Croxley Green History Project
  • Home
  • Croxley Green Chronicle
    • John Caius
  • Keys to Croxley Green
    • Latin Document
  • A Village Grows
    • A Stroll Down New Road >
      • Introduction
      • Odd Numbers
      • Census Interlude
      • Even Numbers
      • Appendix 1
      • Appendix 2
      • Appendix 3
    • Byewaters Estate
    • Council Houses
    • Cassiobridge Estate
    • Kebbell Housing
    • Durrants Estate
    • Highfield and Windmill Estate
    • Mayfare Estate
    • Nuttfield Estate
    • Parrotts Estate
    • Prefabricated Housing
    • Street Names
  • World Wars
    • War Memorial WW1
    • First World War 1914-1918
    • WWI Soldiers from Croxley
    • WW1 Centenary >
      • Community Club 03-10-2018
      • Celebrations 100 years 1918 -2019
      • Remembrance Day 11-11-2018
      • Residents Photographs 11-11-18
      • All Saints Memorial Doors
      • All Saints Memorial Doors Booklet
      • Peace Picnic 14-07-2019
    • War Memorial WW2
    • Second World War 1939-1945 >
      • Civil Defence
      • Celebrations
      • Rationing
      • Croxley Mill
      • All Saints Rededication
      • Second World War Memories >
        • WW2 Memories - Glenn Kinnear
        • WW2 Memories - Jill Butler
    • WW2 Forces and Croxley Residents
  • Schooldays / Educators
    • Children at Play
    • Yorke Road School >
      • Yorke Road School History
      • Leukaemia Research
      • Paul O'Reilly Builders
      • Grand Opening
    • Yorke Road Infants School
    • Yorke Road Girls School
    • The Old Boys School Watford Road
    • Harvey Road School
    • Durrants School >
      • Croxley Song Book
      • Croxley Song Book
      • Physical Education
    • Malvern Way School
    • Little Green School >
      • Little Green School - Architects Journal
    • Rickmansworth School
    • Yorke Mead School
    • Oak House Private School
  • The Institute / Guildhouse
  • The Railway to Croxley Green
  • The Housewifes Choice
  • Celebrating in Style
    • Golden Jubilee Queen Victoria 1887
    • Diamond Jubilee Queen Victoria 1897
    • Coronation Edward VII 1902
    • Coronation George V 1911
    • Silver Jubilee George V 1935
    • Coronation George VI 1937
    • Festival of Britain 1951
    • Coronation Elizabeth II 1953
  • Churches
    • Methodist Church New Road
    • Gospel Hall
    • All Saints Church
    • Little Chapel Chandlers Cross
    • St Oswald Church
    • St Bedes
    • Baptist Church
    • Fuller Way
  • Public Houses
    • The Plough
    • George and Dragon
    • The Sportsman
    • The Artichoke
    • The Coach and Horses
    • The Rose
    • Gladstone Arms
    • The Red House
    • The Two Bridges
    • The Halfway House
    • The Fox and Hounds
    • Duke of York
  • Community Activities
    • Camera Club
    • Church Lads Boys Brigade
    • Croxley Mummers
    • Croxley Week
    • Girls Brigade
    • The Revels >
      • Revels Chronicle
      • Revels Archives
    • Parish Council >
      • Croxley Green Main
      • CGPC Craft Fair
    • Scouts Brownies Guides >
      • Scouting in Croxley Green
      • Scouting Memorabilia
    • Wassail
    • Youth Club
  • Sports
    • John Dickinson Sports >
      • Football Team
      • Ladies Hockey
      • Rifle Club
    • Football
    • National Association of Boys Club
    • Old Boys School >
      • Old Boys Football Club
  • Croxley at Work
    • John Dickinson >
      • Aerial views of the Mill
      • Coal Deliveries
      • Fire Fighters >
        • William Beauchamp (Fire Fighter)
      • The Mill Railway
      • The Mill Employees >
        • Union of the House of Dickinson
      • Mill Photos
      • General Views
      • Delivery Vehicles
      • 1896 Booklet
      • JD Booklet
    • Blacksmiths
    • Coal Deliveries
    • Croxley Commercial College
    • Sand and Gravel
    • The Windmill
    • Watercress Growers
    • G H Browning Recovery
  • Croxley Farms
    • Croxley Hall Farm >
      • Croxley Great Barn
    • Durrants Farm Estate
    • Hollow Tree Farm
    • Killingdown Farm
    • Lovatts Whitegates
    • Stones Orchard >
      • Stones Orchard Excavation
    • Parrotts Farm
  • Census
    • Census 1841
    • Census 1851
    • Census 1861
    • Census 1871
    • Census 1881
    • Census 1891
    • Census 1901
    • Census 1911
    • Census 1921
    • Population
  • Aerial Photos
    • Croxley From Above
  • Local Publications
    • 1896 Booklet
    • 1896 Booklet 1
    • The Croxley Resident Archives
    • The Parish Pump Issue 1 to 26
    • Parish Pump Issue 27 to Current
    • Local Directories
  • Village Views
  • Croxley Green Society
    • Croxley Festival 1951
  • Local People
    • Famous Locals >
      • Charles Fraser Smith
      • Dr Julius Grant
      • Doctor Wright
      • John William Beckett
      • Francis Beckett
      • Madame Tussauds
      • Samuel Ingleby Oddie
      • Sir Guy Spencer Calthrop
    • Memories >
      • Anon
      • Alan Williams
      • Bill Roberts
      • Chris Pepper
      • David Neighbour
      • David Wynne-Jones
      • Donald Finn
      • Fred Heckford
      • Godfrey Cornwall
      • Hilda Morgan
      • Jim Linwood
      • John Swift
      • Ken Cooper
      • Margaret Hobbs
      • Memories 1994to2000 Part1
      • Memories 1994to2000 Part2
      • Memories 1994to2000 Part3
      • Peggy Leader
      • Prefabs
      • Record Memories
      • Tom Brady
      • W.G. Rogers
  • Before and After
    • B&W / Recoloured
    • Original / Modern
    • Merged B&W / Colour
  • Contact / Q&A
  • Page Directory
    • Useful Links
    • Copyright
  • Committee

