Great Memories
A Memory of Woodford Bridge.
I was at Angus house garden city woodford Essex. in the 60s I used love going on holidays to yarmouth we used put our mattresses in the back of a van and go to the church hall it was great every day uncle that was mr and mrs Collins used to give pocket money to do what we like with I went straight to the joke shop. Other memories go kart racing down the hill .boxing and playing football. Love the swimming the water was like a bath it was that warm.but the worst thing was haircut day I used to run in the toilet and say I am not coming out I think the barber name was mr runslip he used to scare the shit out of me.i was a very naughty boy and often had to go bed early .I was upset to hear the place had been demolished i did want to show my kids but now it is a memory.
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Dad’s entire education at BGC was at the Tin School, He maintained that, unlike his best friend Cecil Silk (Saturday Cottage), he was not clever enough to graduate to the “outside” school in Snakes Lane. He talked about the John Capel Hanbury Hospital in the grounds of BGC and Claybury Asylum, the grounds of which abutted BGC. Apparently the BGC boys were known as Banana Boys by the Claybury patients.
Days began at 5:30 ish with ablutions followed by house cleaning with Ronuk polish and school. If anyone was ill they were given a dose of “Jollop” by matron. On Sunday evenings there was a Magic Lantern Show and each boy had an orange and a piece of fruit cake at Christmas. Dad and Cecil used to stand at the bakery door and shout “Have you got any broken biscuits? When the answer was “Yes” they would reply “Well mend them then” and scarper! When they were a bit older, they would visit the local cinema in George Lane where apparently, one could gain free admission by climbing in through the toilet window! They would deliberately suck oranges very loudly throughout the film until they were thrown out by the cinema manager.
In the 1960s we would go as a family every year to the annual BGC Old Boys reunion. Our coach from Ipswich was organised by Dad’s former After Care Officer, Alan Watts and this was the highlight of my year. I loved the slide on the playing field (it was by far the tallest I had ever seen) and Dad taught me to swim in the wonderful indoor pool. The teas in Canada Hall were sumptuous and the evening was rounded off by dancing to a live band with everyone doing the Conga around the BGC grounds. I never met my paternal grandparents but I always felt that my one day a year at BGC was a great substitute. Despite one particularly difficult and testing time, Dad was always very happy at BGC and felt privileged to have been part of the great Barnardo family.