Middle Park School 1940s

A Memory of Eltham.

I used to attend Middle Park School way back in 1943. I recall we used to have to write the date in the top right-hand corner of our exercise books and I distinctly remember the year. The war was still on. I'd probably returned from Northhamptonshire, where I'd been evauatived from London for the second time.

I used to live in No10 Campfield Road, not far away. I lived there - between being evacuated (3 times) from 1940 until 1949. My first school, as an infant, had been Kings Park. I returned to Kings park after the war, then moved to the new Cold Habour Estate out near Mottingham before migrating to Australia in 1951.

As I recall it, there was a teacher called Mister Wisdom who used to tell the greatest of stories to the whole school - in the main hall - when it was too cold or rainy to play sports outside.

I don't remember the 'Doodle Bug' in particular, though I did see quite a number coming across the sky from the southeast in 1944. But earlier, on the ground right outside Middle Park School, there used to be a barrage balloon. I recall, too, the 'Blitz'; a crashed Heinkel in the School grounds at King's Park, many bombed houses and, in particular, the bomb that fell closest to us - the next street. Jerry had been aiming at the church I expect, for it was a modern, square looking building.

All happned a long time ago.