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EMAIL, From PETER HUBBARD, New Zealand.
Dated:- 1st April 2004
SHARING MEMORIES
Hello Peter,
Great site, lost it for a while. Relieved and happy to have found it again. Wonderful to share yours and others memories of Brentford.
My name is Peter Hubbard, I'm 63 and brought up mainly in Brentford until I married a Brentford girl Eileen Richardson in 1961. She was the daughter of Fred and Winifred Richardson of 52 North Road. I believe Eileen's brother Ken and his wife Sheila have written you in the past from Canada. Eileen's sister Pat married John Gorham of 18 Burford Rd.. John was my best mate at Brentford Secondary Modern, that's how I met Eileen, at Pat and John's engagement party. Once married we moved to Acton until emigrating to New Zealand in 1975. Sadly my beloved Eileen passed away from cancer in 1990 aged 49. I have a daughter Jane now 40 who blessed us with 3 grandsons ( 13-18). I married a Kiwi girl (Judy) with 3 sons (now 35-40) in 1993, I have another grandson and grandaughter (3 & 1) as a result. Sad to say I also lost Judy at 59 to cancer two years ago. However, I consider myself very fortunate to have had two happy marriages. Unfortunately there are some people who don't find that happiness once.
Eileen went to St. Georges school and later Chiswick Girls Grammer. I went to Boston Manor House Infant school, Ealing Rd Infant and Junior schools, and then Brentford Secondary Modern. Believe it or not my earliest recollections of schooling were climbing on the climbing frames at Lional Rd Nursery and also the compuslary naps on camp type stretchers at Ealing Rd Nursery.
Some of my earliest memories of Brentford were when my mother (Hilda Hubbard nee Lemon) and I lived with my grandparents ( Percy & Aggie Lemon [nee Beckingham] ) at 152 Ealing Road, next to the Chiswick Heating Co. also known as Barber's builders yard on the corner of New Rd. Sometimes I went with my grandmother to the New Inn Off-license opposite with an enamel jug to get her jug of porter (the slops that drained from all the beers). During most of that time my father Tom Hubbard was in the Army. My aunt Aggie Pye (later Mancey) lived at the bottom of Ealing Road next to a Cafe which had a pinball machine, just before a couple of shops and Albany Rd. This cafe later became a Car salesyard. My Uncle Harry (Hubbard) lived in Lionel Road, I think your friend Roy Hubbard was his son (my cousin). You also mentioned Donald Dear, who I think lived in Burford Road or nearby. He used to come to our house and take our dog for a walk ( I think the dogs name was Bulla).
While living in Ealing Road, I remember watching a parade that came down Ealing road from the Ealing direction and on towards the High Street, at the bottom turing left towards Kew. Among the parade of sevicemen were some Canadian Mounties on horseback, does anybody remember this parade and what it was for (VE, VJ or Coronation?). All I remember is hanging out of our upstairs window waving our flags.
When my father came out of the army he went back to his job as a builder and we moved to the Boston Manor Road prefabs next to the park. It was while living here that I attended first Boston Manor and then Ealing Road Infant schools moving on to Ealing Road Junior School. Some of the teachers I remember were Mrs. Dean in the infants and Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Straw and Mrs. Grant ( a Canadian teacher) in the juniors. Mrs. Grant lived on a boat in the Cubic Yaght Basin next to Chiswick Bridge, I visited her there once. I always thought Mrs. Straw looked like Jane in the Daily Mirror, maybe thats why I remember her even today. Some of the neighbourhood kids at Boston Manor Road, were David Pugh and his ginger haired older brother? ( they were Welsh ), Maureen Bullock, Freddie and Teddy Jackman, the Gardner kids, Victor Terry and his older brother?. Also, Henry Simon and Norman Bennet? from the Boy's Home in The Ride. These two were also in my class at Ealing Road. I've enclosed a photo of this class (Mrs. Grants class). I can picture all of those in the class as if were yesterday, but can't remember all the names. Some I can remember a first name or a last name but not both. Mostly I remember the boy names but not the girls. I'll name as many as I can and perhaps there are people out there who can help me with the rest. Muriel Wallington, you mention in one of your email's to Peter you were in my year at Ealing Road school. Which one were you, and perhaps you can help with some of the other girls names. Please forgive me if I get some wrong. I've put question marks next to names I don't remember or I'm not 100% sure about and have made a guess at, --- ---?, Alan Taylor, Brenda Whelan?, David Cox, Ross Matthews, Mrs Grant, --- ---?, Geoffrey Love?, Heather Curruthers?, Audrey ---?, --- ---? Ann Francis?, David Cooper, John Heath, Henry Simon, Diane Shields, --- ---?, (a girl who came from Germany?), Ian Morris, Alan Colgate, Micheal Emery, Pauline ---?, Norman French, Me (Peter Hubbard), John Stevens, --- ---?, Peter Brightwell, Norman Bennett?, Tony Cresswell, Brian Vines?, Winnie Brown, Barbara ---?, Janet ---?, --- ---?, Kenneth/Keith -----?, --- ---, Joan Hancock, Anne ---?, John Gibbs, Bobby Lewis, Raymond Thomas?, Raymond/Alan Brown?.
