Good Times!

A Memory of Upminster.

I moved to Cranham, Lexington Gardens, a new estate when I was about three in 1961. I recall being in the cab of the lorry as we moved from my Grandparents house in Eyhurst Avenue, Elm Park. I went to school for the first term at Oglethorpe as Engayne infant school was too crowded. At Engayne, once I'd moved to the primary school next door, my first teacher was a blonde lady, Miss Tarrant. The second year was Mrs Richards, who had two daughters at the school. Gail in my year and I think Michelle, a year or two above. Third year was Mrs Brown who taught us Art and pottery and was my first introduction to French as she went there on holiday every year and once or twice a week she would bring out empty cartons of French products and put them out as if in a shop. She had a reel to reel film with an associated tape recorder which described French scenes and we would all repeat the phrases. Mr Troughton was my fourth year teacher. He was great, as they all were in their way. What I remember mainly about his classes was a Friday afternoon quiz where we would all stand (fifty of us!) at the front of the class. He would then ask questions. Each person that got one wrong would sit down and they could ask a question. The top three pupils remaining would have their names written on the corner of the blackboard until the following week.
An outdoor above ground swimming pool was built with wooden changing rooms. I just remember it being very cold! Often for swimming lessons we would be bused to Harold Wood swimming pool. I never understood why we didn't go to Hornchurch.
My Mum was a cleaner at the school for a while with a German lady Hettie, whom I remember struggling to understand her accent!
Pupils names I remember included Paul Burt (best mate) who lived opposite the school. Glyn (Slim) Reed a year below, but lived around the corner from us in Waycross Road. He unfortunately died in his late 20's or early 30's. Paul McCartney, unfortunately killed by a car. John Lewis, Ricky Eyres, Julie Thoroughgood, Maureen Belscham, Debbie Whitney a neighbour a year or two younger and her older sister Glenda whom I had a crush upon! Stephen Knight, whom I don't recall from Engayne, but later on from Cooper's. There are many others that for the moment are just, in the words of Bob Mortimer, 'Fingerprints on a forgotten handrail!'
At 8 years of age I began working for a milkman for Unigate Dairies on a Saturday morning. We'd meet at 0800hrs for toast and tea in a cafe in Moor Lane, then work until 1600hrs. It was the longest round. I got 6 shillings (30 pence) for the day. Years later, when at Cooper's in St Mary's Lane, I took over the shortest round from a lad Roger Green in the year above me. I thought the dairy was in St Lawrence Road, Upminster, not behind Roomes Stores as was mentioned by someone else. I do recall the milk machine outside the newsagents and would buy a carton of chocolate milk.
We would often play over the Brickfields in Cranham and I remember an area in the woods that we knew as the 'bomb craters'. I imagine they were as there were several close together, with no other explanation.
A few of us used to go digging for bottles in an area in the woods that we knew as 'Glass Hill' off Stour Way or Fleet Close, due to the amount of broken bottles and plates. It had obviously been landfill at some point in the past. Those bottles and pots that I dug up went missing in a house move in the 1980's.
We'd sometimes cycle down to the gravel pits to play. An area that later became Lakeside Shopping Centre. We'd also cycle to North Weald park to play and on occasion, all the way to Southend!
I was hit by a car in Roseberry Gardens when I was almost nine. One of my friends went to tell my Mum and I remember her telling me that he said 'Paul's been hit by a car and he went right up in the air!' I recall lying in the road crying and reaching up for my Mum. Apparently, the driver had been testing his brakes and was driving very fast, which was the reason for my survival as any slower and I would have gone under it! Four breaks to both tibia and fibula. I was in Harold Wood hospital in the children's ward for weeks. I recall starting in a bed by the door and eventually moving right up the ward to the far end from the Nurses Station. Apparently, the closest to the door, were the most serious cases. As I became more mobile, I recall exploring with others the old air raid shelters next to each ward which still had beds and old blankets on them! In the hospital at the same time was a younger girl that had fallen out of a window in the flats in Macon Way and broken her femur. Lucky girl!
The 193 bus used to terminate opposite our house. The number 86 on Sundays. I do remember a young girl from school (Ines or Ina) being hit by the bus one day and being seriously injured. For the amount of vehicles on the roads at the time, that seems to be an inordinate number of injuries!
We'd also play over Upminster Fields, although I don't remember it having that name. The Tithe Barn was obviously there and in the process of a long renovation and rethatching.
We'd sometimes cycle up Moor Lane to Folkes Farm where there was a derelict farm and abattoir. We'd play in the old hay barns, sometimes going further towards Warley.
Around that time in the 1960's I remember seeing several old Servicemen from WW1. It was apparent from their injuries and I remember being told 'Don't stare!' by my Mum. Two in particular stand out. One of whom had a partial mask that covered his facial wound and another that used to fly along Hall Lane and other roads in a type of basket chair that had been converted to a sort of bicycle where the man used his hands to pedal. I hope they had been thanked for their service, but I doubt it.
Swan Libraries was a great shop. I do remember the record shop where you could listen to records in a booth but don't recall the name. I remember the 'Press button B' telephone boxes that we always used to check for change! We eventually had a telephone put in at home and it was a 'shared service' line that we shared with our neighbours, the Whitney's. Our number was Upminster 3104, changing to 23104 when STD came in. I later became a Telephone Engineer in the City of London, before joining Essex Police in 1987.
When I think of how far we used to travel as children just to play, it's quite amazing.

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