Fulham Memories

A Memory of Fulham.

I was born in 1951 at Parsons Green maternity home. I have many memories of my mum's family. My nan lived in Bayonne Road, Escourt Road, Heckfield Place, Bramber Road, Cassidy Road, Fairholme Road and latterly Charleville Road, then having to move out of her rented home in Charleville Road and live in a two rooms with her eldest son in Shepherds Bush, because the landlord increased the rent, until she was rehoused by the council on the Roehampton Estate. My grandad, who died very young and I didn't know, used to walk all the way from Fulham to Covent Garden and carry baskets of flowers all the way back home on his head. They used to sell them in North End Road and my nan sold bunches of violets. They had seven children and managed to rent a shop in Charleville Road with accommodation above. They opened a greengrocers. My grandad died in 1943 leaving my nan a widow with seven children. All the children helped out in the shop until she had to give up the shop because she couldn't manage it anymore but continued to live above the shop. She then became a cleaner. I used to go to my nan's on a Saturday for dinner with many of the family. She cooked in a very old scullery with a black range and gas cooker, wooden dresser, belfast sink and wooden table. Her children used to help her manage. Everyone would gather round and she would feed us all. Remember many trips to North End Road. Unrecognisable now. The house in Charleville Road is now basically eighteen, high rent studio rooms. Fulham is so different today.