Fantastic to have your E Mail. Thank you for your kind comments about our efforts on the internet. It will grow. You are opening up exactly what we want to know about. These are the most precious facts and anecdotes which go to make up our ever evolving history of the Maypole.

A few years ago one of our team was lucky enough to meet a man called Alfred Peters who was the firemans son who lived in West Lodge, Bexley Hospital. He has sadly now passed away. He was very kind and wrote a 'book' for him about his childhood years and he mentioned the places he played and the friends he once had. He mentioned the 'Aeroplane' - which he described as a row of trees in the Dell. He mentioned 'Slippery Jack' - a tree they once found great difficulty in climbing opposite Denton Terrace. He also mentioned the 'Action Tree' - not sure where that was. He went on to describe his days at Maypole School and the jobs he had as errand boy for Mr Vine and working for DENNIS the Butchers in Bexley. He described the petrol pumps in the rear garden of the Post Office which he used to operate to serve petrol to passing cars. Although too brief (aren't they always) his memoirs give life to the names of families who once lived on the estate. He went on to mention names of those in his gang including Eno SMITH and enlightened him to some of the nick names they had bestowed on them. Eno was known as Spadge Barrett, Glarni HOGAN, Diddy HENN, Gump HENN, Fatty MEACHAM - Bunty MEACHAM, Bogey ELLIMAN, Bessie WOOD, Massa PETERS, Nanny ELLIMAN, Skinner BEDWELL, Smut SMITH, Tongy THOMPSON, Tiptoe FORD, Monkey CHAFF, Taffy WELLSPRING and many more. None of these names were meant or intended to cause offence - and we hope they don't !

He went on to describe the tradesmen and the shops including the Boot Repairers and the Coop - just like you have mentioned.

His story is just one of the records we have about how life once was on the estate. Told through the eyes of a child his stories gave a highly perceptive feel about everyday life back in the 30s and 40s. We hope one day they will be shared by others when we finally produce a readable book / document. As we have stated we will always go to the enth degree to never make public anything which would cause offence. Luckily all our contributors have been helpful, kind and dignified. We may possibly mention little games they once played and some goings on designed to annoy the grown ups ! One of these described by Alfred was his little gang playing a rather dreadful game of 'knock down ginger' with a twist ! All that happened 60 years ago and can only now be seen as true school boy antics. No crimes - just wholly inappropriate pre adolescent fun !

We also have memories of persons from that era including those of David CRUICKSHANK, Phillip RUMBELOW, George STOCKFORD Jnr, Wendy SAUNDERS, Miss SKEVINGTON, Gordon LENNOX, Ruth ENTWHISTLE and many others. God bless them all.

We are keenly interested in the obscure - including any information in particular on the black boy who lived next to the Post Office called Charlie LAWRENCE. I have a photo of him taken in the back garden of George STOCKFORD. He went on to serve in the last war and met an untimely death in a POW camp in Poland.

We have so much information that it is difficult to express most of it in writing. Only so many pieces of information mean so much to so few at a time. A few years either side of a particular childhood and they mean little / nothing to the next generation or the one before. For instance one of our team grew up in the 50s and 60s and his memories are confined to that era. He remembers Sports Days in Broomhills, the Bonfire being llit by Buster, being chased by George STOCKFORD from the gardens of Maypole House, going down an old air raid shelter at the back of the institute hut in the grounds of Broomhills and making it their HQ for the summer of 1967. Being caught in the old farm at Bexley Hospital and exploring the old derelict house called Heathwood and being chased off by Mr WHITEHEAD who lived in the cottage next door. Some of us, too, have been chased from the old gun club as well ! Catching lizards on hot, lazy summer days on the heath and making camps in the bracken and fern which were so abundant in those days.

Once again - thank you for taking the time to write and impart with what you have written already.

Look forward to hearing from you again.

Kindest regards to you and your family.