Memories of Salisbury Avenue

The photograph is in the rear garden of “Benenden” and shows Thelma Oliver’s  (nee Savage nee Waters) children (myself & my sister Hazel with our dog Judy).   What I found of interest was the array of temporary buildings in the background which from left to right were:

Disused henhouse but in the 1960s used to store the coal that could be only delivered in the summer months when the road was passable.  Salisbury Avenue was always more like a bog or marsh in the winter than a road, particularly when it had been wet and impassible to vehicles of any kind. Next is the Privy. Then next to that, storage for old pram, useful for collecting heavy loads particularly in winter and out of shot Grandad Fred’s shed.

What mum (Thelma Oliver) forgot to say was the concrete path that ran down Salisbury Avenue from the Station was paid for by public subscription raised by the residents in Salisbury Avenue.  The width of the path was made so the wheels of Thelma’s pram (probably the same one as the old one in the shed) would fit on the path.  I can also remember the overhead electricity supply cables being cut down and stolen in the 1960s and the anger and fury of my grandfather when in late childhood I lent against the asbestos wall inside Benenden and broke the wall.

Editor: Trevor, re your request, this article will be placed in a category covering Salisbury Avenue.