A Tenth Birthday Party in Noak Hill Road

Vivienne Salmon
Vivenne Salmon

Two photographs provided by Vivienne Salmon (nèe Bragg) of her 10th birthday party in August 1956 which took place in the garden of ‘Pettistree’ in Noak Hill Road. Click on photo to enlarge the image.

Vivienne at the head of the table and then:- front from the right – Douglas Merchant, Howard Davies, Harry Bragg, Clifford (cousin from Sheffield), David Merchant, June Smith, Lorna Smith.

Back from the right – Mary Baker, unknown, Maureen Slade, unknown, Christine Bakewell, Lesley Davies, Lindy Lewis.

Second photo taken from a different angle.  Click on photo to enlarge the image.

Most of these children went to Markham’s Chase School, their mothers taking turns to walk with them on the long journey to and from.  Later on, when they were a little older, their journey was by bus.

Comments about this page

Add your own comment

  • Alan,  the bungalow (yellow stock bricks) my father built called “Pettistree” is still there but hidden behind a tall evergreen hedge.  Difficult to spot in a car so best to walk about 150 yards north of St Agnes Road (on the same side). The driveway is still made up with the crazy paving my father laid.  Hope this helps.   Regards  Vivienne

    By Vivienne Salmon (02/05/2017)
  • I do not know where on Noak Hill Road “Pettistree” was located. I do remember that cycling up Noak Hill was no easy task with a satchel full of Weedon’s Sunday newspapers to deliver. Youthful pride would admit to no walking and the hill had to be cycled up —- do or die. Almost at the top, on the right hand side, was a bungalow with its name proudly displayed as if in congratulation for having made it up the hill. “Weldon”. Perhaps the owners had something completely different in mind but I always saw it as “Well Done”.

    By Alan Davies (06/04/2017)
  • David, Glad you liked the pictures.  We did move to a bungalow further up the road but only lived there for about a year.  When Harry left Markhams Chase we were then living in Benfleet and he went to school in Southend.  He is now living in Hastings and I will let him know you tried to contact him. Vivienne Salmon (Bragg)

    By Vivienne Salmon (27/03/2017)
  • Vivienne, thanks for sharing these photos but I hope you won’t be too upset that I don’t remember your 10th birthday party, but it looks like we enjoyed it. Doug and I would have been 8yrs 8mth in August 56. Remember June and Lorna, they lived next door to us just a few doors along from you towards Billericay. We saw quite a bit of your brother Harry while we were all at Markham’s Chase, but don’t think he went to LHR as Doug and I did.

    I think at some point your family moved to another bungalow further up on the other side of the road? I did try to contact Harry last year when my wife and I went to the Isle of Wight, got his address from the electoral roll and thought we could meet up for a drink, but had a phone call back from new people saying that he had moved a couple years ago. If you are in contact with him perhaps you could let him know.

    By David Merchant (09/03/2017)
  • Fabulous photographs here Nina and thanks Vivienne Salmon for providing them for us. The times were certainly different in 1956, all that open countryside and the old vehicles adding atmosphere to the pictures. Nice of the photographer to get differing views so we can appreciate the children better. I’m sure Howard Davies went to Laindon Park School, if it is the same Howard. The one I knew lived in Church Road in a bungalow close to the school. In August 1956 my parents took me on holiday to Jaywick where we had a nice chalet in Sacketts Grove. It seemed like going to a different country, a rare vacation away from Barking. The next year we moved to Laindon and some of the children in this photo were to enter my life during my school days, brilliant memories from all those years ago.

    By Richard Haines (27/02/2017)
  • A sure sign of the times, real terry nappies hanging on the washing line, that’s something you don’t see today. Many of the chair legs levelled and supported by odd pieces of timber, a pram stood behind the partygoers, presumably with an occupant. How rural, how lovely, how nostalgic. I would have only been 9 years old for a month at the time of these pictures. 

    By Donald Joy (27/02/2017)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.