Fairlawn Park

[dave_j]

For anyone who might be ineterested.
My name is David Jackaman and I lived at 126 Fairlawn Park from about 1948 to about 1956.
126 Fairlawn Park was an Acom prefab, one of six erected presumably on a bomb site half way along the east side of the loop.
I believe a second group were erected on the west side of the loop.
The house backed onto the council yard separated by a wall topped with broken glass bottle, that as a small boy I took great delight in smashing.
Next door towards the road were a family surname De Dulin who emigrated to New Zealand where Keith became something of a celebrity I believe.
Next door to The De Dulins lived a Mrs North where Keith and I played monopoly until we argued and weren't allowed to play again.
Next door to both houses, in a surviving brick house lived the Chapman Family, boys David and John.
Further down the road down a corner entrance was Searle's Garage.
It had an entrance off Fairlawn Park and backed onto Home Park and yielded a shortcut to school, Haseltine, for a lazy youngster until he got caught.
I remember one year Searle bought an enormous US saloon, probably ex army.
At the top of the loop was the entrance to the allotments and my father had a plot there that he had to give up when the prefabs were demolished and we moved to Lewisham.
The prefab was cold in winter but wonder of wonders it had a refrigerator, a back boiler giving hot water, an inside loo and bathroom, two bedrooms, an ouside coal bunker and fitted kitchen and a small garden.
My father worked as a machine attendant in the gas works at Bell Green and mum took in work as a home machinist.
Although not wealthy I believe he bought one of the very first TVs in the street to watch the coronation in 1953, and although not clear I do have some recollection of the street party held for it.
the bomb sites at the end of the road where it met Sydenham Road were playgrounds for small kids and the buses that parked there were were also play areas where we collected used bus tickets.
The conductors always left their unused tickets on the bus but although we might have made a mess emptying the used ticket bin we never touched anything not thrown away.
The loop made a purpose built race track for kids on bikes and with very little traffic the road was ours to use as we wished.
We'd play cricket using a wicket chalked on someone's house and bowl across the road and I don't ever remember being shouted at by residents.
A little down the road lived My Wilson who ran a general store in Sydenham Road and drove a Morris Commercial van.
I went to Haseltine Primary where a Miss Farmer was headmistress and other teachers were a Miss Smith, a talented artist named Mr Sessions and a Mr Perry.
It had a reputation for being a rough school but it didn't do me any harm and passing the 11+ I went onto Brockley County Grammar in Ladywell.
Teachers in those days, presumably from being in the forces etc, developed a number of skills, I remember one year we were taught how to make microphones from wood, used batteries and tin foil, and at one open day we constructed a simple morse keys and a spark transmitter to send signals.
I believe that the plot occupied by our prefab is now a through road.
I have to say that dad did well when tramlines were lifted because the tarred blocks of wood that the rails were set in ended up in the council yard to be sold off and quite a few ended up over our wall and they would have burned well.
Happy times, not to be seen again I fear.

[Jollylolly]

I enjoyed reading this thank you

[dave_j]

I enjoyed reading this thank you

No problem, and it's only re-reading that mistakes spring to mind.
The man who owned the grocery shop in Sydenham Road was named Morris and not Wilson, the Wilsons lived in one of the six prefabs on our plot.
One prefab next to ours was lived in by an irish family, O'Malley or similar.
As a young boy, say 6-9, I was allowed to roam all over Sydenham and at the age of 8 I rode my bike to Catford to visit a grandmother, such was the freedom we had and this was normal and traffic, well not so much about then.
On warmer days in Summer we'd think nothing of walking to the swimming baths at Forest Hill and surprisingly we'd roam around the Horniman Museum because it was free.
And surprisingly, although I've never taken it up myself, I did spend hours watching the bowls at Mayow Park, for some reason it fascinated me.
I've read a number of posts from those with excellent memories but mine has always been poor and only snippets remain here and there.
Saturday mornings were occupied with Saturday Morning Pictures at the cinema up Sydenham Road, was it the Gaumont?, costing a 6d and as I recall to be followed up with a 3d bag of chips bought from the chippie at Cobbs Corner.
And of course there were even better bomb sites along Southend Lane.
These were more extensive and therefore more adventurous.
I like to compare this freedom with the straight jackets that my grandchildren live in, and this in Canada in a small town where I now live, but of course we had no ipads, computers or mobile phones to occupy our time, it was necessary to make our own amusement.
It was a time when you made things.
If you had a pair of wheels, typically found on a bomb site or scavenged from a derelict pram you searched for someone else who also had a pair of wheels
Two pairs of wheels, a couple of planks of wood, a bolt and a piece of string would make a stearable trolley and as anyone who knows Fairlawn Park will tell you, it slopes.
It's a wonder we survived, although I did collide with a lamp post on a three wheeler breaking a collar bone, a lesson learned.
But we could be destructive if let off the leash.
When the prefabs near Haseltine school, probably in Portcawe Road, were demolished, they became play areas for kids at lunch hour and after school and I have to admit that we didn't treat them well and we tore the places apart before being severely told off, we did make a lot of mess of one piano we found in one.
And remember the scrap yard near there?
Once again a place to rummage around and thinking back there was a coach/lorry park/business at the corner of Bell Green opposite a toy shop, a treasure to gaze at for a boy.
Yes, thinking back post war Sydenham held few restrictions or fears for kids of my young age.

