I played on the swings at Woodchurch
Crescent and I played football at Beechings Way. I picked buttercups for
the do-you-like-butter test on Petham Green and I ran in the daisy field off
Broadway. I played on the big mound of earth that became Harbledown Manor and, just
once, I played in the newly built Benenden Manor – one peep over the balcony
had me hugging the wall all the way back to the staircase. Crossing the top
road was out of bounds for most of us but arrow chase (a trail of arrows
chalked on the pavement) gave us familiarity of roads, short cuts and alleyways from
there to the Lower Rainham Road.
On the grass at the bottom end
of Hawthorne Avenue the Battle of Rorke’s Drift was re-enacted with freshly painted cardboard
shields, and on a mountain of rubble where the Tech now stands I got a
sizeable lump on the head when defending Pork Chop Hill in a stone fight. When
they built the Catholic school on Romany
Road, I played in the foundations. Sharps Green?
Yes. The chalk pit? Yes, and scrumping at the orchard on Pump Lane, and finding
rhubarb in the allotment off Lower Pump Lane, and getting up to things
with the girls in the long grass opposite the golf course on Beechings Way.
Yes, I did those things. And I once strayed beyond the forbidden zone, crossing
the top road to visit the glorious Darland Banks, where I whizzed down the
slopes in an upturned car bonnet.
And sometimes I picked the
wrong company, as happened on the way back from the Lower Rainham Road one summer evening
when the big kids I’d tagged along with came across some gypsy caravans. From a
crouched position behind a hedge it was suggested we all gather a handful of
stones and on the count of three, let them have it. I played my part but in the
milliseconds it took for the hail of stones to clatter the caravans, I was
already up and running.
Happy
days, mostly, and I’m going to talk about it all; people, places, and life at
Twydall Juniors. As I couldn't
possibly tell my story without telling some part of yours, I hope you won't
mind if your name appears here. Each chapter is listed in its correct sequence
in the left hand margin; click any title to read.
Gerard Lynch
Gerard Lynch
August 2022