On leaving School at 15 I became an apprentice draughtsman, first at C W Garrett & Son Ltd in Windmill Road Brentford and later transferring to Evershed & Vignoles in Chiswick.
I recently saw a chap sitting in my local shopping mall in Manukau City ( New Zealand), who I thought I recognised as somebody I went to school with. I'd seen him four or five times over the past ten years, but made no approach for fear of looking stupid if it wasn't. After all people can change appearance in forty odd years, so I wasn't absolutely sure it was him. We're both grey haired old buggers now. Anyway, this time I approached and said, "Is your name Jimmy Wells". He replied, "No, its Bob Wells but I've got a brother called Jimmy". Since the last name was the same I persevered and asked him where he came from, to which he replied "Brentford, England". I told him that I came from Brentford too and that I went to Brentford Secondary Modern school. He replied he had too, and procceded to tell me that he's teacher had been a Mr. Crockford and started naming some of the other teacher's, and some of the boy's in his class. The teacher's he named were Mr. Wooton (known as Woody), Mr. Clark (known as Bosher), the woodwork teacher only known as Eggy, Mr. Fannan, Mr. Stork (known as Storky), Mr. Wilder (the assistant headmaster and later headmaster) and the Headmaster Mr. Phelps. The boy's mentioned were - John Heath, John Hannaford, Ian Morris, David Riley,Teddy Marsh, John Gorham ( my sister-in-law's husband), John Taylor. Barry Prince, Alan Pilgrim, Brian Salmon, Ross Matthews, Ronald Lewis, Colin Lewis, Peter Scott, Henry Simon, Peter Blackwell, John Stevens, Dennis Anderson, Bobby Lewis, Brian St George,Terry French and a guy called something Hopkins (his father had played for Brentford at some point). It became obvious from what he was saying that we were in the same class, and that I had somehow got his name mixed up with his brother's. I don't ever remember calling him Bob anyway, because we all called him by his nickname of " Wagger". Apparently he and his wife Pauline and family have lived only a few a streets away from me for the last 15 years, and at one time had looked at buying the house next door to me (probably put off by seeing the rough old neigbours).
Bob's story is that he first came to New Zealand in the mid sixties approximately some ten years before me, met his wife Pauline ( A Kiwi girl ) at his local soccer club social. After getting married, they went back to live in Brentford for thirteen years. At this time they returned to New Zealand. While in Brentford his wife Pauline took over the hairdresser's on the corner of Brook and Albany roads for a period of time, maybe somebody remembers her. For part of their stay they lived with his parents in Brook road, and later in Norwood Green.
Peter, since Bob hasn't got a computer and unfortunately has Parkinson's (although under control with medication and not serverely affecting him at present), it leads me to ask if you could either email or fax [((09) 266 6601] a copy of that 1936 street directory for Brook Road to me for him. I know he would greatly appreciate this, since he was brought up in Brook Road. This is not the Wells family that had the greengrocers. Bob's father was in the police force.
Through Bob's sister Anne now living in Devon, I've managed to make contact with an old neighbour, Pat Newman (nee Rowe) of 33 Burford Road. Her father was also in the police force and her mother a litttle fair haired Swiss lady. Pat now lives in Hanworth. She also has a sister Geraldine married to another Brentonian Ray Heath and now living in Spain. Ray has a brother John, who was also in my classes at both Ealing Road. and Brentford Secondary Modern schools.
