Dagenham Heathway

A Memory of Dagenham.

I used to live in the Heathway, between Eastfield Road and Alibon Road. My grandparents moved there in about the 1920's, my mum was a toddler. There was a church round the corner in Osborne Road where my brother and I used to go to Sunday School. My friends and I would congregate round there on a Saturday, to watch the weddings. Also as there weren't many cars about then, we would play skipping across the road. If a car passed, we would drop the rope, let the car pass, then carry on. Happy days, everyone helped each other. My grandad kept chickens and all the neighbours got one for Christmas, he also made rhubarb wine. My grandad was like the Pied Piper, he would bring all the kids home for homemade apple pie and lemonade, you couldn't do that today, you would get arrested. I lived at 487 Heathway, my surname was Haley, I lived there till I got married. I used to go horse riding up at the Chase, it's known as Hooks Hall now. I went to Fanshawe Infants and Juniors, Spurling Road Seniors All Girls School. I used to ride home with the Rag and Bone man, because of my love of horses. My nan would be waiting at the gate for me and throw a fit, seeing me with this strange man, eventually she realised he wasn't going to run off with me. I left school aged fifteen and went to work in Selenas Lane. Jobs were plentyful then. I remember the fish shop on Heathway Hill, opposite the cinema, he kept a tank of live eels. One escaped and went slithering all over the pavement. We used to go to Saturday morning pictures for sixpence.