Wardy

Farnham: Am I correct in thinking you are Leslie? You were, I think in the RAF for a while. Your name is sign in name is Farnham; is that where you live? I don?t remember the victory calibrations, but I do remember Margaret Kemp and Bobby Slade. If you are Leslie you would visit your mum and dad on a Saturday afternoon; don?t know why I remember that. The one I remember most vividly is Brian, he was always in overalls and under an old car doing some sort of repairs. When he got married my dad helped him get a flat next door to where I lived in the old house where the Gas Pots lived. Fifty years married that?s a long time; I do hope your calibrations go well, remember me to everyone. Wardy.

Josie, I think all us kids who grew up in Rodwell have the same sense of humor. We all have funny stories to tell. I had forgotten about to Percy Halton. Many years ago I went back to Rodwell Rd and his house had a big hole in the roof; someone told me he put the hole there to let the pigeons in so they didn?t get cold. I remember the fire at Heber School very well, Have a look at the other thread ?Heber Primary School Memories? I put a story on there about the school and the fire. Crazy world isn?t it, I don?t suppose you mum and dad ever saw ?427 let alone every week. I think your story about Charlie and Sis is brilliant. We didn?t know at the time but thee people were real genuine characters, complete nutters but harmless to everyone, not like today. Thanks for sharing those memories.

Joyce everyone is still alive albeit some are just. Margaret lives in America, Fred lives in Norfolk and June live by the seaside. Iv been married for 38 years have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. As you can probably tell from this forum I wrote a book about my childhood and posted a chapter. Since then I have had endless e-mails from people I know and from people I don?t know who are interested in what life was like in the 50?s. Mike Welham, can you remember him? has been a big contributor. I remember that cream soda with fondness; we still have it occasionally at home with a big dollop of ice cream. We have all come a long way; just communicating like we are now would have been unbelievable to our parents, most of us didn?t even have a phone. Good to talk to you Joyce. Keep in touch Eric.

Josie, that?s me and I remember you all very well. It?s been over 40 years since our mums done that journey day after day in all weathers. As you can see there has been a lot of response to this thread; there is also another thread "Heber Primary School Memories" you will probably find that interesting to. I can still remember going out with Terry on the buses, we would buy a Red Rover and travel all over the place, sometimes we would get on you dads bus. I was trying to think of you neighbours name the other day, was it Cutler? I seem to remember old mother Cutler taking all the kids in the street out one day in the summer holidays. Do you remember the twins; they lived on the other side of the road, about number 18 I think. I now live in Norfolk and one of the twins lives just down the road, small world. Anyway good to hear from you keep in touch. Wardy

I sat outside the Heber arms many times as child in the 50's while mum and dad got p---ed on a Satuday night. They would buy me a lemonade and a bag of Smith Crisps and I would listen to the piano being played. Good old Days

Mike the Irish family, if we are talking about the same family, were definitely not called the Driscolls, the only Driscolls I know are in the TV series Shameless. The Irish family Hughes lived on you side of the road dead opposite the Robinsons playing field, wall that is. There was Donald, Nile, Kieran and Mary. They moved into the road when we were about 6, 7 or 8 years old. I remember Nile always had a runny nose. I don?t think it does any harm thinking about these things. I don?t live in the past but I do like to think about how things have changed and how much more we have today. Your right about people having phones. I think we were one of the first to have a phone in the street, dad got one because he started a building business. In those days you were put on a party line, you will know what that is. We had a phone for weeks before we got a call, mainly because nobody we knew had a phone so we had nobody to call us; dad would sometimes send me to the phone box to make a call home, just so he could make sure the bell on the phone still worked. Today my 6 year old grandson has his own mobile, a room full of electrical gadgets, including his own PC, TV ad I-Pod where will it stop. In our day we had a couple of marbles a catapult and pea shooter and that was about it, unless you lived up the posh end that is, then you probably had a bike and a clean collar on your shirt. Keep thinking Mick it does the old grey matter good and it?s a lot better then listening to the news on TV, that would send anyone barmy. Before I go do you remember the Houghton?s Terry, Brian, Josie, Maurine, Lesley, Jimmy, they lived on my side next to the corner shop.

