To explain....
They say ( whoever they are ! ) the older you get the more nostalgic you become. A hankering for the past, the good old days when summers went on for ever and the winters froze you to the bone.
Were they really " good old days " ?
Well, I think they were and despite all of the modern things we have today life seemed better then, more relaxed, more simple. A time when children were allowed to be children for longer. A time of playing in the woods without fear of abduction, building camps, games of war when death just meant counting to ten and then getting up again and carrying on. Penny bags and Jubblys, a bag of stale rolls from the bakers at the bottom of the street for twopence, sixpence for a whole day at the swimming pool.
Well, I think I have just reached that age when nostalgia hits and I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the past, my childhood and the people I knew both family and friends. I needed somewhere to record all of this so this is why this blog exists.
I am nobody special just an ordinary person. I am not a celebrity or a film star just me and that is why I am writing this....for me and my children. Now, if by chance you enjoy reading any of my ramblings then its a bonus.
Birth...
I was born on 22nd March 1951 in the front bedroom of my maternal grandmothers house at 54 Royal Oak Road Woking, Surrey, England.
Its the house on the right below. The picture states that it is number 4 but that is an error, it should say 54.
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It was a Thursday and it was snowing ! I was a big baby, over 10 pounds and it was a long labour for my mother. I eventually emerged with sticky out ears and a large birthmark on the back of my left leg. Not much they could have done about the birthmark but I did have my ears taped back for several months. Don`t think it did much good though and I have always been more self conscious about those than this massive red mark on my leg ! As I got older I tended to grow my hair longer to cover them !
That's about it really as far as birth is concerned. My Parents were not living at my grandmothers at the time but just decided to have me there as the conditions were better than where they were living....Kettle Farm Cottage.
Kettle Farm Cottage...
Kettle Farm Cottage was in a district of Woking called Horsel and belonged to a nursery company called W. C. Slocock. My father worked as a nurseryman for this firm and my mother also at a later date. Much later I also joined the company.
Slococks was one of the major employers in Woking at the time and although the pay was very poor one of the main attractions was being lucky enough to be offered a tied house. The rent was a matter of a few old pence a week and despite being tied to the company many people chose this option to have a roof over their heads.
After I was born we returned to Horsel and the cottage where we lived for the next four and a half years.
The cottage was set back from the road with a large area of scrub land in front with large houses down each side.
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I suppose the scrub land was once grass but I can never remember it being cut and it always looked a bit scruffy. Kettle Farm Cottage sat at the bottom with large trees behind and then fields with horses also belonging to the nursery.
As you can see the cottage is no longer there but everything else is pretty much the same. The grass now seems to be better looked after.
In truth I can't remember too much about my time there which is not surprising really as I was very young.
It was a two up two down with an outside toilet. There was no bathroom just a big copper which was linked to an old kitchen range. We had to have it on all of the time for hot water but there were times in the summer when we let it go out.
The garden was very big and mum and dad grew vegetables in the garden and the one thing that sticks clearly in my mind is playing hide and seek in the rows of peas. Mum gave me a stick with a tin can on the top which I had to rattle to give them a clue where I was hiding.
Another thing that comes back to me easily is the day I got a metal funnel stuck on my head. I was pretending it was a hat but it became firmly stuck ! Dad finally got it off but it left me with a circular cut around the whole of my head.
Just across the scrub land on the main road were a couple of small shops, one of which was a newsagent and sweetshop and every Sunday morning dad would go across and get an ice cream or a lolly for me. I don't think he could really afford it but it was very much appreciated if I remember correctly.
And that's about it at Kettle Farm Cottage. As I said we stayed there until I was five and then were lucky enough to move to a bigger tied house at 7 The Rise, Elm Road, also in Woking. I think dad had had his name down for a couple of years for a bigger place and we moved with the help of a nursery lorry.
7 The Rise...
Just in case you ever visit Woking I will tell you roughly where The Rise is.
If you leave Woking town centre by the Goldsworth Road you will eventually come to a turning on your left called The Kingsway. Turn down here and after a hundred yards or so you will see what was once Goldsworth School on your right. This is where I spent my school years both infants and seniors. It is now Woking History Centre. Anyway, carry on down The Kingsway and after another couple of hundred yards or so you will see Elm Road on the left.
As you turn in to Elm Road there used to be a Wavy Line grocers shop on the right corner run by a Mr and Mrs Cox...more about them later. This shop is now a mortgage brokers.
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There were a couple of houses on the right as well and then just garden hedges for the rest of the way. On the left the footpath rose steeply, so much so that railings were erected to prevent people from falling on to the road. There were houses all the way up this side and this was called The Rise and we moved to number 7.