My parents along with my sisters Sue and Jenny all emigrated to Western Australia in the late 1960's, followed a few years later by my grandparents Percy & Aggie Lemon at the ages of 84 and 85. My grandfather, who worked for the Waterworks at Greendragon lane until retiring, died in Geraldton, West. Australia at the age of 92, and my grandmother followed later aged 98. Also, my father died in Perth, WA about 6 years ago. My mother still lives in WA as do my sisters, both married with 3 adult children each. Susan also has 4 grandchildren. When my grandfather died, the Australian RSL (Returned Servicemen League, the equivalent of the British Legion) sent three members along to his funeral. This was because he had served in France during WW1, and they did this for all veterans. Considering my grandfather didn't belong to the RSL, I thought this a nice thing to do and rather touching. When we were kids Sue and I used to go the Methodist or Baptist ( I can't remember which it was ) sunday school at the bottom of North Rd. The headmaster's name was Mr. Fromo, he owned a shoe shop in Chiswick High Sreet. I remember a couple of times we wagged off sunday school, and took the money our parents had given us for the collection box and spent it at Kew Fair. Until one day our sunday school teacher visited our parents to check on why we hadn't been to sunday school. We were grounded for a month as well as having sore bottoms that evening, there wasn't any talk about not smacking children in those days.
Brentford Cottage Hospital, the one opposite the railway station has a few memories for me. As a kid I remember visiting the out patients, or was it an emergency room ? To the right as you went in the entrance. We use to get taken there to get our cuts and the like sewn up. There was an old nurse there who stitched you up with a big curved needle, completely ignoring your screams of pain. I know time dims the memory, but it always felt as if the concept of pain relief while stitching was unknown to her. Maybe it was just the psycological terror of seeing this huge needle that made a 5 or 6 year old imagine so. Anyway, thats how I remember it.
Even though I had moved to Acton when I got married, I still kept with my doctor ( Dr Winacour) in Brentford, and so ended up in the cottage hospital in my early twenties for an operation on my back. The surgeon was a Mr Reddley-Smith who I think was also a one time director at Brentford Football Club. The Matron use to wear a navy blue uniform with a white collar and cuffs, ornate silver buckle, and a lacey bonnet tied under the chin like Old Mother Riley. Although I think she was a kindly soul, she ruled that place with a rod of iron, and I remember she would come and pull the blinds down and turn the lights off at 8.30 or 9.0pm. We were then expected to go to sleep like good little boys even though it was still daylight outside and every body in the ward was an adult. There was a policeman in the bed next to me and one night after curfew he pulled his sheet over head to hide the fact he was lighting up a cigarette, but only to the effect that his sheet stood out like a beacon. This light show drew the Matron's attention as she passed the ward entrance on one of her regular patrols. She stormed in, specifically giving the policeman a dressing down, and reading the riot act to rest of us. She left us feeling a little sheepish, but unable to stop a series of sniggering laughs while we lay there in the dark like naughty boys. She also use to come around the ward like a sergeant-major making sure we sat to attention for the doctor's morning ward rounds. The emergency nurse and the Matron were real characters, whose memory will stay with me always.
Other memories of Brentford are Jafferates ice cream shop in Albany Road ( best ice cream I've ever had ), and the sweet shop opposite the bug hutch. I'm not sure of the shop's name, but it might have been Jarvis's and I think the man behind the counter was called Alf? My sister Sue and I used to go get our 2oz ( only 2oz because they were still rationed at that time ) of sweets before going to saturday afternoon pictures opposite at the bug hutch. Sometimes, the film on saturday was 'A' rated and all the kids would queue up along side the cinema to get in. The kids at the front of the queue would ask the incoming adult patrons to take them in with them. Every now and then a sympathetic adult would take one or two from the front in. Needless to say this was a slow process, and usually by the time we got in it was half way through the first film. However, on one occasion I remember a lady took the whole queue of about 30 kids in one go. What a sweetheart she was. Later, like others who have contacted you, I went to saturday morning pictures at the Northfields Odeon, and for a brief spell while living in Chiswick to the Hammersmith Commodore saturday morning pictures. Saturday morning pictures was wonderful pandemonium. Yelling for the good guys, booing the bad the guys, singing songs, noisy but great times.
Like Pat Whelan and yourself Peter I remember Proto's sweetshop in Ealing Rd. My grandchildren burst into hysterical laughter and express their disbelief in what they consider my tall stories, when I tell them about this shop back in England where we use to buy twigs of wood and chew them until they became soggy. Of course I,m talking about a yellow Spanish wood that tasted like licorice, and when I think back on it I can hardly believe we did it myself.
