Return to Rising Grove

     Our second house in Rising Grove was number 114. This house was great. Compared to our first Rising Grove house this one had three double bedrooms plus a larger upstairs hallway with a double doored airing cupboard, so big in fact that we played hide 'n' seek in it! Of the two back bedrooms me and my sister shared the left sided one and my parents were in the other, which was designed with a strange quirk in that it encroached somewhat over the neighbours side being above their indoor shed. When we first moved in I was too young to be aware or even care how the house got its heat - it was actually electric underfloor heating with a two bar fire on the front room wall - but I do remember my dad having some kind of hot air gas appliance fitted with vents in the downstairs hall cupboard as he said the house heating system was too expensive to run.

     In all other respects it was the same except you entered by the right side of the house.

     One other thing I became aware of was the sound of the clock at Laindon Shopping Centre which I could clearly hear chiming on the hour, especially at night when the house was quiet.

     We also got a few more pets at this house, these being a tortoise called Timmy from my Nan and a Siamese cat called Smokey for my sister. We ended up living in that house until January 1981.

Bluehouse Juniors

     It was at this second Rising Grove house that I went up to Bluehouse Junior School, which I started in September 1973.

     I began in 1W (Mrs. Willcock). The classroom was on the ground floor of the main building on the right side overlooking the front grass area. She was a lovely teacher, motherly even, and I soon settled down in her class. She was very patient and would always explain anything more than once if you needed it. One day though, whilst in that class, the headmaster Mr. Goodwin came into the classroom. He was very strict and somewhat frightening. He made me stand on my chair in front of the whole class just for looking around and not paying attention to him. After that experience I was very wary of him for the rest of my time at the school.

     My other years in Bluehouse were with Mrs. Choules (2C), in the classroom next to Mrs. Willcock; Mrs. Liddiment (3L), where I was back in a demountable and last but not least Mrs. Jeffries (4J) where the classroom was overlooking the playground nearest the school fence to the back of the Spurriers houses. I also had a lovely lady called Mrs. Pym, who I had reading lessons with up on the top floor in the library area. This was the same floor that the class would sometimes visit to watch schools programmes on the television set that was kept there. One of those programmes I particularly remember was 'How we used to live'.

     When I came home for my lunch break I would watch 'Pipkins', 'Rainbow' and 'Watch with Mother' and sometimes if I was off sick in the afternoons mum would have 'Mr. and Mrs'. game show and 'Crown Court' on. We watched them on a black and white television set rented from Rediffusion. To change channel you had to turn a dial on a box mounted to the wall near the television.

     In the third and fourth year juniors the class had swimming lessons at Pitsea pool and Gloucester Park. Other outdoor sporting activity included rounders and the annual sports day where I participated in the 'three-legged race', 'wheelbarrow race' 'sack race', 'egg and spoon race' and the 'tug-of-war'. Gym lessons were held in the school hall where a large climbing frame of ropes and bars would be manoeuvred into position from its resting place against the wall.

     A couple more things I can recall were free school milk, which I sometimes drank and the school's tuck shop which sold fruit like apples and crisps. You had to queue up in front of a sliding window of the second classroom in from the hall end overlooking the playground. At the end of break time or start of school a teacher would come out and ring a bell and we would line up in front of our classrooms. There were prefects; I was never one, who would walk up and down the line and if anyone misbehaved they would be sent to stand and face the front of the classrooms and a teacher would then discipline them.

     I mentioned earlier my 4th year (Year 6) classroom being on the end nearest the school fence. At this time all four of the classrooms in that block were used by the 4th year. I believe it was a different arrangement in the earlier years of the school. The class next to mine was 4F taught by Mr. Flaxman. I'm glad I didn't have him as he tended to shout a lot and used a slipper as a symbol of authority by whacking it down on his desk for effect if the class misbehaved. I saw this for myself a few times and would often hear his voice booming through the classroom wall where I sat next to Donna F. at the front of the class nearest Mrs. Jeffries desk. I hadn't wanted to sit that near to my teacher but I was under the hospital at the time with a hearing problem and she thought it would help if I was close to the front, so a double desk was moved there. I asked if I could sit with one of my other friends fairly closeby but she said: "No! You'll sit where I tell you to sit", so I was stuck there for the rest of the school year.

