South Ealing, Greater London

Re: Tony Bros ice cream

I remember Tony Bros ice cream parlour off Acton High Street. On some Sundays my father would take me for a treat for a cornet or wafer scooped out of the big drum on the counter, it was always after giving our dog Sally a run either in Acton Park or on the scrubbs next to the prison. We lived in... [more]

Gills memories of Ealing

I went to Little Ealing Junior School which was at the bottom of my road.  I remember on my first day running home to my gran, crying because they were using pencils and I had come from a school in Hounslow where we had got pens and inkwells, I thought the school was so backward. It was quite hard to integrate... [more]

St Mary's church

We lived in an upstairs flat in South Ealing. The tube railway line ran behind our flat, and beyond that, allotments. We also had a good view of St. Mary's church. It was wonderful to hear the bells ring on Sunday mornings. I wonder if they still ring as a lot of churches have had their bells stollen. There is a... [more]

Mouse goes to school

When I was about 11 years old I secretly bought a pet mouse on impulse, but quickly realised that it was a silly thing to do as I knew my Dad would not let me keep it. I couldn't afford a cage for it. I hadn't thought it through at all. Frightened to leave it at home I took him to... [more]

Twickenham - A History & Celebration

The Earl of Cornwall built stew (fish) ponds on the western boundary of his estate, and fish was an important part of the medieval diet. Fish weirs were used to trap fish in rivers, and were an important and often hotly disputed resource up to the 18th century. They were supposed to be licensed, but illegal weirs flourished and were a hazard to river traffic. There was at least one... [more]

Twickenham - A History & Celebration

The local population in the Middle Ages made a living from agriculture, fishing, boat-building, and ferrying traffic up and down the river. There was even a local vineyard, which produced 'two tuns and one pipe' in 1297. This seems to have been planted with cherry-trees later. There is little detailed evidence on the number of people living at Twickenham during the Middle Ages but the manor of Isleworth, including Twickenham, seems... [more]

Twickenham - A History & Celebration

The Earl of Cornwall built stew (fish) ponds on the western boundary of his estate, and fish was an important part of the medieval diet. Fish weirs were used to trap fish in rivers, and were an important and often hotly disputed resource up to the 18th century. They were supposed to be licensed, but illegal weirs flourished and were a hazard to river traffic. There was at least one... [more]