54 Albert Road

A Memory of Parkstone.

I lived in 54 Albert Road, Parkstone, from 1962 until 1972. My paternal grandparents lived at 56 Albert Road, next door. They'd lived there from the 1930's onwards. The back garden was very big and long, plus sloped downhill. I used to hurtle down the path in my Triang pedal car and later a Triang pedal go kart, as a kid, which was always great fun.

I went to Heathlands Infants School, from 1966 until 1970 and then moved up to Heathlands Junior School until 1972, when we moved away. My teachers were Mr. Smith and Mrs. Findley (who disliked pupils using the words "Get" and "got" in any written piece of work, something I still avoid doing even today!!). The headmaster was Ian Aspberry, who wrote the "Monica" series of children's books. From the age of 10 I had 4 girlfriends, who would attempt to escort me to school every morning. They were Beverly Dodson, Sonia Jefferies, Kay Boulder and Sharon Selwood. Obviously, for a 10 year old boy, this was a social faux pas if the other boys found out, so I used to sneak out of the side passage, whilst they were waiting outside the front door, and make a run for it. I didn't always make it and they'd catch me, so I'd suffer the humiliation of walking into the school playground, arm in arm with four girls. Lunch breaks were an hour and a half long, back then, as school finished at 4 o'clock, so I'd go home to dinner, along with my girlfriends and we'd eat our packed lunches there. I lost touch with them all when I moved away, in 1972. I wonder if any of them remember me from those days.

My mates were Peter Gale, Gary Christopher and Stephen Sargent. Hot wheels & Corgi Rockets were the popular toy, back in those days and we'd hold race meets at each other's houses, to compete to see who had the fastest car in the school.

Happy days now long gone.

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