Eastbrookend Country Park
The Chase Nature Reserve
Beam Valley Country Park
Beam Parklands
Beam Parklands’ Heritage Trail Gallery
Thanks to all the contributors who helped with the project…
Councillor Lee Waker, Councillor Phil Waker and Councillor Margaret Mullane for enabling the funding of the project and for sharing your memories of the Parklands, especially the lido and Rose Lee and family and Gemma Bouchereau for sharing your memories and photographs.
Images:
Councillor Phil Waker, Councillor Margaret Mullane and Councillor Lee Waker (at Panel 1: Introduction to the Heritage Trail)
Councillors at Panel 2 sharing their memories of the old lido
Rose Lee, Ray Lee, Gemma Bouchereau, Sylvia Tillyer, David Tillyer and Sharon Lee
Gemma Bouchereau at Panel 1 and her evocative Wild & Free 2020 Competition image, of the Beam Parklands’ lake, that adorns the panel
Rose Lee at Panel 2 (Leys’ Lido)
Rose Lee at Panel 4 (Rookery Farm)
“Ballards Road only ran up to Leys and came to a dead-end and after that was all fields. I went to nearby Marley School and every March or April, at Easter, we were marched to the pool regardless of how cold it was. The changing rooms were unheated and had concrete floors. The top diving board was closed off, considered to be too dangerous. The attached hall had functions and discos and Ford workers often held their strike meetings in the grounds.”
Rose Lee and her reminiscences of the Leys’ lido (also on the sign)
“I was born and lived in Leyton in a 2-up-2 down house, which had an outside toilet and no bath. No running hot water, only a tin galvanized bath which hung in the yard. During the war, Stratford and the surrounding areas were heavily bombed, and we eventually moved to Rookery Crescent to be near Fords where my father worked. The house was built as a temporary accommodation with cardboard walls and a tin roof, but it was paradise where we had come from. The area behind the Bull Pub was a pig farm and very smelly.”
Rose Lee and her reminiscences of Rookery Farm (also on the sign)