Hilly Fields 1955

A Memory of Enfield.

My former surname was Lovelock, I attended Chace Girls' School in Rosemary Avenue and I used to go through Hilly Fields on my way home from school to Crews Hill where I lived. Yes, I too remember the talent competiton held in the bandstand especially as I had a friend who was in the choir with me at St. John's Church, Clay Hill. She always walked off with the prize after a beautiful rendition of The Holy City. Her name was Ailsa Morrison and we sang alto together.
My most abiding memories of Hilly Fields are, being picked to run a cross country course there with the then famous runner Diane Leather, I was at an advantage knowing all the quirks of the course as Diane had not run it before. All too soon though, her experience won the day but I was proud to have represented my school.Other memories are of taking Girl Guide tests under the fourteen arches, tracking and sausage cooking on a camp fire, never mind the bits that fell in the frying pan when a train passed overhead!
Braham and Paterson was the name of an iron sheeting factory at the top of hilly fields near St. John's Church and I always wondered what a factory was doing in the middle of the countryside.
I bought a can of peaches as a child and opened them in Hilly Fields out of sight for they were forbidden fruit being so expensive and I had saved up all of sixpence and enjoyed the lot in one sitting.
The massive bed of stinging nettles near fourteen arches were caused by the enriched soil from a cesspit overflow from a nursery. I worked on several nurseries in the area at a later date.

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