Faraday
Road
 Our
first Welling home was No. 3 Faraday Road
and my mother was very proud of it. She had
previously lived in two rooms of her mother’s
rented house which I think was a terrace house,
then in rooms above the newsagency shop in
Islington. Now she had a brand new house to
decorate and furnish as she liked.
Her great love, however, was the garden. All
Marion Cran and Beverley Nicholls books were
constantly strewn around, and soon all was
a’growing and a’blowing. She once even planted
an all mauve front garden and hung mauve curtains
in all the windows! I remember the excitement
when Mr. Russell’s new lupins were introduced
– we grew them, of course!
 The
people next door at No. 5 were a French couple.
I do not know the correct spelling of their
name, but it sounded like Commeqey,
and they were not very compatible. They solved
their problems by her staying up all night
and he staying up all day, meeting only for
their evening meal, over which they frequently
managed to quarrel. Their only amicable times
were when their son, Cyril, visited them from
his home in Paris. They had a parrot, and
I was a constant visitor to their home, luckily
on the right side of both of them.
On the other side lived the Richards. She
was not well, and died, but he stayed on,
a white haired old gentleman who always called
me Fairy and loved to have a chat when I passed
his gate. I can remember hopping from one
foot to the other, dying to get home and into
the air raid shelter, anti-aircraft guns blasting
away. He would say: “Hello Fairy, how nice
to see you. Can you spare the time for a little
chat?”
Next door to the Richards lived another couple
about whom I remember nothing but a fuss being
made when my pet jackdaw hopped in through
their French windows, stole a rasher of bacon
from his plate and flew off with it!
Schools
These two photographs were taken at my first
school before I went to Maryville Convent.
Unfortunately I don't remember its name but
I think it was in Hook Lane. Was there a school
there? In the first photograph I am the little
girl on the far right, middle row. In the
second photograph taken inside the classroom
I am in the centre of the front row.
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My cousin May (Maisie) Slowgrove and
I both went to Maryville Convent. I
cannot remember which school her brother
Frederick attended, but my brother attended
Shooters Hill School, now known as Eaglesfield
School. Their school magazine was called
The Ship, and I have the edition for
December 1935.
Maryville was run by the order of
nuns known as Daughters of Jesus. They
had bought an old house which they gradually
added to, a way beyond the railway bridge
towards Shooter’s Hill. There was an
ancient conservatory with a very old
grape vine, and every year the grapes
were sold for school funds.
We walked to and from school every day.
The Reverend Mother, a darling person
with a round face and kind eyes, was
ambidextrous and to watch her sewing
with either hand was a fascination.
The headmistress was Mother St. Francis,
a French woman rumoured to be a Countess.
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The Ship magazine
contains two local advertisements.
One is for W. Hinds Ltd., schoolwear.
Their address was 35 Powis Street,
Woolwich, SE18, telephone Woolwich
0169. The advertisement states that
the business was "Established
over 75 years", which takes
us back to c. 1860.
The other advertisement
is for the RACS – Royal Arsenal
Co-Operative Society: "branches
throughout South London, Best
for Boys’ School Clothes".
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 Others
I remember were Mother St. Paul, a Canadian
woman who loved it when it snowed, Mother
Marguerita, who taught us music and singing,
and Mother Johanna.
During the Spanish Civil War the Convent
took in several Spanish girls and cared for
them. I think one of them was courted by a
local boy. They used to say goodnight decorously
at the Convent gate, and she would go in and
he walk away. I believe she was married in
the Convent Chapel but cannot confirm this.
I was a bit young then to take much notice
of such things.
My best friend at school was Barbara O'Brien,
who was later sent to relatives in Ireland
to sit out the war. I met her mother in a
train years later, and she told me that Barbara
had come out top of all Ireland for French
in her last year at school.
Other good friends were Erica Porter and
Dorothy Williams. One evening the three of
us were walking in Welling High Street when
suddenly we were confronted by Mother St.
Francis. We had bought bulls eyes and Dorothy
had hers in her mouth. We were strictly forbidden
ever to eat in the street, and when she saw
the headmistress Dorothy took one gulp and
swallowed her sweet whole. She turned the
most dreadful shade of red and her eyes started
to glaze over. Luckily the Rev. Mother was
greeting us in turn and came to Dorothy last,
by which time she was just able to return
her greeting.
I was also friendly with Maureen Clibbon,
whom I remember with arms raised, rushing
down the corridor, being the mad woman in
Jane Eyre!
| When the blitz came the
nuns were wonderful. They would take in
the children from a bombed home, were
always stitching clothes for bombed out
people, and ran a soup kitchen when necessary. |
 There
are still Daughters of Jesus in England, but
the Maryville building was, I understand,
taken over as an old peoples' home. This photograph
was taken in 1951 after the conversion. It
has now been demolished and replaced by modern
sheltered housing.
I also remember the King family who lived
in Marne Avenue. Mrs.King was a good friend
to my mother, and I was friendly with one
of the daughters, Vida. We used to walk up
and down Bellegrove Road talking in gaps between
air raids on warm summer evenings, never moving
too far away from the shelters.
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