Growing up with Sooty puppet and Hornby train set in Oxhey road

Childhood in Oxhey was never dull. My friends and I devised our own entertainment and our efforts demanded concentration. If those efforts produced the desired results, all well and good. If not, the mantra was ‘try, try and try again’. Only food was ‘on a plate’ in those far-off days, but we were well contented.

I drew and painted road layouts on cardboard boxes and cut out car shapes, attaching magnets underneath, guiding the cars around the street layouts. A Sooty puppet and second-hand metal Muffin the Mule paved the way for rudimentary script writing for puppet shows behind an armchair. A second-hand wind-up tinplate Hornby train set gave hours of pleasure. One birthday, my father made a surprise dolls’ house from a tea chest, complete with electric lights, wallpaper, garage and pull-back sports car. A little dusty, it’s still in our garage. A filled bookcase worked wonders too, as I’ve never stopped reading.

On another birthday, I received a crystal set, or rather a ‘cat’s whisker’ receiver with Bakelite headphones. Finding a good signal needed patience, but it was magic when the whining noises faded and voices or music were heard. Some years ago, I loaned the crystal set to Bushey Museum for one of their exhibitions. It’s a bit of a wake-up call when something from childhood becomes a museum piece!

Crystal set with Bakelite headphones. (Image: Image: Lesley Dunlop)

Listening to Uncle Mac’s (Derek McCulloch) popular children’s radio request programme every Saturday morning was an absolute ‘must’ for children, as Sunday lunchtime’s Forces Family Favourites and the Billy Cotton Band Show were for parents. The old Ferranti radio that belonged to my grandparents served us well and, breathtakingly, could tune into Leningrad, Dehli and ‘Sche’tady’ (Schenectady, New York), amongst other exciting-sounding places.

The family Ferranti radio. (Image: Lesley Dunlop)Many neighbours had lived in Wilcot Avenue for years, or since the houses were built in the mid-30s, such as hosiery merchant William and Norah Jarritt next door at 25. He was a keen gardener, usually found in his potting shed. When they sold, Londoners Doris and Jim Taylor and their family moved in. Doris worked at Charrington’s coal ordering office by Bushey Station and Jim was a fireman. They were jovial people and I remember them energetically leading the Conga into Wilcot Avenue at parties.

Douglas Chowns, early 1960s, photograph by George Nicholls. Courtesy of Douglas Chowns, now residing in New Zealand (Image: George Nicholls / Lesley Dunlop)

From the Bucks Avenue junction, Dr Martin Kingsley lived in red-bricked 1 Wilcot Avenue; a house of a different architectural style. At 8 were Pickfords’ manager James and Dorothea Chowns. I’ll always remember as a child seeing their son, Douglas, in full Scottish Highland dress leaving his house. Having always been drawn towards tartan, I was mesmerised! Douglas’ uncle was George Dyson, the ever-popular Oxhey chemist whose shop was at 32 Villiers Road and from whom my father bought his first cine camera.

George Dyson, Oxhey's chemist. Courtesy of his granddaughter Melanie Taylor, now residing in Australia. (Image: Melanie Taylor / Lesley Dunlop)

The Miss Jobbins lived opposite, at 7 Wilcot Avenue; three tall spinster ladies who were all nurses: Eleanor, Isabel and Winifred, whilst a fourth married sister was also a nurse. Next door at 9 was Wadim Litwinzuk and his Scottish wife Margaret. A charming Walt Disney-lookalike, Wadim was a friend of my father. Next door at 11 were Roger and Emily Kent-Webster and their children. I have fond memories of playing with them and watching Robin Hood on their television. As an only child, I appreciated the family’s warmth and kindness. I recall the excitement in 1957 when Roger invited my parents to the London premiere of Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe’s ‘The Prince & The Showgirl’!

Peter Whitworth lived at 21. A member of Watford & Bushey Art Society and Rickmansworth Art Society, he began painting landscapes in 1974 after retiring from local government. Examples of his artwork are in Bushey Museum and in collections in Europe, North America and New Zealand and, I’m happy to say, in my home too.

Francis and Hannah Dew lived next door to my parents at 29; the first house in Wilcot Avenue. Francis had retired from the Public Records Office archives. Their daughter, husband and granddaughter of my age frequently visited from Dorset and we became firm friends. We played inventive games making hideouts and remain in contact. At 31 was chief Watford Observer reporter David Cutler’s widowed mother, whom my mother and grandmother helped and ran errands for in later years. Company Secretary Frederick Dredge, his wife Caroline and their two amiable daughters, Phyllis and Norma, lived opposite at 32 and were charming neighbours. My parents invited them to family events and they reciprocated. The old friendships were uncomplicated, sincere and enduring.

• Lesley Dunlop is the daughter of the late Ted Parrish, a well-known local historian and documentary filmmaker. He wrote 96 nostalgic articles for the ‘Evening Post-Echo’ in 1982-83 which have since been published in ‘Echoes of Old Watford, Bushey & Oxhey’, available at www.pastdayspublishing.com and Bushey Museum. Lesley is currently working on ‘Two Lives, Two World Wars’, a companion volume that explores her father’s and grandfather’s lives and war experiences, in which Watford, Bushey and Oxhey’s history will take to the stage once again.