My Harrow – Living, Working and Enjoying Myself 1956 – 1982

Posted by rememberingharrow on 21/08/2013 · 1 Comment 

The following is from an interview with Ms Westwood a resident of Harrow between 1956 and 1982 who kindly shares her memories of Harrow. Additional information, dates and facts are provided in square brackets.

When did you move to Harrow?

I moved to West Harrow from Paddington, London in March 1956 when I was in my early teens, I moved away in August 1982 having lived in West Harrow, Central Harrow, Harrow Weald and finally South Harrow.

What were your first impressions?

Harrow was such a sharp contrast to my former home where the old Edwardian terraced buildings blocked out the sky and were soullessly drab. They had no gardens and only a few plain trees which lined some streets. As we moved to Harrow in early spring I was amazed to see the beautiful blossom laden trees lining the roads. The houses were small neat and mostly well-kept with pleasant small gardens. There were only few cars on the roads so most people either rode bikes, took the bus, train or walked. I thought it was wonderful that I could walk up George 5^th Avenue to Hatch End and on to Old Redding. Wow I was actually in the country!

Which school did you go to?

I attended Lascelles School for Girls [Now Whitmore High School]. It was so new; it hadn’t even been formally opened yet! It was so light, bright and modern with large playing fields and grass field at the front. A vast contrast to the dreadfully old shabby school in London, which looked more like a prison as it had high brick walls around it and outdoor toilets!

What do you remember about the school?

I remember the Headmistress, Mrs Wall and the Deputy Head was Miss Taverner. The School was run on very strict lines, like a Grammar School. Full School Uniform had to be worn at all times and gabardine macs or a blazer and beret were de rigueur walking to and from School. Only the highest standard of behaviour was tolerated both in school and outside. We were not allowed to speak or socialise with the boys in the school next door… well that was the theory anyway!

We had our swimming classes at the open air swimming pool at Charles Crescent. I don’t ever remember the water being anything other than a freezing 55 degrees during these lessons. It was lovely to use the pool in the summer holidays though, if ever we had a summer…. but the water was still very chilly. I am pretty certain it wasn’t heated.

What did you used to do outside of school?

When we moved to Harrow I was in my early teens so was just getting interested in fashion. It was lovely being allowed to look around the shops on my own or with a girlfriend. I would never be allowed to do so in Paddington, I was considered too young and it was a bit ‘rough’ so I tagged along with my Mum to help her carry the food shopping.

In Paddington the shops were very old fashioned. Woolworths, a small Marks and Spencer, Bata’s the shoe shop, Home and Colonial etc. Many of the foodstuffs were displayed in sacks and they shovelled out what you wanted into paper bags, I will always remember the smell of that shop. I loved the lemonade powder they sold; you had to add water to it to make a fizzy drink. One of the shops had a device on wires that went above our heads from counter to counter, the cashiers would put wads of money into little cartons, pull a handle that looked like an old fashioned toilet chain and the metal container would whizz on the wire across the shop to a desk where the chief cashier sat. I was fascinated, what wouldn’t I have given to pull that handle!

Was Harrow very different from Paddington?

Harrow was very smart and modern in comparison to Paddington, the shops were very different than they are now though. Central Harrow shopping area was spread over several roads. Somertons was an old fashioned department store opposite Harrow on the Hill Station and also in Station Road. I remember going to Sopers the other department Shop in Harrow and was where Debenhams is located now. I always preferred Sopers as Somertons was more old fashioned with thick rubber corsets and lisle stockings – having said that I did buy two pretty dresses from Somertons when I first started work.

What other shops do you remember?

St Annes Road had lots of smaller shops, there was even a shop that sold fur coats. Harrow had nice shoe shops with all the latest styles and colours. I love the African violet colour shoes and bi coloured coffee and cream ones, of course I simply had to buy them! There was a market that used to be held in the car park of Wealdstone Football Club [Where the Tesco is today], I brought my first pair of jeans from there. Big baggy pink denim things, I thought I was the bees knees in them – maybe not so much compared to the nice cut of modern jeans.

What about food shopping?

I loved going to Sainsburys; not a bit like the Supermarkets we have now. No self-service either, that didn’t come in until the mid-60s. You had to queue up at each counter. I loved it if we had to buy butter. The Assistant had 2 wooden paddles and they would always cut off the precise amount of butter that you asked for then with the paddles patted it into oblongs and press the paddles into the butter, it left a lovely imprint on the butter; often it was a Scottish Thistle!

Did you work in any of the shops?

In 1958-1959 I had a Saturday job in the Greek Cypriot Restaurant in St Annes Road called Restaurant Louis. I was hopeless! Always dropping things and mixing up the orders. I was paid 10 shillings for 6 hours work about 50 pence in today’s money. Occasionally I would get tips, but not very many as I wasn’t that good! They were usually 6 pence in old currency and that is less than 1 penny in our present money! But in that short time I was able to save up enough money to pay my return air fare to Germany!