David Gregg's is another shop I have strong memories of, with its tins of loose biscuits on those angled shelves in front of the counter, the bacon slicer and the wire cheese cutter ( it all seems to be shrink-wrapped these days ). Just along from Gregg's towards the courthouse was a tobacconists that sold all sorts of foreign cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobaccos. I remember they sold Abdulla Turkish and perfumed cigarettes ( very excotic ), and the shop had this wonderful cigar smell to it. Opposite was a mens wear shop ( I think it was called Stone,s). I remember two Eel pie & mash shops, one in the High St. at the Half Acre and the other in the High St. around the bottom of Ealing Rd. near Haywood's the barber's. It didn't matter what hairstyle you asked for at Hayward's, you got short back and sides. Also there was Goddard's furniture shop and removals. There's a Goddard's furniture removal company in Auckland NZ, and I've often wondered if it was started by any of the Brentford Goddard's who might possibly have emigrated here? I often see the Goddard's furniture removal trucks around and about. Also, I think there must be somebody from the general Brentford area living here that has maybe been a councillor in the past or worked for Manukau City Council because there's a Brentford Place, an Osterley Way and Putney Way here. Manukau City is a new satelite city to Auckland, and has only been established in the last 40 years. The area where Brentford Place is, having been developed about 30 years ago.
There use to be a drapers shop in Chiswick called Goodbans. I only mention this because it had an unusual system of overhead wires along which the shop assistants shot a canister device containing your payment for goods to a central cashier's podium. The cashier unscrewed the canister, removed your money and replaced it with your change and shot it back along the wire to the shop assistant at the counter. Well, I saw exactly the same system in a drapers store in the provincial town of Cambridge in the Waikato District of New Zealand. The store front windows were also similar, complete with recessed entrance to the doors and lead light patterns in the corners. All in the art deco style. Inside were the same type of counters, layout and even the fabric smell, just like walking back in time some thirty years. I came across this store in1980 and havn't revisited Cambridge since, so probably it's gone or changed by now. Chiswick has a few memories for me too. Remember the Chiswick Empire and its posters just outside the Brentford football ground gate in Ealing Road. The Empire was demolished and replaced by an office block even before I left England. They had some wonderful artists there, such as Billy Esktine, Billy Daniels, Tommy Steele, etc., I've still got an old program with Des O'conner as top of the bill. Also, do you remember the pantomines, and not forgetting the Foly Berge' ( I don't think I spelt that right). Very risque' in those days, and the nude models weren't allowed to move so I was told. I'm relying on hearsay only as I wasn"t old enough for admission in those days anyway, but my imagination used to run away with itself when I'd look up at those posters while waiting at the bus stop.
Does anybody remember the 'Q' theater at Kew Bridge. The Architecture was art-deco, with its row of doors encasing frosted windows with Art Deco design patterns. Also, from that period was the Medical Clinic, between Albany Rd. and the High Street., with its flat multi leveled roof, iron framed windows, the occasional glass brick feature walls and paved courtyard with goldfish pond. This style seemed very modern and refreshing to me as a child, and I can always remember thinking I,d like to have a house like it when I grew up. Even though it very dated now, at the time it portrayed in my mind an association with the modern Hollywood style houses seen in films in the late forties & early fifties. I remember mum used to take me there to get our concentrated orange juice, malt extract, and cod liver oil. Guess which one of the three I hated taking. I also had some dental work done there, while at junior school. What stands out in my memory was being given gas to put us out during the process.
I mentioned how much I liked the clinic as a building. This was probably inspired by the fact that at the time I thought most of Brentford was drab with all its terraced houses and the Gas Works with its coke dust along the High Street, especially on a rainy day. Now I look back with nostalgia on those terraced houses and the almost village like infrastructure and atmosphere we had then, and feel a great sadness when I contemplate what it has been replaced with. People mostly seemed to know each other, particularly in your immediate locality. Women would talk to each other, sometimes standing in their doorways on opposite sides of the street, without the noise of cars zooming up and down to interrupt. Also because of this communal infrastructure people seemed more restrained in exhibiting excesses in behaviour. Although there's always been problems with things like drunkeness and loutish behavoiur from some people, I think during my time in Brentford I remember that on the whole people had more respect and consideration for each other. For example, there have always been fights in certain types of pubs, but mugging of the elderly seemed almost unheard of.
