The Willow Pond: A 1950s Childhood in South East Essex

by Mervyn Linford

Overview

Mervyn Linford left the prefabs and bombsites in the East End of London in 1952 and moved to Pitsea in Essex. In those days Pitsea was a typical sleepy marshland village overlooking the saltwater creeks and the Thame's Delta. The proposed New Town was as yet just a twinkle in the planners' eyes and Basildon, such as it was, comprised of just two small estates: Barstable and Whitmore Way. The rest of the surrounding area was no less than a paradise for a young boy newly arrived from the deprivations of a bombed-out city. Apart from the creeks and the marshes his incipient love of nature was increased manifold as and when his newfound horizons extended deep into the farms, the small holdings, the 'plotlands', the orchards, the elm-lined lanes and hawthorn thickets of this as yet unspoiled natural paradise. This story follows the life of one particular boy as he journeys through the 1950s and covers much of South East Essex from Stanford-le-Hope in the west to Canvey Island and Southend-on-Sea in the east.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780957660830
Publisher:	The Littoral Press
Publication date:	06/08/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	277
File size:	807 KB

About the Author

Mervyn Linford was born in 1946. He left Timberlog County Secondary Modern School in Basildon at the age of fifteen and has lost count at over two hundred jobs, including: transport, construction, sales, and the army. He has always had a love of poetry and started to write seriously when he was twenty-seven years old. He has been widely published in magazines, anthologies, and newspapers and has won and been highly commended in a number of poetry competitions such as: first prize in both The John Clare Cup and The Hastings Open. His work has been broadcast on national and local radio and he has had four collections of his poetry published: ‘Two Essex Poets’ with the late Frederic Vanson, and ‘Talking to the Bees’ both by The Brentham Press of St Albans; and ‘Autumn Manuscript’ and ‘The Beatitudes of Silence’ by The Littoral Press of Southend on Sea. ‘The Willow Pond’ is his first prose work to be published. The sequel: ‘Bullshit and Bootlace-Ties’ is finished and ready for print and he has two other works waiting for publication: a lyric novel ‘The Weather Man’ and a novella, ‘The Rise and Fall of Snowy Garden’. He now lives in Southend on Sea where apart from writing both prose and poetry he concerns himself with love, nature, and spiritual matters.

Read an Excerpt

The time for wishes had arrived. Kitchens themselves partook of the season and became just as otherworldly. The spice-laden mixtures were stirred. Eyes closed and supplications made. If the letter to Father Christmas failed, this would surely do the trick. Puddings the size of cannonballs were swaddled in muslin and immersed in great bubbling copper cauldrons. Ovens were racked from top to bottom with mince pies and sausage rolls. Smells were exotic and intoxicating, cinnamon and sherry, brandy and cloves. Smells that any self-respecting 'Bisto' Kid would follow unflinchingly to the ends of the universe. Drunk on the yuletide elixirs I watched as the icing was poured, patted and scrolled onto the cake. I sang as the red-lettered words of greeting were inscribed and the sprigs of artificial holly thumbed into place. My mother took on a new countenance. Gone was the neurotic ear-slapping she-devil of old. Here was the apotheoisis of womanhood. Man was relegated to the blubbering ranks of the newborn or to a bumbling, white-bearded, stuck up the chimney sort of avuncularity. This was the time of the goddess and for this brief period at least - not forgetting that other season of celebration, namely my birthday - I worshipped at the adored feet.