Early Years In Norwood Green

A Memory of Norwood Green.

I was born in Norwood Green in the Frogmore Nursing Home which was next to the police station in 1936.
My family lived at 14 Crosslands Avenue until WW11 when we moved to Oxfordshire for a short time before returning to Norwood Green in 1942.
I spent most of my early years from then until 1945 living with my grandparents Martin and Ethel Dillon at 23 Tachbrook Road and started school at Western Road infants.
I remember going to Palmers sweet shop and Johnsons who used to have very nice lyons ice cream cornets and long hours of playing in the recreation ground with Dennis Gleason,Julie Jones, Paul Massey,Lennie Benn,Alan North,and Gregory Aldridge.
Massey's the fishmonger had a yard in Tachbrook road and Gleason was the shoe repairer and bootmaker. He, Gleason, also had worked at the catholic boys orphanage with my grandfather who was the heating and general engineer.
There used to be a bandstand in the "Rec" right next to the parkeepers house where you could hear a band playing on a Sunday.
The hot summers were spent in the open air swimming pool where you invariably had to queue for a session and almost always ended with a cup of OxO which you could buy for a 1d.
I came back to Crosslands when I returned from being evacuated to Barnsley and started back at Norwood green infants in class 6 which was taught by Mrs Andrews. Mr Wilks was the headmaster and the football team was run by Mr "Daddy" Angel". I remember the caretaker was Harry Palmer who lived in a house in the school grounds and would patrol at night with his Alsatian dog.
Some of the people from that school were Alan Pearce, Barbara Crombie,Keith Johnson, Pete Faulkner,Brian Bell, Tony Holman,Nigel Peterkin, Keith Gibbons, Jimmy Stevens (who went on to become Mr Universe), Malcolm Cazaly, Alberta Allcock ( 1 Ditton), Doreen Williamson, Lennie Hillier, Dereck Bartlett, Harvey Shepard,Brian Burton,Bob Mathews, to be contd