Gladstone Road,

A Memory of Mitcham.

The entry regarding Gladstone Road and the Mission brought back many memories. As a child I went to Sunday School there when Father Clarke was in charge and Mrs Smith ran a handicrafts club on Thursdays after school. On the corner stood Elliotts the butchers and on the other corner were 4 little cottages with tiny front yards full of flowers, so pretty. Across the street was the off-license with an alleyway beside it which I believe led to 'Rockey'. The Sparrowhawk family was very well known in Mitcham. Mrs Sparrowhawk, Tom the rag and bone man, Lenny, Albert (so handsome!) and Julia and her mum, who lived in Love Lane are the ones I remember. This was a time when everyone new everyone else, and there were lots of big families around. There were 14 children in my mother's family, and my father came from a family of 12!