I was No. 4 in the Crow dynasty, John was the oldest born in
1943, then David in 1945, Janice in 1950, me in 1954 and Paul, the youngest
came along in 1958.
Because of the age difference between us, my memories are a
little different from Johns, so I thought I’d like to add some of my memories
to our Uncle Jim’s blog site.
As John said, we lived on the top floor of No12 Tracey
Street, Mum, Dad and five kids in three rooms so there wasn’t much room at all. Our kitchen, like so many in those post-war
days, was basically the top floor landing where Mum had a Gas cooker and a
"Kitchenette" – No fridge, no washing machine or sink! We had a small sink and a cold tap one flight
down, on the turn of the stairs. How Mum cooked at all must have been a miracle
but she managed a cooked meal everyday (sometimes twice a day because when we
were at Walnut Tree Walk school, we all went home for a cooked lunch). We always had a full Roast dinner every
Sunday then our Mum would spend the rest of the afternoon scrubbing the
cooker. She did it in record time if she
was annoyed with our Dad for getting drunk up the pub at lunchtime! It was a frequent occurrence!
We spent most of our time in the "Living
Room" at the back of the house. There
was a fitted cupboard in this room with two fantastic paintings of Donald Duck
and Mickey Mouse on. Apparently, a
previous lodger had painted them and that’s where they stayed for years. We had a coal fire and our Mum used to hold a
big sheet of newspaper over the front to create a draft to get it going. This was also the room where we were all
scrubbed to within an inch of our lives in the tin bath on a Friday night. I think when John and Dave were older they
were given money to go to the Public Baths for their weekly scrub. After our
bath, the nit comb would come out so Mum could inspect our heads. She wasn’t going to let “Nitty Norah” find
nits on any of her kids! Our Bedroom was
in the front where Mum & Dad, Janice,
me and later Paul slept – all very cosy especially after Dad had been down the pub
on the Guinness & Bitter! Mum used
to spend ages leaning out of the top floor window chatting to all the other
women in the road, who were all doing the same thing.
Our Nanny O’Shea had the whole of the ground floor but she
spent most of her time in her back room where there was a kitchen/scullery, as far
as I remember the front room was NEVER used although Jan remembers it being
used after family funerals. There was also a piano in that room which Dad would play from time to time according to Jan. Nan’s
bedroom was on the first floor alongside John and David's room. Our Dad, who was a plumber in those days,
fitted a bathroom but I can't ever remember ever using it. There is talk of it “falling off the back of a
lorry” but I’m not sure that was true.
Our Grandad, Philip O’Shea who died in 1952 went mad apparently, because
he said if the landlord found out, he would put the rent up. The bathroom stayed where it was though!
We had a back yard with an outside toilet which we called
the Lavvie, complete with either IZAL toilet paper or squares of the Evening
Standard hanging on a piece of string. For some reason there was a rusty old
Lee-Enfield rifle tucked away in the corner!
That khazi or carsey had a smell of its own, not
nasty, just of cold & damp distemper!
Like all the others I went to Walnut Tree Walk School. Sadly
I can't remember much about this time. I think my first class room had a
roaring fire, and I can still taste the rubber hose we used in the water tank
to blow bubbles. Playtime was spent playing Cowboys in the playground,
galloping up and down spanking our hides in time to sound like horses then
having a tumble with the baddies. I remember the Reading Cards and the Janet
& John books, but hope this may jog a few memories for others.
One thing sticks in my mind, I seem to remember that the
Walls Ice Cream factory was located close to the school and every so often they
would come around and give us all a choc ice!
Mum had a huge family of Aunts and Uncles living close by. Their
surname was Rapley. Her Aunt Mary (nee
Rapley) Uncle Fred Powell and their son Kenny,
lived in Wake Street at the bottom end by Lollard Adventure Playground. Aunt Emm
(Tatnell) & Aunt Polly Rapley I
think, lived off China Walk. “Charlie’s Mary" lived opposite us in Tracey Street
and Aunt Sarah lived in Fitzalan Street.
