magp1e

I suppose the best time for me in ED was when I lived here as a kid in the early 50's. I remember playing football on Goose Green with my mates although my mum wouldn't let me play in the sandpit in the childrens playground as I might get fleas!!! and in those days it was always looked after by a lady 'caretaker'. Other areas for play and adventure were the bombsites especially the Kings Arms opposite the Rye which still had the air raid shelters on that corner opposite the open air swimming lido [is that still there?]. Goose Green had a concrete wall enclosing a large square area which, as I understood it, was a water storage area, a resource for the Fire Brigade during air raids. I remember going to school at, was it St John's?, in North Cross Road and later to Grove Vale junior school, in fact I'm still in touch with two of the boys I went there with thanks to Friends Reunited. What prompted me to recall these memories was a recent Bargain Hunt programme when two contestants bought, of all things, two crash helmets with the name Everoak on. This set me thinking about the factory in East Dulwich Road and, as a eight/nine year old, being fascinated by the bits of cork used in the linings of the helmets which could be found in their yard. I lived in Crystal Palace Road and would think nothing of walking up to Hornimans Museum with my mates or over to Bassano Street the other side of Lordship Lane to go to Cubs. Then of course there was always Dulwich Hamlet Football Ground, then in the Ishmian[?] League, and on one occasion waiting outside to get the autograph of [at the time] the famous Alf Bond the one-arm referee!!! And what about Freddie Mills the boxer often seen training in Ruskin Park who always had time to talk to the kids. Ayway enough for now, all this from seeing two helmets on Bargain Hunt!! Paul.