Straight Road

A Memory of Harold Hill.

We moved to Straight Road, probably in 1938. It was just a country lane and we used to play on the road without any problem. The Harold Hill estate hadn't been built then, a good job because of the number of bombs, doodlebugs and V1's which dropped there. A previous contributor mentions Mrs Sexton, the Midwife; she delivered some of my siblings and I can remember her sleeping all night alongside my mother when the baby was a bit slow in coming. I can still remember the names of most families that lived in the road after all these years: The Darbys, Greys, Hartnetts, Perrys, Hopkins, Inglis, Paynes, Woodmans, Smiths, Graysons, Townsends, Snooks, Salmons, Masons, Bensleys, Stewardsons, Moss, Dorrells the list goes on. One house had a television in the late thirties early forties. I used to work in Sextons shop at weekends and I can remember Jimmy Greaves the footballer coming to the shop - his in laws lived on the estate. The Plough was also a favourite pub. With the Crokers and Porky the greyhound trainer from the kennels, regular patrons.