Our Mum loved all her aunties, they were strong women with vocabularies
to match! Many of them worked for the
Royal Doulton factory as Char Ladies. You’ve never seen so many Royal Doulton
“seconds” as her Aunt Mary had. They
must have been worth a fortune, even though they were imperfect. My sister Jan remembers them all getting
together round Aunt Em’s flat and making lampshades to make some extra
money. I’d like to have been a fly on
the wall during one of those sessions!
The Rapley Sisters and friends on a Beano to Margate
From left: Unknown; Aunt Mary; Aunt Polly; Aunt Emmy; our Nan (Betty O'Shea) at the back; and Aunt Sarah, also at the back. No idea who the other ladies are - sorry.
At one stage our Uncle Jim, who this site is dedicated to,
lived in the middle of the house in Tracey Street with his wife Gladys. When they moved, I think they moved near to
the Elephant and Castle and later on to Stockwell. Jim and Glad as they were known, were
absolutely lovely. From Stockwell, Jim, Glad and their daughter Gillian moved into a lovely flat off the Portland Road. They had to move out of Stockwell because
poor Gill got mugged a couple of times on the way home from work!
Nanny O'Shea, Jimmy, Gladys and Cousin Maureen at the front door
of 12 Tracey Street. Coronation Day 1953.
Aunt Glad is now in her 80s and still lives in London with Gill and is enjoying
life. She worked for M & S for
donkeys years and when she retired she became one of the M & S
pensioners. They used to really look
after their staff in those days. They
had a visiting dentist, chiropodist, hairdresser and days trips out were organised regularly for their staff. I think it’s
a lot different now!
Jim and Glad always treated us well. Every Christmas they would buy me a box of
"Britain's Solders." These would range from Cowboys and Indians,
British Army from WW2, Guards & Knights in Armour….. they were absolute
magic! I would play in the Coal Scuttle for hours. As I got older they upped
the ante and gave me Victor Boys Annuals – some of which I still have today.
Jimmy, Gladys & Gillian 1962
Cousin Kenny would always stick a few coppers or a tanner,
even a shilling in your hand when he could and Aunt Mary would always make you
welcome with a cup of tea and cake. She made the best coffee in the world -
Camp coffee made with full fat hot milk.
If you were lucky, she may have made a batch of Mince Meat Pies (proper
lamb I think too) they were gorgeous. If for some reason you said you didn’t
want a drink or something to eat she’d say “What the f***ing ‘ells wrong with
my food then?” Uncle Fred was as deaf a as post so the telly was always on high
and it was always Horse Racing! The men
all loved a flutter. We were always
aware of the colourful language they used, in fact, our brother John used to
warn his children about them before he took them to visit. They must have been terrified but that’s how
the Rapley girls were - true Lambeth Walkers from the old days – they had
hearts of gold but Lord help anyone who crossed them or anyone they cared
about. I just wish I could remember all of them, I
believe there were about 10 originally.
Our Dad’s family all lived down in Kent as like a lot of
people, they were bombed out during the Blitz. Other Nanny (as we called her) was
bombed out of Fountain Gardens off the Lambeth Walk and moved to Westgate-on-Sea
on the Kent coast. Her daughter and
husband, Aunt Ede & Uncle Ted ran the Britannia Pub in Margate in the days
when Beanos were popular. Dad's brother, Uncle Joe & Aunt Pat lived in Garlinge, as
did Uncle Ed and his wife Betty. We had
some great times down there on the beach, crabbing, picking winkles and cockles
– we were really lucky as a lot of kids in our street didn’t even see the sea
back then. Our holidays were always
spent with Other Nanny and Pop – looking back it was idyllic for us as
kids. They had a two-bedroomed house in
Westgate with an outside loo and no bathroom.
Can you imagine what it must have been like when seven of us descended
on them for two weeks!! I think Pop may
have objected but Other Nanny loved it.