Tom Brady

MY CROXLEY 1942 - 1964 - Hello to Croxley Green Resident readers, from Tom Brady in Perth Western Australia. On a recent holiday in England in 2007 I was lucky enough to be there for the Croxley Revels, to wander amongst the local community and meet old school friends, it brought back to me so many happy memories of dear old Croxley Green. - From The Croxley Green Resident issue 196
PictureTom Brady (on left) 1948, 1 Oak Lane
I now live in Perth Western Australia with my family where I have lived for the last thirty one years, Perth our capital city is a clean beautiful place built along side the Swan river, we have a Mediterranean climate i.e warm with clear blue skies for most of the year the temperature averaging in the 20 degrees, in the summer it can go up to 40+ degrees which is very uncomfortable. Western Australia covers a third of the total of Australia and is the largest State, England could fit into it approximately 19 times the population is approximately two million compared to England's fifty million, WA as Western Australia is known is a very rich State it is rich in minerals such as gold, diamonds, nickel, iron, uranium, oil gas, and many more which provides billions of dollars in royalties to the Government from the mining companies, this is then put back into the economy for the benefit of the population. At the present time WA is booming due to China's growing appetite for iron ore which we are having trouble providing due to a shortage of skilled and unskilled workers. I have been fortunate to have travelled around Australia many times, to see its Deserts, Mountains, Rain Forests, beautiful beaches and of course The Great Barrier Reef but I still get home sick for dear old Croxley Green. Having lived the first 22 years of my life in Croxley I have many happy memories of growing up and living there, I was born on the 16th of September 1942 in a Nursing Home in King Street, Watford [now demolished and replaced with modern town houses] just off Watford High Street, after a few days I moved in with my parents, who rented a room in a house in Beechcroft Avenue which we shared with the Hitchman family Mrs Hitchman is Dorothy who celebrated her 100th birthday last year [2007], then we were allocated a wonderful new Prefab at the top of Baldwin's Lane [about 1946] we lived in 1 Oak Lane next to a footpath which divided us from Fosters Farm fields where cows, horses, pigs and chickens all roamed freely, often we would throw stale bread and other scraps of food over the fence of course if the animals saw us they would all hurry over to the fence, ie excited little piglets racing the chickens to the food before it was all gone. {long before free range was fashionable} About 1949 by this time I had two brothers and a sister, Bernard, Kathleen and Sean we were allocated a brand new council house in Owens way, so we moved from the Prefab in Grove Crescent to Owens Way, which was opposite Grove Crescent except for Baldwin's Lane and a very large field being between the two. I can actually remember helping my Dad move from one to the other by the way of a pram loaded up with furniture and house hold bits and pieces and pushing it across this enormous field {now a recreation ground with a pavilion, skate board park and shops}. The new house was wonderful, it had three bedrooms, bathroom with a plumbed in heated towel rail, separate toilet up stairs and down stairs, brick built work shop/shed and backing on to fields. I lived there until 1964 that's when I got married and moved to Luton as houses in Croxley were out of our budget {a three bedroom semi in Croxley was approximately four thousand pounds a ridiculous price} so we moved to Luton and bought one for three thousand pounds. {all relative}

Croxley Green will always be my favourite place in the World, a place that I have a great affection for and holds a special place in my heart, I have many happy memories of living there which include my schools Yorke Rd, Harvey Rd and Durrants, my paper round which started at Luxtons Newsagents and tobacconist shop at the top of Scots Hill across the Green to Apple Garth, Parrots, Little Gillions, Croxley House {where in the Winter I would be paid half a crown a week to go down into the cellars and stoke the boilers} then on to Mrs Barbara Woodhouse's home Campions then follow Little Green Lane to Waterdell House and Little Waterdell and finish off at Grove House and the Prefabs home for breakfast and get ready for school all for ten bob a week. Scrumping as kids we loved it, four favourite places,
• Stones Orchard for cherries, once old farmer Stone nearly caught us but he couldn't keep up so he fired his 410 shot gun at us we felt the pellets go over our heads
• Little Waterdell House for Victoria plums [beautiful] we would put our bicycles against the six foot high wall stand on the cross bar and reach over the wall and pick the plums
• Orchard at the corner of Barton Way and New Rd [where the library is] for pears and walnuts.
• Orchard opposite Durrants Sports field for Cox's apples and cooking apples.
Then there were the Cubs, Scouts, snooker at the Guildhouse, Saturday morning pictures at Ricky, Guy Fawkes night, youth clubs and many many more but I better stop now until next time. So I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year,
From Tom Brady in Australia

Picture
CGHP are proud to be included on the Imperial War Museum "Mapping the Centenary" project website. You can see other projects HERE and our project HERE
© Ross Humphries
Clicking on a photo will open it in a new window to view more easily​
Try Useful Links 
Download the page directory
HERE it will help you keep a
record of pages visited
Please contact us should you wish to contribute or have images you would like to share. Contact HERE
© Croxley Green History Project 2012        Legal | Privacy

If you have any questions or comments please use the contact page