Harrows Meade 1938 1943

I lived with my parents in the adjoining road, Francklyn Gardens, at no 69, and was friends with the Rappaports at no 20 - I was at school with the younger child, a girl, who in the 1980s was in New York, and whose elder brother became an architect, as I did in due course. At the age of 5, in 1938, we went to the temporary infants' school at St Andrews Church in Lynford Gardens, and I too remember the builder's yard on the corner of Harrowes Meade and Broadfields Avenue, whose extent can be seen today in the difference between the houses later built on the site and the pre-war houses surrounding them. Opposite nos 20 and 22 Harrowes Meade was the cutting that ran down from Wolmer Gardens at the top (opposite the junction with Blackwell Gardens), crossing Francklyn Gardens and reaching Harrowes Meade at the bottom. For those of our parents who came from inner London this cutting was an 'alley' but I recall the disdain with which some neighbours regarded that word. Riding a bike all the way down from Wolmer Gardens to Harrowes Meade presented two set of hazards, one being the oak posts at top and bottom of each section, intended to prevent car access, the other being potential traffic in Francklyn Gardens should you choose to ride the whole route at top speed without stopping to look for cars. The milkman came from the farm of Angus Keen, who rented land acquired by Hampstead Borough Council for use as a cemetery - I found this out thirty years later in 1969 when working for that council as an architect and reading an agenda for a council meeting due to renew Angus Keen's contract. I also recall, on joining Broadfields School in 1942, climbing through a hedge and seeing a notice indicating the land as being reserved for cemetery use - at the age of 9 I thought it most unsuitable to have a cemetery next to a school, but that particular field is probably now part of the Sephardic section of Edgwarebury Cemetery.
As for the aeroplane, I understood that its crash was the cause of the demolition of a house on the west side of Broadfields Avenue, one of the few between Harrowes Meade and Francklyn Gardens and not rebuilt until after the war. My memory of childhood interpretations of the event is that it was a Messerschmitt, but there's a comment somewhere else on this site that suggests that Burnt Oak was the location of that incident.
Although the onset of the war halted the development of the Laing Estate, the road layout was already done, including especially the sewers and drains, and what can be remembered as green fields included the major inspection chambers - 'manholes' - which in some case stood up above the level of the untouched ground. There were also one or two lime pits - around 3 yards square and surrounded by low timber walls - in which lime for mortar was prepared - these were supposedly dangerous, which added to the attraction.
Living in the new Laing houses on the west side of Broadfields Avenue, built from 1936 onwards, I recall how 'old-fashioned' seemed the Curton-built houses on the east side - not more than ten years older but in a markedly different style.

I also spent time in Camford Boys school,
I reside in Melbourne Australia. My mil phone number is
0451 593 660.
Please contact me. Michael Wimborne JP.

This is a reply to Michael Wimborne.
I was browsing this web site and I came across your comment that you attended the Camford Boys School. Coincidentally so did I. I attended it for only one year, 1948, before moving to New Jersey USA.
I now live in Delray Beach, Florida.
What year did you attend? I wonder if the school is still there?
When I attended it was at:
22 Edgwarebury Lane, Edgware

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Barry Rudd