Our eleventh blog linked to Lewisham Voices Facebook video posts.
In this weekly series, the stories, memories, poems and writing from people who lived, worked or wrote about the area of Lewisham are shared.
Enjoy Lewisham Voices.
Christine Henley remembers growing up in the prefabs on Montague Avenue on the edge of Hilly Fields in Lewisham. Below is the transcript of the video and some of her photographs.
If anyone else has memories of growing up in the London Borough of Lewisham and would like to share them do get in touch with us.
Email Katrina.blench@lewisham.gov.uk
If anyone else has memories of growing up in the London Borough of Lewisham and would like to share them do get in touch with us.
Email Katrina.blench@lewisham.gov.uk
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| Rent book for prefab 1949 |
My mum, dad and older brother Richard moved into our prefab on the 14th October 1946. The weekly rent, water rates and electricity charge was 18 shillings and 6 pence (92 ½ p in new money).
The prefabs were built on the edge of Hilly Fields – along Adelaide Avenue, Montague Avenue and Hilly Fields Crescent. Our prefab was on Montague Avenue. They were meant to be there for ten years – not particularly welcomed by the residents on the other side of the road. I was born the
following January (1947) in the prefab. Heavy snow that year meant my brother – who had been staying at our granny’s in Maidstone before my birth – could not return home until March. My sister Anne was born eighteen months later – a family of five in the prefab.
The prefabs were built on the edge of Hilly Fields – along Adelaide Avenue, Montague Avenue and Hilly Fields Crescent. Our prefab was on Montague Avenue. They were meant to be there for ten years – not particularly welcomed by the residents on the other side of the road. I was born the
following January (1947) in the prefab. Heavy snow that year meant my brother – who had been staying at our granny’s in Maidstone before my birth – could not return home until March. My sister Anne was born eighteen months later – a family of five in the prefab.
Even today the foundations appear in the summer. I can stand in my bedroom amazed at how two
bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom (separate toilet) as well as a hallway fitted into such a
small plot.
Mum loved the prefab. Everything was electric. We had a small fridge and used to make ice cream
from National powdered milk. A copper for the washing, an oven, larder and a pull-down ironing
board in the kitchen.
In the living room there was a small coal-burning fire that heated the water in the back boiler. This
was our main source of heating. In the winter we would huddle around it, inviting chilblains,
reluctant to move anywhere else in the prefab. They were freezing. Old coats were out over our
bedding as icicles would develop on the inside of the windows. And in the mornings, before the fire was lit, mum would put the oven on and leave the door open to heat the kitchen for breakfast
(bread and milk).
The electric meter was in the hallway and had to be fed shillings (5p). It would always run out at
awkward times leaving us in the dark while Dad went round the neighbours to see if anybody could spare one. One time there was such a thick fog he got lost coming back.
Every so often the meter man came round to empty it. Sometimes we got a rebate – a great feeling
for a family that lived from one pay-day to the next.
bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom (separate toilet) as well as a hallway fitted into such a
small plot.
Mum loved the prefab. Everything was electric. We had a small fridge and used to make ice cream
from National powdered milk. A copper for the washing, an oven, larder and a pull-down ironing
board in the kitchen.
In the living room there was a small coal-burning fire that heated the water in the back boiler. This
was our main source of heating. In the winter we would huddle around it, inviting chilblains,
reluctant to move anywhere else in the prefab. They were freezing. Old coats were out over our
bedding as icicles would develop on the inside of the windows. And in the mornings, before the fire was lit, mum would put the oven on and leave the door open to heat the kitchen for breakfast
(bread and milk).
The electric meter was in the hallway and had to be fed shillings (5p). It would always run out at
awkward times leaving us in the dark while Dad went round the neighbours to see if anybody could spare one. One time there was such a thick fog he got lost coming back.
Every so often the meter man came round to empty it. Sometimes we got a rebate – a great feeling
for a family that lived from one pay-day to the next.
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| Ghost images of prefab foundations |
The council would re-decorate every few years and the tenants were responsible for making sure the paintwork etcetera was not damaged by children – or wrong cleaning products. My mum used to clean the drainpipes till they shone. Not something you see nowadays.
