Copyright © 1990 - 2006 Ronald M Penn
Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish
Dan & Charles Mason, pioneers of the shoe polish industry in Chiswick
The school leaving age in the Elementary School system in those days was fourteen years, but in the High Schools system most pupils stayed at school till at least sixteen, and eighteen in County and Grammar schools if the student wished to go to University. As a career in art had always been my top priority, I left school to commence work as a lettering artist, working on signs and indicator boards and learning the art of gold leaf work. My journey to work by bicycle from Burlington Lane took me down Church Street and along the bank of the River Thames to Hammersmith, past the now defunct water-works with the pumping machinery visible to passers-by, past the host of beautiful houses owned by actors, actresses, authors, etc., over a little wooden bridge that spanned a creek just before it entered the Thames, and into a very old building which on the lower floor contained a factory that provided the moulds and fittings for indicator boards and fire alarms, etc. These items were all hand painted and lettered by a staff of five girls. Opposite the building were some equally old houses, and our deliciously fresh and cool drinking water came from a well in the cellar of one of these houses. Legend had it that this particular house had been used by King Charles 1 when he visited Nell Gwynne. Also in the cellar was the mummified body of a cat that I was told was a relic of the days when there was some kind of superstition concerning dead cats. From the window of the art room in the factory, which overlooked the river and Hammersmith Bridge, we could see the passing procession of water traffic the boat race the King's (now Queen's) Water Boatmen when they spent the day "Swan-Upping", marking all the swans on their beaks as a sign that they all belonged to the monarch. Also to be seen were the various skiffs and racing boats used by the boating clubs that were dotted along the riverbank, and the anchored "Stork", a sailing vessel used by the Sea Scouts.
It was while I was still at school that progress began to catch up with our quiet Burlington Lane when it was developed into a main road. This meant that in addition to losing half our back garden, we now faced also losing a large portion of our front garden, which among other things contained two very large red hawthorn trees and another large copper beech tree. Although we were unhappy to see our beloved hawthorn and copper beech trees cut down and our front garden sliced away, we could not help but enjoy watching the progress of the road-widening programme. The ultimate bonus for me was the occasion in 1933 when our school marched to the then new Chiswick Bridge over the River Thames to witness the official opening of the bridge by Edward, Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VIII for a short time before abdicating and to become Duke of Windsor). We stood quite close to where the Prince cut the ribbon to open the bridge, with each child waving a small Union Jack whilst he did the deed. Once the road was officially open, it became quite interesting to see the extra traffic not very heavy at first, but sufficient to engender our interest, particularly when the entourage of King George V and Queen Mary began to use it as the regular route from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and visa-versa. Mounted detachments of the Royal Windsor Greys, the Lifeguards, and the Blues and Royals also used the same route quite regularly, and as soon as we heard the clip-clop of a large number of horses we always ran to see them pass by.
Another result of the road widening was that our household was increased for some time by two lodgers who were bricklayers on the job. One of them, Jack Reynolds, remained with us for quite a long time after the road widening project was finished and our family friendship with him continued with him even after he returned to his home in Loughton, Essex. My brother Ron says that he remembers very little about our lodgers, except that he recalls a "party trick" that one of them like to perform by taking a full dinner plate of food, complete with gravy, and balancing it in one hand whilst twisting it behind his back and over his head. To add to the excitement, he particularly liked to do the trick while walking down the stairs. Whilst this trick appealed to us children, our mother was much more concerned about the fate of her food, plate and floor.
In 1933, our family also enjoyed a very happy holiday in Belgium, staying at the Hotel Glenmore in Ostende and visiting Holland, the famous Mole at Zeebrugge (a German submarine base that was the scene of a British naval raid on 23rd April, 1918) and a number of World War I war cemeteries, memorials and battlefields such as Hill 60 where our father fought and one of our uncles was killed. Many of the battlefields had been left undisturbed since the war and although fifteen years had passed, much of the horror of the battles that had been fought in the area was still evident. A particularly poignant occasion was when we visited the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres and Mum saw the name of her brother Len inscribed on it as being one of the many who had been killed, but had no known grave.
The loss of much of our back garden due to the expansion of the factory and most of our front garden due to the road widening programme soon led our parents into deciding to move into a home of their own at Twickenham.
END
Memoirs, Page 7 of 7
The contents of these pages are Copyright © 1990-2006 Penny Chilvers & Ronald M Penn Reproduction of part or all of the contents of these memoirs in any form is prohibited other than in accordance with the following permissions:
E) The owner of these memoirs, Ronald M Penn, is to be contacted at rmpenn@bigpond.com regarding their use.
F) That written consent is obtained from the owner before use, detailing the terms of use regarding the content of the memoirs.
G) No consent will be granted to any commercial venture, such as a Book, Magazine or Periodical sold to the public for profit.
H) Schools, Collages, Local non profit making organizations and Historians may use a copy of these memoirs for reference, to aid research into West London and Chiswick, History
PENNY CHILVERS/MACDONALD nee (Florence Vera May Penn) Memoirs were written for her brother Ronald M Penn to be included in his book entitled "PENNing a History" which is currently being prepared for limited publication in Sydney Australia. June 2006
Memoirs, Page 7 of 7
Penny Chilvers Memoirs Page 7 of 7
