A Lovely Place To Grow Up!

A Memory of Meopham.

I was born in Arnold Avenue, just five minutes walk from the George pub, which was handy later on in my life. Also the post office opposite the pub, which was owned by Mr & Mrs Fit-Simons, who used to have rows of clear lidded biscuit tins, with sweets in such as; black jacks, halfpenny chews, fruit salad and flying saucers etc. I would often pop there for mum's 1/2 oz of Golden Virginia and pack of Risla's. I went to Meopham Primary School at the parade, and remember Mr Strand as the headmaster and his wife, who also taught there. Mrs Potter was the music teacher, or 'Pansy Potter', as she was known. Oh, and Pat Wood...you still owe me 8 kisses from kiss-chase! I used to walk to the woods on Whitehill, and like most of us kids play there all day, the only worries we had was telling mum you'd torn your trousers when you got home! Over the back of "the green" was Russels Bank - the best place to sled down in the snow, trying to miss the barbed wire at the bottom...what's health & safety? Arnold Avenue was a special place to be, it was shaped like a horseshoe so every house seemed close. We used to play hide & seek, Kingy and the odd game of pom pom 123 (don't ask!) My friends in the Avenue were; Geoff Everett, Ron, Les & Barbara Roberts, Nick & David Collino, Collin Collier (the policeman's son) and my two brothers Mick & Richard. The bullock field is were we played football with the kind permission of Mr French the local farmer, he knew me very well - many times being chased from his dutch barn, after being caught playing in his hay bales. "Enter Sgt Cutting". Meopham Green; the place to meet up! 1st Meopham Boys Brigade! Mount Zion Baptist Chappel, Mr BeBe the Paster F.O.Y (fellowship of youth) at the Chappel. Pat Riches, Denise Povey, Patsy Donovan - strange, I can only remember the girls!
Meopham will always hold a special place in my heart, it has more houses, wider roads, and a secondary school, but that's progress I suppose.