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Janice Haynes nee Rowland

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 I moved to Harold Hill from the East End of London in 1955 at the tender age of 3. We lived at the very top of the 'Hill in Dagnam Park Drive. I went to Pyrgo Infant school in Tarnworth Road and then to Priory Junior School in Settle Road, which was later destroyed by fire. I have some class photos taken outside the school; one with Mrs Palmer from my first year and the other with Mr Whitlock from my last year. I was not allowed to go to Harrowfields School as there was a lot of trouble between them and Quarles School, so my parents sent me to Redden Court School at Squirrels Heath Road.

My memories of Harold Hill as a child were all happy ones. There was a large square of grass outside our house where all the children played until it got dark. There was an open playground opposite with swings, seesaw, a roundabout and a rocking horse and enough grass to play football on.

We used to have a butcher and a baker call at the door and every Tuesday and Thursday my mum would walk to the shops on the Colchester Road at Harold Wood. As I got older she would walk down the 'Hill to Hilldene Shops because they had a "supermarket" there, but it was an awful trek back up the 'Hill with the shopping.

My parents had allotments that backed onto Harrowfields School. I remember seeing deer in the trees and fields surrounding the allotments. In the winter we would collect fallen branches to chop up for logs to put on the fire. We used to walk through the park up to North Weald, and pick bluebells in the woods near the lake in the spring and there was always the family get-together to go “blackberrying” in the autumn. I remember climbing over the ruins of the manor house and being afraid that the "ghost" would get me
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There was always stories of the "Lady of the Manor" haunting the ruins. But the place did have an eerie feel about it. I wonder if the ruins are still there!

When I got older, my friends and I used to go hunting for golf balls in the area adjacent to the golf course, sometimes we'd even sneak onto the course and remove the golf balls, then when the golfers arrived we'd sell them back to them.

I left Harold Hill for Collier Row in 1974 when I got married and in 1979 I moved to Kent. I now live in Cornwall but I still have an aunt living on the 'Hill and another in Hornchurch, so I sometimes come back to see how it has changed.

Council estates have a bad reputation now but growing up on Harold Hill was a great start to life and I'm proud to say I lived there.


 
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