Notable Downhamites

[Dickie eagle]

[quote author=David Line
All fascinating stuff, but it was not just "the famous" I was thinking about.

does being the "Grooms" bakers boy count ?. I had to get my pocket money somewhere, We covered about three quarters of the estate( including Churchdown Smiffy ),and I can still remember most of our customers . lots of "tick" too ! then the next week they didn't answer the door although you could see the curtains twitching         Dickie.....................

[Brenda]

Of course Groom's baker boy should be up there with the best of them.  Love the story about the twitching curtains.

Now then, Dickie, how about telling everyone what you knew about Joe of Capstone Road.  He was certainly a 'character', wasn't he?

[Dickie eagle]

Brenda lover, Joe was an old friend,and we did get around quite a lot together , we had fun and I seemed to have spent a lot of time in Capstone Rd., too, all I can say is that he had a lovely family  with five lovely sisters to match. Tell you what, I'll send you a copy of his Autobiography for Christmas, okay !  Dickie.............

[Pauline]

Can anyone through any light on the Provident people?  I seem to recall my Mum got Provident cheques and certain shops would accept them for clothing.  But I have no idea how they worked. I am assuming Mum would either pay for them before or after she got them.  Anyone else do this ?

We had Grooms bread - they had a depot in Sundridge Park.

An what about the rag and bone man - my Mum would never let me get anything off of him.

[Brenda]

Brenda lover, Joe was an old friend,and we did get around quite a lot together , we had fun and I seemed to have spent a lot of time in Capstone Rd., too, all I can say is that he had a lovely family  with five lovely sisters to match. Tell you what, I'll send you a copy of his Autobiography for Christmas, okay !  Dickie.............

Are we thinking of the same Joe, Dickie?  Joe who had his stall outside his house until the council in its wisdom said it was illegal and so he took all his jars etc inside and had them on the stairs?  If Mrs Joe answered the door to our knocks, she always seemed so scared.  Perhaps, the new system was illegal too and she was scared of ... who? 

[Brenda]

The Provident cheques ring a bell although I don't recall my mother using them.  Don't know anything about them though, Pauline.

As for the rag and bone man, well, I always worried about the horse having to drag the cart along.  I also hated it when my mother sent me out with a bundle of old clothes (and they must have been very old because anything that could be altered or cut down or mended would have been) because I could guarantee whatever I got for them did not suit my mother at all and then, naturally, I would feel bad about it.

Does anyone remember the old lady in Capstone Rd to whom we'd go for wreaths?  She lived near the cut-through to the Catholic Church and had a garden full of hollyhocks.  She also had what I now know to be lymphodoema in one leg.  Anyway, she was really part of the 'village' system, wasn't she?  No Interflora then, just round to her to order the wreath or posy.  I never did know her name. 

[christine]

Have to say that all these comments have started the memories rushing back.  Another one I remember is the Coop milkman whose name, I think, was Bill.  I remember his milk float coming to grief one day in Woodbank Road (I lived on the corner of Woodbank and Shaw Road) - did it go out of control or had he had one too many Christmas sherries - that bit I cannot remember but remember it was around Christmas time.  And yes, I think I remember the Provident cheques if that is the scheme whereby clothes were bought and paid for over a number of weeks.  If that was the case then that's where my awful dresses came from - got bought at about age 7 when they came almost to the ankles and then by the age of 11 actually fitted!  Could not imagine my daughter when she was small putting up with that in a million years - hers had to come from Laura Ashley!  I also remember being told that the man who stood on the corner of, I think, Lentmead was someone called a 'bookies runner' - anyone remember or enlighten?

[Brenda]

There was also a bookies' runner who used to stand on the corner of Capstone and Lamerock Rds.  Perhaps one and the same.  My (honorary) Aunt Nell who lived in Capstone Rd used to keep a lookout for the strong arm of the law for him.  Not that I recall the police were ever on the estate regularly.  In fact, it seemed quite a novelty for a constable to pass by - on foot, of course. 

