Kingsmead

A Memory of Smallfield.

I was born in Horne but we moved into Smallfield when I was about 10 years old. The first two bungalows we lived in were built by my dad - Peter Pocock. They were called 'Pandora' and 'Saran'.
In Smallfield we lived at 10 Kingsmead. I remember that the shops shut at 5 o'clock and on Wednesday afternoons and that the paper shop only opened for a few hours on a Sunday for the papers. If you wanted chocolate or cigarettes after they closed there were a couple of machines on the shop wall. I do not remember them ever being vandalised for their contents. My dad would always fancy a bar of Dairy Milk after Sunday lunch and we would go down the shops on our bikes to get him a bar from the machine.
A group of us from Kingsmead used to spend hours on our bikes, riding around the lanes and going down the 'rec' to play 'The Man from Uncle', as I recall I was always the damsel in distress who had to be rescued.
I recall one year when the road flooded and the goldfish from an old lady's pond were seen swimming down the pavement. I also recall 'conkering' along by Smallfield Place - those conkers were enormous!
My mum and dad are both still alive (Peter and Janet Pocock) and they now live in Herefordshire.