Roseberry Gardens

Comment by Hugh on October 12, 2014 at 21:27

Thanks for the photos, John. These family snaps give a fantastic sense of what the area was really like.

Comment by Christine Yates on October 17, 2014 at 19:51

The flats were built in 1962 - three sites in Warwick a Gardens.

Comment by Germana on October 20, 2014 at 11:41

Thanks for sharing this lovely picture. I wish our kids could play outside these days, with no cars around to worry about....

Comment by StephenBln on October 22, 2014 at 19:33

Peter, I seem to recall that the elderly lady who lived in the first house on Roseberry after the prefabs (on the right) was regularly tormented by the area's kids. The prefabs, including ours, were cleared in 1960/61. We were in the first group in May 1960 and I watched our prefab demolished in June. The others followed in 1961.

Comment by Peter John Morris on October 22, 2014 at 21:56

Hi Stephen, actually it was the next one along. 'Old Mother Allen' was the lady you spoke of, I believe. She had lived there many years, as had my Grandparents who knew her well - well enough to have nothing to do with her, evidently! During the war, in an act of kindness my Grandfather took her in when she was bombed out - under great duress I was told! I get the impression that she was never an easy lady. The people in the last house were a very pleasant couple and stayed in touch with my parents after we had moved to Enfield. They were the last 'English' people in the street, so they claimed. Your empty 'prefabs' were a great playground for us!

Comment by Christine Yates on October 22, 2014 at 22:10

I also played in the prefabs, and the shells of the flats when they were being built. When my parents moved from Warwick Gardens in '76 they were the only English people in numbers 2-18.

Comment by StephenBln on October 22, 2014 at 22:17

Kids I went to school with were Ken Blackaller on the odd numbered side, Chris Anderson at 60, and George a Cypriot boy,from number 64. We lived at number 69 Warwick, being moved there in an emergency as our house on St Ann's, corner of North Grove, was considered unstable and about to collapse.

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