South Vale

A Memory of Upper Norwood.

I lived in South Vale until 1963. It was a real community with nice neighbours. I went to Rockmount school and spent hours playing in the park opposite it.
The Crystal Palace grounds were fenced off but us kids used to climb over the fence! I remember the maze which was all overgrown and the statues of prehistoric animals which we used to climb on. We also used to play in the grounds of the Blind College and lots of my friends used to live in the prefabs. I have a very good memory and remember so much. We made up stories about why the wind balloon was in place before the aerial was put up. We said it was from outer space or the Germans! I was friends with Jean Williams, Roberta Nash, Kay Sullivan, Ann Parnell and Linda Button. We used to walk miles and explored our surroundings. Some of our playing places were the bomb sites. There seemed to be so many. My name was Ellis before I married.