Ponsonby Street

[jasper]

I spent my childhood in Ponsonby Street, L8, 1948 to 1960. The street was divided into two equal parts by Granby Street. I lived in the lower part that ran between Granby Street and Mulgrave Street.

There was a very strong street culture especially as far as chidren and young people were involved. We used to play games in the street and activities that moved with the seasons. We had football, cricket, marbles, tennis and main events like Guy Faulke's night. There were street parties for the Queen's Coronation 1953 and The Festival of Britain in 1951.

There were running and chasing games, all very innocent as I recall but I expect that some of the chasing develped into boys chasing after girls.

There was something of a gang culture too and you had to be an insider to avoid getting into scrapes. Unfortunately for me I didn't have the knack of doing that and often ended up being bullied. The kids who went to the grammar schools or the technical schools were held in a kind of suspicion by the others. The street was 100% white working class in those days. I remember when the first black family moved in in 1960 or thereabout.

When the nights drew in we used to play in the dark by the light of two street gas lamps attached to the front of two houses on opposite sides of the street.

My family thought that we were a cut above the average but in truth we were scruffs because m father drank and there were far too many children in our family.

Jasper