All the best Mick keep in touch. Wardy

diwhy: Mick Over the years the old mind seems to forget a lot. I do know that the Hugh?s family didn?t go hop picking, not something a strong Irish catholic family done I don?t think. The hop pickers lived in the last house on your side of the street just before you come to the wall where my name is carved, it was the only double fronted house in the road; I remember one of the family was called Brian. I always remember Tony for one day when we were paying cricket. I told Tony I was going in for my tea. As I turned towards my house he hit me over the head with the cricket bat; don?t remember a lot more. The Gas Pots lived next door to me. They had two daughters, a lot older then us. One of them was in the Salvation Army. The other thing I remember about them was one was very tall and slim and the other was short and fat. Now when it comes to Mickey Staines, I know him and his name but I can?t place him. I think he lived in one of the airys. By the way where does that word ?Airy? come from? It seems we are the only people who refer to basements using that word. Do you remember the black guy who bought a house opposite me, I think it was Jean and Charlie?s old house, they had a daughter called Gillian,, he painted all the bricks pink and the pointing white; it looked a real treat. Another family I remember is the Abel?s. They lived on my side of the street a couple of doors away. There was Reggie Abel and his brother. Again they were a lot older than us and they lived with there mum and Dad; the house always stunk of cat food. Next door to them was a house which was divided into two flats. On the bottom floor lived Arthur Sullivan and on the top floor lived Mr and Mrs Kemp who had a daughter, probably 10 years older then us, Margaret. What happen to Lyn Green? I?m coming down in the summer; I want to take some pictures and have a walk round to jog my memory. Do those bloody pigeons still site on the roofs of the houses, I spent hours caching them with a piece of cotton. Mick it?s good to be in touch and I must say I like your sense of humour. Wardy

There as been some metion on this thread about the corner shop in Rodwell Road and two ladies that run the shop Hilder and Doll. These two ladies have a special memory in my heart and I would like to dedicate the folowing chater from my bok to them: I have mentioned several times the ?corner shop?. It?s probably hard for you to imagine, but when I was a child there were no hypermarkets, supermarkets or even mini-markets. Everything was bought from the corner shop. Some streets had one corner shop and some streets had two or three corner shops. In my street there was a corner grocers shop, just down the hill was another grocer, and up the hill were another grocer, a sweet shop and a cobbler?s shop (that?s a shoe-repair shop). The corner shop in my street was the hub of the community. It was here that families bought all the food for the week, listened to all the gossip and generally passed the time of day. One thing you never done in those days was pay for your goods at the time of purchase. People didn?t buy all the shopping at one go; they would buy food daily and the cost of that food was put on to what was called a ?bill?. At the end of the week, usually Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, you would go to the shop and settle your bill. Every Friday afternoon and Saturday morning all corner shops would be bustling with people paying their bills and buying shopping for the weekend. No one seemed to rush in those days; people would stand in the shop talking about all kinds of things. No one got angry at the wait to be served; in fact paying your bill was like a social event ? it was something to look forward to. Very often on a Friday, my mum would say to me, ?I?m going up the corner shop to pay the bill. Do you want to come?? Like a shot I would say ?Yes?. I loved the corner shop and I loved looking at all those people. The one thing I could never understand was that when mum settled her weekly bill she would then buy food for the weekend. Every time, Doll, the lady who owned the shop, would ask, ?Are you paying for this?? ?No,? mum would reply, ?put it on my bill,? and so the cycle would start all over again. The corner shop of yesterday would give today?s modern shopper a heart attack. Firstly you didn?t help yourself ? all the goods were behind the counter and you ask for what you wanted. Cheese didn?t come in packets, it was cut to order, and eggs weren?t packed in boxes of six, you bought them singularly. As an example you would by two ounces of cheese, which would be put into a small brown bag, and two eggs, which would probably accompany the cheese in the brown bag. As for biscuits, they didn?t come in packets ? packets were about, but you mainly bought biscuits loose from a tin. The thing about these biscuits, which would drive today?s hygiene-conscious society to oblivion, was the display area. They were displayed in their tins with the lids off outside the shop on the pavement. They would lay there exposed to nature?s elements, flies, spit from the coughs of passers-by, sneezes and the occasional cock of the leg from a roaming dog. I can still remember those biscuits; they never seemed to have a crunch or a snap; they were always soft and slightly damp. Having said that, they were the best biscuits I have ever tasted; Tesco could never match the taste in a million years, at least not without the help of a couple of Labradors.

GSJ47 I remember the Banks family and I seam to remember a boy called Banks, am I correct?

