Pre-War Childhood Memories

When I was very young we lived near Camden Town. We actually lived in a street called York Way which started at a place called The Brecknock, a small collection of shops. Further down the road was a very big school called Brecknock School (which I attended). The road went from The Brecknock to St Pancras station, we lived further down the road from the school.

Right opposite us was an unsightly block of flats called, if I remember correctly, Camden Dwellings. It was a most unimpressive place: very dark walls, small windows, about four floors high with a flat roof. I do plainly remember arched openings onto the staircases (stone stairs). Further down the road was a railway yard where the cattle arrived in closed railway trucks and were disembarked and driven up York Way to the Caledonian Slaughterhouse – Caledonian Market was at the back of York Way.

One day there was a terrible noise, and confusion became the order of the day. We children were all hustled indoors where we all watched from our front windows. A bullock had escaped and had run up the staircase of Camden Dwellings and onto the flat roof. They couldn’t get it back down the stairs, and it was running around bellowing and causing havoc. In the end it was decided to get a marksman in to do the job. He finally arrived and shot the bullock down.

Market day at the Caledonian Market was always very exciting, we would go to the market to try to earn a few pence. There were always very colourful characters to be seen. The Banana King always provided us with great entertainment, throwing us bananas and the odd halfpenny. We would all enjoy the friendly scramble for the throwouts. Then there was Prince Manoloulou, a very colourful character. He always chanted "I’ve got a horse, I’ve got a horse". Yes, he was a bookie.

There was also a homemade sweetie stall where for a halfpenny you could get a whole bag of sweets (broken or misformed, but they tasted the same as the dearer ones). The biscuit stall and the fruit stall were always favourite places, where, often by getting the stall holder a jug of water, this would reward you with a freebie.

As kids we would go round collecting empty wooden baskets, attach a string to our waist and go home pulling a few boxes behind us. Once we got home we would chop up the wood and make it into bundles, and then sell it house to house (everyone had coal fires in those days). For three bundles for a penny we used to feel like Rockefeller (millionaires, now) if we earned threepence each.

Xmas was always a very special day. Not for presents: usually we had a sock each with an orange, a piece of coal, a penny, a lollipop and a Xmas cracker. We always had a family game between us. What made Xmas special to us children was that Father Xmas usually came round on his sleigh, ringing a large bell. Carol singers would tour the streets singing wonderful carols, and we always had a very special dinner with homemade Xmas pudding with a shiny sixpence inside. We would all explore our pudding to see who the lucky person would be. A great cheer would sound when the sixpence was discovered. Such riches certainly made you King or Queen for the day.

May Day! In those days we were all very proud of our country and Royal family. May Day was always a great celebration. We always did maypole dancing and had a procession of a May Queen and attendants. It was a very great honour to be chosen to be the May Queen. One year I was chosen. I felt really wonderful. Imagine my disappointment when, after a visit to the Great Ormond Street hospital (I had recently had my tonsils removed and never seemed to recover fully) they told my Mother I had a suspected TB gland in my neck, and I would have to be immobilised for six months hence. I went home from my visit to hospital in a body splint, which completely immobilised my upper body movements.

It also put paid to my being the May Queen. I was unable to attend the parade, but I did go to the school service, a religious thanksgiving for all the good things in life. We always finished with "I vow to thee, my Country". I still remember the words and the tune.