     It was in her class that we got the chance to get out of school every so often. She would take the class on foot to the Shopping Centre where the Laindon Library was situated. We would all go downstairs to the children's section where there were tables and chairs and sit and listen to someone - maybe a member of staff - reading a story.

School trip to Danbury

     I went on a few school trips to London where we visited museums etc. but the one trip that stands out from all others was in 1977 when all four 4th year classes went on a school camping trip to Danbury Park in Essex. It was a long weekend (Friday to Monday) during the summer term as I can remember the weather being quite hot.

     We were given a list of items to take in our back pack which included a sleeping bag, cutlery, plate and dish, change of clothes and 'goodies' to eat. We went by coach and it was an exciting adventure.

     When we arrived there was lots of large green tents and we were told which ones to go to. I think our tent slept between ten and sixteen as I think it was roughly eight on each side. They looked like huge triangles like army tents. We set our stuff out in the tent where we chose to sleep then had a meeting round a logged area where a few times we would have a bonfire and sing songs, play games, tell scary stories and eat heated marshmallows held over a fire on a stick.

     We had to walk over the field to the toilet block which was a bit scary as cows were also in that field. We walked round the lakes, looked at the flowers and trees etc. and went to visit Danbury Palace, an impressive building that was near our camp. We played lots of running games and some of us, mainly the boys, swung from long ropes attached to the trees.

     One night in our tent we had a midnight feast. It was very late and by torch light we were sharing our 'goodies' with everyone in our tent and having a good laugh, then pretending to be asleep when a teacher poked their head through the tent flap; "Is everyone ok in here? It's late!" said a voice, but we all kept quiet until they had gone. Mr. Goodwin came along and on this trip he was totally different, a fun person to be around but no sooner had we returned to school he became his old self again!

     Some of the children in my class were: Michael H., Daren J., Donna F., Julian H., twins Karen and Alan H., Bernadette, Karen B., Sharon C., Julie S., Jane C., Bridget, Leslie W., Lee J., Gary ?., Pinko B., who lived on the Rising Grove decks and Jayne W.

More memories around the estate

     The estate was very big with hundreds of houses and flats but had been designed to be as pedestrianised as possible so there was quite a lot of green areas and paved park spaces which I would play around on with my friends. We would often play on the Rising Grove decks and if it rained we would go under the decks to stay dry. There were plenty of garages under there as well and my dad was able to rent one near to our house. He kept a succession of cars in it; they were all Ford models and included a Popular 100E, Cortina Mk2 and lastly a Mk3 Cortina estate, which we still had when we moved in 1981. Another of the garages was used by a Basildon Development Corporation 'handyman' who would be seen around the estate doing maintenance jobs, often riding an adapted bike with a large carrier on the front for his tools.

     Me, my sister and brother would take the short walk to Laindon Shopping Centre with our pocket money to buy comics and sweets from Keith's newsagent, and sometimes a small record from Godfrey's chemist shop. This was a very safe area due to it being pedestrianised although some shops did have a back entrance in view of the rear car park. There were two butcher's shops which I was banned from going in as I told the butcher when I grow up I will come back and hurt you like you hurt the animals, so yes I had to wait outside while my mum was served. My nan on her visits would also sometimes send me and my sister up there with a note and some money to buy her fags. There was a kiosk in Budgen's supermarket where we would go to the counter with the note. We had no idea we were under age and the shopkeeper never questioned us. Nan used to give us sweet money as a reward. I don't think that would happen now!

     We were all registered with the Laindon Health Centre where my doctor's were: Dr. Cavaroli, Dr. Rubie and Dr. Martin. They had all transferred from a New Century Road address - now used by Butler and English funeral directors - when the health centre opened in 1971. My favourite doctor was Dr. Ruby, who I remember as being very gentle and kind. In the early years the dentist was also in the health centre but I remember later having to get registered with Dr. Kimmings at a new one that opened on the bottom floor of some flats in nearby Danacre, which was also part of the Siporex estate.

