Princes Road

A Memory of Buckhurst Hill.

I was born in 1953 at 71 Princes Road, in 1955 we moved to 10 Church Road where I lived until 1969 when I left home.

I went to Princes Road Boys school where Mr Carr was the Head and some of the teachers were Miss Gardiner, Mrs Waterland, Miss Sharp and Mr Rose who was a member of the magic circle. My first job was at Beldom Brothers in Queens Road where I worked until they fired me two weeks before Christmas.

My parents were Rose and Ralph Gray who ran Sunshine Corner on Wednesday nights at the Evangelical Church in Princes Road for over thirty years. I believe my Great Grandparents, Alfred and Eliza Gray owned a bakers shop in Albert Road before the First World War.

There are three generations of my family buried in St John's graveyard

I visited Buckhurst Hill a few years ago after being away for many years and so much has changed. I was glad to see that the pond by St John's was still there and the green on the other side of the High Road had not been built on.


Added 04 June 2022

#759188

Comments & Feedback

Although born 8 years after you I also went to Buckhurst Hill country primary school in Princes Road and had Mr. Carr as my head teacher and was in Miss Gardener’s class. My last year of primary school was their centenary year so that was a privilege to be part of that. I lived in Forest edge and attended Sunshine corner in the late 60’s or early 70’s and the name Ralph Gray seems familiar to me. Beldom Brothers also is a familiar name and I’m sure my mother went there regularly but I don’t remember what they sold now?
Hi Phil

Hope this finds you well.

I have a photograph which I think is of you, leaning on a lawnmower at the school trip to the Essex County Show - will try to post.

More to come later.

Very best regards.

David Browne

YOUTH CRIME
Which of you was “Sid Squinters”? (Prominent graffiti near the fish and chip shop, about 1968)

I also read, late 1960’s, that houses along Forest Edge found their concrete garden gnomes to have vanished - they were later discovered standing in a circle in a clearing in Knighton Woods

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