Mum And Dad Grew Up In Fulham

A Memory of Fulham.

Mum remembers going across Parsons Green durig the war and the air raid had gone off, then she heard a doodlebug above her, she ran into the gents toilets and heard it land somewhere near, she never been that frightened since.   Mum and Dad both lived next door to each other in Broughton Road, Fulham, they were big houses, one family lived on top floor, another downstairs. I remember having to go through downstairs living room to get to outside loo, they let me when it was raining. My dad died 2 years ago, he remembered having to go to school with no shoes on, they were so poor, and his mum died young and they were looked after by an old aunt, if they asked for more food they were given a worm cake to eat. I  remember waiting outside Fulham baths for my nan, who would visit on the bus and train, but sometimes she wasn't there so I was sent to wait ouside for her. We were lucky at our house, we had a bathroom, but nanny seemed quite happy when she came out from the public baths, and I walked home with her, she smelt all clean and fresh. Dad didn't talk about the war he was in, we saw photos of him driving a jeep and he said he drove right across India and had to eat a lot of currys, later in life he would not eat anything other than meat and two veg, anything else he said was foreign muck, it used to drive my mum crazy.  My dad's sister is still alive and lives in Sunbury on Thames which is where my mum also lives, they all moved away from Fulham to the suburbs, in the 1960s. My mum often tells us about our grandad penny pinching, but I think they were just so poor he had to be careful. She remembers her mum, my nan, telling all four of her children to search the flat high and low so they had enough pennys to buy a quarter of mince for grandad's tea.  He worked in the Sunlight Laundry in Fulham. I don't remember my nan ever working, she suffered with bad legs and died fairly young from something to do with one of her legs, it didnt help that they lived on the first floor of the house. They had to have their washes and clean teeth etc in the tiny kitchen as they had no bathroom, it was a bit of a sqeeze when grandad got home from work and needed a wash and nanny was trying cook dinner in a 12ft x 6ft kitchen.  I particularly remember being excited because I often got sent to the corner shop which was only 10 doors away but I was allowed to get the penny refund on empty R. White's lemonade bottles to buy a sweet. If I was lucky I was also allowed to buy nan's bread and milk. I still see Sunlight Laundry vans about even now in 2008.  Going back to my dad's memories of the war, he did finally tell us a bit, he said he had to go on to the D Day beaches to clear up all the dead bodies, and that's all he ever told us, I presume it was so horrible that he just couldnt repeat it, he was only 17. I miss him, I used to drop him off to the British Legion 7 nights a week, always at the same time, pick up 8.45, then I'd go home then go back at 10.45 on the dot, he would always be standing outside Sunbury library so as not to keep me waiting. He had been a regular there for fifty years, the only nights he missed were the occasional holidays, then he would moan and said it was not the same and he wanted to get home to go down the Legion.  He struggled to get out of his chair on one Wednesday and I helped him into the car even though he and I knew he wasn't well, he'd been suffering for two years with his lungs. That night he wasn't waiting so I drove round and went in and helped him out of his seat, they all said 'Goodbye Arthur, take care mate', he was well liked and admired for being a respectable independent man, was never drunk, always only had his two pints a night. He didn't go for the next few nights, early on the Saturday morning Mum phoned me, he wasn't good so I phoned an ambulance. He was coughing up blood, but not too much and was able to talk to us, that was Sat am. I remember that afternoon in the hospital, I had gone and got him a paper, The Sun, he said 'I don't read that rubbish', as he was used to The Mail. I thought 'You can't be too bad', he was sitting up and talking. I had phoned all the family, I took my mum home 5.30. cos she was exhausted, she kissed him goodbye and said she would see him tomorrow. When I came back my sister Sheila said she had to go but to phone her if any change, they moved him to a differnt ward, he died peacefully twenty mintes later, I phoned my sister, when she got there he had gone. He had kept pulling the oxygen mask off so I left it ofs as the staff said it wouldn't be long, he was more comfortable. I held his hand and kissed his forehead and said 'Sweet dreams'. He hated doctors and hospitals, he was lucky he never got to stay, and he didn't suffer. I thank God for that.
I have just brought my grandson who is two a new pair of leather shoes, we are all so lucky the way we live now and I am thankful to all the men and women who fight and die for us.