Born In Fenny Stratford

A Memory of Fenny Stratford.

I was born at number 8 Woodbine Terrace; in attendance was nurse Brinklow the local midwife and Dr Gleeve. My parents were Jim and Vera  Cusack.   
                 
Just after the begining of the war my mother, sister and grandparents moved to Fenny Stratford to be near my auntie Doris (mother's sister) and to be away from the dangers of London; they came from Dagenham and Hackney in the East End. My grandfather, Captain Walter Bates, had also just been assigned to the security at Bletchley Park. My father was in Burma in the Far East.                                    

Until my mother managed to rent the little cottage in Woodbine Terrace, they all lived with my aunt in Church Street. After the war my grandparents returned to London, they were lucky their substantial house was still intact, however, my parents' Dagenham home had gone so they decided to stay. It took my father a lot of 'getting used' to the country way of living, he was a real townie, however he managed, and worked until he retired for the GPO (telephones).                           

I was baptised at the Catholic church in Church Street, at only a few weeks old, mother was a wonderfull dressmaker, and made my gown from the parachute silk that she had bought in Cowlishaw's haberdashery shop, in Aylesbury Street. My first vivid memory is of being carried to the corner shop, at the top of Church Street, the lady who ran the shop was called Lelia, I would have been about eighteen months old. I also remember sitting on a high chair in Oliver Wells' shoe shop to be fitted with new shoes, that was at the bottom of Church Street as you turned right into Aylesbury Street. At that time there were more shops in 'Fenny' than in Bletchley Road and everything that you needed could be bought there, it even had a 'Dolls Hospital'in Victoria Road, several of mine had to be  admitted.                                          
In 1950 my brother Ken was born at the Redhouse nursing home, that was situated in the High Street, then just after the Christmas in 1951 we moved house, on to the newly built Manor Farm Estate. I started school in 1952 at the little Bletchley Road school at the end of the drive, over-looking the Leon Recreation Ground, where on a Sunday we might go to listen to the Bletchley Town Band play, my uncle Percy played the Trombone. Sometimes we would go to the Central Gardens, the Salvation Army Band would play there too. When the Manor Road school was opened in 1954, I moved school as it was so close.                                                         

A new Catholic church, St Thomas Aquinas, was built in 1956 on the  corner of Sycamore Avenue and Manor Road, and I was one of the first children to make their first Holy Communion there in 1957. I remember how big this new church seemed and how every little sound echoed, it was also very cold in the winter, there was no central heating then.                                                                                    
Next to the Spurgon Memorial Baptist Church in Aylesbury Street was Dickie Golding's sweet shop; he made award winning ice-cream, the queue on a Sunday after all the services was never ending! And he only made it in the summer months! Whenever there was a birthday party, we would run to the shop with a large pudding basin for him to fill, but we had to remember to take a tea towel, as he would put the basin into the freezer for a few minutes to get it really cold.

As us children got a little older we would go with our parents to the gravel pits, it was indeed like the seaside with the big sandy banks and boats, however it was also very dangerouse if you strayed too far, everyone enjoyed themselves there, it was the place to go on a hot summer's day. A child living in Fenny Stratford was a happy child, there were lots of places to go and play, and as far as we were aware in safety. The Manor fields were a favourite haunt, we spent hours there, even in the cold snowy winters when it was covered in ice.

I have ejoyed writing this little piece, thanks to Margaret for telling me about the site.