Woodford Green memories
Here are memories of Woodford Green and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Woodford Green or a Woodford Green photo.
A Well Remembered Toy Shop
Oh yes, the War was on during this time. Shops were open their regular hours. The locals bought their necessities and everyone came and went as usual. The general feeling was 'To Hell With Hitler, we will carry on regardless'.
This also meant birthdays for children went on like normal. My aunt from Manchester, Auntie Burley, came to visit us at Buckhurst Hill. While here she would help celebrate my birthday, June 21st. This year she wanted to buy me something different than socks or a jumper. She said: "We are going shopping, just you and I. I would like you to have something of your own choice as a special treat."
It didn't take me long to decide what I wanted. We boarded the 10A bus at the top of Hills Road and headed to Woodford Green. Right across from the pond near the corner, was a big toy shop. They had a large selection of Dinky Toys. The one I wanted was the Barrage Ballon Lorry. It was... Read more
Picture Ref W132016
I was a pupil at Woodford Green Prep form 1945 to 1951. During that time I remember watching the demolition of the north wall of the the bombed building which was pulled down, and I suggest took place in '48/9? For safety reasons the work was not undertaken until the school had closed for the day, and we stood along the road to watch the event. The school entrance at that time was where the pillared gates are shown in this picture. I suggest therefore this picture is circa 1945.
King's Avenue And Its Surrounds
I was born at 41 King's Avenue in 1947 and left the area in 1959. My brothers were born at the nursing home at end of the road. I remember particularly the shops Le Bonbon, Pudicombes, Sainsbury's (where we serverd at separate counters and paid at the back - complete with an overhead system for getting money to cashier), Tom (the fishmonger), the clock shop and the ironmongers - all on the left as you walked to the station. On the other side was the tobacconist, off licence (my used to buy 2 bottles of IPA on a Saturday), the post office with stationary area where I bought my pens for school. School was Braeside at Buckhurst Hill for me and St Albans for my brothers. Holidays were blissful, always outdoors with many hours spent in Knighton Woods, building dams, and playing hide and seek with a gang of friends, all on bikes. I also did ballet at Constance G. Gerard's ballet school also on King's Avenue. Shows were put on at... Read more
Wartime Memory
Not sure of the date but I remember the church being destroyed. I had just become old enough to join the fire service as a youth messenger and I was in the fire station at the top of Snakes Lane when the incident occurred. The engines turned out and when I got home I was severely told off by my mother as we had passed her clearing up the shattered glass in Johnston Road and I had not jumped off the engine to help. We were running the Cofee Bean Cafe at the time, during the air raids we took urns of tea down the shelters during the night. But I found out how hard cows are, cycling as fast as possibly heading down to the Fire Station after an alert one night and ran straight into a cow's belly - I was picked up by an air-raid warden comatose, have been like it ever since!
Woodford Bridge And St Paul's Church
I grew up living in Moreton Gardens, my maiden name was Nicholls. I have 2 sisters Pat and Laura. My dear mum used to take us to church every Sunday morning, and I used to sing in the choir. I have some great memories of the jumble sales we had in the church hall, I would rummage through all the stuff to see if there was anything I could have. It's been a long time since I have been back to England, I now live in Queensland in Australia. I have the best memories of growing up on the council estate. I went to Roding Junior School then on to St Barnabas. I look forward to seeing photos in the future.
Anne Westbrook
A Well Remembered Book Shop
I moved away from Woodford Green many years ago and have lived in various places since, but I still recognise Woodford Green as my home town. I have 3 vivid memories of my time living with my gran just off the green in Fairlite Avenue.
The first being the trips to the book shop on the corner of Woodford Green, High Road with my gran who at the time was head cook at the Sunset Road Junior School, I would wait for her until she left work then we would both walk to the book shop where there was always a selection of secondhand annuals with pop up pictures and gran, once or twice a week depending on funds, would buy me an annual and I can remember to this day some 60 years on the excitement first of choosing my annual then once I got home of turning the pages and being facinated by the wonderful pop up pictures. It was from these books I learned to read.
My... Read more
Goldsmith And Guinness Families.
I remember being taken by a family member to see their old home in Woodford Green, their parents had lived there all of their lives. One of the family's great-great-grandfathers named Goldsmith was a domestic coachman and the families lived all around the area. Some of the children of the family in the early part of the 20th century went to Churchfields School I believe and also Woodford Bridge. One relation Jack Goldsmith was a pupil there and later was killed on the First Day of the Somme. Other family lived at Doddinghurst and Swallows Cross. Another relation was a great-great-grandfather, George Dowler, who was a draper and costumier around Woodford. I have a lovely photo possibly of King George's Jubilee. It is of all of the local men and this great-great-grandfather, in a top hat, outside the Jubilee Hall. I also have an autographed programme of the day that Jack Hobbs the cricketer came to speak at a dinner at the Woodford Mens Club.
St Barnabas School For Girls
A very small window for any results, but, would anyone remember a SANDRA IRENE NELSON who attended the above school in the years 1958+? She resided in Fairfield Rd for the duration of her childhood years. Please contact me if you remember her. I am her daughter but seek more information about her as she passed away in 2008 and we were estranged for many years.
