Brentford Memories From Grandparents Stories..

A Memory of Brentford.

I was born and bred in Brentford and can remember it well from the 1970's onwards. Both of my grandparents and their families were also old Brentonians all of their lives. I have many stories from my nan and grandad of the times before I was born and have heard many of the names mentioned in other posts.
My grandad sadly died two years ago now but my nan is still around and loves talking about the old days.
I thought that I would share some of her memories here and if anyone remembers her or my grandad and has anything to add, I would love to hear more!
I'll start with some back ground on both families.
My grandad's name was Stanley Burwood and he came from a big family who lived in The Potteries (from 1700's!!) - his mothers maiden name was Joyce and her first name Edith, known as Edie. His sisters were Eileen, Joan and Gladys and he had a brother, Bertie who married Louie and moved to Battersea. Joan Burwood married Ernie Baker who worked at Brentford Market and then had a stall at Chiswick until he died a few years ago (c.2008) Eileen married George (nobby) Collins and in the 1950's they all drank in the Pottery Arms. In fact one of my nan's aunties (Alice, I think) married a Matheson who owned the sweet shop and greengrocers.
My grandad was a painter and decorator/ builder in the area and put in many new bathrooms to the houses around Ealing Road, Greet Road, Kenley and Harnage Road's where they all lived in those days.
My nan (Jean) was born in Mafeking Avenue, (her maiden name Pilgrim) and she too came from a large family. There was Donald, Ken, William (Bill), Joan and Ivy - all married local girls/boys too!
When first married in the early 50's Jean & Stan lived in Harnage Rd & had 2 daughters Carole (my mum) and Janice. My grandad played football with his mates Jackie Chapman, (many stories there! & my nan is still in touch with his wife Thelma) The Bates twins, Frankie Ovens, Siddy Sheppard, Ron Nelson and lots of others. Don Pilgrim was also part of the 'gang' and they all had matching tattoos that Jackie Chapman gave them - 3 little dots on the inside of the wrist!
My nan remembers when war broke out, she was 11 and playing in Gunnersbury Park. They lived in Carville Cresent then and a lot of families there took a direct hit, including her next door neighbours.
She remembers Pinks Pie and Mash Shop, the cat' meat man, street sellers with lumps of salt, peas, the cocle and whelk man, collecting coal in a pram, ice cream sellers and lots of other things, too many to list!
We have some great pictures from that time and I will try to uplaod some here. There are some really good school pics when both of my grandparents were small and I'm sure somebody here would also recognise themselves or their family in them.
I would love to hear if anyone has memories of my grandad, especially, as I was really close to him - I lived with both until I was 4 and saw them everyday of my life. I still see my nan everyday as I am still local (Kew) and she is still in Brentford, in the house that they moved to after the houses in and around Harnage Rd were demolished. She has been there for 50 years now!
My grandparents were about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in June 2011 but my grandad died in March of that year, so they never quite made it.
I still miss my grandad every day, as do the whole family and I am just happy that a site like this exists so that everybody can share old memories of Brentford when it was a thriving community and everybody knew each other and can remember the good people and of a time gone by.