[Jim Donovan]

Reading the post on Fairlawn I have an old photo of the Victory Party held in Britannic House, back of Kent House Lane. In fact my mum cleaned in Britannic house (BP) and took me to work one morning. She was not allowed to clean the Billiard Room as only the manager of that room would be allowed to work in the vicinity of the table. Britannic house was something else with the building being surrounded by a fantastic sports field.

I also have a pictures of a Xmas kids party in Livesey Hall for the children of the gas workers, Dad worked there for a while,similarly his father and grandfather. Anyone having any snippets from this area? Specially any information on Rose Cottages Southend lane?

Then there was the Pigeon club held in the Dolphin on Sydenham Road, south road club I believe, It was here that I got my first pint of Ale, I was only 14 but the club met in the back room so dad gave me a pint and told me if he say me leave a drop or ever dring from a half pint he would wallop me for bringing shame on him. Not stopped drinking since although it tasted so bitter I nearly swapped t a brown ale, but I knew this would not be welcomed by dad. Still have a certificated for coming 5th in a Alencen France race.

[dave_j]

I also have a pictures of a Xmas kids party in Livesey Hall for the children of the gas workers, Dad worked there for a while,similarly his father and grandfather. Anyone having any snippets from this area?

Any idea when the image of the kid's party at Livesey Hall was taken?
I went to quite a few as did my cousin whose father also worked there probably from about 1951 to 1956.
As I recall all kids received a gift at the end of the evening based on age and probably gender, I remember always wishing I was older or younger when the gifts were handed out, but that's how it was.
Where were the Rose Cottages you mention?
If they were just around the corner from Bell Green along Southend Lane on the left as you left Bell Green, then I remember my parents knew a couple name of Seager who lived in one.

[Jim Donovan]

The Livesey Hall photo I am not sure of the year but my father worked in the gas house retorts around 1950, he left, after a bad blow back from the furnace, around 1951. Rose cottages were located on a plot of land where they built Blanchards Sheet metal works adjacent to the Bell Car Park. I presume they were pulled down some time in the late forties.

The Gaumont cinema and Saturday morning pictures, I belonged to their kids club, is still a vivid memory.

There was a chip shop opposite the Golden Lion, there is a error in my previous post as the Pigeon Club was held in the Golden Lion, which I used in my teenage years as it was alongside the bus stop. The Criterion Ice Cream Parlour being adjacent to the Golden Lion. I will try and dig out the photos and post them. I have lived in Norway for the past 32 years but return often to visit my brother who still live in the same house near Southend Lane, he keeps the old info.

[dave_j]

The Livesey Hall photo I am not sure of the year but my father worked in the gas house retorts around 1950, he left, after a bad blow back from the furnace, around 1951.

Highly likely that both our fathers knew one another by sight if not more formally, he was a machine attendant or greaser, and re/joined the gas company after the war and quite often mentioned the 'Retort House' although I hadn't a clue what he was talking about at that age.
So it was after the war that, presumably putting names on the council housing list, that my parents were offered the prefab at 126 Fairlawn Park.
I was told that it wasn't new and in something of a state when they moved in but for a couple living in a relative's house, a detached bijoux residence not far from work was just the thing, and with a daughter having long term care in the Children's Hospital down the road would have been more than convenient.
It's been a while, but The Dolphin became my local but I've not been back for 40+ years or so.

