Childhood Memories.

I have lived in Mitcham all my life. I was born at St Helier Hospital in 1955 and we lived in the nissan huts opposite what was then Pollards Hill High School in Wide Way, we lived next to a family called the Butlers and I went to school first at Alfred Mizen, then to Pollards Hill. I remember visiting my nan in Sunshine Way off Bond Road and we used walk down from the common at Commonside East through the path that was then beside the Paines firework factory and over the wooden bridge across the railway lines. We moved to Northumberland Gardens, by the common, and my dad and stepmum still live there. Mitcham has changed dramatically since I was small, it's now a busy town, not a lively village. There are still a few old shops, like Strowgers the ironmongers and I'm glad they kept the clock tower, although there are no public toilets any more. The common isn't what it used to be with the football pitches, but I suppose everything has to evolve. I took my 2 and half year old grandaughter blackberry picking over on the common last week, something we used to enjoy with my mum and dad, so some things remain the same. I love Mitcham and have fond memories of my life here.