Nostalgic memories of Burnt Oak's local history
Share your own memories of Burnt Oak and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying Memories 51 - 60 of 68 in total
After passing the 11+ at St Johns School, Milton Road, West Hendon, I attended Orange Hill from 1947. I had quite a journey, having to take the trolleybus along the Edgware Road then a walk down the Watling Avenue which was always bustling with all the barrows lining each side of the road, and through the park. We had no playing fields so had a short walk down to the local park for our sports - ...see more
I am now 83 living in South Wales, and have very pleasant memories of Burnt Oak. My two aunties lived at 54 Fortescue Road, Rose Mills was married to Percy and her sister was Alice Mundey. Rose was a piano teacher, her husband Percy worked, I think, in a aircraft establishment in Collindale. The two aunties were sisters of my mother Catherine. Each year I was able to ...see more
I lived in Mostyn Road from 1954 to 1968. I remember Arthur and his horse-drawn milk cart, my dad used to go and collect the horse manure for his roses.
I moved to Burnt Oak in May 1940, to 84 Fortescue Road. I was 4. My memories are like a batch of video clips, as follows: Moving in. Removal men trying to get a wardrobe into the front bedroom by hauling it up from the outside. Workmen deposited a load of bricks and planks on the green outside our house, to build a blast shelter. We kids built a den out of these materials, with loose ...see more
I was born in Burnt Oak in July 1956 in North Road - the same house that my mother was born in. My grandparents lived in North Road for many years until North Road, South Road and East Road were compulsory purchased by Barnet Council to build a new estate. I spent many great hours playing around the block, I remember the little factory at the end of North Road which used to produce metal piping. My sister, ...see more
I was born in 1938 in London. My parents moved to Burnt Oak when I was 3. The Second World War made a big impression on me. I remember having to sleep in an indoor steel cage. Other times we had to dash over to the air raid shelters in Watling Park, carrying our bedding with us. The shelters were long, like submarines, half in the ground and half out. There seemed to be a lot of people in one shelter, which ...see more
Being conceived at the end of the war I don't have memories of it of course, but my late brother, my mum and sister had lots. The only street party I remember was the Queen's one in Mostyn Road where we all got a cup with the Queen's head on it. I regret losing that. But I still have the little ed book with all the pageantry in it. My parents and siblings used to tell of dog fights during the Battle of ...see more
My birth on 30 Nov 1946 at 34 Oldberry Road, Burnt Oak, is where it all started for me, but my mother & her parents moved into the house when it was built for the LCC. She's 89 now, but recalls that she, as a 9-yr-old in 1928, spent the first few days there just running up & down the stairs, as they'd come from rooms in Euston where noise, etc. was forbidden. They also had their own kitchen with cold ...see more
Since my birth coincided exactly with the outbreak of World War II in the September of 1939, my mum must have felt that childbirth was synonymous with calamity; I was Mum's 'war effort'. Home was a semi-detached two-storey house in Melrose Gardens, a cul-de-sac of thirty-two identical semis in Edgware, Middlesex. Dad was a printer by trade, and during the war years Mum worked at de Havilland's aircraft ...see more
My memory of the area is based on my secondary school days here at the St James Catholic School, I think it was in Orange Hill Rd? I lived in Wembley during the war years and started school at St Josephs Primary in Wembley Hill. In 1951 at age 11, I started at St James in Burnt Oak. I remember I had to catch 3 buses, not sure about the first one but I know that the 140 and the 52 busses ...see more