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| Basildon Stories | |||||
| Langdon Hills Memories 1943 - 1971 - Part 2 | |||||
| by Gilbert Ager | |||||
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| School Days Where we lived the local primary school was only a stones throw away and called Langdon Hills after the area we lived in. It was in the High Road that I was knocked over by a cyclist one morning before school. I suffered a skull fracture and missed most of the term, hospitalised as a result of the accident. I enjoyed my time there including the schools' sports day. This was held at the top of Langdon Hills on the field opposite the Crown public house. Everyone belonged to a different 'house' and I wore red to represent Ash. I still remember a few of the teachers names like Miss O'Brien, whose reputation as a strict disciplinarian I can confirm, and Miss Wilkinson, who I seem to recall played the piano and an accordian and taught us how to country dance. During those times I was often treated to a visit to the local cinema. This was in Laindon and called The Radion, but known to us as the 'fleapit', where I remember seeing Calamity Jane starring Doris Day, as well as lots of other films. Laindon High Road School After finishing junior school it was time to make the move up to secondary, and I started at Laindon High Road in September 1955. It was the only senior school for miles around and involved a long walk from where I lived. In this respect I was no worse off than most as the school had a large catchment area stretching out to Dunton and Bulphan in one direction, and covering Laindon and Langdon Hills in the other. Special school buses were laid on for those travelling the furthest. My brothers and sisters before me all went there and had all left by the time that I started. The school building faced the High Road and had a black and white tudor frontage. All the classrooms were on one level, although some parts of the school were on higher ground. I was something of a slow learner and ended up in the lower classes for most of my lessons. Reading aloud, spelling and presentable handwriting were never my strongest points, but I did my best to get through. I wasn't much good at sport either. I disliked most field games like rugby and football, and tried my hardest to avoid them. Swimming never came up as the school didn't have a pool, though there was talk of building one. The teachers were often strict and made you participate, and you had to have a very good reason then to get excused. I can't remember if the school had a uniform then. It probably did; or at least a tie, but I was never reprimanded for being in the wrong attire. I tried to steer clear of trouble, but inevitably got involved in the odd skirmish with authority or another pupil. Though I didn't get to experience the cane, I was dealt the full force of the slipper on a few occasions, more often than not from the P.E. teacher. Few of the teachers had any time for me and I couldn't wait for the day when I could finally leave. This was sometime in 1959 when I was 15. I've heard it said that your school days are supposed to be the happiest days of your life. Well in my case I was at my happiest when I left them behind. I don't miss a single day. I can still remember some of the teachers like Mr. Minikin, Mrs. Verling, Mr. Cluff, and the headmaster Mr. Woodward. The Rec and Cow Fields During my youth we all used to go to the Recreation Ground. It was only a short walk from our bungalow and approached through a large gate at the top end. As well as the swings and slide, there was also a childs shallow paddling pool with a fountain. I can also remember the old wooden cricket pavillion when it was half way up the hill. We used to be able to get right under it. Some of the gardens of the bungalows in Lincewood Park Drive and Egerton Drive used to back onto the rec. On the far side was a farm, which I think was known as Great Berry. We also used to go up to the cow fields. There were a number of different routes up there from where we lived. One took you past a large pond at the end of Corona Road, or you could get there from Lincewood Park Drive, but the main route was up a steep hill called Recreation Avenue. This had a house on the right corner and a few more each side leading up the hill before you got there. It was all ferns and dense woodland with little pathways through it where rabbits had built their burrows. I never knew how the area got its name as the fields that border it were all agricultural and regularly ploughed. We had a lot of good times up there. Especially when my brother Malcolm bought a second hand car. I think it was an old Ford Popular. He had it stripped out to the basic shell and added some reinforcing to the chassis and then we would all pile in for the hair-raising ride up there. One occasion stands out was when the car, quite possibly overladen and on a very punishing incline, started making strange noises and then the propeller shaft decided to part company from the vehicle. By then any hope of control had been lost, and we were totally at its mercy and extremely lucky not to have been killed by the time it finally came to rest amongst the woodland! Another time I can remember, again involving my brother Malcolm, was when he made a grisly find one day around the summer of 1960. He had discovered a decomposed body in a woodland shack on St. George's Road, one of the unmade roads between ours and Corona Road. Two brothers used to live in it and we often heard them shouting and arguing with each other. One of the brothers had moved out and we rarely saw the other one, until one day Malcolm went up there thinking the shack was empty, as it appeared derelict and the garden was overgrown, entered, and then made the discovery. He phoned the police from the telephone box that stood further up on the right by Lincewood Park Drive. Within a short time the police arrived and news of the 'find' soon spread around the neighbourhood. We learnt later he'd been dead for nearly a year and there was a stash of money under the mattress! | |||||
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