Fever And Festival

A Memory of Croydon.

I remember January 1951, my second year at Croydon Parish Church Infants' School, I was six. I was beginning to wonder where about a quarter of the class had gone. Then I fell ill and Dr Schofield (not sure which one, there were two brothers, Dr James and Dr Robert) said, "It's scarlet fever!" I was taken, with my Ration Book, to the Isolation Hospital at Waddon. I was there three weeks, and found out where my classmates were! We were not allowed visitors, not even parents - that was hard at only six years old! There was one very kind nurse named Seneca, who used to keep in contact with my Mother for some time afterwards. I was pleased to be home for my sister Glenda's fourth birthday. Unfortuneately, she went off to the Isolation Hospital on that day, as she had caught scarlet fever, but not from me.

Later that year, my Dad took me to London for the Festival of Britain. It was a fantastic show, I still have the programme.

In 1979, I moved from Croydon to East Sussex, but continued to work in Croydon until 2000. I often used to see stallholders in Surrey Street that I knew at the Parish Church School.

This is a great website for sharing memories. My name is Phil Cooper and I lived in Waddon Road from just after I was born in St Mary's Hospital in 1944 until I got married in 1971.

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