Living In Grand Drive

A Memory of Raynes Park.

I spent several years in the early '70's living at 198(?) Grand Drive. I think my aunt, Irene Nichols, had lived there since before WW2. She claimed to have seen a pre war cricketer break the clock at Lords. The house was like a time warp back to the war. Her ARP tin helmet was still there, as was a pre war car parked at the side of the house. The car was used to store old copies of the Telegraph newspaper. She never threw anything away. There was no TV, & use of the valve radio was rationed to save electricity. We often had to use paraffin lamps or candles, partly due to her economy, but this was the also around the time of the 3 day week. My mum was her youngest sister, & used to defer to her in most things. The only thing she put her foot down on was when Aunt Rene tried to force me to go to church on Sundays - she was a member of some weird Christian sect.
That's not to say it was all bad - we were quite close to the park (Cannon Hill?) & I used to go there alone, to a youth group that had outdoor table tennis & other games. I got friendly with a dark haired girl called Pamela, but could never invite her round for tea.
The highlight of my week was Saturday, when I received pocket money. I would go down to the local shops & spend most of it on comics.
I went to school at Gregg Grammar in Ealing, taking buses (65 & 131?) there, later on used the Tube to Ealing Broadway.

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