[rabird29]

Hello Dave,

I enjoyed reading your reminiscences of Fairlawn Park. You would have been neighbours with some of my family. My Mum’s parents divorced when she was a child and she was raised by by her court appointed guardians, Jim and Amy Riley (my Mum’s grand aunt and uncle). Jim and Amy lived at the original number 128 Fairlawn Park before it was bombed in the war. Fortunately they were in the Anderson shelter at the bottom of the garden when the bomb fell and none of the family were hurt. My Mum slept through the air raid, but did remember being led through the ruined house by an air raid warden. They were able to rent number 83, just opposite to number 128, because the original tenants had moved to the west country to escape the air raids. My Mum (Patricia Meacham) also went Haseltine school and she remembered it as a good school. My Mum (and my Dad after she married) lived at 83 Fairlawn park until 1953 when I was born at that address. We moved shortly thereafter to Bovil road in SE23, but that didn’t work out for too long and we moved back to Fairlawn Park in 1957. Jim and Amy let us use the upstairs of number 83.

I was too young to have any memories from our first stay at Fairlawn park, but post 1957 I do remember seeing the pre-fabs. I think there was also still something remaining of the bomb site then because I remember playing on it. I sometimes played with my cousin Roger (grandson of Jim and Amy). Their family also lived on Fairlawn park. Sorry I don’t remember the number, but it was on the same side of the street as you, but further down the road. I remember going for haircuts at a barbers near the horse trough and also remember that I was allowed to go to the local parks by myself. I attended St Michaels school on Champion Road. My Dad worked as a park keeper at Crystal Palace. We moved to Brighton in 1961.

[dave_j]

Hi Rabird.
Yes we must have just passed other by a few months or so.
We'd have left, well told to leave really as there wasn't anything wrong with the prefab itself, some time around 1957.
The prefabs would of course have occupied the site of 128.
Fairlawn Park seems to have been bombed more than it's size warranted.
My mother also told me of hair raising rushes to her Anderson Shelter, on one occasion throwing my baby sister into the shelter just as a nearby bomb fell.
I had very little to do with anyone in the street other than kids.
We used to congregate at the lower end of the loop where Fairlawn Park splits into two.
Life was free and easy then with my mother simply telling me to 'go out and play' and that's what we did, roaming around Sydenham and going home for dinner etc.
Some difference to the life I see today with restrictions everywhere.
You will have played in the bomb site next to St Philips Primary, the one on the other side of the road will have had the maisonettes built when you arrived.
I think every small town should have bomb sites for the kids to lose themselves in.
Here in Canada almost all parks have purpose built gizmos for kids to play and exercise on and they do, but somehow the excitement gets lost.
But what do I know, everything becomes is viewed through rose coloured glasses when you remember the lithe little tyke you used to be.
Happy days.

[Jim Donovan]

Really enjoyed the summary from Rabird as we managed to get a Council House on Bellingham, by default really. My Dad worked before the war for Wells Fireworks (Joseph Wells) and was transferred to Dartford from Honor Oak. During the war, 1941, my Parents were bombed out in Garthorne Road Forest Hill, mum was under the stairs so they were able to dig her out. The following few days were fraught as the went from place to place to get shelter, people we fantastic and thet were helped out by all. Dad was taken back and forwards to Wells explosives factory, no fireworks just all kinds of flares, where he was on deferred occupational work. The lorry driver, Arthur Holden, told Dad about an empty council house at 38 Moremead Road and he moved in that evening. The rules were such that empty houses were up for grass. My family had lived in 9 Portcawe Road in1880 to 1921 and then to Ewart Road, which was also bombed out. Being Catholic we had a choice of St Phillips Sydenham or St Augustine in Beckenham hill. But most of my contemporaries in the end of the forties were in Hasletine Road. Mickey Wharford, Gladies Sturgen etc. Smashing times.

[Jim Donovan]

Charlie Wilson run the scrapyard and it was like a Maze. We pillaged all kinds of scrap and sold it to him. If mum was broke she would bundle up old wollens and we would take them to Charlie's. The toy shop was Toyland, not very original but descriprive, and it opened on Sunday where mum would get her cigarettes. Not sure how I attach files but found a newspaper cutting from 1885 where my dads uncle who lived in Portcawe Road was find 10/6 for prize fighting behind a Beckenham church. All the spectators were provided with stone jars of ale with their entrance fee.

[dave_j]

I remember the scrapyard, and now that you've reminded me the name of Wilson rings a bell.
Like your mother, mine would sell woollens there and dad, who did plumbing on the side, collected brass, lead and copper and offloaded that there.
Toyland, now that does bring back memories , but like Wilson's I'd forgotten the name, because I'd spend time gazing in at the window waiting for the 108 bus to take me to Lewisham after we'd moved but I was still going to Haseltine.
They had a train track in the window that operated if you put a penny in the slot to the side of the window, but it never tempted me to 'lose' a penny that way, pennies were hard to come by.