Those Were The Days

A Memory of Harold Hill.

I was born in Straight Road Harold Hill in 1943 and in 1947 we moved into the Prefabs across the road to Holly Road which was just off Briar Road, these Prefabs which I believe were errected by German Prisoners of war were great I can recall so many special years living there with mum and dad and my brother Roy born in the prefab in 1948 and it was such a sad day when we had to leave our prefab and be rehoused on the Harold hill estate I was now nineteen and had lived there for the past 15 years.In those days you could play in the street football, cricket  etc without to much concern for cars coming along as not many familys had a car most people were very friendly and material things were not so important like they are today The prefabs were lovely homes to live in but a bit cold in the winter as there was only one fire in the prefab which was in the main living room Dad would have to get up early in the morning and make the fire so the room would be warm for us when we got up not like the central heating we have today our Prehab had 2 bedrooms a bathroom and kichen but were quite spacious we also had a large garden as we lived on a corner plot, we also had a good selection shops across the road in Briar Road including lovely fish shop can anybody remember Mac and his wife who ran the shop?.My Grandad who lived in the house I was born in( Straight  Road) would take me to Romford Market each week on the 174 bus to the cattle market that was great fun as you could touch the pigs, sheep and carves and the market was always very busy with lots of people unfortunately these markets are not around any more which is such a shame for the younger generation who I am sure would had loved them.I can also remember in the school summer holidays going out with my friends and walking miles into the Harold Hill countryside crossing many farmers fields without getting told off you can not do that today as most fields today are privately owned, and i would often come home late at night without mum or dad worrying about my well being.Yes growing up in the Prefabs in late 40s and 50s were very special times for me and I am sure for many others.