computedshorty

I worked putting up these for Greenaway and Son of Lordship Lane, two are still there. They were both sides of Lordship Lane between Heber and Goodrich roads, there must have been about fifty in Friern Road and Etherow Street, and the corner of Cheltenham Road and Stuart Road Peckham Rye.

Lee . I think that you have a lot to learn about the residents of E.Dulwich, if you had lived here and seen the progress over many years you would have seen the changes for the better. It takes many years of living with what is placed there to know if there is an alternative, so what grounds to put your thoughts forward may I ask if you have some special background in this field? Most think that the people here have been quite capable of making OUR Home Town. Give a little thought to your area there are things that could be better, had you thought that some of the Planning Officers do live in Dulwich and I myself was once one of those, so I can see both sides, and certainly approve anything good for where I live. I had noticed that you had a message removed, and wondered why, dont you really know? You have a tendency to reply to all who put forward a reply, it might be less embarrassing for you to not reply so quickly. Take it easy just sit back and play a little tune on your Saxaphone and forget about the Outback.

I got up at half past five this morning, once awake I cant go back to sleep, so I got dressed I noticed that I had a small hole in my left sock, this is quite normal as I have a deformed large toe nail it got run over by a wheelchair with an enormous man sitting in it, so a pair of socks last just a few days. Just a little tidying and washing up, my left toe started to hurt like hell, removing my shoe I noticed that I now had a strangled half inch of purple toe peeping through my sock, not having a pair of socks of the same colour I had to attempt to darn it. I found some blue wool and a darning needle but to get the wool through the eye I just could not get it to got through, My hands shake a bit so I got the magnifying glass but could not hold that as well as the wool and needle, I put the handle of the magnifying glass in the milk bottle, then it was too high so I put the jam jar on top of the upturned mug and the last end of the loaf on top then pushed the needle into it, now the wool lined up with the needle and I could see it through the magnifying glass, I wet it and made a point but after a time I gave up. I solved it by pinching the hole in the sock together and winding the wool three times around it and tied a knot, it looked like a bun that you see on women?s hair, I put the sock on but it was very uncomfortable with the lump in my shoe. I have arthritis and to bring my foot up high enough is almost impossible for me to try to cut my toenails, as my deformed toenail is so thick the pair of lever snips open just enough to get the nail in, but I don't have the pressure to close the levers together they twist and lose contact or I get a severe cramp in my groin and have to free my leg and stand up. I gave up. I had an idea a while back I got a free gift of a battery operated set of miniature grinding wheels, I selected the smallest wheel and started to grind the nail it did not hurt but the sound sort of travelled up to my head, cautiously I ground the nail back it did smell peculiar, and burnt my toe once or twice, at least that?s off for a while, I have stuck an elastoplaste on the end of my toe. Breakfast now I take the needle out of the bread, cut two slices for toasting not too good at cutting the last bits from the end of the loaf a bit wider one side, put them in the toaster no 9, put two eggs in the boiling water only three minutes as I want soldiers of toast to dip in my eggs, what a noise the fire alarm is going like mad, the toast had got jammed and is burning a lot of smoke, open the back door open the window, turn off the electric, the smoke its clearing now, the eggs have been on boil for half an hour, put them under the water tap to cool down, wonder if they are hard? I should have test tapped it on the middle of the plate, To break the shell and take it off. But did it on the side, why is it that when a plate breaks it always goes in two parts? Not been in the garden yet the birds are waiting for their seed, I have one of those Apostle Tea Spoons I have tied a bit of that wool round his neck and forced it through the egg and left some wool to hang it on the apple tree, I have broken up the toast into bits and put it out for the birds hung the two eggs on the tree, the Green Tits are swinging on the wool it looks like when we used to play conkers at school. My tea has got cold and I have no sugar, been using jam for two days just to sweeten it a bit, the milk has got something in the bottle looks like toe nails. I have got another jar of jam but I cant get the lid off, I?m waiting for it to be out of date then I can throw it away. I heard the postman just now, no post just a note We were unable to deliver your parcel it has been returned to the Post Office please call to collect it in the next week or it will be returned to sender. Anyone going up the Post office could you pick up my parcel? Its only Ink. I?d go myself but when I went in garden in the rain to hang up the eggs the black smoke that got on my face became all streaky, I will have to have a bath but with my luck today will probably drown myself. I have been thinking how to construct a floating Zimmer for the bath but it wont work the legs get entangled and wind up being uppermost and very painful if sitting down without looking behind.

