Post by Les on Oct 10, 2017 21:08:13 GMT
Maidstone I remember it well:
I was born in the West Kent General hospital in november 1947. My mum,dad, me & my younger brother lived in Market St.. I believe one of my uncles & aunts, with their two children lived next door. my nan & grandad lived in Sutton Rd..
If I remember correctly, my mum worked in a store not far away called Dunnings. My dad was still in the royal navy & I always looked forward to travelling up to Chatham with mum & brother to meet him when his ship came in. The sight and smell stayed with me right up to the day when I joined the R.N. at the age of 15 only leaving 24 years later.
Now to go back to the reason for writing. I did go to THE ELMS school in London Rd.. I really don't remember much about it except I was very happy there. I'm thinking I joined ther in 1951/2.
I made a friend there who lived in the army barracks. Sometimes he would invite me back to his house and we would have chocolate spread sandwiches. My mum would come and pick me up.
Growing up in market street was a very happy time for me. We had an outside toilet and a tin bath which my mum would carry into the kitchen once a week. Me and my brother would go often down to the gates of the Fremlins brewery to watch the big horses and there carts come out.
They were giants to us kids. I also remember going to the market to see my grandad eating jellied eels with his mates.
Dates between living in Maidstone and 1960 are vague. We left Maidstone and went to Canterbury then Hastings finishing in Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Each time we moved it was promotion for dad. He worked for the CEGB. His last post was in the brand new nuclear power stations control room. I now live in Shropshire and have done so since 1991.