Romford memories
Here are memories of Romford and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Romford or a Romford photo.
Oldchurch Hospital 1956-57
I have such memories as a 17 year old of working in the 'Admins Office' in Oldchurch Hospital. I think I just walked in one day, got an interview and started on the Monday - no job centres or CVs needed then. The boss was Mr Totts and Mr Izzard and Mr Jarvis were his under colleagues. I used to have to walk across every morning to the Matron's office to collect the personal belongings of anyone who had passed away the previous day, which were then collected by relations at our office some time later. I remember there were relatives coming in on a regular basis to collect the belongings of a small child that had died of leukaemia. It seemed to be rife in those days. I also recall a young man coming in to the office one day looking for a position. his name was Colin and he was very keen on cycling and I think he had served in Korea. He had a start there... Read more
When Buses Ran Past Lloyds Bank .....
I am told that once upon a time buses ran through Romford Market towards Gidea Park. Apparently I was happily standing in the queue with my mother and newly-born sister in a pram waiting for a 174. I held tight to Mum's coat so as not to lose her. Imagine my surprise to find that the coat in question belonged to a stranger, and my mother and sister had boarded the bus and were moving away! Luckily the kindly lady looked after me until my poor flustered mother and sister returned. Thank you, kindly lady. Louise Hands-Heathfield (now living in Bournemouth).
My Early Days in Romford
I was born in 1929 in my parent's house at 40 Medora Road, adjacent to the old football ground. Any time I hear the Sousa march - 'Liberty Bell' - I am reminded of Saturday there. It was played at the close of every match to get the people to leave in an orderly manner. My father worked at the Labour Exchange on North Street. In the first days/nights of the air raids we slept in the employees' air raid shelter behind the office building. Later on we slept in Shelter No. 4 on North Street across from the Henry Haysom furniture store. That store was hit one night and burned to the ground. The Alms Houses across the street, of wooden constrution, also burned from the heat of the fire. Apart from his day job as manager, my dad also had a full time voluntary night job with the ARP. I became a messenger boy at age 13 and spent one night weekly at the Report Center under the... Read more
The Vogue Cinema
Yes I remember it well, always showed B movies and you were lucky if you saw the complete film without the projector breaking down, when it did there were boos and shouts from the audience. Also the carpets were loose and you took your life in your hands if you had to answer the call of nature. Came out through the Cattle market which was entertainment for free. Happy Days Eh
School Days
I also went to the County High! My teacher was Miss Hewson, the music teacher was Miss Harris and Miss Bubbers, I can see her now storming down the corridor, she made me stand in front of her one day and talk without using my hands, which to me was agony! LOL. I can only remember a few names, Ann Knight who was a brilliant painter, I believe she painted a mural on the class wall, Sidonie Platt and Valerie Powell who was a brilliant seamstress. I lived at Harold Hill at the time and used to get the 174 which used to stop outside the shool in those days. We used to sometimes have a school dance with the Royal Liberty boys' school. Oh such fun days they were. My name was Pat Trotter in those days, I became Pat Smith in 1956, then the name I have now in 1987. I am now 73 but the memories are like yesterday. It was a very good school though... Read more
Memories of Romford
I was born in 1940 at Recreation Avenue, London Road and have many happy memories of my birthplace. I attended London Road Junior School from 1946 to 1951 and remember three teachers as they were all vegatables, ie the headmaster was Mr Beans, the maths teacher was Mr Greens and the English teacher was Mr Onions. I came home through Spring Gardens in which there was Colverns factory. I spent many happy hours over Cottons recreation ground and used to get told off by the park keeper for walking across the putting green. I remember the tall slide in the playground and the zig zag which would probably be a health and safety issue today. We had our first television from Mr Maxted in London Road, a 9inch HMV, and sat around the 11 degree circle as we had a bullseye magnifiying glass fitted, watching Silvia Peters, Mary Malcom and Macdonald Hobley. I remember playing cricket and getting one on the head. I attended St Andrews Church Sunday School. I... Read more
St. Mary's High School
I'm wondering if anyone remembers St. Mary's High School in Western Road. I attended the school when I was very young in 1946-9, before my family emigrated first to Canada, then to the USA. My best friends were Zena O'Shea, Rebecca Brown and Valerie Dunbar - and I can still remember clearly most things about the school - not least, Sister Bernard, the formidable headmistress, Miss Hogg, who terrified us all (but who I'm sure meant well) and Miss Dennis the piano teacher whose strictness I have to thank for the fact that I can still play my scales!
