Woodville Road, Ham, Prefabs

A Memory of Ham.

My Family moved into the newly built Prefabs in Woodville Road when they were first opened up for occupancy.
I can't remember what year it was. Does anybody know what the date was? The Prefabs were kitted out with a Fridge which was unheard of at that time, which really impressed us kids. My brother John and I played in the street and on the Square with all the other children. Football in the Winter and Cricket in the Summer. We organised matches with other children from the Beaufort Court area. One of my memories was when playing cricket I hit a ball through the bedroom window of one of the prefabs surrounding the square. One or two of us went and knocked on the front door to ask for our ball back and when told OK go and get it (They thought the ball was in the garden) when we told them it was in their bedroom they were not best pleased and it cost my Mother five shillings for the window repair. We used to play tennis in the road and were normally only disturbed by Mr Conway and his horse and cart, when he came round the village selling fruit and vegetables. We had Fred the milkman from Secrets Farm with a horse drawn cart and the Coal man used to have a horse drawn cart too. Needless to say we kids used to go out and collect Horse manure for the gardens. In the 40's and 50's the village shops were Mrs Dunkley's for groceries, Frank Birch the Butcher, Elsons the greengrocer, Jessops the Newsagent, a Shoe repairer and a branch of the Co-op. My Mother used to be a member of the British Legion who met now and again at the Ham Institute in New Road. I did a paper round for Jessops the newsagent and got paid 10 shillings a week. We used to make little buggies, getting wheels and planks of wood etc from the Pits, where people used to dump all their rubbish.
I went to Trefoil House school, on the Petersham Road and had to walk up and down Sandy Lane everyday and then St John's school in Richmond, getting on the bus (number 65 or 71) every day, then eventually Meadlands School (Mr Jackson was my form teacher) when it first opened. I was there for a year before going to Mortlake Secondary (another bus Journey) I used to get a Bus Pass from the Council so that I didn't have to pay the bus fare. I played football for the school and Ham Juniors Football team.
Ham River Pit Company lorries used to make numerous trips to the pits at the bottom of the road and dumped landfill material. Where eventually they built house's that we can see today, but in my day it was the equivalent of an adventure playground. My Mother banned us going to play there as it was dangerous and one or two people died over there by drowning. But when she was not looking. we would go and play all sorts of things over there.We used to walk down to the river and help the lock keeper at Teddington lock in the summer. Also we would walk down to the river and meet Family members from Richmond for a picnic, while watching the boats go by. There used to be three pubs in the village, The Ham Brewery Tap, The Crooked Billet and The Royal Oak. Finally I remember going to the Saturday morning pictures in Richmond, The ABC Ritz cinema. It would cost my Mother a shilling. 6d to get in, one penny and a halfpenny bus fare each way and 3d for sweets. Total cost One shilling. We would also go Ice Skating now and again at Richmond Ice Rink. Philip