Greenhayes, Radcliffe Road

Image: © Harold J Thomas Taken: Unknown

Until the late 1960s the west side of Radcliffe Road was occupied by substantial houses with large gardens and mature trees, while now there are maisonettes and side streets. A curious feature was the unmade footpaths at the side of the road, going back to its origins as a private road, which could be closed off from Addiscombe Road by a pair of large wooden gates. This lack of pavements remains, which is most strange. This was the house of the photographer, my grandfather, whose immediate family moved from the house in 1966 (a SOLD sign can be seen at the front gate). Harold J. Thomas was a prolific amateur photographer, and I am sure that it is this memory from childhood and the hours spent in his darkroom at this house that has drawn me through a photographic obsession to Geograph today. My first camera (Kodak Brownie 127) was a Christmas present from him a year or two from the date of this image.

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