Living in Hawkwell
The village of Hawkwell, not far from Southend, is where I lived for a while in the 1960s.
Having lived all my 21 years with my parents in Westcliff, I got married in 1964 to Judy, my first wife. Luckily, some acquaintances were going abroad for a couple of years and wanted their house in Hawkwell to be lived in, so an arrangement was struck.
The house was in Elmwood Avenue, and was close to Belchamps, where the Boy Scouts used to have camps and jamborees.
For much of the time I was living there, I was working in cinemas in the Ilford area, and when out on relief it was often in the Hertfordshire area. Consequently, I used to get back to Hockley Station late at night, and had a twenty minute walk home via Hawkwell Chase.
Sometimes, I would be joined on the walk by a hedgehog.
Hawkwell has a very pleasant village green, with a village inn beside it.
It was while I was living at Hawkwell that my eldest daughter, Theresa, was born. The day before, her mother and I had had a long walk through Ironwell Lane to Rochford.
I left Hawkwell and moved to Goodmayes, near Ilford, to be closer to work.
If anybody reading this has any connections with Hawkwell, or the Southend area generally (Born? Lived? Worked? Ancestors? Relatives?) I would be delighted to hear from them.
Posted by colin on Saturday 21st January, 2006 at 9:23am