SETTLING IN
MUSIC & WORK
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Charlie describes his father's reaction when he received a letter from Charlie's music teacher
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CHARLIE: I first heard opera on the radiogram. A music teacher at school wrote to Charlie's father suggesting that his talented son should develop his singing.
I was very enterprising. There was Mrs. Morris who used to live up in Portobello Road. I was the only coloured boy. I used to deliver newspapers . I used to work up at Mr. Murray's, he felt sorry for me and he gave an early morning job. After my newspaper round I'd go straight to school. I used to walk around with a pram empty. It was one of those big buggies you don't see any more. I loaded that up. A nice old lady who lived in Bonchurch Road would say, "Get me a bag of coal" and she would give me threepence. It was worth a lot of money then. |
During the week my parents borrowed money from me. On Thursdays they never had money to go to work. The main employers would be Lyons Cadby Hall, The Lucozade Factory and The Metal Box Company in Alperton.
THE CHURCH
Jules and St. John's Church
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 Notting Hill
Methodist Church
AUDREY: I have lived in North Kensington all my life. In the 1950s the church was gradually receiving many people from the Caribbean. Some had been told if they had gone to another church, "There is a good church down the road why don't you go and join them?"
So we had more and more Caribbean people arriving. We had them from other countries as well but mainly from the Caribbean. And they were accepted. JULES: My wife was a librarian at Central Library, Kensington, about 50 years ago. We lived near St John's, Ladbroke Grove. I attended the church. At that time it was Father Oakley. It was the time of John Livingstone who helped the Carnival. The community in that area was a Global community rather than an Afro Caribbean community. At the time of Oswald Mosley there were some bombs thrown. A friend had a petrol bomb thrown into his home. He had an Irish wife and kids.
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SCHOOL, SPORT AND THE LANCASTER ROAD BATHS
 Ernest
ERNEST: When I got here I went to school and I met friends and I mingled. Back home I used to run and play cricket so over here we had sports. We had football so those things for me came as a duck to water. I ran for my school and that made me popular. I played football for my school; that made me popular. It helped me get the girls.
 Charlie
CHARLIE: Our teachers were ignorant about our Caribbean schooling. They couldn't believe that we could recite poetry. I used to speak Latin when I was nine. When I left school and said I wanted to be a Naval Architect or an Opera Singer, they laughed at me. They said, "Why don't you get a job with London Transport because that gives you more job security?"
From school we would walk down to Silchester Road where the baths were. Old George was the Caretaker and he would teach us how to swim. The bag wash didn't open on Sundays so people who couldn't get to the bag wash would go to the laundry facilities in Silchester Rd. It was a community centre as well. MARRIAGE
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St John's School in Walmer Rd.
The Laundry 1970
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BARBARA: I was born in Powis Terrace. When the Second World War started my father joined the army and my mother and I moved to Bravington Road, where my mother was born. I moved back to the North Kensington area with my husband Andre to St Stephen's Gardens in the late 50s where my 2 children were born. (LANDLORDS).
ANDRE: "He was born in British Guyana. He was in the RAF during the Second World War. He came to the UK, London when he was about 20 years old. After the war he decided to stay." Barbara met Andre in Ronnie Scotts in 1955. After a period of time they moved in together at St Stephen’s Gardens. After a couple of years they were married in Harrow Road Registry Office.
They remained together for 43 years until he died in 1998. "Andre was very well known and respected in the area".
ANDRE: "He was born in British Guyana. He was in the RAF during the Second World War. He came to the UK, London when he was about 20 years old. After the war he decided to stay." Barbara met Andre in Ronnie Scotts in 1955. After a period of time they moved in together at St Stephen’s Gardens. After a couple of years they were married in Harrow Road Registry Office.
They remained together for 43 years until he died in 1998. "Andre was very well known and respected in the area".
St Stephen's Gardens
LIVING IN THE AREA AS A MIXED RACE COUPLE
I got no stick from the black community. There were very few black women so most black men had white girl friends in 1956, 57 and 58. I suffered verbal from many white men, young, white boys especially.
One of the Portobello Road market stallholders verbally abused me for having mixed race children. In Lyon’s corner house with Andre queuing for the teas, a lady tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me dear I saw you come in with a black gentleman. May I ask you, does the colour come off?” To her it was a genuine question, she was elderly and probably had never seen a black man before.
Andre was too intelligent to let racist comments bother him. England was his home now.
I got no stick from the black community. There were very few black women so most black men had white girl friends in 1956, 57 and 58. I suffered verbal from many white men, young, white boys especially.
One of the Portobello Road market stallholders verbally abused me for having mixed race children. In Lyon’s corner house with Andre queuing for the teas, a lady tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me dear I saw you come in with a black gentleman. May I ask you, does the colour come off?” To her it was a genuine question, she was elderly and probably had never seen a black man before.
Andre was too intelligent to let racist comments bother him. England was his home now.