It might not be the tea perhaps its the size of the holes in the bag, poke a few extra holes in the bags.

If you still have the car maintenance manual there is a section on fitting a radio in index near the back.

I get that a lot its when my cat who sleeps on my bed wakes up and starts scratching. Dont worry till you wake up when the rain starts.

I see the moon The moon sees me Under the shade of the old oak tree Please let the light that shines on me Shine on the one I love. Over the mountains Over the sea Back where my heart is longing to be Please let the light that shines on me Shine on the one I love.

Even the Undertakers dont call there now. Come to think of it did they ever stop there in the evening?

Here is the list of Public Toilets. In Southwark. It could be helpful to print out and carry in your bag when going to less known places. Camberwell ?Camberwell Green automatic toilet, Camberwell Green, 24 hour ?Harris Street NHO, Harris Street, SE5 7RX, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Town Hall, Peckham Road SE5 8UB, Monday to Friday, 9am to 10pm Dulwich ?Crown House NHO, 41-43 East Dulwich Road, SE22 9BY, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Dulwich Library, 368 Lordship Lane, SE22 8NB, Monday, Thursday and Friday 9am to 8pm; Tuesday 10am to 8pm; Saturday 9am to 5pm; Sunday 12pm to 4pm (toilets are usually locked but ask for the key at the desk) ?Kingswood Library, Kingswood House, Seeley Drive, SE21 8QR, Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm ?Dulwich Park Rangers Officer, Dulwich Park, College Gate Road, SE21 7BQ, Every day, dawn to dusk ?Rear of pavillion cafe, Dulwich Park, College Gate Road, SE21 7BQ, Every day, dawn to dusk ?Cycle hire block, Dulwich Park, College Gate Road, SE21 7BQ, Every day, dawn to dusk Nunhead and Peckham Rye ?Atwell Road automatic toilet, Atwell Road, SE15, 24 hour ?Parkside NHO, 25-27 Bournemouth Road, SE15 4UJ, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Nunhead Library, Gordon Road, SE15 3RW, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 10am to 7pm; Friday 10am to 6pm; Saturday 10am to 5pm ?Peckham Rye Park Ranger's Office, Strakers Road, SE15, Every day, dawn to dusk Peckham ?Peckham Library, 122 Peckham Hill Street, SE15 5JR, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am to 8pm; Wednesday 10am to 8pm; Saturday 10am to 5pm; Sunday 12pm to 4pm ?Peckham Pulse, 10 Melon Road, Peckham, SE15 5QN, Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm; Saturday and Sunday 7am to 8pm ?ASDA Old Kent Road, Old Kent Road, Offory Road, SE1 5AS, Monday to Saturday 8am to 10pm; Sunday 11am to 5pm Rotherhithe ?Abbeyfield NHO, 153-159 Abbeyfield Road, SE16 2LS, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Southwark Park Cafe, Southwark Park, Every day, dawn to 5pm or dusk ?Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Redriff Road, Monday to Sunday, 9am to 6pm Walworth ?Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, Elephant and Castle, Every day 8am to 6pm ?SAST House, Dawes Street, SE17, Tuesday to Friday, 6am to 6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 4pm ?Portland Street, Protland Street/East Street, SE17, Tuesday to Friday, 6 am to 6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 6am to 4pm ?Taplow NHO, Thurlow Street, SE17 2UB, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Lorrimore Depot, 113 Lorrimore Road, SE17 6BR, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm ?Chumleigh Gardens, Burgess Park, Chumleigh Street, SE5 0RJ, Monday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm ?Burgess Park Tennis Centre, Burgess Park, Every day, dawn to dusk ?Walworth One Stop Shop, 151 Walworth Road, SE17, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm My Zimmer might look like a Walking frame, but it is really a Commode in Camouflarge, I might be resting or just listen!

How big is the front garden? I was going to suggest Elephant Poo but if your garden is not too large some of it might fall back over next doors garden and stop it doing it there as well. Have you thought of using onions? Cut them first.

