Happy Childhood Days

A Memory of Aylesbury.

My husband, Roger Watts, and his family lived in Castle St in the 1950's. The picture has a figure standing outside their front door (no.15) which could be his mother or older sister Linda. Can anybody shed some light on this ? The street was always free of cars with only the doctor, who lived a few doors away, owning a vehicle. All the children attended the local school, St Mary's, including a number of children with Italian fathers, thanks to the number of ex POW's who stayed in the area following the war! Playground language lessons included how to swear in two languages - which if overheard by the head master (who still lived in the school house on site) deserved a cane across the legs - not very pc these days but post war children were made of sterner stuff! Although this part of old Aylesbury is now very much on the 'tourist trail', back in the 50's families were, on the whole, living close to the poverty line and difficult for parents to keep enough food on the table. Roger's house was not only home to their family of six but also had his grandfather and a lodger under the same roof. He slept in an attic room, with access from a ladder on the landing; cold in winter, hot in summer but it gave them the opportunity to drop sprigs of ivy seeds onto the heads of passing neighbours without being noticed - hours of innocent fun!