The 40/50s
It was the 118 bus Colin. It went from Clapham Common to Mitcham Cricket Green. I also remember well those wonderful Leo's ice lollies. After those awful slabs of lard between 2 wafers that went soggy they were magic - Walls's! My family moved from Northborough Road to Rosemead Avenue in March 1940 as all the Lcc schools were closed. My sister and I went to Pollards Hill School. Both of my brothers went there or to Alfred Mizen some 10 years later. I went on to Rutlish in 1946 on the 152 bus from Fair Green up Western Road past the school and the gas works when we all held our noses. The first love of my life went to Western Road School, her name was Lileen Townsend and her father was a coal merchant. She gave me my first kiss ....aah.
I recall the first post war Mitcham Fair at Three Kings which took over from the fair which was held on the road to Thornton Heath. Every schoolchild in Mitcham got one free ticket for a 'ride'. We ALL wanted bumper cars or dodgems - I got a swingboat ticket.
In 1940 we were deeply involved with the blitz and the battle of Britain. We stood at the corner of Rowan Road, Northborough Rd, Wide Way and Manor Rd, hiding behind the letterbox and telephone box. The letterbox had funny paint on top to detect gas.
Our house was first damaged by a land mine in the back garden of no30 Rosemead Ave. Then by a flying bomb that actually lodged in the branches of an enormous oak tree at the corner of Manor Way and Rowan Road. My Father claimed it saved our lives. It was then again badly damaged when a "V" demolished houses in Rowan Road opposite Sunnymead Avenue.
I remember those round-roofed pre-fabs and I am sure they were built by Italian prisoners of War who used to talk to us through the wire fence. we did see German prisoners too but I don't know where they went.
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RE: RE: The 40/50s
I remember the fair on the common each year and the lovely smell of all the engines and the fish and chips. I also used to go to Rose Hill and collect an eel from the wet fish shop, it was alive at the time and after the fishmonger cut it up it used to wriggle in the bag on the bus on the way home (yuk. I had a best friend who lived at Mitcham, Raleigh Road I think it was behind some flats. We used to go out all dressed up on a Saturday afternoon looking at the boys, it was such harmless fun not like it is today. I remember jublys, a triangle orange ice and Walls ice cream the ones you talk about also. Wimbledon Palias and the 152 and 118 and 93 bus. I used to go to school in wimbledon chase and as i lived in Morden i would catch the bus to South Wimbledon and then down to Wimbledon Chase. Also there was a Triang factory long gone I expect and at South Wimbledon a dolls hospital. Long gone days but great memories.
Comment from Linda Hoddinett on Wednesday, 7th February 2007.
RE: RE: The 1940/50s
I started work in an office at the Cricket Green Mitcham, in 1951 and well remember all these buses in my journey from Wandsworth before I started using my bicycle Brian Davis
Comment from Jean Davis on Tuesday, 19th April 2011.
RE: RE: The 40/50s
I remember going to the Cricket Green to see the king pass by on Derby Day, and I remember later in the day the many char-a-bancs that parked on the Cricket Green and how we shouted the traditional cry of "throw out your mouldies" and how we would fight for the coins that were chucked in our direction. I would consider the black eye I took home good value for the one-and-threepence-three-farthings in my pocket. I remember going to the Cricket Green after dark to see Crystal Palace burning and how the sky was bright red to the south east. My father was a fireman and we had a large bell on the first floor landing. When it rang it pulverised the house and household. The dog went berserk and my father was kicking it to get out out the house and on to his bike, racing then to the fire station behind The Vestry Hall. They aimed for a "turn out" in two minutes. During the war, walking home from Western Road school to my home in Russell Road, I remember seeing, after a raid, two firemen on top of the large gas-holder fighting a ten foot plume of flame where an incendiary bomb had pierced the holder. It was only later that I learned that one of the firemen was my father. I remember in 1940 being taken to the Western Road school air-raid shelters at mid-morning and only released at 5pm and told to go straight home because there had been a rumour that the Germans had begun the invasion.
Comment from Stanley Rickard on Monday, 27th June 2011.
RE: RE: The 40/50s
I remember the Italian, also German, prisoners of war, but this was in Oakleigh Way. I think they laid the foundations of the new council estate. They used to sit on the field during a break and us children used to chat to them. One of the Germans made me a Hitler on a string between to sticks, which when pressed made him do acrobats. He also made a square piece of wood with four chickens on it with some sort of a weight on strings underneath which when you shook the thing, the four chickens pecked.. He decorated it with a poker, it was lovely and I wish I had kept them.
Comment from Carole Rogers Nee Stratton on Sunday, 21st August 2011.