Downham Online Discussion

We are finally getting some heat in July here in the Canadian Rockies, but we had a really cold and wet June, i think it must have rained 26 days out of 30, we had a bit of high water in the river, more so downstream, after a record snowpack over the winter, we still have to have some more runoff so the river will come up again, a couple of weeks a go the Bow Falls was very high and a couple of kayakers decided to take a chance to ride the falls, they made it over (luckily) it 's not recommended, but it's been done a few times over the years, most notably in the 1950's when they made the movie- The River of no Return- starring Marilyn Monroe & Robert Mitchum.(little bit of trivia for the morning)

Jim

I wonder if anyone remembers my uncle John Simmons, he was a bus inspector with London Transport and you could always see him by the church in Catford where the 124 stopped opposite the Town hall, he had 4 daughters ( my cousins ) Carole, Lesley, Jackie and Gillian i think they all went to Churchdown school for girls, i haven't had much contact with them for a while, Les got married and moved to OZ, i visited them in 1965 when i was on the SS Oriana while we were in Melbourne, they lived in Brunswick, then a few years later i was in Melbourne again and they lived in Broadmeadows and the final time i visited they had moved out to the " boonies " to a place called Kangaroo Ground road in Warrendyte which I've been told is quite built up now, anyway, when they lived in Downham, it was at bottom of Downham Way just up from the Midland Bank where the 36b used to stop, i think the rest of the girls still live in London.

Jim

We would go in the front entrance of "Woolies" in Catford and exit through the side doors, and right across the street was this little shop ( i forget the name of it ) where you could buy all sorts of weird funky stuff, like- pocket watches, long clay smoking pipes, black face soap, itchy powder and my favourite- stink bombs- they came in a box with cotton wool around them, in a glass ampules, then we would go back through "Woolies" and we would leave a deposit on our way out, that usually caused a bit of strange look on the customers faces and roars of laughter on ours, and then we would take the 124 bus home and usually drop another as we got off at the Northover. We weren't bad kids, just a bit mischievous.
Jim

Does anyone remember the two houses in Downderry Rd that had metal for outside walls, somebody told me when i was a kid that it was an experiment in building techniques, i just wonder if some of the older posters might know anything about that.

Jim

Does anyone remember Ernie the knifegrinder, i used to help him when he showed up in
downham during the '60s, we would travel all over the estate knocking on doors, and he would sharpen knives, scissors and even those old push lawnmowers, for a knife he would charge one shilling and out of that he would give us threepence, hatchets, axes i think he charged 2 bob, and we got a tanner, sometimes he would stay a few days and move on to another district, i think he lived in Deptford at that big Doss house on the corner of the
high street.

Jim

John,
      We live in an area famous for the skiing, so, a saying around here is " We have 8 months of winter and 4 months of bad skiing " but, seriously, we do have some nice summers, sometimes it can hit 30 degrees, not too often.
       A bit more about myself - I went to Ballamore and then on to Pendragon and then to Downham Boys,
the year i left school was when Downham Boys closed down.- my first job was at Glennifer laundry, and then i got a job at Frisby's, a men's clothing store at the bottom of Downham Way - at 16, i joined the Merchant Navy and stayed in, on and off for 7 years, came to Canada in 1974 on Freddie Laker airlines and enjoyed it so much that i stayed ( it was a lot easier in those days ). I now work in a rental shop, skis in winter, bikes in summer, hopefully to retire in the near future.

Jim