Winifred Road

A Memory of Waterlooville.

Reading all these memories brings back mine. I lived in Waterlooville from 1945 (I was born in Jubilee Road Nursing Home) to 1966. We lived in Winifred Road, and I went to the Infants in Stakes Hill Road, then the Tin Hut, and back to Stakes Hill Road. My dad worked in Lloyds Bank which was next to Wadhams. My teachers were: Mrs Barton, Mrs Robson, Mrs Clifton, Mrs Elson, Mrs Lawrence and Mr Tutton. Our house backed on to fields which went out to Hambledon Road, Mr Smith had his cows there, and we used to spend hours in those fields, rambling round - at that time they were full of wild orchids, we used to pick them in armfuls. My older sisters Margaret and Frances, and my brother Edward grew up in Waterlooville during the war. Across the road from our house was the Uppermount School, there was a wall there with bullet holes in from when the German planes hedgehopped. We used them to climb the wall to go scrumping. We used to walk or cycle everywhere in those days, the woods in Hulbert Road were full of primroses and bluebells, so were those at Forest End. Hours spent playing in the recreation ground and in the brickfields (where Milton Road was eventually built) - in the winter the ponds were sometimes covered with ice and we spent all day sliding - in the spring there were newts and tadpoles. The baker delivered bread and the milkman milk in horsedrawn carts, there was also a vegetable and fruit man called Mr Chandler who used to let us drive his cart sometimes, the rag and bone man used to frighten the cat when he shouted, and the gaslights were attended by a man who lived in Rowlands Avenue, his name escapes me at the moment. We used to go home for dinner - just imagine all the exercise we used to get in those days, walking to and from school. My dad used to take us as he walked to work. He had an allotment, there was a man who had a pig there. Round the back of the brickfields was a farm where there were goats, I never learned to milk a cow, but I learned to milk a goat! I went to the Brownies in Pendene twice - that was enough for me! My younger sister Bridget went though. Several of us with older sister and brothers born before the war were like second families - Jimmy Smeed who lived in Winifred Road, and the Atrills in Avondale Road, their older sisters were friends of my older sisters. I also remember South Africa House and the children who lived there, and along London Road there were big houses - The Limes, The Pines, The Larches .. church fetes were held at The Limes. Mr Dawson was our dentist, and Dr Cooper had his surgery next door. Will have to think a bit about more memories.