The next door to the bathroom was the entry to the scullery, a large room which contained a very long pine-top table with a drawer at each end.
There were two doors off to the left of the table. The first was a larder, which contained a large stone slab and above that were wooden storage shelves on three sides.
The next door was to the “coal cellar”. This was not actually a cellar, since its floor was at the same level as the scullery. When coal was available, it was delivered through an outside chute on to the floor of the cellar. Immediately inside the cellar door were retaining boards which slotted one above another to retain the coal. As the coal was depleted, the slotted boards were removed to gain access to the remaining coal. It was there on the day of Victor’s birth that the cat gave birth to its kittens.
At a right angle to the cellar was the back door leading down about three stone or concrete steps to the back garden.
On the side of the scullery, opposite the larder and the cellar and the rear wall of the bathroom, was the coal-burning boiler, like a large cauldron, in which the washing was boiled. Down the same side of the scullery was the gas cooker and the kitchen sink. Above the sink was a window looking out onto a narrow courtyard containing a wooden fence, which was the boundary with the Bicknells. On that fence there hung a zinc bath. To the right of that was the window to our toilet. Mum did the washing early every Monday morning. Before we went to school she would use the mangle out in the back garden to wring out as much water as possible. This routine took place throughout the year after which the washing was pegged out on the clothes line which hung above the garden path. In winter time the clothes would become frozen and would hang like stiff boards on the line. Not all the clothes were washed in the boiler. Mum had a scrubbing board on which clothes washed in the sink were scrubbed.
That sink was an all-purpose item in which we would wash and clean our teeth each morning, It was also where Mum, and any assistant she could muster from among us children, would partially prepare food to be cooked. The scullery table would also be a further preparation area for the food before it was cooked on the gas stove or in the oven.
Returning to the entry hall, with one’s back to the front door, to the left was the bathroom and scullery. To the right was the living room. Opposite the front door was a short flight of steps, perhaps three or four, leading to a small landing on the right of which was the toilet. Then, to the left was the main flight of stairs leading up to the bedrooms. There were no water facilities of any sort upstairs. At the top of that flight there was a window which looked out onto the front garden path. To the left of the window were the front bedrooms and to the right was the rear bedroom.
Cricket was something of an obsession with Ken and George. This was, probably, not surprising since Dad was a rather good cricketer who was a left handed bowler and a right-handed batsman. He played for a team called “Castle Sports” for whom Auntie Lill was the scorer. Dad was offered a trial for Surrey County Cricket Club. Unfortunately the trial was due to take place in the morning, however, his Mother had insisted that he did his daily chores before he was allowed to attend, but then when he eventually arrived, it was too late and he missed the trial. So it became one of those what might have been situations.
Later in his life, whilst working on the trams, he was able to play the occasional game.
Even later in life he became extremely proud when Ron also played for Castle Sports on several occasions.
When Ken and George could find friends who would join us we played cricket in the Beckenham Place Park. From time to time, when they had the time, Mum and Dad would play with us, including Pat.
Ken and I often went to the Park, not to play cricket but to explore a bit. One of our favourite areas was by the River Ravensbourne, which has its source further south, around Bromley and flowed towards the Thames. We used to enjoy being beside the river and if we became thirsty we would drink the water from it. We never gave any thought to what dogs might have peed in it upstream from us, however we survived and never gave any thought to it. On the river bank was a tree which Ken could not resist the opportunity to climb, however on one occasion he tumbled from it and landed in the mud. I don’t remember, but I imagine Mum was not too pleased.
For the birth of Ken, Ron, Pat and George were evacuated with Mum to Hastings. Being in close proximity to France it was not one of the safest places to be evacuated. Mum must have thought this was the case and shortly after Ken’s birth we returned to London, which was of course a very unsafe place to live because of the frequent air raids.
However, the powers that be must have thought that evacuating us all to Mexborough, in Yorkshire in 1944 was a good idea. Mexborough is not too far away from Sheffield, another prime site for air raids and this city had its fair share of them. Thus, once again, we had been located in an unsafe place. Because Dad needed to work he remained in London. Mum together with Pat, George and Ken were located with a mining family called Hill and Ron was located with another family, whose name I don't know. Because we were of school age we were signed into the local school where, because he was still an infant, Ken had to have a sleep each afternoon. As he did not like having to do this with strangers he wanted me to sit with him – very boring!
From time to time, Dad would travel from London to visit us and when he did we might go to the cinema. There were two cinemas not too far from where we lived. One was a very old one, which was known as the flea pit. The other was a modern 1930’s building and there we once saw the film “The Desert Song” with Dennis Morgan.
We had managed to survive war in Sheffield, so Mum decided we should return to London where we spent the rest of the war and we survived that.
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