I aaked Is My Zimmer safe? Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him for losing ?2million of their savings. James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer, western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot. ?It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath,? said Mr Amburn, who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the gang. Another couple, retired doctors, joined the kidnappers in the cellar where Mr Amburn was chained and tortured for four days last week. He had my Pension Swine Hond

Stories about other street parties in ED from 1945. Lordship Lane residents did not hold street parties in Lordship Lane because the trams ran there and far too much traffic, one that was held was in Milo Road, ( this road is now gated no through ). The occasion was the end of the Second World War, the street party was given for the children of Lordship Lane and those of adjoining roads, as the children of Lordship Lane played in these roads and made their friends who lived there. This party was called the V.E. Party commemorating Victory over Europe. We were dressed in our Sunday best, not that many had a best just the best of what we had, many wearing pullovers that had been knitted by mum from old woollen garments unpicked and using the wool again and many colours to make it large enough to fit. We could not buy shoes as they were rationed many still wore Wellington Boots or Plimsoles. ( P.T. Shoes ) Mums had spent the day befor showing the kids how to make paper chains cutting it into strips from any coloured paper and glueing it in a circle to make long chains these they drawing pinned to the long garden fence of the adjoinig Milo Road. Food Rationing was still in force food and sugar for the cakes was given by the mothers who cooked all the cakes, made the jellies and sandwiches containing the precious delicacies that had been kept for such a day, the mothers who organised the whole party, folding tables were got from the Church on the corner of Goodrich Road the church Benches were very heavy but sat many children who looked dwarfed sitting on them. There were two large iced cakes fairy cakes currant cakes, buns. Apples and pears fruit that grew in local gardens. Needless to say there had not as yet been any Bananas, oranges or other imported fruit available. When most of the food had been eaten the tables were moved to the pavement and the remainder of the food for snacks. Games were played such as musical chairs, a wind up gramophone had been brought and the needle of the pick up gently put onto the record to be lifted and the music stop when we all had to find a seat to sit on, each time a chair was removed until the winner got seated on the last chair. We tried to dance the Okey Kokey and the Lambeth Walk, we all formed up in a long row side by side, you put your left foot in your left foot out, twist around and shake it all about, lots of running forward and back and getting tangled up, we enjoyed it, the mums were crying to see their kids happy and safe after all that had happened In the evening the mums danced to the music, some of the dads were home but had only their uniform to wear, many dads were still away in the forces. Our party was at the Beauval Road end of Milo Road I have found a Photo. It is really hard to realise that some of those children were my family and friends now deceased, as it was sixty five years ago.

I hear talk of a law that only allows Unicycles to use the new Cycle Lanes. All cycles to have a registration number, to trace those in accidents. Only one wheel would reduce the area that the cycle uses. This would reduce the speed of users. All cyclist's to wear yellow reflective jackets. It would also make the rider more aware of his own danger of getting hurt as to the pedestrian. A cycle lift to be placed at Dog Kennel Hill on the up side, and a Skate board on the down side. St John's Ambulance Staff to attend, and Trafic Warden to write a report of any incident.

I sometimes give them a few moments with questions such as: Why was there No Lifeboats on the Ark? How much food was taken with them? Who cleared up all the muck in the mornings. Who bailed out the bilge water? Did Noah wear Wellingtons? Did he have a Telescope? Was he a member of EDF?

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Bloody Padlocks every time I leave my Zimmmer outside a shop someone locks another one on it.

Have these facts been taken into account, when proposing coloured Lines? Revolutionary eye test. Until now, people with even minor forms of the condition ? colour which affects one in 20 men and one in 200 women. This does not include the blind and partially blind.

May I suggest a Zimmmer Lane on the Pavement for the infirm, that could also be used by those on cruthes,and elderly, a Bye law giving powers that avoid prosecution of users if becoming unwell and causing obstruction, rather than a coloured line a helpful handrail could be placed to segregate cycles, this Handrail would also prevent vehicles mounting and parking on the pavement. There also stratify place seats for a those to rest. It is hoped that all will reach an old age, and need some consideration given to you in future years. The nuisance of those slow moving persons who have disabilities may not be obvious to younger people. Alternatly may I also suggest that a very large Carpet be placed at prominant places where we can be swept under.

