New Addington

A Memory of New Addington.

I remember quite vividly, at the age of 3, visiting our new flat which was being built at the time in Castlehill Avenue and playing in the loft water tanks which were just over the road waiting to be fitted into the 2 storey flats. I recently revisited the old place and apart from security entrances to the flats the entire area hasn't changed one bit since the early sixties. The open space over the road is still there minus the ford popular I used to pay in after it was dumped there. A giant of a man used to walk around on a Saturday night shouting out "Standard, Standard" relating to the newspaper he was selling and a pink paraffin truck would make deliveries. The small shops as they were called were down the bottom and The Man on the Moon pub sold large penny biscuits in the off licence. Our only mode of transport were home made go karts which were pieces of wood and pram wheels which we roared down the hills on, no health and safety in those days.