The Banana splits... with, " Dear Drooper" Bingo And.. "I say, Hold,,,dddd da Bus" Man I luved that programme on a Sat morning.. it was just chaos and totally nuts... Bingo with the teeth... reminds me of Alan Carr...
I also went to the Sheepen Road College - was the Lexden Road one on the corner with Church Lane?......used to be called Endsleigh House (or School).
I remember the pub which was staggering distance from Lexdon college the Rising Sun.. there was a little road we used to cut up that brought you out nearly at the college which we took from the ave of remembrance.. Our lecturers were Ted Hughes Mr Povey and paddy Kearney.. god we got up to some tricks at both colleges..
The pub was actually 'The Sun'.......I should know, I spent most of my spare time in there from the age of 16 (and met my first wife in there). The little road was Glen Avenue (unless Spring Lane right opposite hadn't been closed then, but I think it was).....Glen Avenue went uphill straight off the Avenue of Remembrance (which also brings me a memory - my first and only major bike crash resulted in me laying in the lay-by just before Glen Avenue, bleeding profusely from an artery). The main pub when at Sheepen Road was the Hole in The Wall, at the top of Balkerne Hill. Povey had been at the college for quite a number of years - he used to work with my old man when they were younger.
Blimey small world hey.. we were always after the nursery nurses at Lexdon .. Glen Ave that was the one.. I had my biggest bike accident along Mile End road. Basically converted a saloon car into a convertible at 80mph.. shattered pelvis woke up with right foot somehow scratching my back... I was more worried about my AGV Agustini replica skid lid..
I used to live at the Northern end of Mile End Road and I remember hearing about the accident (can't recall the year) but I reckon by that time I wasn't living there any more - my mate told me about the crash - he still lived opposite to where I had been. The next thing you will remember with be either Cromwell Motors (which became Miller Motorcycles); Osborne Motorcycles or Parkinson Motorcycles (I lived near Parkies, too; when they were at Marks Tey). My helmet then was an AGV KR replica.
I bought a brand new Suzuki RM250 from Millers.. not far from the station I believe .. was that Reg Miller? My best mte worked for Candor motors and lived at Wivenhoe so we were back and forth to and from there.. hence clingo.. my accident was 1980.
Yep, Reg Miller - there was also originally their shop in Braintree, which was run by Reg and his brother, until Reg opened the North Station Road shop. 1980 was when I bought my Le Mans and I had moved to Stanway by then. I knew Candor Motors very well, because I had been buying Ford parts there for years and I know Wivenhoe well too as my mate lived there in Stanley Road; plus other mates in the same area.
My mte was Mark Harding think his dad was a builder.. there was a band of brothers group of 6 of us but we were part of class of 20 or so.. one of our close mtes was very mechanically minder. It hopeless with written words etc.. I used to do his drawings for tech studies etc to help him out, we all helped tbf.. always skin he was but we were like bros as we were both West Ham nuts.. when we left and went back to our garages we all just lost contact really.. then about 4 years ago my wife said to wasn't a Robbie Cowling a mte of yours from college I said yes why? She said well I reckon that was him on football focus he owns CUFC I said don't be stupid.. few days later there was a re run of the prog.. and there was our Robbie.. I managed to contact by e mail, he replied instantly.. turns out he did very well for he created Jobseeve and he's worth 300 million plus.. google his name, you might know him..
Mark Harding..........well bugger me............'When I get me moped back on the road again.....' Oh, that was Mike Harding, I think....... No, didn't know him or Robbie Cowling either - I hated football because my old man played for CUFC reserves many years ago. Oddly, I worked for three directors of CUFC and was responsible for the fake grass practice pitch at Layer Road.
This is getting kinda weird ha.. That wasn't Mike Harding it was jasper with his funky moped.. hopefully we will get to meet up someday, and we will be able to have a good old natter about.... when I was a lad...
Duck bill shoes, tank tops and corderoy trousers with side pockets and a high waistband with three buttons. Which were fantastic, if you bought them when they were fashionable. Or if you were poor, your mum bought them well out of fashion so they were well cheap and you dreaded going back to school knowing you would get ripped a new one. Christmas with a bag of nuts and a few tangerines, my nan who worked for needlers in Hull, the sweet makers, bringing home boxes of broken biscuits and jars of reject sweets when we visited. Making camps in the woods then finding out the kids in the next street had found it and nicked all your bottles of pop.
Chip shop chips that soaked up the vinegar. Bus conductors with a machine that turned out a paper ticket he tore off and handed to you. Home knitted Balaclavas. Long grey school socks with 2 coloured bands around the bit that turned over at the top. Crystal radios and radio Luxembourg (that went alternately loud and quiet.......like you were having a stroke) Cutlery that had "Made in Sheffield" on it (& fuckoff big spoons). Cross ply tyres. Cremola Foam in little tins (like Andrew's Liver Salts). The Black and White minstrel show. Mao's little red book. Vietnam.
How old are Noods and Johnny Biscuit I wonder? They seem to be almost the same as me, because I certainly had cord trousers with the high waistband and 3 button top fastening (the best pair were black; the cord direction wasn't up and down the leg, but around them.........and they were bought from Innes Cole in Romford).......My school socks were indeed long grey ones with two purple bands around the top, had to wear them and short trousers until the 3rd year started.....FFS
i will give you a clue ... I was a six year old at my first West Ham match and this year I'm celebrating a half century of being a ammer.. Sorry hated those stupid fashions back in the day, I was jeans WH footie shirt ( always) Levi denim jacket DMs and a WH scarf .. School uniform was standard stuff but again with DMs... fashion accessorys at the time were Boxing gloves on a Wednesday and Sat morning, a silver ID bracelet just in case I forgot who I was and for someone else to know who I was if I'd had Severn bells knocked out of us. Gumshield and knuckle duster on a Saturday afternoon normally followed by stitches somewhere and me mum aving to patch my jeans on the knees.. Appy days....