Sky Reals Road
My mother came from Woodford Green. She met and married my dad when they were in the army. I would often go down with my mam to see my granda.
I remember one particular time going with my cousin up to the forest at the top of the street which I think was Epping Forest and getting lost. We finally stumbled upon the swimming pool and were able to find our way back from there.
Woodford Green Primary School
I was born at St Margaret's hospital, Epping in 1967. I remember my first day at school and being terrified! I remember every teacher with fondness. The green surrounding the school was an extension to the playground and you had to be able to hear the bell! This was rung by a senior pupil who ran the perimeter of the building whilst shaking a large hand held bell before returning it to the teacher's desk. I lived Chingford Lane so always walked the field to access the school via the railing! The headmistress in 1972 was Miss Pork who, shortly after, retired and was replaced by Mr Stanley. The church beside the school was always host to the school Christmas play. aI was lways a loner at school and haven't changed much over the years! I was fortunate to be able to rewalk my steps in the school in recent years, courtesy of the caretaker. The old hall remains frozen in time! The familiar apparatus housed against the walls just... Read more
Wartime Memories
Mr Geoff Duff's memories sent to you on 27th July 2008 gave me such a surprise. I too remember the strange woman who would walk down to Woodford Station around 3.30 in the afternoon every day summer and winter obviously to meet a loved one who never returned from the war. She was quite tall (about 5 foot 9 inches) and plump and she wore a pale peach satin dress with a dropped waistline, two long strings of pearls across her chest, brown crimped hair, and a tiara on her head (1920s style). She often looked so cold as her legs were bare. She wore brown court shoes which had a strap and button across the front and she carried a large brown handbag. I would set her age at about the mid fifties then, so in 1956 I guess she would be about 68. As a child of about seven years of age I was both scared and fascinated when I saw her approaching us on the quiet... Read more
Memories of Essex
"Any Old Iron"
This photo brings back lots of memories for me as it shows High Road, Woodford Bridge which is where the old-fashioned ironmongers that my family owned was situated. There had been one on the site since the beginning of the 20th Century, but we owned it from 1973 until my Father retired in 1987. Originally it was High Road, Woodford Bridge, but it was renamed Chigwell Road. I particularly remember 1974 as this was when the River Roding, which ran along the rear, burst its banks and flooded the yard. It was under about seven feet of water and the cellar was full up. My Sister and I found it very amusing to sit with the trap door open grabbing things as they floated by.
In later years I worked behind the counter on a Saturday and during school holidays as did my two Sisters. I used to go down there every morning with my Father, help out for fifteen or twenty... Read more
St Paul's Church And Sunday School
I moved to Woodford Bridge when I was about 4 years old in 1949 and a few years later went regularly to Church and Sunday School at St Paul's Church for several years. The Vicar at that time was Rev Philip Wright. He was well known for his interesting collection of old farm and agricultural tools and had a small museum at his house.
My younger sister and I used to walk up the hill from our house at the bottom of Hazeleigh Gardens on Sunday afternoons and go to our respective classes in the rather dusty Church Hall - the children were divided up by age into several groups and I think we were also separated into boys and girls. The youngest children were in a separate room off to the right, I seem to remember, and in the main hall would be more than one little circle of children with their teacher. I seem to recall one of the Sunday School teachers was Miss Manby who I... Read more
Claybury Memories.
Both my parents were nurses at Claybury during the 1950s. My dad worked days and my mum worked nights. I can remember her telling me that when she did 'the rounds' during the night she used to ride her bike through the dark corridors crunching over cockroaches! Dad was umpire for the Clabury cricket team and my brother and I spent many a warm sunny Sunday playing in the grounds of the hospital while Mum sat in her deck chair knitting and watching the cricket. I never had the opportunity to see inside the hospital but I was always intrigued by the big tower. I think it was a water tower. The Claybury I remember was much bigger than the picture shown, it had impressive gates with lodge houses on each side. As children, my brother and I and all our friends would go to Toms Wood to pick blackberries, we were always on the look out for 'escaped patients' and imagined anybody we saw was an inmate! Many a... Read more
Ironmongers
I was born in Gaynes Hill Road in 1941. Was the shop you are writing about John Bankils (or similar spelling) oposite Gaynes Hill Road. I can remember going to the shop for my Dad many times, I can almost remember the men that worked there, always in brown coats. One I remember had lots of curly hair, I think he lived in one of the roads off of Gaynes Hill. The shop always smelt of parafin. We last lived in Woodford Bridge in 1982
The Good Old Days
I was an only child and I lived in various addresses in Woodford Green and Woodford Bridge. My first address was in a flat above a Doctors surgery in High Rd, Woodford Bridge and my last address was in Crownhill Road, Woodford Bridge. I went to Ray Lodge School, then Roding Lane Junior School and then St Barnabas Girls school, which half way through changed to a mixed school (much to my utter joy!!)
I left school at 16 and went straight into a job in the west end for Rentokil (Advice Centre). I remember the tube journey with much affection. Squashed together like sardines, having your bum pinched often and just very frantic. I thought nothing of it at 16, now at 50, it would fill me with dread!
I now live in Torquay, Devon , and have done for the last 33yrs, and I still call Woodford "My Roots". It still is home to me, and always will be.
My mum was brought up in Chigwell and... Read more
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