Former residents of Church Street
reg and violet waters
The people at Number 14
By Gillian Waters
My grandparents lived at number 14 Church Street, above Jordan's bed showroom. Their names were Reginald and Violet Waters. I don't know when they moved there but I should imagine it was around the time that Marylebone Station became an important route into London.
Grandfather worked there and worked on well into his retirement years. They had twin sons who were born in Tewin and the family moved to Church Street and my dad and his brother attended Gateforth Street School.
You could see the school yard from Nan's kitchen. Dad went to fight in WW2 from there. My uncle was not well enough to fight so he stayed at home. We often visited our grandparents on a Saturday. We would travel up from Hertfordshire, say hi to our grandparents and then my brother and myself would go down the market together.
We would enjoy roast chestnuts, also hot apple turnovers. Robin used to love the record stall ,I must admit it was good. He would buy jossticks and I would buy the beautiful indian bracelets. We remember Grandad listening to the cricket on the radio. He was a member of the Lord's Cricket Club. He had a pipe rack, different pipes lined up. I often wonder how a small family could live in such a small flat.
My grandmother was very well known. She stood out with her tight curly red hair. In years to come I could not walk down the market without stallholders knowing who I was. I have the red hair too. I remember Jo Silver who used to sell fruit and veg. My brother recalls a stallholder named Chocolate Joe, can't place what he sold. Does anyone else remember him? I used to love the ice-cream parlour in Edgware Road too.
My mum's brother used to live in Wey House with his family. I remember staying there once and looking out of the window at the coalyard. That was Joe and Josie O'Shea. They had a large family. They moved to Huntingdon- still there today. Nan and Grandad had to move from the flat either late 70s or early 80s when Jordan's sold the building. They moved to Balcombe Street after the siege there. Lovely memories I have of that little flat.
This page was added on 24/03/2011.