First came to Ham in 1934.  We were one of the first families to move into the new Tudor Estate which was then being built by a firm called G T Crouch.  Prior to that I had been living in Petersham and was a pupil at the Petersham Russell School which at that time was just inside the Park gates opposite the Dysart. 

Where did you live in Petersham?  Well that is a bit of a story, my father was a chauffeur to some people that lived in the Park, Richmond Park, and they were friendly with a man called Carr who owned a biscuit factory..  and he lived in Montrose House which is on the corner of Petersham Road and he had a spare flat over a garage there and welived in there which was very handy, about five minutes’ walk to school and everything else was very close to.

We moved to Barnfield Avenue.  Well there wasn’t very much of Tudor Drive built then, it was still in progress and Ham Parade was only half what it is now.  There were no shops on the Tudor Estate side.  It was just an open field.  The shops were on the other side andalso on that side was Leyland Motors had a big factory there.  Opposite that was Cellon.