Bermondsey Boy

Auntie Pat wrote:

slightly off topic, but still in SE1 territory, does anyone know what happened to the little statue that used to be in the park on New Kent Road near Harper Road? It had a quotation from Dickens on the plinth.

When I wrote the Wikipedia page about New Kent Road, I transcribed the quotation and took a photo. As I wrote:

A plaque was placed on a plinth in the original garden in September 1931 by the Dickens Fellowship, which explained that this was the place where in the Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield stopped "in the Kent Road ... at a terrace with a piece of water before it, and a great foolish image in the middle, blowing a dry shell". The plinth had a small statue that eventually lost both its shell and its head to vandalism.

Hi Kas

yes the big five-oh a couple of days before the next Rotherhithe & Bermondsey meeting, which is on 24 Sept about the Rotherhithe Tunnel

Ray Reddin
l miss old Bermondsey,l was born in Pages Walk in 1944 and moved in 1972.l went to Webb St school and Riley Road for secondary school,had some good times growing up Bermondsey,but we move on,l live my the coast now,but it would be great to hear from old friends.

Hey Ray I can't offer old friendship, but I live on Pages Walk now. There's still an old tank at the Mandela Way end of the street, and the end house has graffiti on it some of which I'd swear is Banksy. The Victoria pub is hanging on in there, lovely guy runs it, and once in a while you'll see it on the telly or in films as he has film crews in sometimes. It was in the most recent re-make of Minder, but that was panned by the critics, so let's not go there ;-). It's a nice street to live on, no trouble that I've seen. A cabbie told me the you used to get loads of fab smells on pages walk due to all the food factories nearby - not so much of that now unfortunately. Bermondsey Square has been gentrified recently but while the building work was going on they found old ruins of the Abbey that Abbey Street is named after. Turns out that's also where our street got its name from too: The Pages from the Abbey lived down this end, and the street is where they'd walk to work.

Hi Pat,
The park was called mayflower gardens i think,if the ol grey matter is up for it lol! When i was about 10 or 11 in 61-62 ish the park was walled in with very high wooden partitioning that you couldn`t look through.I heard at that time that a lot of old graves were uncovered.Don`t know what happened to the little statue unfortunately. john

Hi Ray,
Have been reading lots on hear and looking into tracing family tree on my father side. He grew up in Pages Walk from 1948 - 1968 when he married my mother and moved out (there abouts) His name is John Phillips... think people round there called him Ted also?? Not sure if you may of known him or his twin sisters who went to Webb St primary Pat and Barb.. Be nice to know if anyone remembers them. Cheers Kelly

growing up down the blue i used to help on the stools with the ice cream barrow and run to Montana,s cafe with jugs to get the stool holders their tea thats when the stools were where the Co-Op is now it used to pay my picture money over the Rialto sunday afternoons and the old lady never went short of a cornet when andrew went off for half hour with one of the girl customers he used to make out he was an italian to attract the birds ,But the like of Johnny Riley (Salad stool) Henry fruit and veg when they wanted a top up they would scream the top of their voice Danny i knew they wanted more tea or sandwichs but come Saturday at 50clock they would fill my arms up with salads from Ernie or Johnny and henry would load me up remember in those days their were no plastic bags so everything went in newspaper laughing their head off as i was dropping bits and pieces

Hi all,i leved directly opposite library in spa rd 1955. Spent all my time in library and grange rd swimming baths.
New to forum

Hi Johns,

the swimming baths are now long gone, and the library is now a buddhist centre - they've restored the old reference reading room quite sensitively and as it's a listed building they can't muck it about too much (in fact they've got rid of some of the hideousness that was 70s council style). They have a cafe which is open to the public and are very welcoming to visitors, apparently.

Hi ,just joined .excellent memories, i remember the oxo pennry a cup.much needed after staying in pool for hours on end.the baths were great fun ,i lived directly opposite library number 56 spa rd. spent many hourrs in reference and newspaper reading rooms ,before getting put out, imagine evicting children from library 👀.
Bfn