Hi everyone. I was born nine months after the death of Adolf Hitler (so my mother told me) and was brought up in Albert Road, opposite the recreation ground, ie the 'rec.' Memories include four large earth built air raid shelters in that rec (which my generation of children took great pleasure to 'explore', understandably to the anger of my parents' generation, given their memories of them); the Muswell Hill end of that rec being 'grassed over' to the rejoicing of my parents, given that being a sign that the war really was over as it had in the war been a cabbage growing area; great arguments over the fact that there was no pub anywhere [ie pre 'Maid of Muswell']; horse drawn milk delivery carts with neighbours rushing out, almost fighting each other over who could get the horses' fertilising poo first; steam trains and the childrens' train round the pond at Alexandra Palace train station; attending the scouts and the Congregational church in Alexandra Park Road (made into flats in 2004) - great rivalry with the Boys Brigade at St Saviours Church a little further up the road; horse racing at the Ally Pally race course; the opening of Cecil Rhodes senior school; and much more. And the swimming pool - I virtually lived there in the summer. Great memories of a great area. My regards to you all.
You need to be a member of Alexandra Park Neighbours to add comments!
Replies
Geoff, your post includes lots of intriguing points. I was curious about the rivalry that you mention between the Scouts and the Boys Brigade. I must admit I hadn't heard of the latter - wikipedia tells me that its object was "the advancement of Christ's kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits... that tends towards a true Christian manliness", which I guess differentiated it from the non-denominational Boy Scouts! So had this something to do with the rivalry between the groups - one associated with St Saviours parish church, and the other associated with the Congregational church? (the latter was most unsuitably named 'The Chantry' when it was converted into flats - as if it were a catholic church!).
Hi Annabel. Firstly, just as a matter of intererst, the site is continually telling me that my username and/or password are incorrect - and then it lets me in! Just thouight you'd like to know! The Scouts/BB rivalry was really just boys, most of whom knew each other from their joint schools anyway, just being boys. But at the time it seemed a big thing. I attended the Congregational church as a youth for a while. A lovely set of elderlies with a doddery old but highly loveable Minister. Then 'something happened' [never worked out what] and about half of the people moved to Muswell Hill Baptist Church. Regards
Geoff,
Sorry to hear about the sign-in problems! You can stay signed in, you know - I can't imagine any problems with that!
How nice to have a highly loveable Minister. Sounds like strange politicking going on there ...
I also wondered about the 'Cecil Rhodes senior school' - was this renamed Alexandra Park School at a later date? There's also been controversy recently as to whether Rhodes Avenue - and hence the junior school - was named after Cecil or his great-uncle Thomas, who owned the Tottenham Wood farmhouse which was on the spot where the school is now. So perhaps it was named after both. There are several roads named after 19th century colonialists around here - e.g. Lansdowne and Curzon.
Hi Annabel again. The school I know is the infants/junior/senior complex that edges onto the Albert/Durnsford Road park, or 'recreation ground', known to my generation of kids as the 'rec.' I had heard that subsequent generations to mine called it by different names and I could well imagine that 'Alexandra Park School' might make sense. If so it might be a reflection on nearby neighbours waking up to the shame associated with their local boy Mr Cecil Rhodes and his colonising behaviour in Africa. I remember as a very young boy asking who he was. There was what I subsequently interpreted as a sharp intake of breath. The older teachers described him as a national hero which enraged the younger teachers who saw him as a war criminal. It was as if an inter generational war verbally had broken out between the teachers of my school. Well all I did was to ask a question! I remember also local historic maps suggesting that that Roman amphitheatre shaped dug out area diagonally behind the pavilion in the park was in fact originally a clay pit from which housing bricks were made. The whole area originally it seemed was a forest, called 'Tottenham Forest.' There is also alot of legend etc associated with the pillared remains of the ruins of what seems once to have been a palatial villa in the grounds of that school.
I see there's a Facebook group for ex-pupils of Cecil Rhodes Senior School - which has as its banner the portico of Thomas Rhodes' farmhouse (now in the grounds of Rhodes Avenue junior school).
Geoff this is so interesting. I had no idea there were air raid shelters in the middle of the rec (though it makes perfect sense) and also that the Muswell Hill end was used for growing cabbages. I knew about St Saviours Church on Alexandra Park Road, which I assume must have been demolished some time after the war. When were you last in the neighbourhood?
Hi Susie. Last time I was in the area I was very interested in the park's evolution. When I was growing up it was little more than a neglected wasteland where adults feared to tread because of our 100 a side impromptu self organised games of 'football'. I understand that the next generation saw the park taken over by drug adicts and even the kids didn't want to go there. Then evidently a subsequent generation of young parents decided to 'reclaim' the place and now it is a very impressive community playcentre for all generations. For me that is very interesting and encouraging.
Hi !
St Saviour's Church closed in in 1993 and the new housing was built by 1998 - I got these dates from Albert Pinching's book "Wood Green Past". There was a thriving congregation there in the 1970s, I wasn't part of it but was in the Brownie pack there.
I had a pub lunch in the Maid of Muswell about a year ago and spent the day walking around the area reliving my memories. In the normal run of things I would not normally be in the area again but the sentimental pull is very strong. Thanks for your reply and for your colleague Anabbel's never ending patience! St Saviours was demolished but probably not until 15-20 years after the war. I'd be very happy to remember/discuss further on the memories front especially those of my generation.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next