The Oval.

A Memory of Sidcup.

We lived on the corner of the oval adjoining Burnt Oak Road in a flat, 53b, above what was at the time an empty shop. It was wartime and we used to ride our bikes around the empty shop. Out the back was a garden and there was an iron fire escape leading up to the back of the flat. I remember that the bakery on The Oval used a horse and cart for deliveries and if we had a penny we would go in and buy a sticky bun and for a farthing a sweet from the sweet shop. There was also a jewellers shop that was always getting broken into, we would see people casing the joint and hear them break in but when the police came around we acted dumb!
When the sirens went off for a raid we went to the air raid shelters on the green on the opposite side of The Oval, after the war we played in them. My favourite shop was the Co-op and to have the milk delivered you left out tokens along with your empties. My favourite friend from another flat was Molly Bird and I was very sad when she left to live in Australia.
My sister was born in the flat in 1946 and for her 60th birthday I was able to send her a modern day photo of our old Oval flat. I found through the net that the shop underneath is now a shop selling car repair parts and they had a photo as an advertisement showing both the shop and the flat above. I was amazed to see how clean everything looked hard to believe after 60yrs. After the war we moved to Chislehurst.