     In 1972 Bluehouse Farm Community Centre opened; built on a piece of land right next to where the old Bluehouse farm had stood. We soon started going there regularly every Saturday evening where mum and dad would play darts in one hall and us children would be in the main hall with the disco. A few years on from this we would go to the Winston Social Club and watch the groups on the stage.

     There was another building joined to the Community Centre where my sister and brother attended a playgroup. That building was also used by Basildon Council's Play-Leadership scheme where you could hire equipment such as footballs, balancing stilts, cricket bats and stumps, pogo sticks, space hoppers and indoor activities like board games, table tennis etc. I had a lot of fun there.

     In February 1974 my dads job at Freight Bonallack, as they were now known, came to an end when the company began laying its workforce off in preparation for complete closure of its Basildon division. Fortunately he was able to find another job closeby at the giant Ford Tractor Plant maintaining the plant equipment and helping to train school leavers taking up an apprenticeship. My mum meantime had got herself a job at Laindon Shopping Centre in the 'Swinging Plaice' fish and chip shop next to the 'Pop Inn' cafe. In those days it was always very busy, particularly during the school lunch hour. As you walked in on the left was a short row of tall bar stools and top to sit at and on the right the serving counter. Straight ahead was the tables and chairs where I would quite often sit with my sister and brother for a free lunch. The manager was called Fred and he lived in Shoeburyness. On some occasions he would phone up and ask mum to unlock and set up before he got there. She did this until a vacancy came along for a cook at a new old peoples care home called the Woodards that was just off St. Nicholas Lane in Tavistock Road. Later she became a manager there with her own bedroom for the times she was on call-out duty. Sometimes I would go, often with my sister, and sit in the main sitting room with the older residents and chat with them whilst waiting for my mums shift to finish, and other times to help out such as when they held a fete or jumble sale.

     We had a telephone line put in around 1974 but I would walk across the green to the end of the Northey three storey houses to the red telephone box to use the payphone which in those days cost either 2p or 10p.

     For one short period our part of the estate experienced a spate of petty thefts from garden sheds. A rumour went round that the thieves were even throwing poisoned meat into the gardens of dog owners so they wouldn't be disturbed at work. We had a lock put on our back gate and during the evenings dad would make regular trips outside to check that our dog was ok and that the gate was still secure. Around the same time we were also told to be on alert as there was someone dubbed the "Laindon Knicker Snatcher" prowling around the area. Apparently quite a few neighbours had reported a series of thefts of their underwear off the garden washing line. My mum made a joke about it saying he probably wouldn't want to steal hers as they might be too big for him to handle! We all kept a look out but never saw who it was and no one was ever caught.

     At the weekends and during the school holidays we used to listen out for the ice cream van. My mum or nan, when she was staying, would send us out to buy a '99' or an oyster ice cream and we could choose whatever we wanted. We had two that came round regularly, often parking under the decks. My favourite was the pink Tonibell van with its distinctive 'cow on the roof'.

     Sometime around 1977 a house on the estate was badly damaged in a fire. It was in the Lynge and not that far from us as we got to smell the smoke as it took hold. After it had been put out I remember my friend Nicky knocking to see if I wanted to go out. Before I left mum said to keep away from where the fire had occured but we were curious to see for ourselves what had happened. When we got there the house was gutted with the outside black and charred. It was quite a shocking sight and I can't remember if anyone got injured as a result.

     On Tuesday 7th June, 1977 the residents of Rising Grove organised a street party to honour Her Majesty the Queen's Silver Jubilee. It was held near our house on a large rectangular piece of land between the decks on one side and the back of a row of houses on the other. My schoolfriend Donna, along with her younger sister Cindy were there along with many others. A long line of tables were set up to eat at and we all had a good time listening to the loud music and playing games. Everyone was given a certificate to mark the occasion, which I still have.

     I mentioned earlier regarding the layout of my first house, during our time at the second Rising Grove house we made friends with the neighbours which meant I quite often went into their house and could compare the layout with ours. Another of our neighbours at the other end of our row were the Bailey's. Alf and Jean became great friends and through Alf, who was a bus driver with Eastern National, we ended up going on busman's day trips and short stay holidays to Holland.

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