Sunday 24 January 2016

HELP !

I need somebody !  HELP !No just anybody! HELP you know I need someone HELP!!

When I was younger so much younger than today!!!


Yes that is me as a little un!

Facebook had a change your profile photo to one of you as a youngster, so I changed mine to this one of me aged about 8 or 9 months.
Then on my amazon music library they added a Beatles album that I had bought ages ago and now could be downloaded.
Oh the memories ! HELP! I remember going to see the Beatles film at the local cinema which was I believe Brixton , with my aunt Pamela and my older sister Jackie, it was 1965 and I was nine and we all came out singing and running and dancing down the road , singing at the top of our voices HELP I NEED SOMEBODY!
Our house was a very old terrace , three floors and owned by my Nan. The first floor room at the front was large with two tall sash windows  and once there were four of us girls, it became our bedroom, where I would tell my sisters stories I made up, the start of my love of story telling.

My Dad built a wall around the small front area of the house, you did not have garden space in those days !. And my sister Jackie and I, aged ten and nine would stand on the wall and belt out songs by the Supremes and Dusty Springfield  and the Beatles etc, lord knows what the neighbours thought! But we did not care we were young and it was the 60's!

I'm listening to the Beatles download as I write this, ....."we've up to ticket to ride... she's got a ticket to ride and she don't care!"

I lived just a stones throw from Vauxhall bridge and my playground was the whole of that part of London, the Tate gallery gave me my love of art and the buildings of the Jewel Tower, the Houses of Parliament and the gorgeous old buildings of  London , along with my parents , my love of the History we have in this country and the buildings we are surrounded by.

"Here I stand head in hand , turn my face to the wall....."


"We said our goodbyes....the night before... "

Jackie and me were taken one evening , after much persuasion of my Mum, to the stage door at the London Palladium to see the stars performing, we saw Mary or Peter , Paul and Mary.. we were not impressed as her manager / bodyguard? did not let us near but I got to see Dusty Springfield who smiled and waved at us from her car and opened the window and spoke to us!

"For I have got another girl....who will love me to the end..."


I had a glorious childhood ! I was fortunate to be born in a time when it was all happening and I was young but hanging on it's shirt tails....

I am sad that you could not have that childhood in London now, it's changed so much but I am sure people had glorious childhoods where they lived be it in a city or a village. 

Don't get me wrong there were moments , like the time a girl down the street who was late home, so told her parents she'd seen my brother fall in the Thames! So the police were searching the river and my dad was walking back and forth , only for my poor brother aged about ten to appear strolling down the road in the dark and the Policeman to have to tell my Dad to go steady as my poor brother innocent apart from coming home late got a spanking from my terrified heartbroken father who though his only son was dead...I am now crying as I type this.. it is but a memory but it shows what lies can do. The girl who told the lie.. did she get a spanking? I don't know, she was an only child as I remember born quite late to her parents.

I think it's probably from that day that I have always hated people who lie , not those little white lies to save someones feelings but those ones told for spite or revenge or just because they enjoy telling lies because it gains them something. So I always tell the truth and find I can always tell 99% of the time if someone's lying. Worse are the ones who constantly lie and have no conscience about it and would blame it on something or someone else.

Well I need to get back to the feelings of joy that this post started with, so I remember seeing my brother's photo with his friend in a newspaper because they'd been playing at the Imperial war museum ,that's just along from St Thomas's Hospital, and the paper were giving away free planes for kids and they used their photo to advertise the fact. His better five minutes of fame !

London is so full of places of wonder and interest to a child and to have been living so close to it all that you could walk across a bridge and be there in the midst of such history and wealth of culture that I can only say it was a glorious childhood.

We need to remember the good times in our lives and embrace them and breathe in those memories and use them to lift us and celebrate life is good.


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At totally unplanned post for this Sunday, I hope it sparks your own glorious memories , feel free to add one in the comment box for us all to enjoy.... be positive we have but one life live it!








8 comments:

  1. Ah,memories Dee! Not of the 50s and 60s in your neck of the woods, but of the 70s to the 90s when I lived so near.

    My friend lived in those flats at the side of the cinema in Brixton and our girls played on the grass outside, went to the cinema and even performed a tap routine outside it to promote the opening of the film 'Tap.'

    I worked at Hillmead School in Brixton, followed by Rosendale in Herne Hill. After that I taught for 10 years at John Cass Primary school, the only state school in the City and where the children of the Yeoman Warders who lived at the Tower of London attended. Last of all, I was at the little church school opposit the Imperial War Museum - not the big one, Charlotte Sharman, but the tiny one attached to the redundant St. Jude's church across the main road from it.