Mick, my wife tells me the same thing. I think you are both right and I will make some movement to see how to do this. You never know perhaps someone looking at this thread is a publisher. However if that fails I may put my stories on this thread, a chapter each week. You never know might get a following and be famouse in Dulwich. Anyway what about you, you have a lot of stories to tell and I can tell you have a similar sense of humour to me.

diwhy: This has brought back a lot of memories. Let?s start with the Dodds. The son you talk about was Tony and his surname was Shepherd. He lived upstairs to Violet and Linda Dodds. His dads name was Done and he had a brother, cant remember his name. The guy with the motorbikes I remember well; what was the name of the people who lived on the opposite side of the road to him, was it Herbert? I seem to remember there was a large family who all went Hop picking. Do you remember the Gas Pots, they lived next door to me at No 27, they never spoke to anyone. Say hello to Jennifer form me, she is a cousin of my brother in law. With all these sort of relatives in the same street it?s a wonder we didn?t finish up with 6 fingers. Do you remember humpty back Johnny he was married to flow and Sam, he lived opposite me and fell down the airy and was killed. Do you still live in the area? Did you finish up married? I did and finished up with 4 children; love them all. Keep on bloging, if that?s the right word, speak to you again. Wardy

Reg Smeeton: Keep watching this space and you may find out about the wardrobe and a lot more. Thanks for looking in. Wardy

Mick see Rodwell Road thread. No Dolly and Hilder were not mother and daughter, I think they were related in some way, dont know what way. Had some great fun there playing on the top floor of the house.

GSJ47: I can remember the name james, but I dont associat it with anyone of my age; I will need to have a think. I lived at No 25. Are the higher numbers you are talking about up the other end? You mentioned no 14; diwhy (see above) also mentions this house. Give me some more clues. If you are about my age 58/59 and you moved into Rodwell Road in 1962, I would know you, at that age you tried to get to know all the girls. Just had a thought, 41 was near to Crystal Palace Road, so you did live in my end. You must have lived close to a family called Scott. You must have also lived near the house which was in Crystal Palace Road but the garden ran along Rodwell Road on the corner, it had glass cemented in to the top. Am I getting close?

diwhy: I was I was driving home from Liverpool today and your face and your dads face popped into my mind. If I remember correctly your dad had thick grey hair and wore glasses. I remember him to be a nice placid man who I often had a chat with me, particularly as I got older. If I remember correctly your mum died when you were a young teenager. I can also remember you buying your first car and constructing your own designed exhaust system, I think it went off like a bomb and caught fire, the exhaust system that is not the car. I can also remember coming out of a butchers shop at the bottom of Lordship land. I heard a bang and the next thing I saw was you flying through the air like a trapezes artist; you had hit a car on your motorbike. You landed some 100 yards down the road. If I?m correct you only broke your finger. You asked me to go home and tell your dad. I remember all the people you are talking about, Sis always has a story to tell. I remember the twins, one of them Brenda, lives just down the road to me in Norfolk . There uncle Ernie lived in the airy bellow. I met him again shortly before he died some years ago. I really appreciate you giving me some names which I had forgotten over the years. Johnny Anderson I believe lives in Lincolnshire, he has some sort of freezer business. With regard to you football going through a window. I put my catapult through Jean and Charlie?s window, they had a daughter called Gillian. I didn?t own up but run away; that hole in their window stayed there for years. I can also remember at one time having an abundance of tame mice. Mum told me to get rid of them. I went across the road and put them in someone?s, not say whose, letterbox. When they got home from work they must have gone barmy; there were about 50 of them. Tell me; by my description above am I talking about the same Mick I knew all those years ago? Regards Wardy

diwhy; you are correct. The shop was run by hilder and Doll. They looked after me when my mum went to work. I have asked on the Rodwell Road thred if your name is Mickey Staines? Im on my way home from Liverpool at the moment, maybe I will find out later tonight when I get ack home.

diwhy; Been thinking, was your name Mickey Staines?

