My Memories ...... From about 1952 to 1965 we all lived over the shop on the corner of Spencer Street and Knowsley Road my sister Penny was the first to be born there followed by Nicky, Cherrie and then Susan bringing the family total to 10, It was a busy house but I would never really say that it felt over crowded, we just all mucked in. However one Sunday in 1956 the house was chaotic, there were several people dashing about, my dad said that as it was a nice day we should go out and have a long walk, I think we walked to the bandstand on Mousehold, I seemed to remember there was my sisters Wendy, Judy and my little brother Richard we were quite exhausted when we got home but we soon picked up as we were presented with our newly delivered brother Nicky. Dad told us that the stork had brought him and we believed him but later we found out it was really a little lark!!!

Dad had bought the property without my mother seeing it; I don't think mum was too pleased as we had to move from a reasonably new home (28 Woodcock Road) to an older property in need of much work. The shop had been changed from a post office (as in the picture above) to a bakery shop with all the ovens still intact, I vaguely remember Dad and some men removing the ovens in the back room and I recall there was lots of soot and rubble he then turned the room into our front lounge which in those days was kept for best, or if we had guests. In the lounge Dad and Mum bought a piano, my sister Wendy and I were sent for lesions (Mrs Sexton on Silver Street) I remember she taught us to play a duet, but for some reason we gave the lessons up, which I now regret. I can remember a man coming one day and connecting us to the phone, it was a big black thing and was positioned in our hall to the side door on Knowsley Road, I think our number was Norwich 20905.

All us children slept upstairs, the bedrooms were quite large and we all shared, my parents had their bedroom downstairs in the side room leading to the shop and the front door on the Spencer Street side, Sunday morning we would all pile into my parents bed and have a wrestle, Mrs Taylor and her daughter Blanch (who lived next door at 87) must have thought we were being tortured with all the screaming and shouting. We had another room at the back of the shop, this was our living area, it opened onto a long kitchen leading to the back door. In the kitchen was a rayburn that was alight all the time to heat the room and the hot water, between the kitchen and front lounge walls dad knocked the window out and extended it into a veranda with a glass roof, which often leaked, Mum hung some big curtains over where the window was to save loosing the heat. In the new veranda area our Granddad Tong built two bench seats running along each side of the walls, the seats would lift up so the inside could be used as storage, a long table was placed in the middle and we would all have to slide along one by one to get to our seats, mine was by the window which was bad news for me as I was often the gofer if we needed anything from the kitchen, I just had to open the side hung window, step outside and then into the kitchen via the back door, mum and dad would insist that most of our meals were taken together as a family. On Sundays over lunch we would listen to Family Favourites and Beyond the Horn on the radio. and on the Sunday's when we did not go out we would sit for ages over Sunday tea telling jokes and stories and it was always fun.

Mum gave us all jobs to do, they were on a rota system so we did not have the same job every day. I remember mum would wash the clothes in the sink or in this old washing machine where we had to pick things out with a wooden stick and push them through a manual wringer, another piece of equipment was a spin dryer, when spinning it would work it way all round the kitchen and we had to follow it with a bucket so that the waste water did not go on the floor. One day we had a Hoover twin-tub delivered, we all thought it was top of the range, it even had an electrical wringer but we still wanted to take turns to put the clothes through.

We had no heating in the house apart from the rayburn and a gas fire in the living room, we would all dress round the gas fire on winter mornings, I recall sometimes we would toast bread over it with a toasting folk, the smell was lovely. Up stairs on the landing in the winter we had a black Valour oil heater, these heater had a transparent red panel at the front and in the dark it would give a warm red glow and light up the landing you could also hear the flame burning in the silence of the night.

Friday nights were always special as were all had to have a bath whether we needed it or not, the first in would get the clean water, mum would wash all our hairs one by one and then we all had to have our fingers and toe nails cut, ears cleaned out and a dose of syrup of figs. Later on Saturday afternoons we would watch wrestling on the television before finally settling down to banana sandwiches for tea round the gas fire. Dad would always be late home on Saturdays as he was out collecting his money as his customers paid their accounts on a weekly basis, my mother would then do him a fry-up and we would all sit round him like baby birds hoping to get a stray mouthful.

We were the first in our area to have a television and I remember one cup final day all the neighbours came in to watch it, the living room was packed. The TV reception was quite poor and one day dad bought a newer better model the aerial was portable and would sit on top of the television but if you moved round the room the signal would go and we would get ghosting, to solve the problem we put a metal coat hanger into the aerial socket it seemed to do the trick.

