Romney Street
This photo shows in the foreground the rather substantial house lived in during the 1950s by the Barkus family, who owned the adjoining caravan site (to the right of the photo) and who served teas and refreshments for the benefit of the regular rambling and cycling passers-by; for my brothers and me it was the nearest place to buy sweets, lemonade and ice cream. The Fox and Hounds pub (just beyond the further cottage and set back from the road) also benefited from the passing trade as well as the local trade and (allegedly!) late-night customers from near-by Eynsford. The Barkuses' house was later demolished after they sold it and it made way for the two rather disappointing self-built bungalows that now occupy the site.
In the right-hand foreground of the picture the figure of my younger brother can just be made out. He was born in 1949 and I believe he must have been around three or four when this picture was taken. He was a close friend of the Barkuses' son of his own age. What I find fascinating about it is that it reminds me that he would go to visit his friend on his own (and vice-versa), a walk of a quarter of a mile or so, with no qualms or supervision. Would that happen today?
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Comments
RE: RE: Romney Street
I knew Edgar Lukes' mother, Mavis Lukes, as she used to work at Woodlands Camp from time to time. She and my mother got on well. My parents owned the camp which they sold in 1968 prior to their retirement. I was staying with the Todds for a brief while in Woodlands in 1991 and they told me that the Lukes Family was still in Romney Street. I did not have time to come up and say "Hello" and I always regretted that.
Comment from Barbara Benedict Nee Mellor on Wednesday, 13th January 2010.
RE: RE: Romney Street
I was delighted to see Barbara's recollections of the Holiday Camp and tried to post my own comment but don't seem to have succeeded. I remeber the Holiday Camp being a focal point of my youth, not only accompanying my mother when she worked there and enjoying the swiming pool, which was open to the locals in summer, but also the WI socials and amateur dramatic performances which were put on during the off-season. There are pictures of the Holiday Camp on this website - listed under "Sevenoaks" - (one of them even shows my mother at work). Unfortunately, of the Lukeses that lived on the Hill only my brother David and I now survive.
Comment from Edgar Lukes on Sunday, 24th January 2010.
RE: RE: Romney Street
I would be interested to know whether you and David are still in the same house amongst the birch trees. I seem to remember rather a lot of them, an ideal playground for young boys. Were there four of you boys. that is what I have fixed in my mind but I may be wrong. (I don't think I am wrong about the trees though!)
Comment from Barbara Benedict Nee Mellor on Tuesday, 26th January 2010.