Stratford, E15 1936 1940

A Memory of West Ham.

I was born in Queen Mary's Hospital in 1936. My parents lived in Glenavon Road. My sister was 3 years older than me and attended primary school in Water Lane in 1938/9/40. I can remember going shopping in Boardman's with my mother and playing out in the road with lots of other children. I was arrested one day and taken to Stratford Police Station for pedalling my car up the Romford Road towards the Broadway. (i was supposed to stay in Glenavon Road but must have felt like exploring). I was three at the time and can remember sitting on a stool drinking a cup of tea when Mum fetched me. After the war started I can recall a German being shot down and coming down on a parachute. Dad said he landed over towards Goodmayes and was taken to the police station at Chadwell Heath.. When the blitz started in 1940 we had to go in our Anderson shelter every night. I wore a siren suit made by Mum. At the beginning of December a high explosive bomb fell on a house 6 or 7 doors up the road and a lot of the ceilings in our house fell down. My parents managed to get a council house in Chadwell Heath which was much quieter! I am still in touch with a lady who is 15 years older than me and lived further up the same road. Her family was also relocated to Chadwell Heath when the same bomb damaged their house.

---

---