prefabgirl

Hi Old Gold, Great to hear from you! I moved away just after we took the 11+ exam and lost touch with everyone so I was so pleased to find this site. Valerie Fuller was my best friend but I remember Julie and Elaine and there was a Jacqueline. (You must have a better memory than me). And of the boys: Maxwell Gross, Patrick Helicar (?), John Wells and Charles Smith who was, apparently, a second cousin of mine. I lived abroad for 5 years when I was 19 and my M & D moved back to East Dulwich in the meantime so I did come back then and Charles Smith's dad was my driving instructor. A lot of my family lived round there but they've all gone or died now. The world's such a different place now, isn't it? I can't believe I'm an OAP either! We did get a decent education there although I never realised it at the time. Huge class numbers - I think it reached 52 at one point- and yet I was told that almost everyone passed the 11+.

That was about the time I left, but you've solved a puzzle for me! Lately I had a memory of a big wooden rocking horse, well-worn and with a red bridle, and I couldn't think where it was from. Certainly couldn't afford one at home and didn't have the space! So, thanks for that. Weird though. Mr Heester was the headmaster and was very keen on caning kids....

Trouble is, at 65, my memory is now like a sieve! Your name does sound familiar though. 287 Friern was Lordship Lane end, near Etherow Street. I loved living in a prefab! We had such a lovely big garden and a bomb site next door to play on. They were so convenient; warm and well-fitted out. Whenever it had been raining Dad used to put me up on the roof with a broom to sweep off the puddles before they seeped through. Valerie lived near the junction of Goodrich, not Landells. I was getting mixed up as that was where one of my aunts & uncles lived (Bill and Joyce Owen) and I seem to remember they lived in Friern Road before that. And I was in the Brownies at the Emmanuel Congregational Church in Barry Road. My great grandmother ('Big Nan' we called her)lived in Rodwell Road and died aged 95. Her surname was Bull. I'm sure I was in Miss Nicholson's class in the Infants. Just remembered that.

Hi again, Pamela. I see you lived in Friern Road. I lived there too, at the top in a prefab at number 287. Valerie lived further down near the junction with Landells Road and I used to knock for her on my way to school. We were also friends with Sally Webb but she left when her family moved away. Other girls in my class that I remember were Susan Dalton, Yvonne Voisier and Julie Fitzpatrick.

Lynda Lipman. I think you're name rings a bell. Valerie and I were also quite tiny (I'm still only 5' 2"!) I was born Dec 1949 but 2 of my cousins were born in 1951 and went to Heber: John Owen and John Bull. I'm so thrilled to have found the forum!

Just joined the forum. I now live in NW London but went to Heber Road School in about 1955 - 1961 (56 -62?)and lived in a prefab in Friern Road. My grandparents ran the laundry/dry cleaners in Crystal Palace Road and I spent the first year of my life in rooms behind Dee's, the grocer, opposite. All my aunts and uncles lived locally and most, plus my mum and my grandad had gone to Heber. I remember being terrified on my first day and, not knowing where the loos were, asked a boy of about my own age who, naturally, pointed to the boy's. They weren't very clean or sweet-smelling! I had Mrs Sanderson as form teacher who managed to get 50 of us in her class of 52 kids, successfully through the 11+. Very strict and very religious - I remember her saying she'd rescue her bible first in a fire and I'd thought "why not just buy a new one? - she smacked freely and I used to get a whack across the ear for having untidy handwriting. She went with us to Swanage in 1958(?). My best friend was Valerie Fuller, a gifted artist who made the tile picture of Hansel & Gretel that was hung in the assembly hall. Mr Heester was the headmaster who wore white plimsolls and was keen on the cane. I remember Mr Regan who I think taught maths and was notorious for throwing a blackboard eraser at anyone not quick enough to answer. The girls and the infants had their playground on the left, from Jennings, and the boy's on the right, next to the science block. Memories! In winter, a patch of ice would form next to the caretaker's house which everyone fought over as a makeshift, tiny ice rink! Hated the compulsory milk and still throw up if I drink any. I was one of those who had to have cod liver oil tablets; my health was never brilliant and we were quite poor, I suppose. I remember being one of the few girls who wore a gymslip, tied with the red belt of Rodwell House. I'll try and find some pics! I remember the fancy dress parties at Christmas and being dressed as a Christmas cracker and hardly able to walk in it! I also remember a production of 'Wind in the Willows' in which I was cast as a duck. And being bitterly disappointed as illness yet again prevented me from being in it. After school we used to spend our 3p a week pocket money in the sweatshop round the corner in Crystal Palace Rd, a few doors down from, Norton's, the hardware shop on the corner. Yvonne Norton was in my class. I was bullied quite a bit as I was quite a skinny, shy thing although I will always be grateful to Mrs Sanderson who never stopped believing in my (latent!) abilities.