Looking back, Tracey Street was a wonderful place; just imagine a street about a mile from
Westminster – with virtually no cars (well apart from Dad’s and one or two
others). God knows how many kids lived on the street, but we all played out
till dark playing Cannon, Tin Can Tommy and generally getting up to mischief.
We would tie lengths of cotton to the knocker of one house, shift ourselves down the street and give it a
tug, Older boys would tie rope to the door knob of one house and tie the other
end to the house opposite – then knock on the door, we must have drove the
neighbours bonkers!
Lollard Street playground was at the end of the Street, behind
the Barrow yard as I remember. This is where we learnt things they didn't teach
at school - like how to start and respect a fire! I don’t remember anyone
getting burnt, but having a fire was a daily occurrence even for us youngsters
– the big kids made sure of that. We would cook apples and bake potatoes till
they were black! The ground was mainly very clay so we would make figures which
either ended up on the fire or shot at with catapults. I remember one night in
the summer the grass was covered in Ladybirds, 1000s & 1000s of them.
Mum, as all mums did in those days, did her shopping
daily. The Walk was our Shopping Centre,
we had a Sainsburys, complete with sawdust on the floor, where we got our cold
meats and dairy products – the staff used to make-up the butter into packs
using the wooden paddles. I seem to remember potatoes came from the chap on the
potato stall. Pecrys supplied all sorts of cotton stuff, tea towels, bath towels,
sheets bedding & stuff – it was packed to the hilt with merchandise. Ernie Noad’s
(one of Dad’s mates) is where we all got our shoes – as well as the normal
brown sandals and Plimsolls; I remember I got my pair of Tuff Pathfinders and
Puma Football Boots from there.
Can anyone remember getting their hair cut in Palladino's?
Other favourites were Meiklejohns Toy shop - anyone who remembers this place
check out the short film made by the owner,
it might be on YouTube or try Bring Back Lambeth Walk page on Facebook -
pure gold.
Marcantonio's Ice Cream Parlour, where we could get wigwams/
cornets/wafers/ Ice Cream Floats – nothing could touch them. I've struggled to
find anything that comes close to the Ice Cream they had – I'm still
looking! And of course Boroughs Pie n
Mash Shop on Saturday Lunchtime after Saturday Morning flix – the best meal in
the world – even now.
Sunday was always different in those days. Shops were all
closed but markets weren't! We would often be taken to East Lane or The Cut early
on a Sunday- for whatever reason. We were sometimes treated to a hot glass of
Sarsaparilla. On the way home Dad would call into his local for his Sunday pint
(or four) and then make a detour to Bob Whites which meant we had Winkles/
Cockles, Whelks Mussels Crab, Prawns and brown Shrimps - complemented by bread
and butter and a salad mum would knock up from somewhere. This would be just a
few hours AFTER she had done the traditional Sunday Roast and scrubbed the
oven!
On most Sunday afternoons, us kids were expected to be out
of the way either at Sunday School or over the Imperial War Museum – we spent
hours and hours over there, running around the corridors turning knobs and
wheels on various cabinets.
Apparently, the day after
I was born we got a television. What I do remember later is they didn’t
broadcast all the time as they do now, it would start midway through the
afternoon and go off at 10.30. Popular TV shows were Tug Boat Annie, Ivanhoe, Take
you Pick, Double your Money, Popeye, Sunday night at the London Palladium, All
Our Yesterdays, Trailers of TV Commercials on a Monday morning were always
.......interesting!
There are so many things that come to mind of that era which
I haven’t covered yet. Bedlam Pool, the
disabled guy on his tricycle who used his arms to peddle it around, the
coalman, the milkman, Dog-end Charlie, the Rag and Bone Man, the French Onion
Seller on his bicycle, the big Chip shop fire in Ethelred Street – can anyone
remember that?
May be I will put another piece together - or if anyone else
would like add their "two-penneth" send your memories to my sister
Jan at lambethkids@googlemail.com
Like Jimmy said
“Photos are not enough – if people don’t write things down, memories will be
lost forever.”
Contributed by Les Crow October 2017
