Loved Rayne

A Memory of Rayne.

In 1954 my family moved to Rayne from east London. My Dad was manager of Rayne Foundry between (about) 1954 to 1962. In 1956 I attended Rayne school where I got to know some lovely people including a girl called Nina Dawson who lived nearby. Apparently I didn't do very well at that school so my mother sent me to Manor Street school in Braintree. I hated that school and I was petrified every morning going into class. Rayne though was lovely and every May, there was a May parade through the street, policed by the copper we all loved, Pc Pilgrim. The parade ended on the playing field and I remember all the old gentlemen raising their hats to the ladies who they met. My brother Timothy had a bad accident crossing the road in Rayne and he spent several months in hospital. We lived in the managers' house called Linden House next to the foundry down the drive (now demolished).
In 1962 we left Rayne, I think my Dad was sacked but I'll never know, and went to Maidenhead in Berkshire.
I still love the area and would love to meet some people who lived there during the 1950's.

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