Good memories of number 59

Me (left) and my friend Sandra in our back garden
From the private collection of Sandra Bohtlingk

Happy Summers

In the Summer the windows and doors would be open and I had my neighbour to play with.
Her name was also Sandra. My Mum chose the name Sandra for me as it was so unusual in that time. As all trends go Sandra was not so rare though. There were at least 2/3 girls called Sandra in my class each year.

Fruit bushes and vegetables

It was a long garden out back with some fruit bushes, raspberry and blackcurrant, some vegetables at times, and the delicious marrow growing on top the compost heap at the bottom. Later Dad built a garage at the bottom of the garden for our car but that still left plenty of room for plants and secret games on the lawn.

Friendly hedgehog

The dog had a kennel outside just for shading in when hot really or to shelter from the rain if we were out. He could come and go at will but if we went out…..he had no ‘key’. Then there was the friendly hedgehog who would show up around dusk for a bowl of bread and milk.

An outside toilet

There was an outside toilet and a shed next to the house where the coal was stored and tools for the garden. And that reminds me. I had a guinea pig for some time and his home and cage were in that outside loo. In winter it would keep the cage dry and in summer the cage was brought outside. His name was Nip, ‘cos that’s what he’d do now and then. Give you a nip. Later he went to live up the road with a boy friend of mine.

Good memories

Number 59 still gives me good memories. I wonder if the snow still lies deep and frozen solid and I wonder what it all looks like in these days? That probably stays a mystery still unless someone is close enough by to capture a new photo and post it in to the site. Now that would be nice.

Comments about this page

  • Where is Rotherfield Crescent?

    By John Wall VK2 (23/11/2010)
  • Hi Sandra, Try looking at the Google earth website, where you can revisit your house as it is today. Regards, Andy

    By Andy Grant (05/12/2010)
  • Hi Sandra we lived at 58 Rotherfield Crescent. I think we left in March 1965. My mum was called Rita, my dad was Les. I had two brothers Ian and Graham and two sisters, Denise and Jeanette. I was too young to remember. Our surname was Steedman.

    By nicola cahill (23/04/2012)
  • Hi Sandra, I was in your class at Carden, we handed notes to each other. Alan Clark was in the class, together with Phil Keating. Been in Canada since 1970. retired now travel to Arizona in the winter and summers in BC Canada.

    By John Legg (31/12/2017)
  • Hallo, John Legg.
    My eyes widened at seeing your comment on the page about Hanningtons and the fact your mother worked there. I immediately thought this could be the John Legg I remember from school days?
    Yes, we were in the same class and Alan was my boyfriend for a short period till we moved over to secondary school.
    I recall you lived at the top end of Rotherfield Crescent and if I remember correctly I believe your father worked in the police force.
    Phil Keating was a short distance from my home as he lived round the corner in Fernhurst Crescent.

    I did have a short contact with Alan Clarke since I joined this popular website but have lost contact again now.

    I remember quite a lot of the school pals I had. Passing notes across to each other seemed to be fashionable at that time. I wonder what ours were saying.

    Best wishes, John. Lovely to have contact with folks around the world. I now live in the highlands of Scotland. Chilly, windy but scenery you can’t help loving.

    By Sandra Bohtlingk (31/12/2017)
  • Hi Sandra. Not sure about photos, but will check when I get home to Canada in April. I’m wintering in the desert of Arizona at the moment. I can send pictures of that if you have an email address. Mine is as follows  johnrlegg@gmail.com

    By John Legg (01/01/2018)

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