Station Road c1955, North Chingford

Where I Was Originally Born

Station Road c1955
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My mother was born at 8 Queens Grove Road in 1921 and lived there for a further 58 years before she moved to Highams Park. I was born in Chingford in 1947 and lived at that address until I got married at 20.

One of my grandfathers was a saddler, his surname was Leech and he had a business at the top of that road, and the other grandfather, his surname was Bowen, and he worked for Hurry's as an undertaker/coffin maker at Leyton.

I went to school at Kings Road School, where my mother and her father before her went. I joined the school at Heathcote which was very modern and had been built for the children on the new estate, living in Chingford I was a bit of an outsider.

My mother was married at St Peter's and St. Paul's Church, as I was years later.

My grandmother and I would tend a relative's grave and I remember 'alms houses' where at Harvest... Read more