It will be a full 53 years ago but the memory of that walk through Greenwich Park on a Saturday in September 1971 has never left me.
I was in my second year at Manchester Poly and the pull of Well Hall and the family were still strong and so I found myself back home with three friends.
Lois was from Weston and Mike and John from Leeds and we travelled down from Manchester in John’s van on the Friday night.
Even now I have to say I haven’t forgotten the kindness of David Hatch who agreed to put Lois, Mike and John up on his floor.
It was a brief stay and most of it is a blur except for the walk from the gates on the Blackheath side through the park to Wolf’s statue, the observatory and that view down to the river.
At any time of the year that short stroll is pretty good but in late autumn it is magic. The leaves are on the turn and the bright sunlight can still surprise you with its degree of warmth and the way it brings out the colours all around you.
The rest of the day and the weekend is lost to me but that hour and a bit were and remain special, more so because I was showing off my home.
All of which just leaves me to reflect on the postcard which was marketed in the USA and carried the imprint of the American YMCA of which there must be a story, but not for now.
Location; Greenwich
Picture; Greenwich Park, 1905 from the series Greenwich, marketed in 1911-12 by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/
I was in my second year at Manchester Poly and the pull of Well Hall and the family were still strong and so I found myself back home with three friends.
Lois was from Weston and Mike and John from Leeds and we travelled down from Manchester in John’s van on the Friday night.
Even now I have to say I haven’t forgotten the kindness of David Hatch who agreed to put Lois, Mike and John up on his floor.
It was a brief stay and most of it is a blur except for the walk from the gates on the Blackheath side through the park to Wolf’s statue, the observatory and that view down to the river.
At any time of the year that short stroll is pretty good but in late autumn it is magic. The leaves are on the turn and the bright sunlight can still surprise you with its degree of warmth and the way it brings out the colours all around you.
The rest of the day and the weekend is lost to me but that hour and a bit were and remain special, more so because I was showing off my home.
All of which just leaves me to reflect on the postcard which was marketed in the USA and carried the imprint of the American YMCA of which there must be a story, but not for now.
Location; Greenwich
Picture; Greenwich Park, 1905 from the series Greenwich, marketed in 1911-12 by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/
Thank you for this beautiful and evocative anecdote. I fully agree that Greenwich park in late autumn has some powerful magic. Even though I was only a few months old during your beautiful afternoon, it was only a couple of years later that my grandparents would take me along the same route you described and even then I loved it. Every time I come back to the UK I have to visit the park, and the next date is this November so the excitement is building!
ReplyDeleteI come from plumstead but live in Australia...a Greenwich visit is always on my itinerary!!
ReplyDeleteI was born and grew up in Greenwich. The park holds many wonderful childhood and adult memories.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten it completely, and as I began to read I thought that I didn't remember it at all, and then when you described the walk it all came flooding back!!! Ahh, the van!! How many miles we travelled in that! Happy memories!!
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