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9 Hills Avenue

History of 9 Hills Avenue

In 2017 Jonathan Gray shared his memories of 9 Hill Avenue. His father had had the house built and the family lived there until 1947 when they exchanged houses with his grandmother at 26 Sedley Taylor Road.

with permission of owner

In 1939 there was a chromium globe in the garden, his father’s pride and joy, which Jonathan managed to break. He wrote:

As he was away in the war, I had to wait in fear and trembling until he was on leave to receive my retribution but, in fact, I guess he was quite kind to me, because I have no recollection of any scolding from him, although I ran down the street immediately after the damage was done until my mother caught up with me and gave me a rocket!

He recalled other war time memories such as looking out of his bedroom window at the back of the house and seeing a house in Cavendish Avenue in flames. “We found the next morning that a stick of incendiary bombs had been dropped over it . We were lucky to escape with only one small bomb hitting the corner of our roof but failing to ignite.”

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