Mrs. Twitchet (the witch) was seemingly about 80+,


I I


remember -! ! ! remember --!-! !


The East End of London,


Canning Town to be exact, was quite a place in which to grow up in the 1920‗s and 30‘s although everybody was poor. There could still be seen some children going barefoot but although malnu- trition was rife everyone seemed to be full of life and character. Kids in the 8 to 12 years age group were no an- gels but were not into knives or guns. There was a definite hierarchy system operating, brought about by one‘s ability to defend your self. Once it was established that you could dish it out as well as take it you had no further problems. I suppose we had ―gangs ― but we did not name ourselves as such and gen- erally did not fight anyone from the other streets (at least not much !) We played very simple games —hop- scotch and skipping for the girls and wooden tops and sticks for the boys as well as a sort of long line piggy back game starting with one boy crouching facing the wall when another would leap frog onto his back, being re- peated until there was a long line of boys out from the wall Guy Fawkes night was really looked forward to. All the kids would make a guy, borrow an old pram or pushchair in which the ―guy‖ sat and then set off to the bus stop or tram


stop to accost everybody with ―penny for the guy Mister‖? Surprisingly we collected quite a few bob this way which financed a number of Penny bangers, 2 Penny Katherine wheels and more expensive rockets. My dad usually got me a 7 Pence or I 5 Pence box of assorted beauties. Knowing now what we all lived on then, this was quite an extravagance. Masses of burnable rubbish was collected over the weeks and stored ready for the No- vember when was set up the ‗operation‘. Watford Road was a fairly short street run- ning parallel to Beckton Road (where in 1929 my Grandfa- ther was killed cycling to Beckton Gas Works thus be- coming one of the first fatali- ties of the new fangled motor car) Firstly we set up the main bonfire in the middle of the street—and in the mid- dle of the road on the tarmac! Then the master stroke was to build two smaller fires —in the middle of the road—at each end of the street. This was to prevent those spoil- sports—the fire brigade— getting to the main fire. In- variably the tarmac under the big fire caught alight and in- variably the Fire Brigade came to put them all out— but not before several hours of wicked fun! Nobody got hurt and no great damage was done although on a cou- ple of occasions a few bang- ers were popped in some unpopular people‘s letter box!!! To me, the visitor, this was all very exciting—better than in my own garden. There were characters too.


had a moustache, a hairy chin and always wore all- black. If we were playing marbles in the street outside her house and she opened the front door suddenly— she‘d got us! No one of us would dare refuse her de- mand to ―go and get me a savaloy and bowl of pease pudding‖ with the offered 2 1/2 Pence (tuppence ha’penny). I think we were all frightened of her—as the Witch. One could not be sure what she could do. Since the front doors opened directly into the pavement you didn‘t have time to run. Mind you, you always got Id for the er- rand. Collecting pocket money was a time consum- ing occupation for all the kids. One could collect empty bottles to return to the Off License at Id for Lemonade and 3d for beer bottles. Over the course of the week we could make 10 or 12d. And do you remember the Satur- day morning kid‘s cinema for 6d (2 ½ Pence)? In this unsophisticated envi- ronment, it was quite usual for four or five of us to catch the tram to Wanstead Flats on a Saturday morning or afternoon complete with jam jar, stick, string and pins for a spot of fishing. Our prey was tiddlers or sticklebacks in the Flats Pond. For the next 4 hours or so we had a jam sandwich and a bottle of lem- onade made from water plus lemon crystals. On this mag- nificent fare we would fish, play hide and seek, and other catch as catch can games before winding our way home.


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