffees to the bus drivers and conducters in their breaks at the bus terminus opposite. I think it was called Bill's cafe.
Next to that was a little bridge that went over the River Ching, turn left along the Sandy Path and you came to Chingford football club .. further along were two chocolate-box cottages complete with picket fences, at one of the cottages a lady used to sell us lollies. Next to the cottages were the stepping stones that crossed the River Ching and led you on to the common and golf course ... carry on across the golf links and you came to Woodford where all the 'posh' people lived.
Around there somewhere was a convent , which unfortunately became a prime target for 'scrumping' because of the fruit trees in the grounds - you... Read more
Forest Walks
As from Easter 1956 my family and lived in Loughton, Essex, having moved there from Preston, Lancashire. One of our favourite walks was through Epping Forest which lies between Loughton and Chingford to this old picturesque church buried in the middle of the woods. In 1964 I attended a wedding there, but my own wedding, held later that year, was held in Loughton.
Stay in This Hotel
When we moved to Loughton at Easter 1956 the alterations to our new house which my father had ordered were not ready, so we had to stay in this hotel, because I think there wasn't a suitable hotel in Loughton. My room was right at the top of the building, looking towards the road, and in those days there was a bus terminus there; several buses started from the hotel to different destinations in and around London. Very near the hotel stands Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge.
Epping Forest Walks
This was another favourite destination for walks in the forest, starting in Loughton and I have many photos of the lake at different times of the year.
Larkswood Pool
Although I have put 1961 for this shared memory, any year between 1959 and 1966 would fit the bill, because I used to be there most days from early morning till late, from early May till early September when the pool shut. I went to New Road School and was in Mr Hethrington's class, I hated it, then went on to Wellington Ave (Welly Boots), where I made friends with so many girls, I wish I could get in touch with some of them. We would spend hours over Larkswood, not just in the water, but up on the 'bank' with our packed lunch and a drink, usually Mum had given my sister Kathleen and myself sixpence to spend in the shop, she was glad to get us out of the way for hours on end I think. My good friend Christine lived just across the road from the pool and I would knock for her on a school day and often meet her again after school over in the pool with a... Read more
Coffee Bars
Does anybody remember the coffee bars of Chingford. There was one at the bottom of Chingford Mount, it had the pyrex coffee cups, a juke box (6d a play if I remember correctly.) We all used to hang out there on Sundays and some evenings trying to make a coffee last for hours and hoping that somebody would put your favourite on the juke box - the Everly Brothers or Elvis - so many great records. They were really 'happy days'.
Bank Holidays
Eastenders without gardens used to flock to Chingford Plains on a Bank Holiday to enjoy the grass and forest. Crowded buses used to terminate at the Royal Forest Hotel and then park in the front of the hotel ready for departure.
Later in the day 5pm onwards queues of people used to stretch back into the forest opposite the Royal Forest Hotel standing behind temporary bus stops ready to catch their bus home. The 145, 102, 242, 38 bus to Victoria etc. All Bank Holidays seemed to be fine weather years ago - or the memory is bad.
Memories of Greater London
Chingford
As I attended school at St. Egberts College on Ridgeway in North Chingford, we did on occasion get to go swimming at Larkswood Pool. Swimming in any pool was a treat for most of us as the only 'swimming' we usually did was at the sea-side on summer holidays. It wasn't till later in 1947 after we moved to Elm Park Essex, that I had the opportunity to go to Kennylands School, a summer school at Sonning Common near Reading. Here I met and fell for a young lady named Thelma. When I got a free pass home every eight weeks, I took the train from Ibnvreness to London then the Underground and a bus to Chingford. Thelms's parent made me very welcome and I stayed there most pass weekends. They wewre fine people/ Mr's. Loader worked on the sweet counter in Woolworths and we often went to see her on Saturdays.
We dated and finally got engaged. However after promising she would follow me to Canada, she changed her... Read more
Blue Lamp, Buses And A Broken Arm
Used to wait for a trolley bus here which took the family to see Granny and Grandpa at Winchmore Hill. Always great excitement. Remember waiting here for my father to return from a builders' trip to Rotterdam - wonderful to see his face
in the bus window - probably from Liverpool Street station on the 38 bus.
Remember standing in the queue at the cinema. It was my treat for having taken the scholarship. I so wanted to see the Blue Lamp, but the queue was too long and we couldn't get in. And, in case you're interested (not a lot, I hear you say!) I fell down outside the Albert pub and broke my arm. This caused great merriment among the family because I was only 10 years old at a time and couldn't have
been "boozing"!