The prefabs had been allocated to families after the war. We had Hilly Fields on our doorstep. We didn’t go into each other’s’ homes, we nearly always played outside. There was a patch of grass alongside the prefabs on Montague Avenue where we played most of the time. Pram wheels were
turned into go-carts – usually without brakes. Roller-skates that were tied over your shoes. Lion’s Treacle tins and string for stilts. Cricket in the summer, football in the winter, skipping ropes, hide and seek, tents made from blankets over the fence. We were not allowed to cross over the road as it
would annoy the residents, unless one of the elderly ladies was carrying shopping. Then we could volunteer to carry it for them – but don’t take any money.
Marbles, cigarette cards, dolls houses made from cardboard boxes (furniture from matchboxes) , dolls from pegs and wool, hand-made newspaper kites that never worked. It was all about using what you had around you. New toys only appeared Christmas and Birthdays.
The prefabs had been allocated to families after the war. We had Hilly Fields on our doorstep. We didn’t go into each other’s’ homes, we nearly always played outside. There was a patch of grass alongside the prefabs on Montague Avenue where we played most of the time. Pram wheels were
turned into go-carts – usually without brakes. Roller-skates that were tied over your shoes. Lion’s Treacle tins and string for stilts. Cricket in the summer, football in the winter, skipping ropes, hide and seek, tents made from blankets over the fence. We were not allowed to cross over the road as it
would annoy the residents, unless one of the elderly ladies was carrying shopping. Then we could volunteer to carry it for them – but don’t take any money.
Marbles, cigarette cards, dolls houses made from cardboard boxes (furniture from matchboxes) , dolls from pegs and wool, hand-made newspaper kites that never worked. It was all about using what you had around you. New toys only appeared Christmas and Birthdays.
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| Christine and sister Anne |
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| Christine sitting in prefab |
During the summer Hilly Fields had puppet shows and occasionally a mobile film van which would
show black and white films as we sat on tarpaulin and benches. The swing park had concrete tunnels to play in, logs to climb on, a sandpit with very yellow sand, swings to try and do the bumps and an extremely high slide. There was a hut where a lady would keep an eye and clean up cuts and grazes.
We always had scabs on our knees and our elbows. There was also two bomb sites that we would
play on sometimes on Adelaide Avenue. They were covered in bindweed and brambles, dog roses.
One is now the new part of Prendergast School, and the other, Roundel Close.
As we got older, there was rounders in the summer early evenings – with a play leader. Children
came from everywhere. Some of them must have been in their teens. When they went into bat we
would have to go right down the hill to field the ball.
When the weather got colder I would play games with my brother and sister indoors. Snakes and
Ladders, Ludo, Pick Up Sticks, Five Stones and card games snap, rummy, pontoon – while listening to the radio. Sunday wasn’t Sunday without ‘Billy Cotton’s Band Show’ and the smell of roast dinner. Educating Archie, Take It From Here, Dick Barton Journey Into Space, The Archers, Hancock’s Half Hour – all favourites.
show black and white films as we sat on tarpaulin and benches. The swing park had concrete tunnels to play in, logs to climb on, a sandpit with very yellow sand, swings to try and do the bumps and an extremely high slide. There was a hut where a lady would keep an eye and clean up cuts and grazes.
We always had scabs on our knees and our elbows. There was also two bomb sites that we would
play on sometimes on Adelaide Avenue. They were covered in bindweed and brambles, dog roses.
One is now the new part of Prendergast School, and the other, Roundel Close.
As we got older, there was rounders in the summer early evenings – with a play leader. Children
came from everywhere. Some of them must have been in their teens. When they went into bat we
would have to go right down the hill to field the ball.
When the weather got colder I would play games with my brother and sister indoors. Snakes and
Ladders, Ludo, Pick Up Sticks, Five Stones and card games snap, rummy, pontoon – while listening to the radio. Sunday wasn’t Sunday without ‘Billy Cotton’s Band Show’ and the smell of roast dinner. Educating Archie, Take It From Here, Dick Barton Journey Into Space, The Archers, Hancock’s Half Hour – all favourites.
