Manor Road Sidcup

A Memory of Sidcup.

I was born in Farnborough hospital in June 1956. My mother is Austrailian and my father grew up in and around Bridgwater in Somerset. From the period of 1956 -1960 we lived in the top flat at 12 Manor Road (now sadly gone), the family living below us were (I think) called Russell. Mum and dad had friends called Mike and Carol.
I went to the local primary school, we had to wear shortgrey trousers, dark blue duffle coats, black and white striped scarfs. It might have been Birnbeck, or something like that. I can't remember too much about Sidcup as we left there when I was only 4 or 5 years old. I do remember the large and noisy train station filled with steam and smoke and the big red buses. I was taken to the park which turned out to be Regents Park Zoo to see the giant pandas, the tigers and monkeys etc. It wasn't longer before my mum and dad Peter and Gwen Bishop discovered I had slipped my walking reins. I was only three at the time and I had decided to go and see the best animals of the zoo/park.. yes you've guess it, THE DUCKS. It was the ducks, those funny little creatures would follow you up and down the bank scrounging tit bits and pieces off my sandwich, I never did like sandwich spread or peanut butter, yuk. The ducks had quiet a feast and I had a big gang of new friends that would hae followed me home if we could get them on the bus.
First day at school was traumatic, in my fresh pressed white shirt and tie, my little grey trousers and Ollie Beak my toy owl keeping a watchful eye on my sandwiches.
I sat there all morning in my heavy coat and blazer, I wouldn't take it off. I was sure I was going home away from the other screaming kids. Mum had disappeared without me knowing. I couldn't find her anywhere.
In the morning we had our own named and numbered coat rack and our gym kit in a home made dark green colored cloth dab bag. There was the morning ritual of collecting your 1/3 of a pint of milk from the milk monitor, he was normally bigger and had a special coloured round sticker on his blazer.
I don't think the girls were allowed to give out the milk as the bottles were too big and heavy but they were in charge of the Wendy House. You took your life in your hands if you went in there without an invite! In the afternoons all the boys and girls had an afternoon story and a little sleep. I took my chances and investigated that Wendy House that the girls had so preciously guarded.
We left 12 Manor Road in 1960-1961 to start a new life in Holbury in Hampshire. Happy days.
Julian Bishop

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