This blogg about Rodwell Road seems to be getting popular, perhaps we can start a cult following. I wrote a lot in my book about the characters who lived in Rodwell Road in the 50?s; I thought you may like to read about the following as a taster: Enjoy. A family whose peculiarity was not the result of war but more the result of birth was Charlie and Sis. This couple lived in an aerie (basement) on the corner of the block just over the road from where I lived. Charlie, as with Sis his wife, couldn?t read or write. Charlie worked for the railway; all railways in those days were owned by British Railways. Working for the railway was a good solid permanent job with free travel and a free uniform. I can remember Charlie?s uniform: it was black trousers, a waistcoat with a chain and whistle hanging from the pocket and a peaked cap; he wore that uniform every hour of every day. Charlie was a porter with the railway. His job was to fetch and carry a few bags, do some cleaning and generally make himself useful, but the real Charlie wasn?t a man who loved trains, but a man who loved rabbits and canaries; he loved them so much he had hundreds of the bloody things, and I mean hundreds. As a lad, Charlie would talk to me, or anyone for that matter, outside of his aerie. He would stand at the top of the steps, leading from the aerie, waiting for someone to pass so he could have a chat. If he found someone to chat to he would soon be accompanied by Sis. The two of them would keep their victim cornered for hours on end, talking about anything that didn?t make sense. On one occasion, I would have been about eight years old at the time, I was talking to Charlie and Sis and I expressed an interest in keeping rabbits. After gabbling on for some time about the different types of rabbits, Charlie done the unexpected and invited me in to see his collection of various breeds of rabbits. I say unexpected because I don?t know of anyone who was ever invited into his house; and what a treat this was going to be for me. My house was not the best in the street by a long way, but Charlie and Sis lived in conditions I had never seen or could even imagine. Every room had cages containing live rabbits. There were cages hanging from the walls, sitting on the table and placed on the floor; there were hundreds of rabbits, all types and all sizes. The house absolutely stunk of rabbit shit and piss ? it was so strong it made my eyes water. No wonder they were always outside, I thought. But that wasn?t it. All three of us went into their bedroom and to my surprise there were no rabbits, not one. Instead there were dozens and dozens of caged budgies, and the noise of all these birds chirping was out of this world; it?s probably why I?m deaf today. The thing I remember the most about the bedroom was a large hand-made budgie cage nailed to the bed head. It was made from bits of old timber and packing cases. I looked at the cage and thought, ?How can they sleep at night with all this noise and budgies above shitting on their heads all night?? But things weren?t to end there. We left the house and entered the garden. I say garden ? it was more like a huge rabbit warren. Rabbit cages were stacked as high as a man could reach on every square inch of ground. Now there were hundreds in the house, but out here there were thousands. I didn?t think there were that many rabbits in the word, let alone just across the road from where I lived. Before I finish with Charlie and Sis I would like to tell you about an amusing event. Charlie and Sis lived in the aerie for many years, alone and without children. One day I was passing and Charlie popped his head up. Knowing I was trapped, I engaged in conversation. Soon afterwards, as expected, Sis appeared and joined in the conversation. Imagine my surprise when another head appeared from the aerie. ?Who?s this lady?? I thought. All four of us stood talking for some time before Sis introduced the other person as their daughter Mary. This surprised me because they looked the same age. After a while I couldn?t hold back any longer and I asked Mary how old she was. ?I?m forty two,? she said, ?and my mum is forty.? Coming from anyone else this would have been a joke, but from these people it was a serious answer. Charlie, Sis and Mary were not your everyday people; they obviously had problems upstairs, but they kept themselves going with their interest in rabbits and birds, chatting at the top of the steps and generally keeping themselves amused. They never hurt or interfered with anyone, never had any involvement with social workers and earned their own money without relying on hand-outs; they were true characters and I will always remember them with fondness.

GSJ57; I remember Don's shop very well, I can remember when it was owned by Don. He was a good bloke who?s real job was a bus conductor, his wife run the shop. Unfortunately Don found an interest in another woman and they split up. Dons was never the same after that. In Dons you could buy a penny glass of lemonade. I can remember a new drink coming onto the market called ?Fling? it was cheap and us kids could afford to buy a bottle instead of a glass.

diwhy: If you lived at no 16 you must have lived in one of the houses with an airy (basement). In the book which I have written I mention the Hopalong Casidy watch, thats going back a long way. Tell me your surename, Im trying hard to remember you. Did you live near Lyn Green or Chalie and Sis, they lived on the corner and had all the rabbits. I remember Vanessa Watts, her dad was a postman, I can remember the Robinsons there sons name was Johnny or John. You must give me another clue to who you are, I?m racking my brains out trying to place you. Did you live in Rodwell Road and then move to Dog Kennel Hill. Are you the boy who had an accident when a wardrobe fell on you? If you are I can remember we had a fight and I got the better of you, told my mum, thinking she would be proud of me, but instead gave me a belting; we would only have been about 6years old.

diwhy; It sounds like me swapping roller skates, I always liked a deal. Do you remember me? Who are you? give me a clue, where did you live? macroban: I remember those girls, just.

GSJ57; Thanks for that, all these years and I had his name Wrong. If you and your perents lived there at that time I probably know you. If I remember correctly Cyrena Road was on a hill and there was a corner shop at what we called "down the Hill. I think there was also a small wall that entered Redwell Road and Cyrena that us kids would sit on.

Funny how things change. I can remember as a child being told to s?d off a play down my own end of the street. I lived in the end near Crystal Palace Road; the rough end. At the other end lived white collar workers who had shiny painted doors. Down my end the doors were painted once in a blue moon and there was always roaming dogs and people sat on the steps talking, it was the end where all the kids were allowed to play outside in the street, unlike the other end where the kids stayed in doors. Regards Wardy

Blimey macroban, I didn?t know I lived in a posh street. In those days we did have posh ends and rough ends; I lived in the rough end. The streets that were considered rough were Whatley Road and Silvester Road. Whatley Road had a good chip shop but that was it. I suppose things are a lot different today. Did you live near Rodwell road in the 50's/60'?