I Remember
I was born in Ilford in 1961, in Stanley Road, opposite the cemetery of St Mary the Virgin! I remember well shopping trips 'Up Ilford' with Mum or Dad as a child. I remember too, going into C&A for clothes, and visiting the Clarkes shoe shop, down a side road, I believe it was near the Town Hall, there was a tank of fish in the shop. Does any one else recall the Nativity that appeared on the Town Hall steps each Christmas? I used to walk past the Ilford Palais on a Saturday when all the 'big boys and girls' (probally all of 13 or 14) were queued up, vowing that one day when I was big I would be going there on Saturday afternoons! (I moved from Ilford just before I was 13, so never got there!) What else, the Unigate Milk depot. The Pioneer Market, where Dad and I brought Saturday night sweets. Mum worked for a while at the bakers stall there and used to bring home mini Hovis loaves. The record stall at the end of the market. I brought my first Top of the Pops LP there!
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RE: RE: I Remember
The Pioneer Market brings back great memories for me. My Aunt Dora had just one small unit selling knitting wool in the 1960s, it was called Bishops Wool Shop. Along with my Uncle Reg this small unit grew and grew in to the largest wool shop in the U.K. By the 1970s they had expanded so much that almost two thirds of the units were owned by the Bishops. At one their 3 sons (my cousins) also worked in the shop. Before the market closed down the 3rd generation of Bishops (Alan) was working there. Whenever I visited my Aunt and Uncle at the shops I was treated to sweets from Skinners the sweet shop in the market. I later went on to run the family business, Sally Lunn Restaurant in the Cranbrook Road, Does any one remember this?
Comment from Dov Lewis on Friday, 9th October 2009.
RE: RE: I Remember
I loved Bishops the wool shop, my Mum, Nan and myself were always visiting there My Mum and Nan were always knitting something for someone. I remember as a child I started horse-riding and my Nan took me to Bishops and picked me a pattern for a wool jumper with a horse's head on it. Then when I grew up and had babies my Mum and Nan knitted for them when they were little. My son Joshua loved his trips to the wool shop when he was little, as did I.
Comment from Joanna Harding on Friday, 15th April 2011.
RE: RE: I Remember
I lived in Seven Kings and remember going to the Ilford swimming pool. I also remember taking the trolley bus into Ilford to go shopping with my Mum. I hated the trolley busses as I got really ill on them - probably motion sickness but for some reason it was much worse on the trolley.
I also remember going to a dance when I was about 12 and having my photo in the paper with the mayor. Also, I remember a man went on a hunger strike on the steps of the town hall. I don't remember why but it fascinated me as a young girl that someone wouldn't eat for a cause and I used to go and talk to him. I think his hunger strike lasted for over a month.
I also remember working at a department store in Ilford at Christmas, helping to run a little train through a Santa's grotto. I can't remember the name of the store but it must have been around 1955 or so.
My brother and I used to take the train from Seven Kings to Forest Gate to go roller skating when I was about 8 or 9.
Comment from MAUREEN TOWNSEND on Tuesday, 25th October 2011.