First Home

Warren Drive, Elm Park c1950
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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 the direction of the school.  My Mother and a dentist's wife, also ran the keep-fit class in the assembly hall on St Nicholas Avenue.  I was also a girl guide and attended St Nicholas church. On one occasion we heard an air raid warning and saw a german plane hedgehopping over the trees behind the house.  My Mum and Dad had to take cover in the doorway of a store, enroute up to the Elm Park Station.  My Dad worked at Fords in Dagenham.  My story is a little disjointed, but you can tell the early years of one's life is vivid in memory.  Having lived in Canada most of my life, I still yearn to return to England.