Teenage Years

A Memory of Lewisham.

Hot dog stall, Lewisham, Wooly's Saturday afternoon, Saturday morning pictures, Cheismans, Elvis, rock and roll, Chislehurst caves, jazz Saturday nights, chasing girls to get candle back, being chased by Deptford boys in Bedford van, clambering through the river tunnel under Cheismans, courting in Ladywellwreck, youth club in Davenport Road, Catford, watching the show on the bandstand in Mountfield Park, playing hide and seek in the bushes in Mountfield Park - the memories are coming back maybe to haunt all of us from these lovely years. I remember my mother playing the piano and singing in the local pubs, the Black Bull where I met my first wife, the Spotted Cow - what a pub, the Queen's Arms, Courthill Road (we called this pub the Breakers Arms), never ever a dull moment but never any trouble, just comedy, Coronation Day party in the playground of Ennersdale School, walking my girl home to Lee Green (I lived in Hither Green), first kiss long, whistling walk home, I was 9, running errands to Brewsters pub where my Aunt Bud worked to buy port and arrowroot biscuit for Mum, me and dog Mandy playing in the allotments at the back of our garden... the memories are flooding back now so I will continue another time. I hope this jogs someone's memory somewhere, I'll continue another time.