North Finchley memories
Here are memories of North Finchley and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of North Finchley or a North Finchley photo.
Village Road, Finchley
I was born at number 7, Village Road, Finchley in 1932 and lived there until October 1939 when my dad's businesses in London were requisitioned. Lots of memories. Milk was delivered by United Dairies and the horse would always spend a penny right outside our house leaving a horrid green puddle. 'Old Fishy' delivered his wares every Friday walking from house to house with a big wicker basket, followed by the local mongrels hoping to get a bite of an overhanging tail. Then we had Walls ice-cream with the tricycle and bell announcing the ice-cream man's arrival. The road was unadopted which meant that it was private, and once each year a chain had to be put across each end to reserve our ownership. It was gravel, not tarmac, then. Dad had a fish tank and I was detailed to go to the stream (River Lea?) behind our garden and catch little larvae to feed the fish. I went to Hendon Preparatory School in 1937 for a couple of years until... Read more
Born in The 60s in Whetstone
I was born in Oakleigh Road North in 1965. I went to school at Sacred Heart Primary which was just up the road but felt like it was miles away while I was hanging onto my brother's hand and he walked with long strides while I ran on tiptoes trying to keep up with him. He would walk me to the gates and go on his way to Finchley Catholic High School. My other brother later went there and my sister went to St Michael's in Finchley but she later moved to East Barnet Senior School. When my time came I went to Christchurch Secondary School. I remember going to Owen & Owens with my dad and using the lift that went up in the centre of the store with the big black gates that slid across. Over the years so many things changed. I remember visiting the Arcade Music Shop and listening to the music in the booths. I remember my brother... Read more
Working at Owen & Owens And Arcade Music Shop
I lived in North Finchley from 1949 till 1968 and my maiden name was Battams. I have many fond memories. I started my first job on the day after my 15th birthday as I was only 14 when I left Hillside Secondary School. I was a sales assistant in Owen & Owens, it was known as Priors before that. It had a lift that went up in the centre of the store. I had to operate the lift for a short while. GOING UP!! It had black gates that slid across. I worked on the Baby Linen department first and this was before clothes were hung on racks like they do now. They were in display cabinets and drawers behind the counter. Mums-to-Be came in and bought a Layette for the new baby and of course Zorbit toweling nappies. On the top floor there was resturant and a gentleman played the grand piano while you had tea. Roger Moore came in to buy his shirts one day and we all swooned... Read more
North Finchley
This picture was taken on the corner of the road I lived in, the road being Lodge Lane, which had the sorting office in it. This picture is taken looking towards the Tally Ho pub (centre), the shop on the right with the blind down is a fruit and veg shop and they had a cockatoo which used to wolf-whistle the young ladies.
North Finchley - Various Memories
We lived in North Finchley between 1966 and 1978 so I was ten in 1976 and my sister was 7. We were allowed to walk to Tally Ho corner at that age, all the way from home at Friern Watch Avenue. Memories of those forays into town, perhaps not in dateline or chronological 'shop' order, but more with nostalgic licence would include passing the very old fashioned and austere Ashbeys where our school uniform came from; Jones's bakery who did the most gorgeous cakes and the snug tea-shop upstairs; MacFisheries which then became MacMarket but still had a fish tank by the fish counter and an eel swimming about in it; W H SMiths, where every year I'd enter the Win A Pony competition; Woolworths, until it burned down and was headlined by the Barnet Press as 'Biggest Blaze Since The Blitz'; Owen Owens which was fab at Christmas as the basement turned into the toy department, and the top floor had a wonderful restaurant with a huge modern art... Read more
My Time in North Finchley
During the 2nd WW, my dad signed up with the Belgian section of the Royal Navy. On leave, he met up with my mum and married her in Christchurch in 1944. I came along in 1945. After the war my dad returned to Belgium, and my mum went with him. Being English she had a tough time learning the language. In 1953, my mum had to have a major operation (in Maida Vale), during which time I had to attend school. As my dad was minesweeping (in the Belgian Navy) he couldn't look after me, so I had to come with her to England. I stayed with my grandparents, at No 76 Woodhouse Road, North Finchley. I attended school at "Summerside Junior school" I loved the English way of education! On Saturday mornings, I usually went to the "Gaumont" cinema, for the kids "Saturday Matinée" Oh what fun we had after the show, acting out what we had seen on the screen! On Sundays, there was Sunday school which we... Read more
Memories of Greater London
Summer Days
This photo brings back the - what seemed - endless summer days of the 50's and 60's when we would go with our togs and sandwiches (probably jam) in the care of an older friend and queue for tickets for the day. Our parents sometimes were working or didn't like to go because of the noise and excitement of the children. We were so lucky to have a such a great facility nearby - I lived in East Finchley - so there was the added bonus of a bus ride! How lucky we were to have such freedom. A treat was a couple of bob for a drink and icecream I remember getting very burnt one day and my mother covering me with calamine lotion - I always associate this smell with my childhood. Ah happy days!!
Finchleyswimmingpool
Wonderful memories of the hot summers of the late 1950s and 1960s, visiting the pool most weekends and during the school holidays. I learned to swim there. Hearing the announcements over the tannoy, the smell of Peanut Brittle and Nivea. Collecting soft drink bottles for the deposit, the St. John Ambulance hut, etc.etc.
Late Teens Spent in The Tally Ho
I spent my first eighteen years in Finchley, and used to come back to drink in the Tally Ho pub with other Christ's College boys. You can see the pub in the distance on the right (it still looks the same today). The building on the left became Owen and Owens department store, which remained a loved part of Finchley - until it closed about ten years ago.
Growing up in Finchley
I was brought up in Finchley from the time I was born in 1968 to when we left in 1984 and I have very many happy memories. We lived at 5 North Crescent and I remember the parade of shops between the two entrances to the road - with Mrs King the chemist, Mrs Thomas who owned the sweetshop (she sold sweets in big glass jars!), Ben the grocer, Stan the butcher, T Lees TV (which used to repair TV's and have a very strange smell!) and Klage the Plumbers - we were on first name terms with all of them and my sister and I often used to go to the shops on errands for our mother. There was an alley behind the shops (a kind of service road) where we used to explore. Sometimes we would walk up to the shopping parade at the junction of Regents Park Road and East End Road to pay the paper bill at Farlanes the newsagent. There was also a camera repair... Read more
Whitethorn Morris Dance at The College Farm Open Day
The bright sun shone beautifully on the Country Fair of Sunday 5th April. It brought lightly-clad queues to the payboxes and tea rooms of College Farm - between Allandale Avenue and Fitzalan Road.
The music came from both the Borehamwood Band, and later for the dance display by Whitethorn Morris. The dancers performed the traditional clog dances of Lancashire and Cheshire accompanied by the tambourines, drums and accordions of the Whitethorn Band.
The dance display was beautifully dressed and presented with great panache by smiling lasses who certainly knew how to captivate their audience. They were applauded and cheered to the echo.
I was there with my piano accordian to lead the band and really enjoyed myself - these events at College Farm are superbly organised and this particular day proved to be the first of many invitations to perform there.
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