Most of our shopping was done in the parade of shops between St Andrew’s Church and Adelaide Avenue. There was a Post Office, hairdressers, chemist, two bakers, two butchers, two greengrocers, a florist, a shoe shop, Turner’s the ironmongers, a bank, a wool shop where Mum used to buy her wool (she was a great knitter), a dairy and a fresh fish shop. And Barbers, a grocery store where they weighed out sugar and rice into neat blue paper bags, sliced ham off the bone, and cut and weighed cheese.
When my mother wasn’t well my brother and I would do the weekly shop. We would have a list that we would hand over to the assistant and ask if we could pay next week. We were always one week behind.
Sometimes we went to Lewisham High Street shopping. Lewisham had a great selection of shops. Chiesmans and the Co-Op were two large department stores. We would visit Father Christmas in the basement of Chiesmans. But Woolworths was our main reason for going to Lewisham. When I think back I’m sure all of our Christmas presents had been bought from Woolworths. The trips we took with Mum were to find out what we were interested in.
Mum used to pay so much a week towards a Provident Cheque and then when we needed new pyjamas or sheets or towels we went to a big warehouse-type shop in Greenwich with our cheque. I loved the smell of the new pyjamas – always made from flannelette and always a dainty flower print for me and my sister; Stripes for my brother. They were worn till they fell apart. The same with the bedsheets – replaced when you finally put your foot right through them.
When my mother wasn’t well my brother and I would do the weekly shop. We would have a list that we would hand over to the assistant and ask if we could pay next week. We were always one week behind.
Sometimes we went to Lewisham High Street shopping. Lewisham had a great selection of shops. Chiesmans and the Co-Op were two large department stores. We would visit Father Christmas in the basement of Chiesmans. But Woolworths was our main reason for going to Lewisham. When I think back I’m sure all of our Christmas presents had been bought from Woolworths. The trips we took with Mum were to find out what we were interested in.
Mum used to pay so much a week towards a Provident Cheque and then when we needed new pyjamas or sheets or towels we went to a big warehouse-type shop in Greenwich with our cheque. I loved the smell of the new pyjamas – always made from flannelette and always a dainty flower print for me and my sister; Stripes for my brother. They were worn till they fell apart. The same with the bedsheets – replaced when you finally put your foot right through them.
We didn’t have television, but watched the Queen’s Coronation on Mr and Mrs Hall’s television. It was a very exciting time. All the people from the prefabs had a Coronation Party at Brockley County School. After the Coronation, my school lined Adelaide Avenue to see the Queen and Prince Philip go by. My mother and sister were on the other side of the road. We cheered every vehicle that went
past, including a dustcart that must have been making sure the Queen wouldn’t be upset by the sight of any rubbish. By the time she went past it seemed a bit of an anti-climax to me, as she wasn’t wearing full regalia. I really thought she would be wearing a crown.
past, including a dustcart that must have been making sure the Queen wouldn’t be upset by the sight of any rubbish. By the time she went past it seemed a bit of an anti-climax to me, as she wasn’t wearing full regalia. I really thought she would be wearing a crown.
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| Coronation celebrations on Springbank Road Lewisham |
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| Crofton Park Library |
When I was about seven, I joined the junior library at Crofton Park and reading became my passion. Enid Blyton – I knew where to find her books – not easy when books were less colourful on a wall, and would always stop and see if there was one that I had not read. Then Noel Streatfield, Eleanor Brent-Dyer Chalet School books, my favourite book was ‘The Family At One End Street’ by Eve Garnett. Beside Crofton Park Library there was a scrapyard where we took old newspapers which
were weighed and we would get a few pennies.
My sister and I would also go carol singing door-to-door and the end of October would see us stuffing old clothes for a Guy Fawkes to go begging in the street. None of this brought in a fortune. Just enough to go to Smiths the sweetshop to buy a Sherbet Dab, Sweet Cigarettes, Liquorice Pipe or four ounces of Pear Drops.
were weighed and we would get a few pennies.
