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Wanstead
Wanstead maps
Historic maps of Wanstead and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Wanstead maps
Wanstead area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Wanstead and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Wanstead
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Wanstead.
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Days Gone By.
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... Read more
The George PH, Wanstead
Facing the viewer is the George Public House, which I believe still exists; behind is Wanstead underground station and an open area of grassland leading to Redbridge Lane and my then school, Wanstead County High. The High Street is facing us and leads to Snaresbrook, also with its underground station and also a magistrates court!
Greater London memories
Picnics With Sandwiches And A Bottle of Pop With Mum, Paddling in The Pond
We used to have lovely picnics, mum took sandwiches and some pop in a bottle, a towel and a flannel to wipe dirty hands and faces. We spend all day paddling and catching minnows with our net. My brother Tom always used to send a model boat out and they usually got stuck or sunk by a wave !
The Flats, Bearmans, Lyons Cafe And Pie & Mash
I often think how lucky we post-war Leytonstone kids were to be born in the East End of London, yet have the whole of Wanstead park, the flats and what we called the forest at the end of our street, Browning Road, to get lost in. The mysterious Quakers Meeting house that was surrounded by the massive and famous 'Red Wall' where we all scratched our names in the soft red bricks and collected prized conkers nearby. In those days Bearmans, the local department store, seemed to us to be the biggest and best store in the world, perhaps comparable only to Harrods! Looking back though it was not that big at all by today's standards. Lyons corner house was a treat as you lined up with your tray after shopping with your Mum and had pie and chips with gravy, I'll never forget those lovely trifles in little cups. However as far as real authentic East End gourmet food is concerned what could compare with Pie & Mash from... Read more
Leyton in The 1950s
My family lived 7 Newport Road, my sister was even born there. As a kid in the 1950s I would go to Saturday morning pictures at the Essoldo, on Leyton High Road, it cost 7 pence. That's also where the library was. I had to get up earlier to visit the Rialto cinema but could get in for sixpence, afterwards it was into Bearmans to listen to the latest pop singles from America. Newport Road seemed to be quite long and the kids from both ends had wonderful snowball fights every winter. My Nana and Grandad lived on Albert Road. A fishmonger pushed a cart with prawns for sale. Milk was delivered with a horse-drawn wagon. The rag and bone man had a carousel attachment which was fun, and kids drove mums crazy for something to donate for a ride. Epping Forest was a favourite Sunday picnic area, there was a huge dead, hollow tree that every child wanted to climb, when I finally succeeded on getting inside my father had to... Read more
Didn't Know I Was Supposed to Use The Microphone..
I was asked to read a lesson by my teacher at St Johns Church, Leytonstone for one of our school services. To my horror, she had me practice reading loudly in the school corridors and left me standing there, reading aloud, when all the other kids came back in from playtime. However, when it came to the event, no one mentioned I was to step up to the microphone (never saw one before) so I don't know if anyone heard me at all in the end.
THE WAR YEARS IN LEYTONSTONE
I have lived the past 43 years in Arizona, USA. Seeing the photo of St John's Church brings back many memories of my childhood in the Leytonstone area. During the blitz on London, going down the unfinished underground tube to sleep every night, going to the Rialto every Saturday morning to see Flash Gordon, Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger etc. I also recall going with our class from Newport Road school to the Library above Woolworth's to see this huge machine that made lots of noise and spat out these punch cards, we were told this was one of the first computers, we were all amazed. I always like to walk along the high street, stop in Lyons Teashop just past Lloyd's bank. I would like to thank Francis Frith for the wonderful photos that take me back to my younger days.
