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Happy childhood memories

Trees as goalposts

I used to use Stoneham Park roughly between 1960 and 1969. I lived in Cowper Street; my elderly parents are still there. I used to meet a load of friends there for a game of football using trees at each ends as goals. Many an evening game was played there until bad light stopped play. My best mate who was a star player, was Glenn Graham who lived up Westbourne Street

Stoneham Park

Stoneham Park

The park keeper kept the peace

All the usual park non health and safety equipment was there, swings, slides, roundabout, and stinking park toilets. There used to be a shed with a seating area in the middle at the top end where Keith Simmons used to entertain the girls. A park keeper had a small shed at one end, and used to keep any undesirables in check.

Stoneham Park

Stoneham Park

A credit to the neighbourhood

Big green railings and bushes were all around the perimeter. Refreshments could be bought from the corner shop opposite, famous for penny lollies. Also Tammy’s fish bar just up the road was a meeting place with a back room with a football table and a pin table. The park today still survives and has had a lot of work done to it and is a credit to the neighbourhood.

Do you have any memories of Stoneham Park? Do you visit Stoneham Park today? Please share your reminiscences and experiences with us.

 

Comments about this page

  • I remember Stoneham Park from the early 1960s. Although I lived well to the north in Hangleton, on a Saturday morning we used to go to the children’s Saturday morning pictures at the ABC in Portland Road. We would catch the No 54 bus down to the ABC, I think the entrance fee was six old pence, and perhaps nine pence if you wanted to go up in the “balcony”. After the show finished, which was about 12 midday, we had the choice of catching the bus home, or spending the bus fare and walking home, which was always the favoured option. We would walk up through Stoneham Park and play for ages, sometimes playing out the character we had just watched, Batman or Zorro! Then we would purchase sweets from the little shop which was on the corner of Tamworth Road and Montgomery Street. In the summer, we would buy his home-made ice lollies, which were just one old penny. They were just made in his freezer, which we didn’t have at home. Another option was to buy chips from the fish and chip shop in the parade of shops in Tamworth Road, before walking up under the railway tunnel and on to Hangleton; sometimes not arriving home till 3 or 4 in the afternoon. What a great day out!

    By Peter Groves (17/12/2011)
  • My memories of Stoneham Park go back to the 1940s when there was an air raid shelter along the whole of the south side. Heaven help you if you were caught on the top of it. The Parkie had a little shed at the eastern end (by the swings) and would ‘clip the ears’ of anyone transgressing his rules. It made me realise how much freedom to roam we had, even though it was wartime, and as a 7 or 8 year old my territory was from Hove Park to Shoreham Harbour and all points between. Does anyone else remember the barrage balloon at the lagoon?

    By Ken Graimes (18/12/2011)

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