The Brook In Bull Lane

A Memory of Rayleigh.

I remember a narrow brook in Bull Lane running along the bottom of the houses left hand side walking from the high street. My schoolfriend and I used to jump over it and try to push each other in. I sometimes think this is something I dreamed up, but I can still see it.

I recall walking through the gardens of Grove Road, bungalows all new without any fencing, going up to the Grove Road shops. Buying Vinegar from a small barrel having taken our own bottle to fill.

Walking in the woods before Grove School was built, going to what we called a bomb crater, a deep pond where my Brother and I used to collect tadpoles and newts. Bringing home armfuls of bluebells for Mum. We were free to wander and the Grove woods were enormous.

Going for riding lessons at Snows Farm in Bull Lane, mucking out the horses and grooming them, taking them out to pasture in the nearby fields some of which are built on now.
Linda Webber