Post by Les on Nov 7, 2017 20:15:02 GMT
Maidstone I remember it well:
I went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Boxley Road from 1958/9 to 1963. At first, we got there from Charing station by steam train and trolley bus before moving to Bearsted. We got out uniforms from the store at the end of pudding Lane, and the money zinged along the wires up to the cashier's office.
I found this site by searching for 'The Rat Trap' Maidstone, and see comments above about that. It was rumoured to have mattresses in the cellar ... I used to go to the live shows at the cinema (Granada? saw Bobby Vee, the Crickets, Shadows etc while Dion had larangytis and couldn't sing that night). I remember going to the Star ballroom until it was closed down and the dance at the Corn Exchange started. My sisters and I helped out there, with me dancing on the balcony while the ultra violet light picked out the white zigzag stripes on my dress and the boys' white shirts. Roger 'Twiggy' Day DJ'd there (and he's back on the radio in Kent 40 or more years later!). Anyone remember the Gass Company? I also went to St Francis Youth Club.
I remember huddling in the Old palace Gardens with my boyfriend when snow was on the ground, and walking in Mote park, which had quiet, wild parts in those days, and in Barming woods. After it opened, we would jump in a mates car and drive to the motorway cafe at 2am, and pile into cars to go to parties near and far. We rowed an old rowing boat on the Medway at East Farleigh and baled all the time as it had a hole in the bottom ... Happy days. :-)
The Corn Exchange had dances before the Star Closed down Mainly Monday nights