Moving to Dagenham

Year: 1953

Moving to Dagenham

My family moved to Dagenham from Northampton in December 1953. My first real memory of the borough was being lost on the day we moved in, after being sent to get some milk and sugar from the local shops, which would have been in Oxlow Lane. After our new neighbours gave me directions, I somehow ended up in Reede Road, managed to get the milk and sugar, and then spent the next hour or so getting back to my new home. My mum was frantic with worry, because I was only thirteen then. She asked me what had happened and I replied that all the roads looked the same to me, which was the case with Dagenham then. Most roads appeared identical to me. I came from a town where shops were on the corner of most  streets, and the buildings were very diverse, and I found it confusing at first to find my way around Dagenham. However I soon got used to Dagenham, and the places like the Heathway, Oxlow lane, and the Chequers soon became familiar. I found Dagenham to be very different to my home town, we had ten cinemas and two theatres plus many clubs and venues to entertain us, and it took a bit of getting used to the fact that Dagenham only had four cinemas and a couple of working men's clubs. Still I used to go to the cinema quite often, although the Heathway Odeon used to usually show the same film as the Odeon at the Fiddlers. But, if you went to the Heathway pictures, Pesci's fish and chip shop was on the way back, and you could get lovely roe and chips for 1s 6d. The Grange used to be worth a visit, and until it became a bowling alley the old Princess was a favourite venue with my mates and I. When I left school a couple of years later, the delights of London beckoned, and a whole new world was open to me. That, was a whole lot different to Northampton. When first I lived in Dagenham, I lived near Alibon School, and then when I got married, moved down to the Rylands estate, where I lived until the seventies, and then moved on to Stanford-le-Hope. I notice that a few people have mentioned their experiences with Valance swimming pool, that was the first pool I ever swam in on coming to live in Dagenham, and by god it was cold. I think that put me off swimming until Hornchurch opened their indoor pool in 1956. Anyway, I really have a soft spot for old Dagenham, and look back on my time living there with great fondness