Memories 1 Autumn 1940: The blitz. Just after my ninth birthday the German planes came, bombing all around. We could see them coming in the distance in formation, the big ones in the middle, and the fighters outside. As they came they left a trail of vapour from their engines. The noise was deafening. The guns in the nearby parks sent up tracers. The outside smaller planes were much faster, fighting with our planes, leaving white criss-cross trails in the sky. When the bombers dropped their bombs, we could see the bombs leave the planes in a row, then twist and turn , as they spread out and fall, whistling down to explode. It was time to into the shelter as even if the planes passed overhead the shells fired up at the enemy aircraft splintered and fell as shrapnel, jagged fragments that could cut you to pieces. We were in the Andersen shelter. It was cold with only a candle to see by. After a time the iron sides would run with condensation. It ran down onto our bedding. We were very crowded in there, all ten of us, If somebody needed to go the toilet they had to step over all of us to get out of the shelter to go back to the house. I shall never understand why, with the shelter made of iron and covered in earth, the door opening had only a piece of sacking hanging down to cover it, with no protection from the direction at all. We spent many days and nights in the shelter listening to the drone of loaded planes coming, then the whistling as the bombs fell. With each blast earth fell through the ill-fitting ends of the shelter. The vibration was constant, as if the whole shelter moved, with the noise of the guns firing all the time, and the scream of an aircraft as it plunged down to earth, then the explosion as it hit. Night time was the worst. As there was a blackout every explosion lit up the inside of the shelter, and when a building burned the inside of the shelter glowed red. You could smell the burnt sugar from Tate & Lyle?s and the acid smell from Sarson?s Vinegar Factory. One bombing raid was very bad, Price?s Candle Factory had been hit and caught fire. The workers had taken cover in the cellars below the factory. The stocks of wax in the yard melted with the heat and a river of boiling wax found its way down to the cellars where the workers sheltered, Many were killed. After the fire was put out , the wax set hard and it took a long time to cut through to those trapped below, the air supply had been cut off as the wax filled every opening, entombing the workers. We did have times without raids and we could see the damage that had been done. Rows of houses had gone. Parts of houses stood without roofs, just the outside walls with maybe a part of a floor with furniture hanging from it, water squirting from the damaged water pipes and gas flames from a gas pipe. Some of the houses just had a chimney breast left with a fireplace still in its place in a wall of four floors, the different wallpaper showing each of the rooms that had been there. Demolition men had to take down the remainder of the remains of the buildings to clear the site. The rubble was stacked higher than a four storey house, just to get it out of the way. A cleared site would have a brick water tank built on it, using the old bricks that had been chipped clean of mortar. The inside of the tank would be tarred over to stop the water getting through. Some of the tanks were fifty feet square by six feet high. We used to put old timbers in to make a raft to play on, it was very dangerous as none of us could swim. The wall of our school playground had a hole made in it for a fire engine to be kept in our school yard, it was a London taxi, one with the canvas passenger hood that could be folded down in the summer. It had a brass bell fitted and an extending ladder on the roof baggage rack, coiled hoses, a stand pipe, and buckets were in the open space beside the driver. The large bumpers, the mudguards and running boards had been painted white, with a big A.F.S. on the doors. Behind it was pulled a two wheel water pump with thick suction hoses strapped to the top. One day the air raid siren sounded. I ran down the garden to light the lamp in the Andersen shelter and returned to the house to carry one of the baby twins to the shelter, my mother bringing the other with her, With planes overhead, Mum said to get under the table as there was no time to get down the garden to the shelter. The table was very large for the ten of us that sat round it for our meals. We could hear the bombs falling, then a tremendous explosion. Everything seemed to go orange , then black, then silent, We couldn't breathe. Black soot and plaster from the ceiling choked us. We tried to get out from under the table. The complete window frame, dresser, and the cast iron kitchen range was keeping us in. We worked our way out from under the table. A hole was where the window had been, glass was sticking in the facing wall, all the crockery was smashed when the dresser fell, the kitchen range was on its front with bricks in its place in the hearth. We were black with dust and soot. I looked down the garden through the opening, The shelter where we would have been, was now covered with clay three times as high. The two large conker trees were leafless, there was now a space beyond