Our milkman (I presume the Co-op man) was Ginger, so called for obvious reasons, and was unfailingly cheerful.  How did these blokes manage to be so nice in such dead-end jobs (as we would call them now) for years and years and years?   So, I definitely nominate the milkmen and all the other tradesmen - including the baker's boys, naturally.

Can't help laughing about the dresses, Chris.  But you're right of course.  Our mothers used to buy everything too big so we'd get plenty of wear from our clothes.  And if it didn't have a large hem to let down in the future, it simply wasn't bought.

[Pauline]

Does anyone remember the old lady in Capstone Rd to whom we'd go for wreaths?  She lived near the cut-through to the Catholic Church and had a garden full of hollyhocks.  She also had what I now know to be lymphodoema in one leg.  Anyway, she was really part of the 'village' system, wasn't she?  No Interflora then, just round to her to order the wreath or posy.  I never did know her name. 

I remember my dad used to belong to a garden club in Moorside.

My Mum would buy my dresses from Peakroys(?) in Catford on layby.  But mostly she would make them.  Did anyone else have the toes of their shoes cut out when they got too small?  My kids and grandthings would be mortified.

[Dickie eagle]

Sorry about the "Joe" thing Bren, two different Joe's eh?  old Joe Gorin and his sweet stall yep! quite a character, but his son was quite good looking.(i.e he didn't have Joe's nose) That Bookie actually lived in the house on the Capstone end of Lamerock. I put my refractory  half-crown into a sheet of paper and wrote "Sheila's Cottage" and signed it "Eagle", it was a tip by the "Tout" on the back of the "News of the World" and came home at 40 to 1. which made the win £5.2s6d at a time when the average wage on Downham was £2 a week, I got 30/- which paid for my scouts camp. Incidentally the most Grown out of dress I encountered was a well developed Guide who still struggled into her Brownie Dress (She looked gorgeous) and was very friendly , I have to be careful what I write she may still be around          dickie...;.......

[Brenda]

I thought sweet-stall Joe would have been a bit old for a young Dickie to be sowing his wild oats with.  As for the Girl Guide, well Dickie, I suspect there are a few ladies of your youth who have some blush-making memories.

I wonder when Joe and Mrs Joe left Downham and where they went. I am sure he was still selling his sweets when rationing ended but maybe I've got that wrong.

Pauline, I think the shop was Pecrys (or was it Pecries or ...?) and it was the one at the top of Catford Broadway, wasn't it? 

I am pleased to say I never had the toes cut out of my shoes (although I remember the many children who did) but my mother, like yours, made most of our clothes.  She knitted socks and gloves and hats and jumpers and our winter coats were made by cutting down those from older cousins.  So yes, another nomination for notable Downhamites is our hard-working, make-do-and-mend but don't moan mums.

[Dickie eagle]

Thanks Bren, can you include a Bakers boy in your next printed works ? oh yes and the girl guide who you can name June (Well she was busting out all over !)   dickie...........

[Dickie eagle]

We got no rain,only Drizzle,which is miserable, but my daughter drove me to Bexley for the  "Joe Mudele Trio" with the guest artist John Dankwoth, so the Kings Head was packed to the gunwhales but very friendly and enjoyable, sadly unlike the old days there was no singalong , in the old Tavern at weekend if the band played a popular number everyone joined in,a regular "Sod's Opera". I guess the war also contributed to the atmosphere and Bon Homie.              dickie....................

[christine]

My brother, Don, was, I believe, the first Queen's Scout in the area back in 1953 and sold programmes at the Queen's Coronation so does that make him a notable Downhamite?  If any of you slightly older Downhamites attended the scout troop at St Luke's Church you may remember him, Don Bourne, (and his best friend and subsequent best man, Peter, who also got the scouting award at the same time)?

[Dickie eagle]

Was your brother at the summer camp just south of Yeovil the incumbent was there and an old friend of mine  , one Sid Adams (and wife plus two sons) must have been around 1964 . St Lukes had a green scarf with a gold border (not forgetting the woggle ! )     dickie................