Glen Faber

A Memory of Hoddesdon.

My parents, had a plot of land on which they built a holiday chalet, and my older brothers and I had a wonderful childhood there. Fishing, swiming in the locks, walking throught the woods full of bluebells, and blackberry picking. As you say, we had water from an outside pump and the toilets were also outside. My father, was on the committee and he was the sanitary inspector, making sure that disposal was properly carried out. The only lights originally were tilly lamps, which were eventually converted to bottled gas, which we would get from Charley Tavener, who also kept pigs. Mr Milton ran the cafe near the locks, where we would get bottles of Tizer or Lemonade. We would also hire boats at Dobbs Weir, and remember going to the Fish and Eels on a Saturday night, where as children we would put a penny in the old fashioned musical box there. They had a dovecote and an aviary. The people I remember were the Wade family, the Nuttings and Boswells and my own Howard family, and many more whose names that have got lost in time. My childhood friend was Patsy Tavener whom I have regrettably lost contact with over the years.