My Childhood In Erith

A Memory of Erith.

My sister Wendy and I went to school at The Sacred Heart Convent on Erith Rd in the early '50s. I remember being taught by nuns in traditional nun's habits. But one teacher who wasn't a nun I remember because she was called Miss Suds and we used to call her Soap Suds.
When we turned seven our parents, who were managers at the department store, Mitchells of Erith, on Pier Rd, inexplicably sent us away to boarding school.
I remember Mitchells well. In the holidays I used to tear around the different departments like it was my very own playground. I must have been a pain in the neck!
As I sulky teenager, I was bored with Erith and mostly hung out in (what was then called) the Record Department, run by Mr Hollifield, a jovial man who somehow had enough skill with youngsters to be able to make me smile. Being the manager's daughter I got a discount, so I was always in there listening to the latest pop songs.
I remember shopping in Woolworths across the street. Back then it had a hardwood floor and you could buy toys for sixpence and cheap make-up for 1/6 ( one shilling and sixpence). My parents didn't like me wearing make-up when I was fourteen. But my sister, two and a half years older than me, was also nagged by them because, at sixteen she insisted on continuing to wear white socks and they thought she was old enough to wear stockings. In fact, they were so worried about her awkward bookishness and obvious lack of interest in boys, that they sent her to dance classes. After her first class, to the horror of our parents, she came home with a 78rpm record of The Everly Bros. Wake Up Little Susie. I loved it of course and never looked back!
I returned to Erith in the '70s to take a look. It had all changed so much I could barely find Pier Rd. Mitchells of course had gone and a big parking garage had been built in its place. I had a little cry about that. I walked down to the river, where our father Fred S. Cope, presumably on some committee or other, had come up with the idea of planting a garden by the river. I believe there was a plaque in the garden saying something of the sort, although I'm not sure about that. The garden had seen better days.

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