Saturday Morning Pictures Etc

A Memory of Erith.

I lived on the border of Belvedere and Erith, just off Parsonage Manor Way and used to travel to Erith by bus.  I remember as a child of about 8-10 taking the 122a into Erith to go to the Odeon, Saturday Morning Pictures.  I seem to remember it was 6d downstairs and 9d upstairs.  I cannot recall what I saw now, but this was an important time for me as it began an interest in cinema which has lasted all my life (so far).  I do have a vague memory of the Famous Five serial which you just couldn't miss an episode of.  Later I would go to the Odeon proper, as it were, to see proper films.  Mind you it was a bit more than the 6d I was used to.

When I left school I worked in the city for a time until I changed my job and took a job in a gents outfitters in Erith.  There were two shops in the town, both owned by the same man.  The first shop I worked in was Clares just along from the Odeon, the other was called Bradbrookes and was in Pier Road.  The manager in Clares (or was it Clear & Sons?) was a lovely man, Mr Goodbody, one of the nicest men I ever worked for.  In Bradbrookes was Mr Avis, who lived above the shop with his wife and his son who joined the Royal Navy.

I have so many happy memories of Erith including the river, the library, the pet shop in Pier Road, the electrical showroom with a strange convex window,  Delroys supermarket, the cafe at the top of Pier Road, Woolworths where you could buy broken biscuits and of course the railway station where there was a porter who was a POW during the war held captive by the Japanese - he had a really rough time.

Memories become so important as you grow older and mine of Erith are so special to me.  One final memory comes to mind, Jumble Sales in the Church hall where I bought an old wind-up gramophone for a shilling I believe.  I loved that gramophone and the 78's that came with it.  Happy days.