Childhood recollections of life in Tovil
Our article comparing Tovil today with days past (Page 37, January 4) sparked a lot of response from readers, including Brian Collins, who spotted the site of his childhood home in one of the pictures.
He said: “In the photo of Church Street, you can see a man leaning against a wall on the right. That was the wall to our garden at No 4. The bank fell away sharply at that point and the house itself was almost invisible from the road because it was set on a much lower level. Because we were almost underground, there were no windows on the road-side of the house and the only door was at the back.
“It was a just two bedrooms upstairs and I only remember one large open room downstairs. There was no bathroom - we had to take our baths in turn in a tin bath in front of the fire, and the only toilet was outside.”
Mr Collins added: “My father, Frank Collins, had been in the RAF during the war and he and mum Betty Collins (nee Brandon) moved in about 1947. They were married in Stephen’s Church” (also featured in the article).
Mr Collins said the attitude to children then was very different: “We had terrific freedom. There was hardly any traffic and even though we were all quite young we were allowed to wander off all over the place.”
He particularly remembers two pals: Tony Bradford and Tony Waites, who both lived in Church Street.
He said: “In those days there was a convenience store halfway along Church Street, next to The Victory pub (now demolished). Tony Bradford was the son of the shopkeeper. Tony Waites was older than us, about 12 or 13, and he went on to become a professional footballer for Maidstone United.”
The friends would go fishing in the Medway underneath the railway bridge that carried the line from Fant into Tovil. He said: “It was the perfect spot to catch eels.”
Mr Collins’ father worked as truck driver, and his mother supported his income with seasonal work on the local farms. But there was some good times to be had. Mr Collins fondly remembers the family trips to the Reed paper mill summer fete, held on a field now occupied by the Woodbridge Drive estate.
Born in 1951, Mr Collins began school at St Stephen’s but spent only a few terms there before the news came that his parents had been waiting for. He said: “In 1956 our house was condemned and the council rehoused us in Grove Road on the Mangravat estate.”
Mr Collins, who became an insurance assessor, returned to Tovil 22 years ago, and now lives in Flume End.
You can re-visit the original story at tinyurl.com/oldtovil