A Visit To London In 1953

A Memory of St Paul's.

At this time I was a resident at a K.C.C. children's home at Hadlow near Tonbridge Kent.
During the summer holidays a friend - Paul Thornton - and I though it would be a good idea to visit London, with very little resources we decided that cycling would be the answer , on asking the Principle for permission and having no idea how long the journey would take we were kindly given his permission , no doubt he thought that after a couple of hours on the road -up the old A2 - we would soon tire and hungrily return,but that was not the case , we were very determined not to fail, I have no recollection of the time we reached the capital ,but we must have found somewhere to rest and refresh ourselves, a casual ramble round , as mentioned no concrete plans were made ! , we came across St. Paul's Cathedral,(photo attached) as can be seen still amongst the bomb damage of WW2, then further exploration lead us to Big Ben , with scaffolding around it.I suppose by then we must have considered heading home - pretty tired - but no resources for train fares or the like so back on the bikes,eventually getting back to Hadlow Place well into darkness,those were the days thankfully when to young boys could take on such an adventure in safety,and nothing but praise was received by a relieved principle.
Brian Maley

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