Mile Oak Revisited

A Memory of Mile Oak.

My mother was a land girl, she worked daily on Farmer Broomfield's farm Some of my earliest memories are of playing with other kids around an old black caravan, more a hut on wheels, provided as a shelter from the weather. Piles of wet weather coats made a comfy sleeping bed for me, while mum worked and the older kids played. Maybe I was getting too big for my pram, cause I remember it being around, until the day my brother put his feet through the bottom drop down section, when fooling around with his friends. The end of my pram days.
The field was at the bottom of Beechers Road, opposite the "jumping field" as the horses field was known, next to Chalky Lane. This was a field which covered a lot of space, and uphill towards the two storey houses on Mile Oak Road.
Mum complained often of back problems, but no doubt all the women involved in bending and weeding the rows of vegetables had back pain.
I dont recall her stopping work, it just happened, we no longer joined the Mile Oak/Portslade kids in play.
1948 From that time it seemed Mum went to work at the "naughty boys school" as the LCC school was called. High on the hill overlooking Mile Oak, a place of mystery for the resident kids. A place of punishment for the boys from London and surrounding districts. A beautiful structure, a shame it has now been demolished. I have seen similar architecture in Duluth USA, at an old family home, now a museum. Shame the boy's school was not kept for it's historical value.

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