the shelter, where there had been eleven houses, now smoked a gaping crater. My school friend Norman Luff was badly injured, he was put on a stretcher , and carried out through the alleyway between our house and next door, to the main road Lordship Lane that was clear of debris. He was carried to a vehicle that had been a dust cart. It was a three wheeled scammel unit that pulled a trailer van, where normally dust men walked into the back to empty dust bins, the vehicle was very low on the ground, and ideal for stretcher cases, it had been converted for ambulance work and the creen colour of Camberwell council was pained over grey. My Dad working at Peak Frean?s, was told by a driver who had been delivering to shops, that he had passed our home and that the house had been bombed and a boy was being taken out by stretcher into an ambulance. Dad left work to see what had happened. In the war all men had to stay at work for the whole day as they were classed as directed labour, He had to get out of the factory gates. The gate keeper said he should not leave without a pass, but the van driver told him about the bombing and he let Dad go. When Dad got home he was relieved to find out it was not any of us that were injured. My friend who was hurt never came back, nor any of the other people who lost their homes, as there was nothing left. They were homed elsewhere, I don?t remember seeing Norman again. Dad organised us to get bits of wood that had been blasted into our garden to use to board up the windows, we could do nothing about the roof as most of it had gone. The girls and Mum cleared up inside, and threw all the plaster and broken things into a heap in the road, Dad said keep the bricks as we would need them again. We had a jam jar of tea, as all the cups had been broken, it was very hot and we could not hold the jar as it had no handle. The big kettle had been squashed so Dad mended the hole in the tin kettle with two washers and a nut and bolt. The gas was still working and the water was very slow. I was told to light the gas geyser in the bathroom and run five inches of water to have a bath, when I got in the bathroom the geyser was hanging from the wall by just the pipes the flue pipe was in the bath with all the soot and tiles from the wall. I told Dad, he said we would have to go back to the days when we used the old galvanised tin bath, its in the shed. I went into the garden to get it, but ran back to tell Dad that the shed had gone and so had everything in it. Mum was filling the copper with cold water, then she lit the wood under it to heat the water to wash all our dirty clothes. She gave a block of Sunlight soap to my sister to cut into strips to be put in with the washing, then kept pounding it with a wooden stick. It was getting dark, all the electric bulbs had been broken, it was pitch black inside as the windows were now boarded up. Dad said get the lamp from the air raid shelter . I once again ran into the garden, but it was impossible to get through all the clay that covered the entrance. Dad made a lamp out of a screw top can. He made a hole in the lid, cut a piece of cloth, threaded it through the hole to hang into the Paraffin inside, adjusted it and lit it. The lamp worked but it was very smoky and soon used up the paraffin. We all got ready to sleep in the front parlour, five of children could sleep under the grand piano, but it had two rods with pedals hanging down that got in our way, we would have to sleep there as there was no chance of us using the shelter that night. Arthur our cat came home, I called him my cat as liked to sleep on my bed, we had forgotten all about him, he was very frightened. He had some of the babies Cow and Gate powdered milk, mixed up for him in a tin lid. Dad had to go to the Wardens Post for night duty, he said ?Stay in this room and I shall know where you all are?. He went off to the Wardens Post shelter in the library just a block up the road from our house. We decided to go to bed as we could not see to do anything as the lamp had gone out, We just talked about what we might be able to do to make things better in the house, so we could repair things for the time being , mum said the house would not be repaired properly as there was no men to do it, or materials to use, we would do as best we could, Dad would sort it out, don?t worry, we must be grateful that we did not get hurt like the people who had lived in the houses at the back of us. The raid came again that night, louder than ever, as the noise was more loud due to there being no windows or roof to deaden the noise. Every explosion brought down more plaster from the ceiling, onto the piano marking the polished surface, that had been so bright, (we had not been allowed to touch it in case we left finger marks) that is if we had got into the parlour in the first place! The raid passed, it became quieter, we lay there in the darkness, relieved that, the planes had gone, bells still rang as fire engines and ambulances raced past in the road outside, the darkness, and tiredness now made us, one by one fall asleep. Arthur was tucked in with me, purring gently now pleased to be back home, I fell asleep too! by Shorty aged 9. Att. A picture of the Scammel Dust Cart of the Camberwell Council used as a Ambulance.

