Days Gone By.

A Memory of Wanstead.

It was a long walk to Wanstead Park from where we lived as children.  We lived at  Stephens Road, Stratford West Ham. Weekends and school holidays Mum would pack a picnic for the six of us, usually jam sandwiches or cheese if Mum had some, and a bottle of orange squash. We also had our jam jars and nets for fishing in the ponds for sticklebacks,  a bat and ball, also a football, and off we would go for the day, as most East End children did in 1955.
We would enter the park from the Manor Park side, it was a short walk through a small wood the trees seem so tall, the ground was soft. I can remember the smell of the soil, it was always damp, sometimes we would see a squirrel or a small mouse, I can remember the sound of small birds, which in the streets where we lived you didn't see or hear.  Then came the open space of green grass, the grass would tickle your legs as you ran through it. It was then just a short walk to the pond, by the side of the pond was a ice cream and tea shop, sometimes if Mum had given us a penny each we would put it together and buy one icecream and share it.  I can also remember the sound of children playing, and shouting when one of them had catght a stickleback.
The six of us would always stay together making sure that we were all in sight of each other as Mum had instructed for safety. We would fish and  paddle in the pond, after catching our little fish to take home for Mum to see we would have our picnic. It was then time for a game of cricket or football. Susan my sister and I would be put out as fielders, our brothers knew it would take us time to find the ball, allowing them more time for runs, then after a few winges I would be allowed to have a go at batting. It was my brother Daniel who taught me how to hold the bat, I soon got the hang of it. When the game of football began, it was not long before there was more than the six of us, we would have a full team, maybe more, what fun it was, we would always have a few scratches by the time the game was over.
Daniel then would look for the time, as we were to be home by 4 o'clock. How quickly the time would go, we would change the water in the jars with hopes that the fish would still be alive when we got home for Mum to see.  Then the long walk home.  At home Mum would be waiting for us, with dinner ready. After dinner, it was time for a strip wash, we had no bathroom in those days, then off to bed.  Susan and I shared the same room, we would talk about what we had done and seen that day and what we had enjoyed most about Wanstead Park.  Susan being two years younger than myself would always fall asleep before I did.  The next day we would have done it all again.