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Between the ages of 4 and 8 I lived in Spencer Street with my Mum, Dad and brother. My father (ex RM Printer) had a job as a Linotype & Monotype operator with Gibbs & Bamforth just up the road; we were from the Westcountry but many jobs were at a premium as the older readers will remember.
That particular period of my life is filled with so many memories, both good and bad but mainly the former, and I am reminiscent of some very specific events that most definitely date the era! The following is really a hotch-potch of reminiscences, so apologies if they don’t flow as well as they might. If anybody can answer any of the grey areas raised I’d be delighted to hear from you.
In Fishpool Street, for example, I can clearly recall the maggot-infested carcass of a horse on waste ground next to a food(?) shop. It was certainly there over a period of two days.
Both my brother and I went to Spicer Street School and between us we were hit on the head three times with the large metal bar that 'held' the gates open.
We were out for a walk one Sunday by the Abbey (near where the ice-cream van used to stop near Romeland Hill - oh those wafers with raspberry sauce were heaven), in our Sunday-best, when another boy of my brother’s age picked a fight with him: my father allowed it to continue whilst making sure that the Queensbury Rules were observed - perhaps poetic licence there but he thought it a good experience for both combatants. I can't recall who won; nor can I recall what my mother thought about it later!
I have vivid recollections of negotiating a rope-walk through some trees/bushes in or near Hatfield Road. The day had a carnival atmosphere so it was associated with either a fête (a common occurrence of the time) or the local celebrations of the Festival of Britain in the summer of 1951. Can anyone recall the Marlborough Buildings being used in such a way?
There was a children’s play area that included a large me(n)tal ![Smile [:)]](/cs/emoticons/emotion-1.gif) rocking horse: no doubt ‘Health & Safety’ has superseded good old-fashioned parental monitoring and the equipment has long-since been consigned to the scrap-heap. I always had a feeling that the area was either in the Abbey grounds or in Verulam Park but musing over it 55 years on I guess it must have been in Clarence Park. Can anybody remember it?
Central to our family life at weekends were regular family walks. I recall the yellow clumps of gorse/broom along the banks of Verulam Road, the blue carpet of forget-me-nots(?) at Clarence Park near the cricket strip, the sausage-making machine on display in a window in the general area of Fishpool Lake / Abbey Mill / Verulamhills Farm. I particularly recall the machine for I came across another one very close to our next house, at Exeter, in 1952 – home from home almost. If anybody can throw any light on its actual location I would be very pleased to know.
Self-sufficiency was the name of the game during the war and it was still very much in evidence at this time. So much so that next door’s chicken coup was the subject of a boundary dispute, which my father eventually won. Our back garden subsequently became a flower-bed and play area so my father tried his hand (patience more like!) with an allotment, which was somewhere off the bottom end of Spencer Street. I don’t recall it ever being very productive - whether it was a seasoned allotment or piece of waste ground and/or my father was a useless gardener I’ve no idea.
Turning left at the top end of Spencer Street one of the first shops was MacFisheries. I’ve no idea whether cod was readily available then or what the relative prices were but we generally had whiting: it’s amazing to think that there was one of these shops in most high streets in the country.
On the other side of the road was a recreation area of sorts. I seem to remember there being a bowling green but I could be wrong on that – there was certainly some floral arrangements and seating. Researching recently I established that a ‘Thorne House’ existed here in the past (indeed, requisitioned by the Army during the war, I think) – could what I remember have been a revamp of its gardens?
Rationing was still in force but whilst sugar wasn’t officially de-rationed until 1953 I presume that restrictions gradually eased as a matter of course and more sweet things were available in shops. I well remember being given a pink iced finger-roll, bought from a baker near Chequers(?); I didn’t go too much on the roll part but certainly liked the topping. Such simple pleasures! This, of course, was still an epoch in which Father Xmas delivered a pillow-case of presents such as an orange, a walnut, bag of chocolate money – oh, and maybe a book and a board game. And yes, I saw Father Xmas and his sleigh climbing away in the sky, ‘cos my big bruvver showed me.
Cross Street reminds me of two incidents. There had been a heavy fall of snow and we were returning home from a walk to see large clumps slide of the roof of our house when either my brother or myself nearly got run over by a car. Another time we were witness to a blazing fish and chip shop which, if my memory is correct, was opposite some derelict buildings next to the printing works.
As I type, more things spring to mind! However, if I don’t stop now I may never get this posted, so I’ll close with a question:- Whatever happened to Vera(?) Gould or Davis, who lived in Spencer Street as well, just below the printing works? Our parents were good friends.
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