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A Child of the Twenties
A suburban childhood of the Twenties
seen from the Ninteen Nineties
by John Robert Laws 1921-2008
Part 14.
SPORT
The large playing field had room for several football and hockey pitches or for cricket in summer as well as grass tennis courts. Sport was encouraged and every Saturday morning there were a big turnout of teams to compete with other schools. I was no good at football and played in the fifth eleven which regularly lost by astronomical scores. Cricket was a little better and I reached the second eleven without any great success.
The one sport that interested me was swimming. Having learnt to swim at elementary school, I continued to enjoy it and as the years went by more and more public pools opened up. The first one I used was the old indoor pool at Wood Green. I do not know when this one was opened but my mum & dad had used it before my time. I first used it before I could swim properly and I was so small that the water in the shallow end came up to my chin. Being an indoor pool it was heated. The only other indoor heated pool I came across was somewhere in Tottenham, where I went and swam in a inter school gala, the details of which escape me. The first of the ‘new’ open air pools was the Hornsey pool situated between Crouch End, and ‘Ally Pally’. It was fine in the summer sunshine and Harry and I used it a few times, before we moved away from Wightman Road. After that we cycled out at weekends to the new pool at Enfield which was more spacious, after swimming we cycled back more slowly with protesting muscles.
Having moved to Southgate, most of my swimming was done in the open air pool at Barrowell Green. This was an old pool and a little cramped but I spent many happy hours there (instead of doing my homework). The pool was supposed to get a bit of heat from the dust destructor furnace next door but this must have been minimal as the temperature in the early part of the season was often 60-61F, All our school swimming was at this pool and we could get cheap tickets at school (one old penny) for use out of school hours. Unless it was raining, when you could have the pool almost to yourself, there was always a crowd of school friends there, sunning, swimming, fooling and flirting. It was a sign of the changing times in the thirties that while this old pool had no car park, just a cramped bicycle area, the new pool at Enfield had a large car park. The latest pool completed in my schooldays was at New Southgate in Durnsford Road. This was the only one I knew with full height high diving boards. This kept the pool noticeably colder than the others and it did not become popular except in very hot weather.
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Family Events from our database for today April 7
1700 - Baptism: Cuthbert LAWS-27537, Warden NBL UK
1725 - Marriage: Robert PIZZEY-1505 and Anne LAWES-1506, Norwich NFK UK
1736 - Death: Leonard LAWES-32467, Milston WIL UK
1804 - Birth: Jane LAWES-619, St.Marylebone MDX UK
1814 - Birth: Thomas Jefferson LAWS-48224, Wheeling VA USA
1817 - Marriage: Henry SOUTHGATE-53935 and Sarah LAWS-53934, Belstead SFK UK
1844 - Birth: Eliza Frances LAWS-29638,
1859 - Will Proved: John LAWS (Tailor) -38574,
1861 - Marriage: Richard Willoughby LAWS (C J Navy Retired) -55048 and Margaret CARTER-55049, Southwark SRY UK
1861 - Census: Edward Mingay LAWS (AB) -99608, Ship "Clifton Hall" off Cape Trafalgar
1871 - Marriage: James GODFREY-7326 and Ann Elizabeth LAWS (Hand Loom Silk Weaver) -7323, Bethnal Green MDX UK
1876 - Admon: John LAWS (Fish Curer) -6685, to widow
1877 - Birth: Edward John LAWS (Ships Steward RN 167587) -38902, Inishowen Malin, Donegal, IRELAND
1881 - Birth: John Robert LAWS-41055, Waikiwi, Invercargill, New Zealand
1882 - Death: William LAWS (Ships Steward) -52650, Royal Roads, Esquimalt, British Columbia CANADA
1890 - Marriage: George GUTHRIE-52152 and Mary Jane Lewery LAWS (Scholar) -6292, Earsdon NBL UK
1890 - Marriage: Charles M ROSS (Army Schoolmaster) -50296 and Minnie LAWES-109, Aldershot HAM UK
1902 - Birth: George Herbert LAWS-58695,
1904 - Birth: Edgar Charles LAWS (Farmer) -3492, Shepparton VIC AUSTRALIA
1905 - Birth: Sarah Margareta LAWS-48474,
1907 - Birth: Charles Sidney LAWS-55948, Borough SRY UK
1907 - Baptism: Elizabeth LAWS-32153, South Hylton DUR UK (St Mary)
1916 - Enlistment: Henry Walter LAWS (Farm Yardman / Canadian Army Private 853426)
1918 - Death: Arthur T LAWS-42380,
1918 - Death: Robert LAWS-8797, Emneth NFK UK
1924 - Marriage: Frank Joseph LUCAS (Mason) -120242 and Sarah Elizabeth LAWS- 3086, Welland ONT CANADA
1924 - Death: Mary Frances LAWS-38395, Broken Arrow, Tulsa OK USA
1930 - Birth: Patrick Miller LAWS-43624, Kingston Upon Hull ERY UK
1937 - Birth: Grahame Frederick LAWS-30123, Toowoomba, Warwick QLD AUSTRALIA
1942 - Admon: Charles Eustace LAWS (Master Butcher) -44226,
1945 - Birth: Edward Ernest III LAWS (University administrator ) -39241, Philadelphia PA USA
1946 - Death: Ellen LAWS-41656, Mountain Ash, Pontypridd MON UK
1951 - Birth: Georgina Irene LAWES-243, Hamilton ONT CANADA
1957 - Death: Alvin Marvin LAWS-119985, Broken Arrow, Tulsa OK USA
1959 - Death: Alec Adolphus Edwin LAWES (Railway Signalman)-460, Romsey HAM UK
1964 - Death: Margaret LAWES-124134, Willesden MDX UK
1973 - Marriage: Russell Gary LAWS (DC3 US Navy) -38078 and Pamela M MOUNT- 114862, Los Angeles CA United States
1977 - Birth: Zakery Dewayne LAWS-40623, TX USA
1981 - Death: Mary Alice Maud LAWS-37779,
2011 - Death: Patrick Wellesley LAWES-125401, Swindon WIL UK
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With grateful thanks to Simon Knott for permission to reproduce his photographs on this site see :-http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/
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