Playground Apparatuses

A Memory of Clapham.

How wonderful to have my memory jogged by the lovely pictures of Clapham Common. After school, most days we (my brother Lance) and my mother would have such fun. We would play spot the park keeper, (always nicely turned out in their brown suits) now sorely missed ! But the playground picture with the 'umberella' in the background(did anybody else call it that ) where you would sit on the ringed seat and hope a bigger child would push you around , backwards and forwards. Didn't you have to hold on for merry hell ! does anybody remember the 'banana boat'? like a enormous sideways swing. If you were really brave you'd sit on the end.Just as it was getting too high for comfort you wish you hadn't been so cocky, when the under part would bump onto the hard tar ground and bounce you several inches off your seat! Or the enormous slide. I remember catching my cardigan on there once, much to the annoyance of the other kids. They had to troup off while my mum rescued me. I,ve had many a scraped knee there, and there was always somebody there to patch you up! (So I was a tomboy). On sunday afternoon you could have a horse ride down the road for sixpence! The little cafe on the common was delightful. We would take our bottles of pop outside in summer then listen to the band on the bandstand before going home. We lived in St Lukes ave. The top of our road was a removal firm Bishops Move,which was changed into Budgens then a gym.
I had a great time playing on the common. Have I jogged anyone else's memory?