The back garden was small but we would all play there, in one corner dad built an aviary where he used to breed budgies until a cat got in and killed most of them. On hot days mum and dad would rig up the hose with a sprinkler and we would all stand under it, we also had a metal round bath which we would fill with water and we would all sit inside round the perimeter to cool off.

There was big excitement one day when my brother Richard set light to the garage, the fire brigade had to called to put it out, I think dad was a little please if the truth was known as they also cleared away a lot of the rubbish. My brother Richard would always be running away but he never got very far and dad would go and pick him up from the Magdalen Road Police Station.

My best friend was Peter Mills we were friends from day one, there was also only two days difference in our ages, he lived just over the road on Knowsley Road, we virtually did everything together and he would always be coming out with our family. Peter and I made a go-kart out of some old pram wheels, we would then go round all the houses in our area collecting waste paper and old jam jars to earn some cash. The paper would be taken to Mr House on Denmark Road and the jam jars we taken to a shop on the corner of Marlborough Road where the man had a cockle stand on Norwich Market. We would go fishing on our school holidays to Salhouse Broad and Horning Ferry we would bike and would be there all day, there was not the fears as there is today and children’s lives were a lot more free, although I do remember one day something had happened and mum pinned the front page of the paper to the inside of the back door and stressing to all of us that we had to read it before we went out to play.

It's hard to believe now but there were no cars in the streets in those days or maybe just one or two, things were still being delivered by horse and cart, you would often see people following the horses with a bucket and spade to gather up the horses droppings for their roses, you would never see horse dropping in the street for long. One day the council came to renew the pavement and a hut appeared with a night watchman, he would light little lamps every evening and place them round the ground work then sleep in the hut, I loved the smell of the oil burning. As the nights pulled in I would meet my friend outside and we would sit under the lamb posts and talk. Over the years the number of cars increased and there were often accidents on the crossroads as drivers failed to stop or slow down for the junctions, I can remember a car completely turning over and laying in the middle of the road with the horn blowing.

Dad had an old disused ambulance when we moved to Spencer Street which he used for his business (he was selling fruit & vegetables then from the van) on Sundays we would nearly always go out and literally our family settee was placed in the back of the van for us all to sit on. One of the trips must have been 1953 as I remember dad taking us and my grandparent to see the aftermath of the floods which devastated our coastline and killed several people.

Again as the years went by Dad increased his fleet of cars and would rent them out, for a few years he and my uncle Jack would take some of our neighbours to Hemsby for their annual holiday. A lot of the neighbours worked in the local shoe factories just on the outskirts of Mousehold on Chrome Road behind St Mary Magdalen Church, Silver Road, and every weekday morning the men and women could be seen walking up the road in gangs on their way to work. Sunday mornings the Salvation Army band would play on one of the street corners and some times the Boy's Brigade would march up Spencer Street.

There were many schools in our area but we all went to Mousehold Junior School which was quite a way from our house and up Mousehold Avenue which was a very steep hill but we all walked, we had no choice. We then went to The George White Middle School on Silver Road, then after the 11 plus to the Alderman Jex for us boys and Angle Road for the Girls, the younger ones where to go to Sprowston as we moved to Rackheath in 1965.

Spencer Street abt 1958 In the back garden

An opportunity came up for my parents to buy some terrace houses about 6, I think so dad took it and rented them out. Dad was always doing things to them and this progressed to the purchase of and old cottage on Middleton Lane, Hellesdon which dad completely gutted out, it was modernised complete with a set metal spiral staircase . Dad had bought it some time back and it was laying about at the back of the shop for some time so I think he wanted to use them somewhere.

Dad brought in George Mills who was one of his customers to help him and this was the start of a working relationship which was to last for many years virtually until George passed away. They would mostly work on the cottage in the evenings or Sunday mornings and I would go along to help. After finishing off we would always pop in to the Firs Public House on Cromer Road for a drink, (I think our doctor had changed pubs!!). One night we came out of the Firs and a very thick fog had come down (we used to have very bad fogs in those days due to all the chimney fires), George went off on his motor bike and we set off in dad's Ford Thames. The fog got thicker and thicker and in the end I had to get out and walk in front of the van to guild dad, when we reached Knowsley Road we were the front vehicle and dad shouted out that I should go and tell the car behind that we were turning off or they would all finish up at ours.

Mum and Dad bought another shop this time on Magdalen Road number 133a which again I remember was in a sorry state, this was never a problem as dad always saw the potential, I think it was a old floweriest. in the backrooms there were so many layers of paper on the walls that the previous owner had nailed the top to stop it from falling off the walls. Very quickly dad had got into gear and the shop was extended everyway possible complete with a kitchen come sitting room upstairs and a stock room in the front. It was called Tong's (my mother's maiden name) as the picture shows.