    I raised my chldren in Craster Road, off Brixton Hill, was involved in amateur dramatics under Waterloo Station and still go to St. Thomas' Hospital to be kept awake by Big Ben chiming the night away and the traffic thundering over the bridge.

    I wonder, did we pass each other in the streets ever, not knowing we'd get to know eachother later on?

    So much changed in the world during the 25 years I lived in South London, but one thing remains the same for me as it does for you. A habitual liar is, to me, a dispicable human being. Thank goodness they are few and far between - give or tke the many that have passed through my classrooms and made up the most frequent and very amusing stories about their lack of the correct uniform, pencil case, homework etc. But I put their inventiveness down to my own skill in teaching creative writing, LOL!

    LOVE the photo of you as a baby. You were a cute little sweetie. Unlike most people, there still a strong likeness in your baby photo to the photos of you today.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your memories with us Jenni. what a small world that you should have lived in Brixton around the time I would have been shopping in the market there or the big Woolworths!We moved out of south London to Thornton Heath when I was around 17 in 73, as they wanted to knock down my nan's house and all the row attached to it and around to make it back into an open area going back to the days of Vauxhall gardens.
      I believe the Vauxhall tavern still stands which was at the end of our street.
      S it's highly possible we could have passed each other in Brixton Market/ high street while out shopping!
      I would love to say that liars never prosper but I know this to be untrue!

      What can I say I was a happy looking baby and it's very kind of you to say that you can still see a strong likeness all these years later and if you ring spec savers they'll sort that rosy blurred vision out for you! :))

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  2. A really lovely post Dee, thank you, it made a warm glow in my heart to think of happy memories of wonderful childhoods. I too had a lovely childhood, back in the 60s and 70s. I lived my whole life until I got married in Rainham, Essex which is part of Greater London, so we too were very near to the hustle and bustle of our wonderful capital city of London. However, my stomping ground was more local and it wasn't until I had left school and went to work in London that I really got to know the city more. We did used to visit London regularly of course, we used to go to the London Paladium every Christmas to see the pantomime and my mum would take us to Selfridges at Christmas to see Father Christmas, but it wasn't until I was a 'grown up' 16 year old that I got to know London more! And then of course I got to learn a whole lot more about it when I started work for the City of London Police in their Scenes of Crime Department....a WHOLE lot more! And passed my exams for the Met Police too...only to find myself pregnant with Brendan! But oh what fun days! My loves were a little later than yours, David Essex was the absolute love of my life and close behind him came The Bay City Rollers, Eric was my favourite. Oh the fun of growing up in those times! We are all very fortunate!
    And I'm with you and Jenni on liars. My dad always said "At least you know where you are with a thief, but you can never ever trust a liar!" and he was right.
    Big hugs and thanks again for sharing.....and that is a super photo by the way! :)
    xxx

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    1. Sharon thanks for sharing your memories :) It's interesting how as children we'd stick quite close to home, although because my home was London and so close to the historic centre, that was my play ground.
      Of course most young people headed for the nearest city t work, how interesting it must have been to work for the police scenes of crime! Bet you knew all the info!! David Essex , loved him... hold me close don't let me go... :) Bay city rollers more Michelle's era than mine :)
      Liars... so dangerous to an honest person..
      I have to say that's my one good photo , it was downhill all the way after that one..lol xxx

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  3. Thanks for sharing! You were a really cute little thing!
    And what a nice theme: 'Ah; Memories'

    Are we in the same age?
    I was born 1957 in a small village in the former GDR and before 'the wall', my parent moved to Berlin.
    I didn't remember hear about the beatles that early, because my parents listen to classic music and we got no TV.
    I was loving Cliff Richard, but was aged 12 then :)

    And I do remember my brother listening to 'The Sweet' all the time -and he was on the 'NO BayCityRollers'-Side!

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    1. Your welcome, I had to have at least one good photo for all the years I have been here! ;)
      We are very close I was born 1956. My dad listened to Classical music and military bands.
      I loved Cliff Richards and saw him in a couple of concerts in my twenties, One when I was pregnant with Lauren my eldest daughter and when she was a baby , if they played Cliff on the radio she would rock back and forth to the music !!
      I remember the sweet!! :)

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  4. Dee, you were a most beautiful baby! What a wonderful photo! :) I was right in the middle of Beatle mania too! I loved the movie Help and had the record and wore out the grooves on the title song "Help"! I was over the moon for Paul McCartney! But I loved them all really including all Motown songs! Thank you for a walk down memory lane. :) xxx

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    1. Sweet of you to say so Ginger :) Those were the days hey Ginger.. the like never to be seen again! loved Paul Mac too, yes same here Motown, I heard it through the grapevine...
      Glad you enjoyed our walk :)xxx

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