The school was run by the Sisters of Mercy. Our winter uniform was a navy blue gymslip tied around the middle by a 'girdle', its colour indicating our House (mine was 'Red'), and our odd looking little hats were round and brimless with the sides pinched together by little epaulettes which allowed them to be altered to fit. (We called them 'sick bowls', quite understandable if you could see them). ... Read more
BBC Documentary About Harold Hill
The BBC is looking at the day that Margaret Thatcher introduced the 'Right to Buy' scheme, allowing people in council houses to buy their own homes.
The film will look at the benefits for several million people who became homeowners, and the difficulty for councils in replacing the stock of social housing.
We have BBC footage of the time when Margaret Thatcher visited Harold Hill when the scheme started.
We're trying to track down people from Harold Hill who bought their council home using the scheme in the 80s and find out how it affected their life.
If this applies to you, please could you tell us a bit about your experiences?
Or if you know anyone else who bought a house in Harold Hill in the 80s, please do let us know.
Below is our e-mail and telephone number.
Thank you for reading.
E-mail: real@reallife.co.uk
Tel: 0113 237 1005
Smart Weston
I remember very well the giant tennis racket outside of Wards Sports. A little further down was a menswear shop Smart Westons, and what was the name of the coffee bar that was near to both of these shops? Romford was a clean, and enjoyable place to shop in those days. To see it now is very depressing.
Cinema
I remember going to the Saturday morning picture in the Laurie Hall, it cost 6d. We lived in North Street and going back through the churchyard to the next street there was an ice factory threre and on a hot day they would give us a pieceof ice to suck on the way home. Great memories.
Early Childhood in Romford
I was born in 1953 and lived for the first 3 years in an old house in Junction Road (Number 8) with my parents and Mum's mum (Granny). The back garden of the house seemed to be a jungle and had its end boundary with Whackets timber yard! I clearly remember turning left out of Junction Road and walking with Granny to the Saturday Market. The stalls at the top of the Market by Laurie Hall were mainly for cattle and pet sales. In the middle section I recall the fruit and vegetable stalls and down by the North/South Street crossroads were the clothing stalls. With no ring road then all the traffic, buses, lorries and vehicles, had to go through the centre of Romford. Does anyone remember the cut through by the church to take you to the Romford Ice company? We subsequently moved to Collier Row and when I was 5 to a brand new council house in Shenstone Gardens (Straight Road, Harold Hill). Mum still took me... Read more
Miss Bubbers
I recall Miss Bubbers, in fact I wrote a poem about her in recent years, recalling the way she strode through the corridors with her gown flowing behind her, and her beady eyes ready to spot anything wrong or out of the ordinary. I also recall Miss Garthwaite the history teacher,who was as dry as dust, although she made some sort of joke when I went into a laughing fit in class,and apologised by saying that I had hysterics. She suggested that I should get 'historics' instead. Ha ha!! (By the way my maiden name was Moore.)
School Days
I attended this school in 1952-1956. I can remember Miss Bubbers the headmistress well. She roamed the corridors with her black gown flowing about her. A very stern and not to be crossed head of school. My first teacher was Miss Parfait who seemed very young. Miss Brown was our science teacher who invited the class to have tea with her and her 14 cats!. Our music teacher, whose name i forget, came to school on her bike with her yorkshire terrier in a basket in front of the handlebars. Miss Jordan was great for hockey,netball, rounders and cricket.I made a lot of friends there -Valerie Russell, Lyn Wilkinson, Ann Page, Pauline Nutt, Thelma Wren, Thea Davies to name a few. Our uniform was bottle green and heaven help you if you did not wear your green beret! I lived in Hornchurch at the time and either rode to school or caught the 66 bus to the Drill and walked from there. Quite a handsome building with... Read more
Shopping
My mother used to take me from Hornchurch on the 66 bus when i was a small child. She always went to Lous' stall opposite the cinema (flea pit as we called it) She knew him well and could rely on him. We would go and see the cattle being weighed and the sheep and pigs being tagged ready for sale. It was always very busy and noisy but i really enjoyed going. However as the years went passed the cattle disappeared and the cinema was knocked down and gradually what was once a thriving market became very drear
Romford And Havering-Atte-Bower,Very Fond Memories