Nearly all of these 12 or so houses were owned by W. C. Slocock although one or two were privately rented. All of the occupants worked for the nursery and it was here I lived until I got married in 1970.
In the image below number 7 is the house on the left. The tree in the garden is a pear tree and there used to be an apple tree further up near the house. The apples were sweet but always had maggots in !
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If you carry on to the end of Elm Road where it turned into a wide rough stony track, another road turned directly right. This was Royal Oak Road and was where my nan and grandad lived at number 54 and of course where I was born.
The House...
Although much bigger than Kettle Farm Cottage it was still not in the best of condition. All of the lighting was gas and remained so for a couple of years after we moved in.
All of the houses were in groups of three with a shared back alley to access the rear gardens. We shared a front garden path with number 6 and there was an apple and pear tree in the front garden. I can remember that the pears were really nice but the apples always had maggots in them.
As you went in the front door there was a room on your left which we used as the front room. Directly in front were the stairs and off to the left again was the dinning room. We all spent most of our time in here. Further on down the passage and up a step was the kitchen, if you could call it that. It was very dark and very small and there was a door in the right corner leading to what must have been a pantry. The back door was on the left and this led out to a small path leading to the rest of the garden. The toilet was out the back attached to the rear of the house. The garden was quite small but at the bottom there was a steep slope leading up to massive open area of grassland that was put down to allotments. A line of huge oak trees ran along the top of the slope all the way along The Rise. The allotments became my playground and as they gradually became overgrown my enjoyment increased but more of that later. Dad had a couple of plots for a while and grew all sorts of things from vegetables, roses and wallflowers.
Upstairs there was a room on the right at the the top of the stairs and then another as you came back along the landing. Finally the main bedroom was at the end and stretched the width of the house. I had the middle bedroom until my sister came along and then moved to the back bedroom. After I moved out in 1970 the back bedroom was converted into a bathroom.
So, it was here that I spent most of my childhood and I can honestly say that despite all of the hardships that my parents must have gone through I can never remember a time that I was really unhappy. I wasnt too pleased about having my tonsils out or going to school but nearly all of my memories are happy ones.
Neighbours...
As I said before, most of the people who lived at The Rise worked for the nursery but as it happens the people at number 8 did not. Mrs Powels and her two daughters June and Pam were our direct neighbours on one side. Mrs Powels was one of the most kindly and generous people I have ever met and it was not long before I was referring to her as Nana Powels. I also called her daughters Auntie June and Auntie Pam.
Nana Powels was involved with the Cubs and Scouts along with Auntie June. I don't think Auntie Pam was.
One of the benefits of this was that they were always collecting stuff for jumble sales and the like and she always let me have first pickings of all the toys and books. I would go out of the backdoor and within minutes I would hear her call me over the fence. I knew I was about to be given something and I loved her to bits for it. She also made the meanest Coconut Ice you have ever tasted. I must have eaten tons of the stuff over the years !
Auntie June was just the same and I think that between them they managed to encourage me to love reading owing to the amount of books they gave me.
Auntie June remained a spinster all of her life but Pam met and married an inventor called John Fisher. When they married they both lived at number 8 and things started to get really interesting !
There was a large pre-fabricated shed in their garden and John used this for a workshop. I can remember going out in the garden after dark and looking across the garden and through the shed window. There would be flashing blue lights and sparks and once I saw a cartoon film he was working on being projected on to a screen. They were only stick figures but at the time it held me spellbound. He was constantly in this shed and one firework night ( November 5th ) we were all out in the garden with dad letting off fireworks when John emerged from his shed with a huge box. Inside were a dozen rockets that he had made himself. I can remember that they were plain black in colour and they were huge. I mean you could never buy anything in the shops that big. When lit they took off like missiles and thinking back I hope they never hit anyone when they came down !!
Johns hours spent in the shed were not to be in vain! Nana Powels called us over the fence one day and told us the John was going to be on the tv ! He had invented two items that were to be showcased on Tomorrows World, a programme that started in the early sixties that showed new technology of the time and new inventions.
John had invented an anti theft briefcase and a bowler hat that had a steel lining which would prevent you from being knocked out by an attacker.
The briefcase had four telescopic rods which would shoot out of the case once activated and would prevent the thief from getting into a car or going through a doorway. The bowler hat is petty much self explanatory. Armed with both of these devices it was suggested that going to the bank with the days takings would be a lot safer.
We all went round my nans in Royal Oak Road to watch the programme as she was the only one to have a tv at the time and I can still remember the show and when John came on it was amazing...to think, I knew someone who had been on tv.
I am not sure if he made lots of money from his inventions but they did move out of number 8 shortly after.
To be continued
