At the Stephendale end of Hamble Street was a corner shop. I was never allowed to go to that corner shop as my dad was friendly with the man who had the corner shop on the corner of Althea Street so we had to stay loyal to him. The trouble was that by the time I got back from running an errand there for 20 Cadets tipped and a loaf of Mother's Pride I would leave a trail of bread slices behind me where I had squashed the bread under my arm and the seal on the waxed paper wrapper had come adrift. Mind you in those days you could buy half a loaf of sliced bread either because you knew you wouldn't eat a whole loaf or were just getting towards the end of the week and funds were low?

There was also a bag wash. I never quite understood how the Bag Wash worked. We would take a huge (it seemed huge at the time) white sack with our used bedding in it there. Our individual identification number was written on the sack in indelible ink. We would then collect it in a few days later and the contents were clean. Now what I don't understand is did the contents get tipped out before they were washed or did they remain in the bag hence the Bag Wash? Mmmm. Just next to the Bag Wash lived an old man who was a night watchman. All the kids were frightened of him as he wasn't blessed with the friendliest looking face. But I can remember talking to him and he was really nice.

There were three generations of Browns living in our house. In the top 'flat' lived my Nan Lou Brown with her son Bob. He was one of my dad's older brothers. I lived in the ground floor 'flat' with my mum and dad, Lucy and Bill. I say 'flat' but that makes it sound a bit posh. In reality we had no bathroom, no running hot water and an outside toilet! In the winter we had a paraffin heater in the loo, I'm not sure if it was to keep us warm or to stop the pipes from seizing up though. My Nan was definitely the matriarch of the family and our house seemed to be the hub for family visits and get togethers. I remember as a child having one bath a week in the tin bath that was dragged in from its nail on the wall in the garden and placed in front of the coal fire in the living room. I suppose nowadays I would be described as a minger for just having one bath a week. The rest of the week it was good old flannel and soap in the kitchen. After my bath I remember drinking hot chocolate and listening to The Cliff Adams Singers and Sing Something Simple on Radio 2.                              

In the garden we had terrapins swimming in a pool. I'm not sure how usual that was in the 60s as most people just had a cat or a dogI think!  I remember playing in the street with my friends. We played runouts, rounders and of course knock down ginger! In those days there were so few cars that we were able to use a car for each base in rounders. We weren't happy if another car turned up and got in our way. We would sometimes play at the Townmead Road end of the street as there was and still a cafe and across on the other side there was another 'business'. That was where we could play two balls against the double doors of these businesses. We would also play 'What's the Time Mr Wolf". We didn't play here very often though as the business across from the cafe was Jackson's Rag and Bone. To say it smelled was putting it mildly and it was not the best place to play. I can still remember that smell! 

Left to Right: Hamble Street VE Day party in 1945 and Queen's Silver Jubilee cebrations in 1977. Photos supplied by Carol Pritchard nee Brown.