Doodlebugs And Rock And Roll

A Memory of Wrotham.

I was born in 1940 in Langley Maidstone, Lord Routes' house, a wing of which was given over during the Second World War as a maternity part for expectant mothers. We lived on the main road in Wrotham, opposite a pub called The Spring Tavern, it's no longer there now. We lived next door to a family called Skinner, the children's names all began with the initial J. There was John, Julie Judy, and we all played together, my sister Jean and I. We would go up to the Nod, a small hill opposite our houses and play there for hours.

We used to go to a big barn on the corner, where an artist lived, and we used to sit for him, while he painted us.

I remember the day called Operation Overlord, when all the planes flew overhead, wave after wave.

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