I attended Vauxhall St. Primary School then at 5-6yrs old, we moved back to 29 Ethelred St. with Nan and Grandad again, Wally & Maud Wooller (nee Swash). I still went to Vauxhall Primary, and then on to West Square Secondary Modern near the British War Museum. We lived in Ethelred Street until the big move which we all took to Brixton and far flung places. I moved to Australia in May 1961 and I have lived here some 47yrs. Unfortunately I never got back to Lambeth although from what I hear the old place is not what it used to be - thank god for memories. 29 Ethelred Street was right opposite Palladino’s Barber’s and Tock’s Vegetable shops. To the right on the corner, Edie Ashby and her husband (see photo below) ran the corner shop and across on the opposite corner was the Prince Regent pub.
Edie was a sister to Mrs. Shannon who had the shop on the corner, next to the bombed school (Lollard Street School). My sister Babs worked in Edie’s shop after school and my sister Pat worked at Mrs. Shannon’s. (I can still remember the Pinball machine as you walked in and her white Stuffed German Shepherd dog on the wall. It was named Silver or Prince, I think!
On the corner, to our left was the Green Gate Printers and the Fish & Chip shop “The meeting place for us Lads” and where we played cricket up against the white brick wall of the fish shop. Tracey St. was the outfield. We played Rounders on the same corner in Ethelred Street so we could stay out longer using the light from the lamp post - not a bloody car in sight back then!! Also I remember the “NEW PLASTIC” soccer balls we all chipped in for and spent hours in a circle trying to keep it in the air without letting it touch the ground “or you’re out”
Then there was the Kennington Grenadiers, Saturday morning up the Pictures - queue’s a mile long and fights if you were keeping someone’s place because they were accused of pushing in. During the interval, if you were a Grenadier and it was your birthday, you were called up on stage and got an ice cream and a free pass for the next week and thousands of screaming kids sang happy birthday accompanied by the Organ which rose out of the pits. We watched Cartoons, Superman, Rocket-man, Rin-Tin-Tin the wonder dog, Roy Rogers and Tonto and the serials where the hero falls over a thousand foot cliff but manages to survive for next week’s episode. Don’t remember any blood & guts in the shows back then. As you got older you were allowed to go upstairs (the snogging seats) and if you were lucky you were given 1/6d to get you into the pictures and buy an ice-cream, and then up to the Pie & Mash shop in the Walk for lunch, but you had to be quick, otherwise you had to queue for a seat or had to sit next to someone you didn’t know. I was never keen on the Jellied Eels. How far does 1/6d go now?
Looking back as kids, we never seemed to stray far from our little patch and mum always knew if you had got into trouble somewhere before you had even got home (via the neighbours). Everyone seemed to look out for each other back then. Some of the neighbours on my street were the Davey Bros (next door to the left) Liz O’Keefe, (Aunty Liz) she used to take us Cole Kids hop picking, then there were the Tilliers’, the Cadbys’ (homemade wreaths & wax flowers) then the McCathys’ then more Cadbys to the right. There were the Bishops across the road, the Tocks, the Bonnyfaces and Palladino’s in no particular order and a lot more who I can’t remember unfortunately (see Photo). If you read this “GET IN TOUCH”
Ethelred Street about 1954
I seem to be getting carried away as the memories come back, so just a few more snippets:-Remember the disabled bag-wash man in his 3 wheel hand operated chair? He lived in Doris St. He took your dirty washing up to the laundry and brought it back clean a few days later, he also sold little bundles of fire wood and did many other odd jobs.
