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Ilford
Ilford maps
Historic maps of Ilford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ilford maps
Ilford area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Ilford and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ilford
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Ilford.
There are 21 shared memories to read.
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Summer Holidays.
Country born and bred, I regularly stayed with aunts and uncles in Seven Kings and Barkingside My regular haunts were Valentine's 'Cranbrook' and Barkingkside Parks as well as the disused airfield known as Fairlop. The latter being a haven for aircraft modellers. I cycled everywhere and made many friends of my own age. I was a good rower at that age and took a group of townies out on a skiff on the Park Lake which caused great excitement. This picture caught my attention as there is a possibility, albeit vey slim, that the lad in the picture is myself (12) and the couple on the right are my aunt and uncle. The school clothing is indentical, although common in those days. I purchased the picture in the hope of carrying out research to make identification easier. Sadly this is not a true photograph from a negative or hard copy as expected but a reproduction from a magazine or newspaper which makes clear enlargement impossible due to the typesetting. My Uncle worked for the... Read more
Pig Farm
I can recall going with my father up to Barkingside after an air raid during the Second World War and seeing a farm that had been hit. There were fire hoses all over the road and pigs running up the High Street. The farm was just across the road from the cinema (The State?). We too were to be bombed out of our house, at the bottom of Clayhall, near Peal Drive. I think about that time a numner of houses were bombed in Chalgrove Crescent with a number of deaths.
Cleveland Road School
I remember Mrs Strachan in 1947/48 when she came down from the Cleveland Road Junior School after Miss Butcher left rather unexpectedly. I also went to Woodlands Infants School from Easter 1945, I was 5 in January, and in September transfered to Cleveland Infants. After Cleveland School I went to Loxford Secondary Modern School which meant I had to Walk a long way to school as I lived just 4 door away in Rutland Road.
I also remember the Market where we bought our weekly shop from, I think it was called Whites in the furthest entrance from the Broadway.
Oposite the market was a small row of shops which housed a Horse Butchers and Terry's Bookshop.
Memories of Growing up in Gantshill
I have so many memories of this place. I was born in Martley Drive, 1947, my grandparents originally bought the house back in the 1920s when they moved from Bethnal Green. It was a good place to live, I went to Gearies School all the way through from Infants, Juniors to secondary. It was just a short walk. Sadly the secondary school part appears to be an adult education centre now. I wonder if anyone knows what happened to Barry and Nigel Cox who used to live in the same road as me? When we were coming up to teens I used to go out with my friends rollerskating for miles around. I remember come home satisfiyingly tired at the end of the day. Each day was an adventure and nobody used to worry about safety in those days, it was such a wonderful sense of freedom that children had. Out in the morning and back in the evening during the school holidays. As we got older we ventured to... Read more
Sally Lunns Restaurant And Prudential Building
I was born in Gantshill in 1947 and my formative years were spent all around the area. I remember my meeting my mum for lunch at Sally Lunns sometimes during the school holidays as she worked at the Prudential Building. I went to Gearies girls school which no longer exists and when I left school I worked at a hairdressers shop in Cranbrook Road called Betta Waves which was run by an old couple called Miss Davies and Mr MacKenzie. I can remember most of the memories that people have been talking about. Could anyone remember there being a blacksmiths in Barkingside? my grandmother used to take me there. It was on the site of the police station and opposite Banardos?
Ilford C & A Store
I remember working on the C & A store in appoximately 1964 I think, from start to finish, all the electrical work, it brings back many happy memories for me. Is it still standing? It was said a cinema stood there prior to C & A being built, which was bombed during the Second World War, and it was said to have had a ghost from that time on. Denno
Sally Lunn Resturant, Cranbrook Road.
I worked Saturdays and the school holidays at Sally Lunns.That was from 1960 to 1964.
Thet use to sell a Vienna steak which I helped to make, their crinkly chips were fantastic. They used to be part cooked (Jerries) at a lower temperature and placed in a huge bowl. When the lunch time rush started, the heat was turned up and the jerries were quickly fried and were crisp.
The Lewis family owned the establishment, David and his brother-in law were in charge although when I started the old man was in charge.
The Prudential Insurance company had the new building next door.
I used to help with the outside catering with Albert and had the privilege of collecting the Wedding cakes from up the road.
I loved Ilford when I was a lad but sadly my last visit 8 years aqgo, shook me to the core. The sedate Cranbrook Road had become Bombay.
Sally Lunn Restaurant, Cranbrook Road
Does anyone remember the Sally Lunn Restaurant in the Cranbrook Road? It used to be next door to Russells Garden Nursery that later became the Prudential Offices, at the time one of Ilford's tallest buildings