The photo looking down Old Church Road shows the fence of the cemetery on the left where the Kray brothers and... Read more
War Days in Chingford 1939-46
up to the age of seven from 1939- 46 i lived in middleton close i to remeber the war years , walking across sopers farm to feed the pigs on acorns , catching newts in the little pond , which is now unfortunatly rugby field and golf range, one of my aunts use to be a conductress on the trolly buses during the war, we use to have some wonderful christmas's when all the uncles came home from there different services train sets would come out and sing songs on the piano, do you remeber the three penny rush on a saturday morning rush to see hoppalong cassidy at the odeon, i think it was the A.B.C.minors club. all gone now but memories will always stay.trips on the rowing boats at connaught waters , maynards sweet shop next to the odeon 2 ounces of sweets a week with the ration book.moved away for a few years then married... Read more
Life as A Child And Teenager in S. Chingford (1939-1960)
I lived in Chingford from 1939, when I was born, to 1960 when I left to get married, and moved to Rayleigh, Essex. I remember the war years, and going down the shelter at Chingford Mt. when the siren went off. I used to go to Normanhurst School in N. Chingford, and we had to get under the desks when the siren went. I loved Saturday morning pictures at the Odeon, and going to Woolworths with my mother. She is buried in Chingford Cemetary and also my father. Later I went to Walthamstow High School for Girls, and used to go on the trolley buses. I have lived in Canada since 1967, and miss the old days, and hope to get back one of these days in the future.
South Chingford Parks And Lakes.
I was born in March 1939 and lived in South Chingford 1939-66. Frances Road 1940-47 and Underwood Road (Ropers Farm Estate) 1947-66.
I loved Chingford and still do. I regularly visit Chingford and was there only yesterday 15.07.08. I still have a cousin in Chingford and I am sadly selling my late cousin Peggy's house in Grove Road.
I firstly went to New Road School (briefly) then onto Selwyn Avenue - and then onto Wellington Avenue (Wellington Boot) (Maths master was a nightmare).
I loved the parks and lakes - not much homework got done as a result.
I remember the war years - hearing the sirens and having to (a few times) dive into the Mount shelter on the way home from New Road School.
We mainly used to play in Larkswood at the top of our road, the Memorial Park, Highams Park lake and the Larkswood playing fields-formerly had wartime shelters etc there.
We used to go to the Saturday morning pictures at the Odeon up the Mount,... Read more
Memorybank total
We're very pleased and excited by your response so far to our "Share your Memories" community.
You've shared 28,852 memories of 5,947 towns & villages across the UK - keep them coming!
Find Memories
Simply search for your favourite places to read others' memories and share your own.
Tips & Ideas
Not sure what to write?
It's easy - just think of an important place in your life and ask yourself:
How does it feature in your personal history?
What are your best memories of this place?
How has it changed over the years?
How does it feel, seeing these old photos of your favourite place?
Do you remember stories about the local community, its history and people?
Start now!
It's easy to add your own memories and reconnect with your shared local history. Search for your favourite places and look for the orange "Add your Memory" icon to begin.
Places this week
Here are some of the places you've shared memories of this week:
- Kirkandrews-On-Eden, Cumbria
- Easington Colliery, County Durham
- Lowestoft, Suffolk
- Ribbleton, Lancashire
- Rustington, West Sussex
- Netherbury, Dorset
- Dulverton, Somerset
- Cefn Fforest, Gwent
- Slough, Berkshire
- Raby, Merseyside
- Forest Row, East Sussex
- Guildford, Surrey
- Crook, County Durham
- Chertsey, Surrey
- Ewell, Surrey
- Cononley, West Yorkshire
- Maesgeirchen, Gwynedd
- Wrexham, Clwyd
- Brentford, Middlesex
- Winchmore Hill, Greater London
- ... and lots more - Browse this week's memories now.
Your memories
To jump straight to the memories you have added already to the Community, click here
I Remember When...
This stunning compilation highlights some of the best stories selected from the thousands contributed here on the
Frith website. The result is an absorbing chronicle of British life from the Second World War to the mid 1960s.
A colourful treasure trove of memories, "I Remember When" is an
irresistible mix of personal stories and recollections that affectionately reveal the detail of everyday life in Britain.
