Childhood Memories of Cranford

I used to live in Cranford from birth (1953) to 1968. We lived at 703 Bath Road and my dad, Peter Wilson, owned the local butchers over the other side of the road, Wilson & Sons. He used to make his own sausages, rissoles & dripping. At Christmas time, he used to try and get me and my sister, Elizabeth, to help pluck the turkeys but it used to make my fingers too sore! His favourite trick was to ask me to get something for him in the walk-in cold store & then shut the door behind me! The light would go off & I would be walking around bumping into carcasses of  beef, lambs & pigs! I'm surprised I didn't end up in therapy!

Next door to dad's shop was a barber's shop owned by a Greek man called Sam. Dad used to make us go there for our haircuts and many a time we used to end up looking like little boys because he had cut our hair so short!

Our semi-detached house on the main road was opposite Cranford library and my grandparents, Richard & Doris Spencer, used to live at 10 Clevedon Gardens, just a bit further along off the main road.  My grandfather used to work as a barman in The Jolly Wagners pub just off the roundabout past the row of shops & occasionally we would see Patrick Magoohan coming from there, my grandfather told me that it was one of Patrick's favourite pubs! In 1968 we moved as our house was sold, along with several others, to be knocked down and a large block of flats was built in its place. The butcher's shop was sold and is now an Asian grocers.

When I was small, I attended Cranford Junior School and we used to get heavy smogs in winter. As I used to get bronchitis every year, I had to wear a smog mask to and from school, I think I was the only one with one, and by the time I had walked to school, I had to take the gauze pad out and it would be absolutely black!