Thank you for the welcome. I now live in Devon, but as I said in my last post I went back to Downham last year. I wrote to Merlin School (Ballamore) and asked if I could visit and look around the buildings I first saw 70 or so years ago. They took a bit of persuading, but eventually agreed. My old mate from childhood days, Gordon Wilton, came with me - he still lives in the area but not on Downham. We parked the car in Roundtable Road and walked back to the Admin block of the school which was once the girls' entrance. I was dismayed to see that an 8 foot high fence had been erected all round the school premises and we had to be camera identified before going in. The whole visit turned out to be utterly charming. A young black girl and a small white boy, Kia and Jack, took us all round the school, into every classroom and all the children were invited to ask us questions. They mainly wanted to know what it was like at school in our day. By prompting, one of the teachers got a small boy to ask me what happened in my day if we misbehaved. When I told them that we would probably have got the stick and our names placed in the headmaster's black book, a gasp went up from the class. I showed them a photo of me when I went to their school and was asked 'did you have to wear a tie?' I asked them what games they played in the playground - did they still do 'buzzing up' when two boys run along side each other arms linked behind with a third acting as driver? They hadn't heard of that but they still play release, British bulldog and statues. I went to my very first classroom at the road end of the single storey block and, of course, it had changed out of all recognition, but it still had the original corridor door!. I remembered that the caretaker in those days was a Mr Lawrence and he lived in the house next to the school going towards Shroffold Road. His daughter was in my class The best part of the visit was when we watched a singing lesson in the upstairs hall of children from nursery to year 1. They finished by all marching out smartly and in line singing 'I can sing a rainbow' beautifully in tune - I was in tears! Sadly, we were not allowed to photograph the children, but I took plenty of the buildings and playgrounds. We had coffee in the teachers' common room and then finished the visit with more classroom questions. After that we went 'up the top' for something to eat. I hardly recognised the place. When I lived there, starting from the bottom of the shops on the right hand side were the post office, Wilsons - the various goods prices used to be written on the shop window with soluble white paint and we, as boys, loved to run past and wipe it off as we went - Gunners the grocers, Hammets the butchers, Boltons the sweet shop, Morrell and Dixons the chemists, United Dairies, Clarks and, on the corner, Whites lemonades nd ice cream. On the other side it was Snooky's Snack Bar, All Needs, Mr Witty the Barber, Pearks and the Maypole on the corner amongst others - as far as I can remember. We had a very good snack lunch in a cafe where Clarks , the greengrocer, used to be. I was amazed to see that the Downham Tavern had gone! Also, the library. It was good to see that the estate was relatively litter free and quite quiet. Merlin Gardens now has an electricity sub station in what used to be Jackie Wormley's garden and the two big oak trees that grew on the council ground out side Dickie Waterhouse's have gone, a car parking area built in its place. Some of the windows in the flats were boarded up and a boy at the school told me that Merlin Gardens was going to be knocked down! The broad, symmetrical pavement and neat privet hedges of my day have largely gone. It seems to be all wheelie bins and parked cars. However, I believe that the general state of all the houses, gardens and roads are better than when I lived there.
I returned home with many happy memories. Now, on Street View, I walk from Merlin Gardens down Shroffold Road, up the Green Steps, down Downham Way to Grove Park station then down Chinbrook Road, past Amblecote in to Chinbrook Park - or 'dahn the Chinnie' as we used to say!
'bye for now.
Vic.
