I was born in England back in 1942. At the time my parents and brother were renting a flat in Eagle House in South Woodford. We lived there until 1949 when we migrated to Australia.
This was our little family in 1942.
It wasn't until 1970 when Bill and I made a trip around the world that I went to see my old home in South Woodford on the eastern outskirts of London.
Bill took this shot of me at the gate in a mini skirt of the 70's. The house hadn't changed. The fence and trees were the same as in 1949.
We have been back to England quite a few times because my brother returned to live there in 1975 and my daughter lived in London for seven years, However, I didn't ever visit Eagle house again but other people have.
My brother sent me this photo in the 1990's. The fence had been renewed but everything else looks much the same.
I have a blogging friend who lives in London and has a very interesting blog where she has challenged herself to visit every underground station and walk in a mile radius of the stations and record what she sees. When I saw that she was going to visit South Woodford station, I asked her to check out Eagle House for me, which she did and recorded it here: These are the photos she took in 2015.
The fence has been upgraded and the trees have been cut down (that's a bit sad).Traffic lights have been installed.
I thought this would be the end of my connection with Eagle House but a few months ago I received an email from a young man saying that he lived on the top floor of Eagle House and he was looking up information about the house and he found my friends blog and through her he found my blog. He was very interested to hear how the place looked in earlier years and who had lived there. I sent him a short story about when we lived there and how close we were to the bombing during the war. He then sent me a video of what the house is like inside now. He was sharing the top floor with a few others. He loved living there..
So the magic of blogging strikes again.
I remember when Marie visited and took the photos. Way cool to receive an email from someone who lived there, and with a bonus video.
ReplyDeleteTreasured memories Diane and such a lovely surprise ending to this post.
ReplyDeletenow this IS a magical moment, how cool is that he found your blog.. I love it. the house still stands and has for years, sad about the trees but probably were blocking the traffic signals...I enjoyed every photo from the past. you were an adorable baby and so cute in your mini skirt.. you and I have lived long lives, with lots of memories. the magic of blogging, found me a few years ago, I had commented on the old church in Georgia where many of my ancestors are buried, and received an email from a man who is the son of my 1st cousin that we never knew. his wife took him and left when he was a baby and disappeared. he found my email and blog by searching info from the comment and wanted to know if I could send him photos of his family, his grandparents, were my dad's brother and his wife. he was searching for his missing family. I sent him every photo I had of our family members.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this history of your association with Eagle House. I like it and it looks to be in a great neighbourhood. I also liked it with the huge tree but I guess they were probably getting too large. I know the root systems can make a mess of things. It's nice the young man was able to connect with you and that he has fond memories of Eagle House.
ReplyDeleteSuch a large world we live in Diane, yet so small. Fancy that person finding you and having lived in the same house on the top floor. It looks a nice place on a corner bend, much tidier now than way back, the trees made it look softer, but it does look rather nice now too.
ReplyDeleteBlogging definitely makes the world seem smaller. Enjoyed the post very much.
ReplyDeleteWe tried to find the house where I was born in Lilliput, Poole but though we tracked down the street it looked like most of the houses there were all new :-(((( Well done on finding our about Eagle House and great that the guy living there now has been in touch. T'other Diane
ReplyDeleteLove this.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post Diane, and I thoroughly enjoyed your old photos. Great memories!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful story. I assume you are talking about Marie who is blogging about all the stations. In 2014 we met her for breakfast on our last day in London and have stayed in touch since. Small world.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting story and very nice that you've kept up with this house of your childhood. I love the photo of you with a mini skirt! How cute is that!
ReplyDeleteOh how Wonderful to have such history about your childhood home! And to be talking to the tennent who currently lives there! Wonderful! Your Mother was a beauty!
ReplyDeletehugs
Donna
That was a fascinating read. My Grandmother's house was demolished to make way for a petropl station (it was a large site and more valuable to a petrol company) but the house I was brought up in still stands in a road of exceptionally indifferent and almost identical houses.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing story, returning to the past through bloggers ! The world is real small ! I know the friend who did nearly all underground lines of London, I met her there several times on my way to Eastbourne. And the friends in Eastbourne I knew in Egypt and it turned out that they lived 3 streets away from Dario's house !! We visited our apartment in Bonn where I lived until 14, at least 29 years later, what surprised me I had kept it in mind as a big house and in reality it was rather small compared to the houses in Belgium !
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that the Eagle House is still standing and now occupied by new residents, Diane. I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing the way the exterior has changed over the years and agreed that it's too bad the trees had to go.
ReplyDeleteFascinating history of Eagle House. Love all the photographs.
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