We moved to Romford in 1951 from Havering where we lived with Nan and Grandad in Pinewood Road. It was an exciting time for me but also an unhappy time leaving Nan and Grandad's house. We moved in a council house in Chelmsford Ave, I made friends with a boy called Raymond Crane, we started school together ,his mother and father ran a market stall in Romford and he had a young brother. I remember mum and I would go to the market twice a week, I loved the place, it was like Aladdin's cave, the eel stall used to fascinate me, in those times you could buy puppies and kittens. We use to visit Nan and Grandad three times a week in Havering,t hat was great, we used to walk, it was all country roads then. In 1955 we moved, but the year before that Raymond moved away, I remember being heartbroken, he gave me a photo of himself and his little brother which I still have to this... Read more
Doing The Shopping
I lived a mile or so east of Rush Green, in Barton Avenue but my mum would send me with a note to get the shopping for the family. She would sometimes give me eight half crowns or 1, a lot of money then. I would cycle down, first to Brown's the butchers, the first shop after the houses. Mr Brown who had huge butchers fingers would serve me liver, H-bone or chops and he would write how much I owed on a marble slab underneath the wrapping paper. At the end of the week he would expect the bill to be settled. Sometimes Mum had not given me enough, he wasn't happy then. Then I'd go into Ewins the grocers with a long list. I would wait in the queue then be served one item at a time. No supermarkets then. My friend at school was Barry Kitchener and his dad was the manager of the Co-op butchers round the corner in Dagenham Road. He lived over... Read more
Memory Joggers
We moved to Romford in 1954. First we lived at Mawneys and attended the primary school there. In 1955 we moved to Oaks Avenue and I attended Pettits Lane Secondary Modern School. I left in 1959. The pillars just below the trees in the photo, was the gateway to the Whykam Hall which belonged to the church. I remember spending many happy times at the weekend dances. I could really Rock'n' Roll in those days! I used to go with my best friend Margaret Golding, who I sadly lost touch with. Another place I loved was the Nimbus dance hall. I believe it was above the Co-op at the top end of the market. HAPPY DAYS!
First Home
I was born in Hornchurch in 1934, but my mother, father and myself were the first residents of 121 Warren Drive, Elm Park. My brother was born in the house at 121, in 1945. This is the last view I had of the street, as we left in a taxi, to sail to Canada in 1946. Made a brief visit to Warren Drive in 1956. I remember queuing up outside Meyers Greengrocers with my Mother to try and get a few oranges in 1940. I also attended Romford County High School for Girls for a year and a half. Other friends and myself used to play in the fields behind the house, which had corn growing in it. Also, the railings had been removed from the back to make, I presume, guns, tanks etc. for the war. A doodle bug had dropped not far from Benhurst Avenue primary school. All the mothers rushed out thinking that the school had been bombed, as a pall of smoke appeared to be in... Read more
Memories of Essex
This Church And my Family
My nan and Grandad (Henry Eastwood and Elsie Lodge) got married in this church in 1930. My Mum and Dad were married there in 1955.
Choir Boy
I became a choirboy at the Ascension church when I was eight. I also joined the 2nd Collier Row cubs attached to the church in 1948. The vicar was Father Reynolds and the cub leader was Olive Smith. I attended Clockhouse Lane school from around 1944 until 1951. We were bombed out in 1945 when a doodle bug fell in Clockhouse lane and the blast blew out our windows in Highfield Road. We were in the Anderson shelter at the time.
Shops
Picture shows the junction of Main Road with Crossways. I moved to Crossways aged 7 in 1961. The shop on the corner by the phone box was a Co-op, and the one on the far side of Crossways was a Post Office. From 1961 to 1970 I caught the bus to Brentwood for school from stop opposite on left on photo.
My father still lives in Crossways in 2010.
Carefree Days
I remember Bedfords from my childhood. When I was about 12 years old my friends and I used to cycle to Bedfords Park from nearby Elm Park, about 7 miles away. Bedfords Mansion as we used to call it, was being used as a Natural History Museum and had numerous stuffed animals and birds all said to be from the local area. Next to it there was and still is a deer pen with numerous deers. Sadly Bedfords was demolished in the latter part of the 1950s but the park remains as does the deer pen. I am retired now, but before I retired I worked for the local council and often had the job of feeding the deer, and cutting the grass over this very large park on a tractor and gang mower. I still visit the park with my daughters and grandchildren for walks over its many acres. From all over the park the views are far reaching and on a clear day you can see all... Read more
Born in Lower Bedfords Road
I was born in Lower Bedfords Road and as a young child I can remember cattle coming down the road to go in one of the fields in Bedfords Park. My mum used to shoo them out of the garden with a tea towel. I played over there all the time as a child. My children also loved seeing the deer over there, as do my grandchildren now. Sadly my father passed away 3 years ago so I can no longer go to my family home in Lower Bedfords Road. But it was a lovely area to grow up in.
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- Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
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