Havering-Atte-Bower, Pyrgo Park 1910

Carefree days

I remember Bedfords from my childhood. When I was about 12 years old my friends and I used to cycle to Bedfords Park from nearby Elm Park, about 7 miles away. Bedfords Mansion as we used to call it, was being used as a Natural History Museum and had numerous stuffed animals and birds all said to be from the local area. Next to it there was and still is a deer pen with numerous deers. Sadly Bedfords was demolished in the latter part of the 1950s but the park remains as does the deer pen. I am retired now, but before I retired I worked for the local council and often had the job of feeding the deer, and cutting the grass over this very large park on a tractor and gang mower. I still visit the park with my daughters and grandchildren for walks over its many acres. From all over the park the views are far reaching and on a clear day you can see all over London and over the Thames to Kent. It's a view which has fascinated me since my first visit.

When buses ran past Lloyds Bank .....

I am told that once upon a time buses ran through Romford Market towards Gidea Park. Apparently I was happily standing in the queue with my mother and newly-born sister in a pram waiting for a 174. I held tight to Mum's coat so as not to lose her. Imagine my surprise to find that the coat in question belonged to a stranger, and my mother and sister had boarded the bus and were moving away! Luckily the kindly lady looked after me until my poor flustered mother and sister returned. Thank you, kindly lady. Louise Hands-Heathfield (now living in Bournemouth).

Romford and Havering-atte-Bower,very fond Memories

We moved to Romford in 1951 from Havering where we lived with Nan and Grandad in Pinewood Road. It was an exciting time for me but also an unhappy time leaving Nan and Grandad's house. We moved in a council house in Chelmsford Ave, I made friends with a boy called Raymond Crane, we started school together ,his mother and father ran a market stall in Romford and he had a young brother. I remember mum and I would go to the market twice a week, I loved the place, it was like Aladdin's cave, the eel stall used to fascinate me, in those times you could buy puppies and kittens. We use to visit Nan and Grandad three times a week in Havering,t hat was great, we used to walk, it was all country roads then. In 1955 we moved, but the year before that Raymond moved away, I remember being heartbroken, he gave me a photo of himself and his little brother which I still have to this day. Over the years I have often wondered what happened to him. Those memories will stay with me for always, they were good times.

Doing the Shopping

I lived a mile or so east of Rush Green, in Barton Avenue but my Mum would send me with a note to get the shopping for the family. She would give me sometimes had eight half crowns or £1 a lot of money then. I would cycle down, first to Brown's the butchers, the first shop after the houses. Mr Brown who had huge butchers fingers would serve me liver, H-bone or chops and he would write how much I owed on a marble slab underneath the wrapping paper. At the end of the week he would expect the bill to be settled. Sometimes mum had not given me enough, he wasn't happy then. Then I'd go into Ewins the grocers with a long list. I would wait in the queue then be served one item at a time. No supermarkets then. My friend at school was Barry Kitchener and his dad was the manager of the Coop butchers round the corner in Dagenham Road. He lived over the shop and his mum had asthma which she used an old fashioned air pump with a rubber bulb which she would pump air into a mask on her face. She was so breathless which frightened me a bit. Opposite Brown's was what we called the oil shop, I think it was called Everards a hardware store. When I'd finish shopping, I would have a heavy bag on each side of the handle bars and cycle home. Mum was always very pleased with me.

Memory Joggers

We moved to Romford in 1954. First we lived at Mawneys and attended the primary school there. In 1955 we moved to Oaks Avenue and I attended Pettits Lane Secondary Modern School. I left in 1959. The pillars just below the trees in the photo, was the gateway to the Whykam Hall which belonged to the church. I remember spending many happy times at the weekend dances. I could really Rock'n' Roll in those days! I used to go with my best friend Margaret Golding, who I sadly lost touch with. Another place I loved was the Nimbus dance hall. I believe it was above the Co-op at the top end of the market.  HAPPY DAYS!