This Was Written By My Mum Barbara Lewis

A Memory of Croydon.

Reading childhood memories made me remember a few of mine. When war broke out I was 10 living in Lyndhurst Road, Thornton Heath. I used to wander up to the pond to an old shed in Thornton Road to watch horses have their horseshoe's replaced, I can still remember the smell and heat of the big soldering iron. Also, going back even further, being carried up the iron staircase at Croydon Airport to watch planes and learning later that it was to watch Amy Johnson take off.
My school in 1939 was the convent ran by nuns near warwick Road, most of the time was spent in the cellars owing to air raids. I later moved on to Norbury Manor. One thing i never found out was why none of my school friends had a gas proof room like us ! My Dad and two men did this in our living room early in 1940, the fire place was completely blocked and all doors, there was only a small gap left at the bottom of one door to enable us to crawl into the room, which could then be sealed from the inside after. We were not supposed to go in there as there were lots of cans of baked beans, soup and sardines, tea, sugar and powdered milk, plus best of all many bars of chocolate, my mum never once said any were missing, they always seemed to be replaced !!
Aren't we lucky to have such memories?
"Ain't it grand to be old ??"