Was the restaurant very busy?

It wasn’t the custom to eat out much in the 50s and foreign restaurants were most unusual but it was very popular and had waiters serving downstairs and Mary and I waited on upstairs. It must have seated about 75 people. I remember the talk amongst the Greek Cypriot staff was all about the fighting that was happening at the time in Cyprus, the terrorist group Eoka were waging a reign of terror under Colonel Grivas to gain Independence.

Did you and your family eat out much?

Not really, if we had anything if was Fish and Chips as they were the only takeaways. It wasn’t considered polite to eat anything in the street to they would be taken discretely home to be eaten. There were a few all over Harrow really, I moved around quite a lot so we used whatever Fish and Chip shop was nearest.

Did you work anywhere else apart from the restaurant?

As my birthday is in October it meant that I was nearly 17 when I left school so I had a year to fill before I could start Nursing. Harrow was very fortunate to have several large employers on its doorstep. Kodak and Whitefriers Glass and Windsor & Newton were the main ones. Wealdstone even used to have a Coffin Factory! The Harrow Observer used to be published in broadsheet and in the 50s and 60s it had pages and pages of jobs, very different from today. So as I remember unemployment was very low. There were lots of shops, offices, a few hairdressers and barbers. The beauty industry hadn’t really taken off in the 50s and there were no certainly no gyms that I can remember. People seldom used Taxis and Minicabs were unheard of! There were hardly any car showrooms or even hotels, how times have changed!

I worked as a shop assistant in Vines’ Fine Arts in Station Road, opposite Somertons. I was only there 6 months when Mr Vine decided the shop wasn’t making enough money, so he closed it. But he very kindly offered me a job for 6 months in his Camera Shop and Darkroom processing films and making prints. I remember that someone had taken a photo of Cliff Richard on holiday, I drooled over his photo! He was gorgeous he must have been about 19 at the time. So that cheered me up!

What about your friends? Where did they work?

Most of my friends went on to Higher Education at Harrow Tech. One friend went on to become a Civil Servant, another worked for British Airways and one took a job at a Children’s Home. Several went on to do Nursing like me. There would have been lots of girls who worked in Offices as our School did Shorthand Typing and Office skills. I am not aware if any became Hairdressers or worked in Factories, but I doubt it but maybe the lower streams would have.

What would you do in your free time when you weren’t at work or training to be a Nurse?

I loved going to the cinema. There were several large ones in Central Harrow like The Granada and the Dominion, which one I went to depended on what was showing. Musicals were my favourite, I loved the dancing and brightly coloured costumes. It was quite a drab working in the 50s so it was great to watch such films. Especially as we had no TV until 1957 and no central heating until 1974 and double glazing at about the same time!

What else did you like apart from musicals? Did you have any favourite film stars?

I enjoyed historical films like Cleopatra and any adventure, thriller or humorous films. I liked Dirk Bogart, Sean Connery, Gordon Macrea, Doris Day, Virginia Mayo, John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton and Cary Grant.

What else would you do apart from the cinema?

I used to go to Ballroom Dancing classes, the Guy Haywards School of Dancing was above Burton’s the Tailors in Station Road, there was also a School of Ballroom Dancing over the Dominion Cinema. I learned Waltz and Quickstep but I wasn’t very good at the Tango! I felt like I had two left feet when I Tangoed! But I loved the Twist, Samba, Jive and Cha Cha Cha.

We used to go to Wembley Town Hall to dances too. There were no concerts or music festivals in those days! They were great dances at Wembley, I used to wear circular skirts with frilly net petticoats. I had long dark brown hair which I wore up in a French pleat.

I used to love ice skating, we would often to go the Wembley Ice Rink or Queen’s Club in Bayswater as there wasn’t an ice rink in Harrow.

I remember always looking forward to Pinner Fair and the Harrow Show! I haven’t been to the Pinner Fair for about 50 years now, but it always used to be packed. The rides we enjoyed then would have been very tame by today’s standards, I expect. There were the usual goldfish as prizes, poor things, and the usual gypsy fortune tellers! The Harrow Show was always a good day out. There were the usual produce and flower competitions and demonstrations of various crafts with entertainments and bands .I think it was pretty much like most country shows really! It was in the Park at Headstone Drive.

What about in the evenings?

Quite a few of the pubs I remember have closed down now. Although I seldom went to any as I couldn’t afford it! The one next to Sopers (now Debenhams) and one in St Annes Road, I can’t recall their names. There was the Apollo Pup in Pinner Road but that also closed, they had parasols at the tables even though they were indoors! It wasn’t the same culture of drinking in the 50s and 60s, there wasn’t much money to spare with £5 to £10 being the average wage, anyone on £20 a week was considered wealthy. It wasn’t too popular amongst my friends, we preferred to go dancing!

Quite a few Coffee Bars started to open in the late 50s and early 60s, they were very popular. No Costa Coffees or Starbucks in those days! I’d gone off to do my Nursing training in Watford by them so all my favourites were in Watford!

