Now I have fond memories of the old Burton’s at the top of Well Hall Road.
It was here that I bought my first suit, more than a few shirts and the odd tie, although I do confess it ran a poor second to Harry Fenton's and even Payne's on the High Street.
Of course there will be those with equally happy stories to tell of the dances that were held upstairs.
Not that I ever went.
During the mid 60s I still commuted back to New Cross for school and so had yet to find friends in Eltham and by the time I started at Crown Woods in 1966 there were plenty of other places to go with the shed load of new people I had met.
That said on the long walks back from Grove Park after an evening with Ann I did sometime pass the dance hall after one of the more rowdy evenings.
And that is a shame because it will have been there that I guess I would have herd live versions of Betty Everitt’s Getting Mighty Crowded* and Judy Street’s What.**
It would be years later in Manchester at the Twisted Wheel and later still at Placemate that I would fully come to appreciate these songs.
And I still have a fond spot for the opening lines of Getting Mighty Crowded, with its message of losing a lover ........................
“I'm packing up my memories
And I'm gonna move
On out of your heart
Turning in my keys
And I'm gonna move
On out of your heart
Cause there ain't
Room enough for two
And sharing your heart
With someone new
Will never do"
At which point I suppose I should launch into the story of Burton’s which replaced the Congregational Church and was itself supplanted by a Big Mac.
But I won’t instead I shall go off and listen to Betty Everitt who sadly is no longer with us and Judy Street who still is.
Picture; looking west down the High Street, 2014, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick & Jean Gammons, 2013
* Getting Mighty Crowded, Betty Everitt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmwoK6uw5Q
** What, Judy Street, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2NySUcbv3w
Of course there will be those with equally happy stories to tell of the dances that were held upstairs.
Not that I ever went.
During the mid 60s I still commuted back to New Cross for school and so had yet to find friends in Eltham and by the time I started at Crown Woods in 1966 there were plenty of other places to go with the shed load of new people I had met.
That said on the long walks back from Grove Park after an evening with Ann I did sometime pass the dance hall after one of the more rowdy evenings.
And that is a shame because it will have been there that I guess I would have herd live versions of Betty Everitt’s Getting Mighty Crowded* and Judy Street’s What.**
It would be years later in Manchester at the Twisted Wheel and later still at Placemate that I would fully come to appreciate these songs.
And I still have a fond spot for the opening lines of Getting Mighty Crowded, with its message of losing a lover ........................
And I'm gonna move
On out of your heart
Turning in my keys
And I'm gonna move
On out of your heart
Cause there ain't
Room enough for two
And sharing your heart
With someone new
Will never do"
At which point I suppose I should launch into the story of Burton’s which replaced the Congregational Church and was itself supplanted by a Big Mac.
But I won’t instead I shall go off and listen to Betty Everitt who sadly is no longer with us and Judy Street who still is.
Picture; looking west down the High Street, 2014, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick & Jean Gammons, 2013
* Getting Mighty Crowded, Betty Everitt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmwoK6uw5Q
** What, Judy Street, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2NySUcbv3w
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