Logically the bracing would be on your side if not it could be used for climbing over the fence from outside. The furthest part of the fence is yout boundery so replacing it dont dig in the new posts without allowing for the thickness of a close boarded feather edged board.

Front garden fences should not exceed One metre in height the dividing fences are classed as the left hand fence as seen from the road is owned by the property the plain or the unledged side should face outward, back garden fences can be taller up to two Metres high. A front fence then side fences must be just one Metere high for the first metre or Splay entrance to the depth of the car entry to alow full vision when backing out. If in doubt go to planning at Southwark Council Planning on line.

Memories Children of the War 1940 The Second World War had started. Was I going to get hurt or killed? I was eight years old. What did it all mean? Some weeks after the declaration of war things started to happen. A horse drawing a cart pilled high with corrugated steel sheets, stopped outside the house and a man knocked at our front door to ask ?How many people live here?, Mum said ?Ten?. The man said with that many, we would have to have an Andersen shelter to be dug into the garden. He would leave enough parts. He and his mate brought in ten curved side panels and eight flat ones for the ends. There were channels that were to be used for the foundations to stand the corrugated iron sheets upright, otherwise the sheets would sink into the clay with the weight, an iron bar to fix the front and back, and lots of nuts and bolts with diamond shaped washers bent to fit the shape of the corrugation. Some days later two men came to dig the hole for the shelter to be put into. They dug down three feet, and fixed the shelter together in the hole, stuffed old newspapers into the gaps that were left as the ends of the sheets did not fit into the corrugations, then piled all the earth from the hole over the top of the shelter. When the men had gone we looked at the shelter, we could not see any of it from the outside only a big hump at the bottom of the garden. We got inside. We had to get in backwards and drop down feet first into the darkness inside. It smelt earthy and some of the soil was falling in past the old newspapers that did not fill the gaps fully. Later two men came to put a cement floor inside, but left a little hole to bale out any water if it got in. Water did get in , lots of it, down through the newspaper with brown clay streaking the end, and water came through the bolt holes in the roof. Some wooden bunk beds came, just a wooden frame with rigid wires nailed across to sleep on. Mum received a letter to say we must all go to the Air Raid Precaution Post on the corner of Townley Road to get gas masks, Mum, Dad, My brothers and sisters all got the same, a black one with just one window in it, and a cardboard box to keep it in, with a string to hang it over your shoulder. We were told to take it everywhere with us. I had a brown one with two windows like glasses, it had a kind of flat rubber nose sticking out with two holes in it. I found that if I was wearing it and wet the two holes and blew, it made a nice rude noise. The baby twins were next. The lady had a thing like a diver?s helmet that was made of red rubber and canvas. It was laid on its back and baby was put in head first, it came down to the baby?s hips, the arms were inside, but the legs were outside. Laces were pulled tight around the waist then tied to make it airtight. On the outside was a pump about three inches wide. This must be pumped all the time baby was inside. Mum said she wanted two. The lady showed all of us how to use the pump and said that one of us must always be there to help Mum with the babies. The baby in the gas mask was screaming, the large window in the gas mask had misted up and we could not see baby, Mum started crying and got the baby out. The lady said that if we did have to use them, she would have to make baby stay inside, we must wear them for a few minutes a day until we got used to them. When we got home Mum said she did not like them! About a month later we heard a noise out the front. We went out to find men with big hammers smashing our cast iron railings. They had been five feet high with a big gate. All the posts had a point on them. The brickwork was broken, and was left like that and was never repaired. They took away the railings for the war effort. The trams that ran past our home had curtain netting glued to the inside of the windows , so that if they were blasted the glass would not cut the passengers, but as time went by the smokers made the glass so dirty that you could not see out. A wet finger could just about clean a small hole between the strands of netting to peep through. There were no street lights, and in the fog the only thing you could see were the three white bands that were painted on the trees and lamp posts. The cars and other vehicles had shades put over their headlights, something like a tin can with a slit, just a tiny light showed. No light was allowed to show from the houses. Thick curtains had to be closely drawn. If a light did show, someone would shout ?Put that light out!?. Dad had joined the A.R.P. service as an Air Raid Warden. He had a white tin hat, a dark blue uniform and another different gas mask, a whistle and a torch. Dad worked at Peak Frean?s biscuit factory doing maintenance to the buildings by day, then in the evenings he had to go to the A.R.P.post to do duty. Sometimes he was away all night. Part of his job was to go round the public shelters. These were brick built in the streets and underground ones in the park. He had to count how many people were in each, chalk it on the blackboard in the shelter, and enter it into his note book to record back at the A.R.P. post. Incendiary bombs were dropped. He would have to dislodge them from roofs with long poles. Once they fell to the ground they could be put out with sand or with a stirrup pump, with one foot on the pump, keeping the suction part in a bucket of water, using one hand to pump and the other to direct the hose pipe. The water would make the incendiary bomb throw out white hot bits of phosphorous! Dad told us of the damage that had happened that night and of the people who had been injured, and how he had to dig people out of their bombed homes. We liked to listen to the wireless , when Dad fixed it up. We heard this man say, ?This is Germany calling. We are going to bomb London tonight?. His name was Lord Haw Haw. Dad said he was a traitor, as he was English. In fact his real name was William Joyce and he had lived just across the park from where we were living. I don?t know what I thought I was going to do, but one day several of us boys went to Alison Grove near Dulwich Park Pond and looked at the house where he had lived. We heard a piano being played and we shouted abuse and ran away. A lady came to the door, it could have been Eileen Joyce, his sister, the well known pianist, but we didn?t wait to find out. Dad always went to work on his little Coventry Eagle motor bike. He had a small ration of petrol coupons as he had to get to his wardens duties. In the morning he would get his motor bike out of the shed at the side of the house, put a wooden ramp from the step to the pavement, run his bike down, then put the ramp back in the front garden. Then he would sit astride the bike and shake it from side to side. He said this mixed the petrol and oil in the tank.. He then started the engine. He would adjust his overcoat, put on his goggles and pull on his gauntlets. Twenty minutes to eight, off he went to Bermondsey to arrive in time to change into his white overalls ready for work at eight o'clock. I remark on his preciseness as one evening he did not return at his usual time of five twenty five. It was very foggy and there had been an air raid. At half past six there was a knock at the door, Dad stood there, soaking wet, covered in clay, coat torn, no cap and cut a head. We thought that he had been blown up, but he told us what had happened. As he rode home he turned a corner in the fog. A rope had been strung across the road as a bomb had been dropped making the road impassable. The rope had caught him under the chin and he fell off. The motor bike carried on into the bomb crater, so my elder brothers went back with him to pull it out of the hole, then, half carry it back home, they all worked on it, to repair it for the next day, after lots of straightening of the metal, and adjustments, it was thought to be usable on the following day. They all came indoors and washed the oil and muck off. Mum bathed Dads head, and repaired his torn trousers and coat, the clay had dried and could be brushed off, he had not been able to find his cap. Dad started his tea but remembered he had to go to the A.R.P. post for that nights fire watch at the Dulwich Library, he was worried that he would be late. By Shorty aged 8

