Those Were The Days

A Memory of Dagenham.

I have so many memories of Dagenham that I could write a book.
I have already written one on this site entitled 'Shopping at the Heathway'.
My earliest memory of Dagenham however was when I was about five years old. We lived in two bedroom house in Valence circus. But then as more houses on the the Becontree estate were built, my father applied for a larger house, which isn't surprising since he now had six children plus a wife to consider. He was offered a house in Meadow Road, and on walking along this road  found to his surprise that just a few houses along the whole road were taken and occupied, he could literally take his pick. Meadow Walk was just as sparsley occupied. Being a keen gardener, he chose one in Meadow Road with a lovely long garden.
Dagenham in those days was a rural district, and came under Essex, not like now that with Barking forms a part of greater London. Parsloes Park had sheep grazing on it, and my mother often took me over there to see them. Indeed if my memory serves me right, in the late 1940s horse trotting was a regular feature that took place at the far side of the Park.
A group of lovely old elm trees graced the centre of the park, which occupied the site of Fansahwe Manor which was demolished in 1927. This old manor was once the home of Lady Anne Fanshawe, who along with her ambassador husband favoured the Royalists at the time of the English Civil War, and fled, I believe to avoid the attention of the Roundheads with which Dagenham was strongly allied.
As a point of interest, if you go on Google Earth and look up Parsloes Park, it is still possible to see etched the outline where once stood the old manor, I have viewed this several times, I can't think of what else this outline could be and it's certainly exactly where the old manor once stood.
Other elm trees were lined along the side of Meadow Walk, and along the path where the sports building is now. All have gone now due to Dutch Elm Disease. Other trees have been planted close to where the original elms stood in the centre of the Park, but not with the same spacing nor do they hold the same charm.
Many a time my friends and I would try and climb one of these trees, but they were not the easiest trees to climb. Until the Second World War, Parsloes Park was a great place to fly your kite. You could still do that after the war, but I don't think it's possible now with all the trees - if it's allowed at all...
Dagenham was favoured with many fine swing parks:- Valence Park which also had a nice band stand, and its great paddling pool, which had changing cubicles along the side. I went there many times and it was always crowded with excited kids. Old Dagenham Park was another, and Reed Road Park - they all held great things for kids to play on, but none equalled Parsloes swing park, it had almost everything such as the Boat that could seat about seven kids - maybe more - and was similar in action to a two-seat fairground boat, and in its upward swing kids would hang on to the end seat for dear life as they hurtled into the air. There was another type of boat that held a similar amount of kids and hurtled backwards and forwards in a sawing motion - great fun,  and along with the Maypole that had about eight ropes that kids swung perilously round and round out into space that today would have the authorities screaming out in alarm in case the poor little darlings hurt themselves. And yet I cannot recall any time that a child did get hurt. These things with the usual swings, roundabout, slide, sand pit and paddling pool made it the best in the area. But you had to be careful to behave yourself and not cause a nuisance, otherwise the Park Keeper with his reddish-brown uniform could cause instant obediance by storming up you and threatening to tell your parents.
But a less harmless installation was also used in Parsloes Park. this was in the Second World War when a small gun-site was housed at the far side of the Park, and after my sister and I got used to the noise and firing, and providing the air raid wasn't that bad, we would sit at our bedroom window and watch the 'Fireworks',  and more so when the Z rocket guns were installed.
There were also many places where we could go fishing for tiddlers. Our favourite place was the old Dagenham Pit - a lovely place to catch newts. Then there was the Chase and Shirley Pits where you needed a proper rod. You didn't need a licence in those days, at least we never had one, nor did anyone else as far as I knew, and no one ever shouted at us to clear off.
Children of today cannot do the things we did as kids, even if they wanted to, there are too many restrictions - too much private land - no hidden glade hiding an equally hidden pond that holds the delight that drew us kids like a moth to a flame.
Perhaps other readers can add to this memory.