NEW BEGINNINGS
THE house in Malpas Road had belonged to Helen’s mother and we all lived there as a family until Helen’s mother, who had been suffering with a heart condition for some years, passed away in the autumn of 1956.
It was at this very time that I was offered a promotion to take over a school of my own. This, however, required my working in North London and as the post was a residential one it would naturally neccessitate moving from Malpas Road in South East London to accommodation in North London.
With the death of Helen’s mother the house was passed on to Helen and her brother Cyril and a decision was made to sell the house at Malpas Road.
I took up my new appointment as Schoolkeeper of Paddington and Maida Vale High School for Girls, situated in Elgin Avenue in Maida Vale, London W9, and in the December of 1956 Helen, Barbara, Paul and I moved from Malpas Road to begin a new chapter in our lives in a very different part of London.
Naturally this entailed new schools for Barbara and Paul, a new home for the family – and even a new motorcycle in the shape of a BSA N21 with a Watsonian double adult sidecar! This motorcycle bore many similarities with my war service BSA M20.
Our years between 1956 and 1960 were spent in temporary accommodation in a flay in Cosway Street, London NW1, just off the Marylebone Road.
Eventually new accommodation was built for us on the school site and we moved into our new home in the December of 1959 and so on the eve of the 1960s we began the next chapter of our lives.