When asked how do you remember those times so long ago I put it down to being there with no distraction of Radio, Television, Telephone, early recollections are in black and white as there did not seem to be much colour anywhere. Memories The Day War Broke Out ?September 1939 It was the day we were getting ready for our holiday at Margate. Mum, Dad, two elder sisters, two elder brothers, myself and the baby twins in their double pram, bags and parcels, all made our way to Herne Hill Railway Station. First a half mile walk, then the bus, As we got off the bus there was confusion, people were running about saying that war had been declared, between England and Germany. Dad said that we would have to go back home, as it would not be safe to go to the seaside, as it was on the coast near to Germany, and we may be invaded by German Soldiers or get bombed by aeroplanes. We waited at the bus stop for ages but none came. A car driver stopped, he said that no buses were running as all the bus drivers had taken them back to the bus depot ,and he asked where were we trying to get to, and Dad said, ?East Dulwich?. The driver offered to take us all home, as it was a very large car it took all nine of us, and the bags! And the pram! As we drove home Dad said to the driver, ?All I want to do is get home with my family?. In the first World War he had been a prisoner in Austria for four years. He thought that now as he was fifty-four years old he would not be called up for service abroad, although he thought he might have to join something. Aunt Ali who lived with us, she had a room on the forth floor, came running down, she was flustered, and did not know why we had returned home. I can still remember her saying , Oh my gawd! What?s happened??. Dad said it ?Its because the war had started?. Aunt knew nothing of this, but she did wonder why the church bells had been ringing all morning. Dad thought that the wireless would be broadcasting the latest news of the war. We had a radio that worked from an accumulator, that is a glass jar with lead hanging in acid with two terminals, when charged it worked as a battery. Dad always put this away after it was used into the cupboard under the stairs, and we were forbidden to go near it as we could get burnt by the acid if it were spilt. We all watched and waited while Dad fetched the accumulator, put it on the table, then got the receiver connected two wires to it, then an other wire that he pulled in through the window, The other end of this wire went up to the top of the house, down the garden to the conker tree. This was called the aerial. All these were fitted together, we all sat around the large table, all ten of us, waiting for the set to warm up, we could see the valves inside start to glow as they warmed up. Dad fiddled with the tuning knob, then we could hear someone speaking but it was foreign. Dad tried again, this time it was music, but after a while a man said ?There will be a special announcement shortly by The Prime Minister, Mr Chamberlain?!. The speech was made, we were told that a state of war was between us, nobody knew what this meant, or how it would affect us. Mum made tea, and opened the sandwiches that we were going to have on the beach at Margate. by Shorty aged 8

