My Birth Place

A Memory of Battersea.

I was born in woodgate street nine Ellms lane Battersea in November 1936, all the people older than me who were around at that time must have passed away. In our house lived my grandparents, my mum and dad, brother jock, sister Georgeana, sister Rosemary, sister Ellen, sister Olive, sister Joyce, and me David. There was a grocery shop next to our house owned by Mrs Brown. The railway goods yard and main line to Waterloo was behind the houses opposite our house, along the street within a triangle was a small church and the Crown pub, past the pub towards the main road was muex brewery, all the local people stayed in the brewery cellers during the second war air raids.Because of my age , most of this information is what family must have told me, I am the last cannot gather anymore. I would say it was almost the perfect community, everyone seemed very happy with their lot, of course there must have been some bad times, the husband home from work but not home but in the Crown pub, spending money the family couldn't afford, there were many upsets in our house I can bet on that.Once a year the whole street used pack up during the summer to go Hop picking in Kent, to help with the production of beer, it was a sort of paid holiday, everyone enjoyed their time away, sleeping on mattresses and pillows filled with straw, I cannot see that beeing very comfortable. The war was upon us, one night our house was almost demolished, no front door, a very large hole in the wall, between front and rear room, as I have said all the people were safe within the brewery cellers, my dad and others on the brewery roof putting out fires from the dropped incendiary bombs. Our family were rehoused in Norbiton Surrey, Ellen and Olive were evacuated to South Devon during the war I was too young Joyce stayed with us.i could carry this story on but it now goes past Battersea my home town. Surname is Squires

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