Parkside. Memories Of The 50's And 60's

A Memory of New Haw.

My name is Dennis Walsh, I was born in 1953 at 62, Park Side. I lived there until Dec 1965 when we moved to Sydney Australia.
My earliest memories are of our house, which backed onto the park. It seemed like a big block of land but after revisiting many years later it was quite small. I remember the air was fresh and how cold it became in winter ,with the clothes freezing on the line. Playing in the snow with my friends Paul Maynard, Martin Duffy, Bobby Jellicoe and many more. Summer was a magic time the perfume of the flowers was so strong in the fields surrounding the area. we used to play in the woods, build camps and fish in the canal near the green bridge. We also used to cross the railway lines (something that now scares the hell out of me as we could have been killed) to play in the dump. Getting across the canal was no problem, were would either walk barefoot through the storm-water pipes ,which was littered with broken bottles etc, surprisingly we survived without loosing too much blood or suffering from nasty infections. The other route was to walk across the New Haw Lock, arms out balancing on the lock doors with what seemed like a long drop on one side and deep water on the other.
I went to New Haw primary Mr. Morgan was the Headmaster and my first teacher was Miss Booth, another teacher I remember was Mr. Joshua, I remember performing in the lead role of Peter Pan and I fell in love with Tinkerbell a girl named Anglia (my first love) I later went to Fullbrook, Mr. Bean was the Head, I remember running in cross country races. and days in the gym when it was either too cold or wet to play football etc.
I have many more memories which I would like to share with anyone that remembers this lovely place.