East Dulwich Stream Laundry. No 116 Lordship Lane corner of Bassano Street, the East Dulwich Steam Laundry was built much to the anger of the owner of the houses on the other corner No?s 106 to 114 Lordship Lane,, these were some of the very first houses to have been built in the Lordship Lane, it was thought that a factory was out of place so close to their four story Building. These Houses were used as a temporary Morque during the war. The two story Steam Laundry extended along Bassano Street, with double doors that the dirty Bagwash, Blankets, Sheets Uniforms and Carpets were delivered, to be cleaned in the boiling tanks of water, the windows to the road were always open with steam coming out. further along was the doors where the cleaned and dried and ironed washing was brought out and loaded onto the company vans. Next doors were to the boiler house, where the boiler was fed with coal that had been dumped onto the pavement, by the end of the working day the remaining coal was shovelled into the coal store. The children going to the school opposite kicked the odd piece of coal up the road. This building is now ESPH Mot Centre. Next to this is Saint Thomas More Hall, this was called St Johns School Hall. Next to this the shop at 118 was the Affiliated Insurance Agents run by Mr Bunce, I bought my Motor bike and later Cars Insurance there. Now the Irish shop. There were other Laundries but they did not have shops, they collected either from a house or agents, they were Dutch Boy , Maxwell, Hatcham Cleaner these were clothing cleaning and pressing Suits and Dresses. There was a yellow fronted cleaners shop opposite The Plough Public House corner of Barry Road named Achillie Serre. Now called Country Spray.

East Dulwich Community Centre, Darrell Road. SE 22 8N. It might be of interest of the existing area prior to the Blitz in the second world war. Darrell Road backing onto Crystal Palace Road starting with the shop on the corner of Whatley Road, then a Warehouse with an upper story where a doorway opened to the street a pole protruded above it a GInny Wheel ( Steel Circular Wheel that a rope was used to pull or lower the sacks or boxes ). The houses were continuous terraces on both sides of the road built to two stories with bay windows these were built in pairs ( Front Doors close together ) The first house No 88 was left handed entrance, The Snashfold Family lived here. The Crystal Palace Public House, on the corner of Whatley Road, next to the pub going towards Uplands Road were three storied with shops below an entrance between the shops just along led to a Corn Chandlers Warehouse where horse drawing laden loads of straw and bags of wheat, there was always a lot of straw blowing about here, across the road facing this entrance was the last of the shops it was a Pet Shop. I can remember the baby chicks in the window under a dust bin lid hanging down with a light bulb underneath to keep the chicks warm. We bought a tabby kitten there. Hindman?s Road was much the same two storied houses, but a more varied style some Terraces some semi detached, toward Upland Road on the right the houses were far older, and a row or shops facing. There was the Hills Dairy depot and yard where the green milk carts loaded to deliver to the streets. There was a Yard used by the Singer Sewing Machine Company, early morning a fleet of little vans would drive away. To return in the evening to park. This whole area was very badly damaged in the bombing during the war, it is totally rebuilt now and very few things give a clue to how it was then. Many of the families who had lost their home had to move elsewhere, taking any item of furniture or clothing that could be saved, it was possible to hire fruiterers wheel barrows at local shops, these were often seen loaded with the few belonging of those people and being pushed by the mum and kids very few men were still living there as they had been called into the Services, and eventually the father got a letter saying their house had gone, and the remaining family were living in a Church Hall or School that was not being used because the children had been evacuated from London. I knew many families who lost a member killed, or taken to hospital never returning back to the area. It is distressing to recall those, and to remember hearing the teacher when the school Register was called, a child did not reply to his name, the teacher called out again the name, a child might raise a hand and say they got bombed last night Sir! Needless to say the classroom gradually had less pupils, who would be encouraged to move to the forward desks. We had very few Male teaches those we did have were very old or those who had been injured returned from the war, there were women one was very young . Miss Childs she said she was the sister of one of the Crew who bombed the Mohne Dam in Germany. I seem to recall over fify of those crews got killed.