Ham, Sweet Ham!

A Memory of Ham.

I moved to Ham in 1959 from Kew and left in 1984 after coming back from a short spell of living abroad with work. I went to St. Andrew's school (now St. Matthias' church) then, St Richards with St Andrews on Ashburnham Rd. We lived in Mowbray Rd. My mother, Florence Thompson, had lived in Sheridan Rd. previously. I remember the prefabs on Ashburnham Rd. Then the blocks of flats that were built at the same time as the Wates estate further along Ashburnham Rd. The fields we called the pits were no longer gravel pits but great areas to play, as was the common and Richmond Park. Mr Page was our headmaster and then Mr Dudeney in the new school. Mrs McGrath from the manor house on Ham Street supplied us with a party each Xmas in the old school. Frank Birch was the butcher with the hair lip and owned a grey Ford Prefect. Dunkleys next door and by the Bench. The Bench had cottages originally and then a big house was built there. There was a cobbler by Ham Tap, opposite the Crooked Billet, which was run by the Jordan family. It had an off licence on the front. The Post Office in Back Lane. Joyce the Welsh lady at the shoe shop. Catching lizards, frogs, toads, newts on Ham Common. And either side, Richmond and Kingston - two very different towns. I helped the milkman, I did a paper round and I worked after school and weekends in the Gulf petrol station in Croft Way on the Wates estate to earn pocket money. I had a great time there. My mother looked after kids at Meadlands as a dinner lady. My eldest brother moved back there some years ago, so I get to drive round when I visit him. Ham, an island of happiness.