After the Second World War in 1946 my parents along with many others were given a prefab to live in at Wigmore. We all loved it in the summer. We lived on the corner of Wigmore Road and Fairview Ave. We were the Wilson family. Vincent and my sister Denise. Next to us was the Clements family Ronald and Barbara. Roger sadly passed. Further up Wigmore Road was the Hodges family. We all knew one another on the estate.
It was a great life although in the winter there was ice on the inside the windows and you took your clothes to bed with you so they were not frozen in the morning.
Wigmore Road was a flint road from the Spyglass and Kettle all the way up to Wigmore Woods. It was made into a tarmac road in 1953. In the woods lived a terrible looking lady in a wooden bungalow. When she died in 1951 all those in the prefabs that surrounded her bungalow were given something from her property. We were given her front door bell.
She also left the money to turn the land into a playing field for the children that lived there. Most of the children went to Hempstead Infants and Juniors Schools walking some distance to School. No parents took us there as most of our parents worked. My dad left at 6am to go to Rochester on his bike. My mum was picked up at 6am by lorry along with all the others who worked on the farms. Our fridge was a 5 gallon drum that my Dad sank in the garden to keep the milk, butter, and meat fresh. It was not perfect but it worked well most of the time.
There were 2 butchers shops. Food was still rationed and the butcher not only sold meat but butter cheese eggs and sometimes bread. The butchers we used was one of the group of shops opposite Woodside where Wigmore shops are today. There was another butchers near the Smallholders Club.
Sometimes my parents took us to Fairylands Club with a bar a band and bingo. It was further along the road from Wigmore shops.
Down the road from the Spyglass and Kettle was Terry's Dairy and a little further down on the bend was a little shop that we found handy for our pennyworth of sweets on Saturday morning. No television or phone. That was in a red box. We just had a radio. How things have changed.
Vincent Wilson
Terrys Dairy/Dairies Wigmore Hempstead Kent Old Photos of Smallholders Club Wigmore Rainham Kent