My sister and I would also go carol singing door-to-door and the end of October would see us stuffing old clothes for a Guy Fawkes to go begging in the street. None of this brought in a fortune. Just enough to go to Smiths the sweetshop to buy a Sherbet Dab, Sweet Cigarettes, Liquorice Pipe or four ounces of Pear Drops.
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| Gordon Brock class photo |
Most of the children from the prefabs went to Gordon Brock School. I can remember spelling tests, learning times tables by rote, having to take turns reading aloud round the classroom. How frustrating that must have been for both slow and fast readers as one would stumble through while the other would have raced on and finished and not have a clue where we were when it was their turn.
School dinners were an ordeal. There was no choice. And you had to leave a clean plate. Now I can understand. With rationing only just over it would have been a crime to waste food, but sitting till it goes cold, pushing fatty meat round the plate hoping it would disappear was my nightmare. As I got older I often took a brown paper bag to school and secreted it – all the leftovers – to throw away in the school bin later.
I remember Miss Ryder. When I look at the school photo there were 43 children and Miss Ryder no bigger than some of us in the back row. How did she manage? I know children could be sent to the Head, (Mr England then) but it would be very rare. As well as our usual lessons we had country dancing. The boys did woodwork while girls hand sewed a wrap-round skirt and simple blouse for PE. We learnt to play the recorder and had swimming lessons at the Playtower Ladywell.
School dinners were an ordeal. There was no choice. And you had to leave a clean plate. Now I can understand. With rationing only just over it would have been a crime to waste food, but sitting till it goes cold, pushing fatty meat round the plate hoping it would disappear was my nightmare. As I got older I often took a brown paper bag to school and secreted it – all the leftovers – to throw away in the school bin later.
I remember Miss Ryder. When I look at the school photo there were 43 children and Miss Ryder no bigger than some of us in the back row. How did she manage? I know children could be sent to the Head, (Mr England then) but it would be very rare. As well as our usual lessons we had country dancing. The boys did woodwork while girls hand sewed a wrap-round skirt and simple blouse for PE. We learnt to play the recorder and had swimming lessons at the Playtower Ladywell.
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| Ladywell Playtower |
I passed my 11+ and went to Sydenham Girls School. It had not long changed from a Grammar School to a Comprehensive. The Headmistress, Miss Kimsey, called us ‘gels’. We were not allowed to eat in the street in our uniform and had to wear velour hats with our uniform outside school. One good downpour could ruin the shape completely and as we went up through the school most of us placed it at a jaunty angle on the back of our head till we thought we were far enough away to whip
it off. I loved school socially, but didn’t study enough. We got our first television when I was twelve and it was downhill all the way from there.
it off. I loved school socially, but didn’t study enough. We got our first television when I was twelve and it was downhill all the way from there.
Most churches ran a youth club. I went to the Methodist one in Ackroyd Road with a school friend. The time was just between Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis and Beatles. From back-combed hair, stiff petticoats made from net under full skirts to shorter Schiff dresses, knee-high boots and short-bobbed hair the Mods and Rockers. There was table tennis and often a live band.
We usually just chatted and listened to the music hoping one of the boys might notice us. It was also a time when Coffee Bars began to spring up. You could make a cup of coffee last all evening. The Wimpy Bar arrived in Lewisham – definitely aimed at our age group.
When I left school I went to work in Chiesmans on their jewellery counter. The Chiesman Brothers often walked round the shop floor making sure everything was spot-on. Then one day, when I was seventeen I left the prefab in the morning and went home in the evening to our new house in
Dulwich.
We usually just chatted and listened to the music hoping one of the boys might notice us. It was also a time when Coffee Bars began to spring up. You could make a cup of coffee last all evening. The Wimpy Bar arrived in Lewisham – definitely aimed at our age group.
When I left school I went to work in Chiesmans on their jewellery counter. The Chiesman Brothers often walked round the shop floor making sure everything was spot-on. Then one day, when I was seventeen I left the prefab in the morning and went home in the evening to our new house in
Dulwich.
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