Back to the clinic, just opposite there was a hall where they used to have christmas parties for children of Labour Party supporters. I remember going to a few of these. There's a photo on your web site of a North Thames Gas Board children party that looked very similar to the Labour Party one. Maybe its the same hall.
My closest circle of friends at school were John Gorham, Alan Pilgrim, Teddy Marsh, John Stevens and Ross Matthews. So it was with sadness that I read in one of the emails sent you, about Teddy Marsh's death. The email was from Denise Davy and although not mentioned by name in the email, all the information in it matches the profile of Teddy and his family and where they lived. Teddy, John Gorham, and myself used to belong to a youth club, run in the St. Georges church hall. Another member there was the older of the two Christmas boys, he was a very good table- tennis player. Also, there was a member whose name I don't remember, but he used to play boogie woogie on the piano, I thought this was great. I think he was some relation of Teddy's.
About 1953-55 I use to do a paper round for Whithair's the newsagents in Greet Rd. The Christmas's mentioned by one of your emailees ( if thats a word ) lived next door to Whithair's. My morning round was to deliver to Greet and Burford roads, and in the evenings I did the estate bounding Clayponds lane on the other side of the Great West Road. Sometimes, while working my way down the first side of Greet Rd. this particular lady used to come over to me from the other side and ask for her paper because her husband had to go to work early and couldn't wait for me to come up her side of the road. The papers were all numbered and placed in the bag in the order of delivery, and by the time I reached her house I would nearly always have forgetten and delivered her house the next paper from the bag. Thus, from there on in, the rest of Greet Rd. got got next doors paper. I'd realise what had happened at the last house when I was left with no paper for it. This meant I'd have to retrace my steps to the lady's house trying to retrieve the papers from the letter boxes. Many of the letter boxes put up a stiff resistance to retrieval, so there was a lot of cursing and torn papers re-delivered in that section of Greet Road. Mr Whithair was always fielding complaints from irate customers and would pass his annoyance on to me. I think I got the sack in the end.
Peter, you mentioned in one of your early pieces about a sailor or seafaring looking gent who used to sit at the bottom of Ealing road. After talking by telephone to my mother in Australia, I think this might have been my great grandfather Moses Beckingham. My mother tells me he use to sit there, smoking his pipe, and that he wore his sailor type cap. He'd been a seaman in his earlier years I believe, but in later years had captained a boat that travelled up and down the Thames between Brentford and the Port of London. She said everybody called him old Mo.
While I'm thinking about the bottom of Ealing Rd., I remember when they re-layed it with concrete, and under the old tar sealed surface were wooden blocks. Everybody was down there with their sacks collecting the tar impregnated blocks for burning on their fires.
Peter, you might be interested know I've come across a few people in some of the most unexpected places, who knew of or had some association with Brentford and the surrounding areas. I once worked with a young kiwi here in Auckland NZ whose father who lives in Napier NZ was an old Brentford supporter. While dealing with New Zealand, did you know that the only time New Zealand qualified for the soccer World Cup (the one held in Spain) one of their star players was a Brian Turner, who had played a 100 first team games for Brentford.
My grandfather Lemon had a brother in the Indian Army before the War, and while attending an army soccer game out there found out his was sitting next a Brentford supporter when the chap shouted "up the Bees" to the side he was supporting. About ten years ago my wife Judy and I were travelling from Flagstaff to Pheonix in Arizona, and discovered the family in front of us were from Kew Green. It was during conversations with them I first learned Brentford Gas Works had been dismantled. Finally, last year I was in New York for one of my stepson's wedding. While there I found myself at a very swanky charity wine tasting. All the wines and a night out with a few celebrities being auctioned off for charity. Apart from me, most people attending were pretty well off. During the course of the evening I heard a voice with a London accent, and got talking to this English chap and wife (also English). Both looked and had the bearing of people in their fifties. He told me he's wife was in her fifties but that he was seventy-five, and they had lived in New York for about thirty years. When I told him I came from NZ but was originally from Brentford, he said he came from Hounslow and was a long time Brentford supporter. He also said he'd worked along the Great West Road in Brentford in his youth. I think he told me where, but have since forgotten.
Well, that's it for now Peter. Even though my life is here in New Zealand with my family and grandchildren, there will always be a part of me that's a Brentonian. Once again, a wonderful site that's given me a lot of enjoyment. I'll keep watching with great interest.
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Last Updated: 22nd NOVEMBER 2005
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