The shop became my parents main source of business, customers would purchase goods and pay for them on a weekly basis, this is the way most families did things in those days as there were no credit cards. Their customers reached all round Norwich and on Saturdays I would help dad on my bike collect some of his weekly takings on the other side of the city on the Larkman, The Avenues and Earlham estates. Lunch time we would meet up at the Gate House or Malpit Public Houses to have a drink with our lunch, but it was a working lunch as dad was always doing business in the bars and collecting money. My uncle Jack would often help also, so dad could finish off earlier instead of working late into the evening.

Dad would mostly open the shop in the mornings and my mum would take over when she had seen us all off to school, returning to be there again when we came home, once we got older we would go to the shop after school. On Saturdays until I was older enough to help dad on his rounds it was down to us four older ones to look after the younger ones at home as mum would look after the shop all day. This is how things were for a time we older ones looking after the younger ones, but I don't recall any problems. An elder couple lived in the corner house over Knowsley Road called Wild when Mr Wild died mum would always cook Mrs Wild a Sunday lunch and take it over on a tray.

On top of all this we would always have one or two of our friends round or to stay, dad bought a new Ford minibus it had in the back bench seats up both sides, he had a little seat made for my brother Nicky so he could sit on the engine between the two front seats, the vehicle was always full of people. Sundays we would always go out after dad had done some building work either at home or one of his houses or the Magdalen Road shop in the mornings. Granddad Tong made two tables that fitted between the seats, when down we had big pieces of foam that would take up the space to the seats making a complete sleeping area for long journeys, when up as they were most of the time when we travelled we would be able to play cards or games. Many a time we would pickup my parents friend Jack and Iris Maria and two of their children Jenny and Jackie and go to the coast or wherever. They even came with us to San Remo (Italy) on a two week camping holiday as well as my aunt Maureen.

Mundesley was one of our favourite spots, going there we would sometime stop of to buy a couple of boxes of cherry’s as there used to be a field of cherry trees just before Captains Pond on North Walsham Road and they had a hut in the layby from which they were on sale. We would make for the car park and playing field behind the amusements and then literally setup camp, our aunts and uncle would also come with our cousins as well as our grandparents. The tables my granddad made would be taken out of the van and setup full of cups and sauces and food, dad would boil the kettle on a primas stove and we would all line up to be served. After spending several hours on the beach the process was repeated all over again. We would play games until dark if the weather was good or we would leave and stop off at the Three Horse Shoes at Scottow or the Rising Sun at Coltishall were dad said that he had to go and see the doctor! It always amazed me that we had a doctor that was always in the pub!!

Dad's ambition was to one day build his own house, about 1960 he decided to fulfil his dream. A piece of land of just over an acre containing two old cottages was purchased on Wroxham Road just opposite the Rackheath Hall Golden Gates at the junction of Beeston Lane. The cottages were condemned and eventually demolished and were the foundation to the driveway of the house. One of the main criteria was that it must have a cellar so we could have parties and after mum could just close the door of the cellar and would not have to spend half the night clearing up, she did get her cellar (a big one vertually half the size of the house) but mum could never go to bed knowing things were not tidy.

We moved in before it was connected to electricity, we had a generator in a shed in the back garden after Spencer Street it was huge. Dad built a bar in the cellar and his friend Herbert Pope who worked for the brewery got him quite a few odds and ends and very soon dad had his own pub, the doctor was banned!! Half the cellar had a wooden parquet floor so we could have it for dancing. We had many parties there and would all sit down to Christmas lunch together, we all had boy friends and girl friends then so the family had doubled and later after we married there were grandchildren, I think one Christmas there was over 30 of us for lunch although at that time it was two sittings.

We started to collect animal and it became like Noah’s Ark there was everything you could think of, geese patrolled the grounds, there was a pony (Pepi), 2 goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits and even a pig. The pig (which we soon named as Porky) had been bought to fatten up for Christmas it was kept in a shed which I had tried to claim as a workshop but no such luck. When Christmas approached dad had Porky slaughtered, when it was put cooked in the middle of the table we all burst out crying.

The problem with Tenby House was that you needed transport to get to and from it, so as we started to go out and do things that teenagers do mum and dad became a taxi service running us all into Norwich or wherever then we would catch the bus home to the Blue Boar Public House, there was a phone box next to the bus stop and we would call home for someone to come and collect us, I think or phone number then was Norwich 49914, it was only a mile but between us we must have made hundreds of journeys ferrying each other to and fro.

Unfortunately I did not live to long at Tenby House as I married and moved to Sydney Australia in 1967

Maybe someone else would like to take over with their memories ……