Does anyone remember the bookie's 'runner' who used to stand in the doorway of a house in Pearscroft Road and take bets on the horses and dogs (betting was illegal except at the tracks)? I can remember as a child I used to have to take mum and dad's bets and pass them to him with the money and collect any winnings the next day that they might have won. "If you see a policeman just walk past the house and go to the end of the road and come back" was what mum and dad told me.  I think it was him that opened Meadows betting shop on the corner of Marinefield and Furness and also parked his car (a Rolls Royce) in the hole in the wall next to the alley in Broughton Road.

I'm also sure someone else must remember having to take an old pram down Imperial Road to the coal yard to get the coal or coke for their parents, again with the instruction "give the man who fills the sack this sixpence and tell him mum said "please fill it to the top".

My parents, three sisters and brother lived right opposite Broughton Approach at 103 Pearscroft Road in the second of four new houses. We moved there when they were built in 1956. Our house was apparently where Bulow Road used to be.

The above photo on the left was taken in the late 50's looking from 103 Pearscroft Road (my mum is the lady with the long blonde hair and the pram is my brother Clive's, who was born 1958). The building to the right is The Star Cinema which was on the corner of Broughton Approach and Wandsworth Bridge Road. To the left out of the picture was 4 and 4a Broughton Road.

(Colour picture on the right is a view of Broughton Road Approach  taken in the autumn of 2007 by Francis Czucha).
  

The photo on the left was taken on Cup Final day in 1975 when Fulham unfortunately lost to West Ham and is of Peter, myself and two of our children, just before he left to go to the match with his dad and brothers. Peter is in the centre picture. On the right is the view taken from the upstairs back window of 103. The flats on either side are Bulow Court and the white flats (Pearscroft Court) have now been demolished.  

 

The photo above is of my car when I was preparing it for the Fulham Carnival and was taken in the mid-60s. The photo was taken from Broughton Road Approach and the house on the left is 103 Pearscroft Road.