My Earliest Memories.

A Memory of Cippenham.

I lived in Westgate Crescent from 1936 to 1946. I suffered a severe head injury when hit by a speeding car on the Bath Road just past Eddy's cafe a few days before Christmas in 1940. I was 5 years old. We had heard that a shop in the parade was selling chocolate without a ration book and my friend and I were rushing to buy some. We never made it and as a very poorly child I shared a ward in the Slough Emergency hospital over Christmas with wounded soldiers who had retreated from Dunkirk. They were so kind to me despite their own horror stories and they clubbed together, heaven knows how, to buy me a beautiful wooden model sailing ship painted turquoise blue and named "British Maid"which they gave to me as an amazing Christmas present.
Later in the Spring of 1941 after I had recovered from the accident I took that little boat many times to the pond in Cippenham village where I sailed it successfully despite the shallow water. Once it got stuck on a submerged object and I had to borrow a ball of string from a nearby cottage and stretch it across the pond to drag the little boat free. Unfortunately some big lads thought it would be easier to bombard it with stones which may have helped to release it but certainly cracked the wooden deck and the hull. I don't believe I have ever had such a beautiful Christmas present in all my life.
A couple of years later I remember walking back from the church near the Primary school with my younger brother and sister and stopping by the pond which was teeming with sticklebacks. We took off our socks and shoes to paddle and catch the fish. When we got home a little late but none the worse for our adventure we sat down for Sunday lunch. My young sister then casually mentioned what we had been doing on our way home which provoked a sudden angry outburst from our parents for spoiling our shoes and worse, playing on a Sunday. The protest sadly was not limited to a verbal chastisement but was followed by something far more painful! How things have changed!