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Clock Tower And Broadway c1965, Crouch End
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I believe everyone who lived in Crouch End (also Muswell Hill) during the period 1941-71 were very lucky as the area offered virtually everything one would ever wish for. In fact, although I now live in Norfolk I retain very happy memories of good ol' Crouch End. My first memory of living there was playing on a carpet in my grandparent's back garden and watching a doodlebug roaring overhead, then being rushed into our air-raid shelter. I was born on 5 May 1941, a week or so prior to the end of The Blitz. I went to Rokesley School, then to Crouch End Junior School (which I hated). Then, failing the old Eleven Plus I attended Crouch End Secondary Modern where I seemed to come into my own. I featured in a number of operetta's, was vice captain of the school cricket team and of my house (HB - Household Battalion). I was a school prefect and was selected to attended the MCC cricket school at Alexandra Palace and I played for the borough of Hornsey. I also had trials for Middlesex. In my early teens any happy hours were spent on the bridge at Hornsey Railway Station collecting train numbers. Some Sunday mornings with a couple of friends, we would catch a local train from Hornsey to Kings X, after checking which engines were there and noting the numbers we'd nip on to St Pancras, Euston, Liverpool Street, then Waterloo before returning home for lunch. Thinking back, we in Crouch End were... Read more

Pleasure Flights Over Great Yarmouth c1955, Caister-On-Sea
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I am almost certain this is the plane that I had my first flight in. It was during a family holiday and I was around 6 years old at the time. I still remember the experience vividly! My elder brother and uncle were squashed into the back seat which resembled a small bench seat. My father sat next to the pilot and I sat on my father's knee ! There was a leather strap for me to hang onto (similar to an old car restraint)to my right. Even then when I saw the pilot get in I thought to myself 'Battle of Britain" He was around 4'9'' tall with ginger to dark brown wavy hair with the most amazing 'handle-bar moustache! We took off on the grass runway and no sooner were we airborne and climbing vertical the pilot performed a loop the loop! We then went out over the sea over Yarmouth and he did a quick 'wing over' on looking out of my right window the sea and horizon were set at 90 degrees. Then my father whispered to me 'machine gun' the people on the beach, with that the pilot screamed over the people sunbathing no more fifty feet off the deck. I swear there were people throwing themselves to the ground ! He finished by diving for a windmill which was located on the roof of the Pier pulling out of the dive at the last moment. We landed safely, my Uncle in the rear couldn't straighten... Read more

Beach c1955, Porthpean
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My father, Charles Axford, found a mine on the beach in the morning. As it was a hot summers day he carried it into the back room upstairs of the Watch House as he knew many people would be coming & informed the coastguard. After school I went down for a swim and undressed & dressed in the front room of the upstairs of the Watch House. At 6 o'clock the bomb squad arrived from Plymouth & cleared the beach & were horrified that my father had carried the mine wearing his coastguard hat which had a large metal badge on the front that could have exploded the mine! My father carried the mine back to the beach without his hat & when the mine was exploded it went higher than the top of the cliffs!

The Hospital c1955, Bursledon
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I think this was the first year I can recall of my Mother being a nurse there. When she worked nights sometimes I stayed in the room on the top floor. She worked there for many years until it closed, sadly. It was for children who were recovering from various problems and sometimes as what we would now call a hospice. My mother loved working there and loved all the children that went through there. I remember the steam engine and at weekends when she was working I used to go with her to play with the children there. I remember it at a lovely old building but as time went on, the NHS just left it and it started to need lots of attention.

The British Schools 1905, Godalming
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I remember the British School so well, especially the headmistress at the time, Miss Gilbert. She was very strict, but generally fair, and much respected by my parents. One thing that stays in my memory is the enormous rocking horse which lived in the hall; it probably wasn't as large as I remember it, and it was already quite an old horse with a real horsehair tail. I remember also Miss Gollop who I think may have taught me to knit; the first thing I made was a scarlet teacosy. I think she also taught the recorder. There wasn't enough room for the children to eat school lunches at the school so we used to walk, crocodile fashion, to a church hall further up the road to eat. I remember Mrs Wharfe, who must have been an assistant or secretary, who took pity on me when I couldn't eat anything with dried fruit in (still can't) and squashed it between the plates when she was clearing the tables. I remember once having to stand at Miss Gilbert's table and eat Spotted Dick (which I hated) until I'd finished it. This was at a time when to waste any food was considered taboo; there was very little I disliked, but there was always mountains of Spotted Dick to get through. To get to the school I crossed the Lammas Lands; often in the winter they were flooded but the pavement was raised quite high above the road. One year the water... Read more