Earliest Memories

The earliest recollections of my life were in London East End.

My sister Freda, aged 9, was told to take me to Victoria Park in Hackney and as a special treat we could go by tram! I still remember it now. How happy I was to go to a lovely park after all the dreary streets in my part of London. It seemed like Heaven.

As a special inducement, Freda bought me a large ball from a Woolworth store (nothing over 6p) and as you can imagine this was a great treat for me!

I was allowed to paddle in the large pond nearby. I was an exuberant child. My mother called me a ragamuffin as I always seemed to get into trouble with torn clothes and dirty face. Still, she loved me and the feeling was mutual.

I can still hear my sister warning me not to go over to the right of the pond; however, I have never been able to know my right from my left (even now) so I paddled off to the right, straight into eight feet of water.

In the distance, I could hear people screaming that a child was drowning as I slid under the water. The most amazing thing about this was that I did not feel any sense of danger at the time. Evidently, someone dived in and rescued me. I must have been unconscious, because I came-to in a lovely house. I was naked and being rubbed down with a large white towel. My sister was white with fright as she knew she would be in trouble when we returned home. The lady of the house had kept clothes from when she’d had children many years earlier. Even now I remember how kind and concerned she was. I gave her a hug and a kiss and was rewarded with a new outfit!

Of course, when I returned home with my sister, all hell broke loose and Freda was sent to bed as a punishment.

My second strong recollection was the pea-souper fog that was always around London at that time (1924). I was with my sister Rene, (aged 8) about 200 yards from our miserable apartment when the fog suddenly came down. It was like a blanket. One could hardly see one’s hands in front of one with the horrible smoky grit in the air. With our eyes smarting and everyone in distress, we literally groped our way home and left the rest of the world to get on as best as it could.

People were wandering around completely lost asking passers-by the name of the street they were in.

November was always the worst time. I remember seeing a horse cart in Whitechapel during one of these fogs. The poor horse had keeled over and was lying in the road, hardly alive and the driver was whipping the poor animal to make it stand up. I could not bear to watch any longer.

As the fog was diminishing, we found our way back home. My sister Rene and I have always been close and I am not ashamed to say that we both wept for that poor animal.

Another abiding memory was when I was determined join a Jewish ‘gang’. The leader, named Solly, aged 10, told me if I wanted to join the gang I had to pass an initiation test and of course I had to agree before knowing what was involved.

It was with some trepidation that I learnt I was expected to run under a brewer’s dray whilst the horse was still trotting. I accepted the challenge and that day I became a member of a prestigious Jewish juvenile mafia.

When my mother found out how I gained entry to the gang, I got a wallop and was sent straight up to bed!