My family lived in Romford for many years, myself from 1934 til 1955. We lived at the junction of Percy Rd and Linley Crescent so experienced all the wartime bombs, doodlebugs and rockets in this area. Your site brings back so many happy memories because in spite of the war and all its hardships as children attending Havering Road School we made the best of it and were very happy. Always enjoyed Romford as a lovely Town, the Market etc. The freedom to roam the fields up to Whalebone Lane known to us then as Fowlers and the area at the back of Linley Crescent (now the Park). This land over the Rom was used by the local traders for their horses and as a result in their season we collected mushrooms and ate some (with omelettes made from the dried egg powder coming from America) and passed on some to the builders doing the war damage repairs (for Picture money, i.e. the Rex at Collier Row was 5 pence). This area was also used to store masses of timber, and also dismantled Anderson Shelters at the end of the war, we made many large areas of tunnels and "camps" with these. I could go on and on with these memories but will end here.

Syd Smith