Bus Shelter
Living in Canada now I'm not sure if the bus shelter in this photograph is still there. In the early sixties I, my brother and sister caught the bus from this stop to our school, Holy Family RC Primary, in Benfleet. We'd have our pink bus passes at the ready and join a host of other kids on their way to their respective schools. A sign of the times in that I don't think anyone now lets their primary school aged kids travel by themselves on public transport. One winter the weather was really bad with lots of snow and some of the public buses didn't run. Happily, we had a couple of days off school and were disappointed when we heard that our school and only our school had arranged for a special bus. Trudging to the bus stop that morning one or all of us hatched a plan to have one more day at home. As the bus approached we hid behind the circular seat in the shelter and waited for the bus to leave without us. We then skipped back through the snow and told our angry Mother the bus hadn't arrived. I'd like to think the bus driver didn't spot us hiding, that the head Nun, Sister Frances, didn't know what we were about and that our Mum believed that the bus really hadn't come. Now I have kids I know how unlikely that is.
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RE: RE: Bus Shelter
Hi Chris,
It was great to read your memories. I too remember the pink bus passes and employing similar nun-evasion tactics during that snowy winter. Poor old Sister Mary Francis died some while back ( shortly after retirement). She was a fine woman - but at the time I thought that she looked like Arthur Askey - so could never take her seriously.
Sister Emmanuel - who was quite a young nun back then - has now reverted to her Christian name of Helen, but still works as a nun in the Cochester area. She speaks very fondly of the early days at Holy Family - but those days are long gone - and convents are being sold off for luxury housing.
I also remember going to Saturday morning ballet classes with your sister Catherine - and playing with you and Nicky (I think) dressed as elves (?) in your garden at the Hollies.
The Hollies was also where I went for my dental checkups with Mr Stanley Hartog.
I came online searching for images of the Kingsway -because I love old cinemas - and can recall the awful day in the early seventies when I came past to see the ball and chain demolishing it. A Safeway was built in its place, which then became a' House of Holland ' when the supermarket expanded further. Mr Yeaxlee; the man who owned the 'Grace Brothers'-style shop nearby (Yeaxlees) lived in my road and had the dubious honour of dying suddenly one Thursday night whilst watching Top of the Pops!
Happy New Year to you and all your family,
Regards,
Mary McNally Mills
Comment from Name withheld on Thursday, 1st January 2009.