Did you join any youth groups at all?

There weren’t many places were young people could meet except Youth Clubs provided by Churches, Scouts, Brownies, Girl Guides and Boys Brigade. I joined St John’s Ambulance Cadets in Roxborough Road which taught us first aid and home nursing and gave us a good opportunity to socialise with the boy cadets too! We used to go camping and have Hops (dances) and take part in different competitions like drill and first aid and were taught all kinds of skills like changing a fuse, wiring a plug and putting in a pane of glass! Thank goodness for the energy of the Cadet leaders, Mrs Doris Fulljames and her husband who kept us off the streets and out of mischief… well some anyway! I don’t remember being aware of any cycling or athletic clubs, the Swimming pools at Highgrove and Northolt was opened after the 60s I think.

Did you go to Church?

I used to attend St Georges Church in Headstone and also taught in the Sunday School there. I also got married in that same church in 1964. Not many people went to Church though apart from the Free Churches like the Rayners Lane Baptist Church and South Harrow Methodist Church. They were popular amongst the young as they made more provision for them and made Church more relevant.

How did you get around Harrow? Did you travel into London much?

I ended up using most of the train stations in Harrow, it just depended on there I was going or living at the time. Harrow had excellent links to London and the surrounding areas, they were very busy commuter station even then! I remember always thinking how fit you had to be to travel to and from Harrow on the Hill station, there were 2 steep staircases up to the ticket office on both sides from the station and more down to the platform. My dear Father collapsed and died at the top of these very stairs.

West Harrow was small pretty country Station by comparison to Harrow on the Hill. I remember very well that ladies would wear white gloves to go ‘uptown’ maybe to the theatre or for dinner. I loved going to the Theatres, Art Galleries and Museums in London. If ever we had visitors to stay we would take them sightseeing. My dad was a wonderful guide. He knew all the secret places, we walked miles on his ‘tours’.

Do you remember the train crash at Harrow and Wealdstone Station in 1952?

Yes I do remember it, but I was living in Paddington at the time as I was only 10 years old. I was a ghastly. There were 112 fatalities and 88 people were injured, some of the carriages got thrown up in the air and hit the bridge over the railway line which carried the main road to Harrow. It was incredible that even more people weren’t hurt.

What was the health care like in Harrow?

I remember Northwick Park when it was a park! I saw how the Hospital grew so large and eventually the Park was no more. Before Northwick Park there was a small cottage Hospital near the top of Harrow on the Hill which was mostly occupied by elderly people, my dear Mum died there. There was also a Geriatric Hospital in South Harrow and several Clinics dotted around the area, ones for babies, family planning and a chest clinic in Central Harrow.

Once you finished your Nurses training where did you work?

Following my Nurse training in Watford I returned to Harrow and worked at Kodak in Wealdstone as an Industrial Nursing Sister from 1963 to 1966. I also worked as a District Nurse covering South Harrow, Central Harrow, Rayners Lane, Pinner, Wealdstone, Harrow Weald and Belmont, all over really.

Originally we were employed by the local Council but in about 1974 we were taken over by the NHS. The services provided by the District Nursing Service were second to none, Harrow really led the way by providing us with the best equipment and training.

My fellow District Nurses and I would be based in Clinics around the area and each Doctors Surgery had their own attached District Nurse. We held our own Clinics doing dressings and giving injections to all those who were well enough to attend but our main work was providing nursing to those who were poorly or caring for those who were housebound.

How did you get around to all the patients?

Thankfully we had our cars as we covered large areas and carried a lot of equipment. The cars were our own but we were paid a mileage allowance. We had to carry all sorts of equipment in the boot, in the winter I had an old mat and shovel to get myself out of the snowdrifts! As well as nursing equipment ranging from syringes, needles, dressing packs, bandages, incontinence pads, enemas. Sometime we had back rests, commodes and walking frames too but they varied according to the patients I may have been visiting. I would imagine the equipment would be pretty much the same today.

I remember one particular winter in the 1970s when there was really heavy snow and it was a nightmare trying to get around the patients! The roads were like a skating rink due to black ice, it look me an hour and a half to drive what would normally take 20 minutes. When there were shortages of petrol due to various strikes we weren’t given any preferential treatment and had to queue with everybody else! In the summer of 1976 it was so hot during the heat wave we were allowed to wear out own clothes instead of uniform.

You left Harrow in 1982 have you returned to Harrow much since? What do you think of it now?

 My son and his family still live in Harrow so I have been back a lot over the years. But I can hardly recognise Harrow now. The St Georges and St Annes Centre and all the new road layouts. The area has changed so much, the population has grown and it’s now a much more cosmopolitan place absorbed into London. I feel like less pride is taken in the upkeep of the streets, pavements and roads maybe the gardens and houses too. I think this reflects the drastic changes in the economy. But I loved the many years and happy times I spent in Harrow.

Filed under Local History, North Harrow, Shops, South Harrow, Transport, Wealdstone, Work