BARBARA SOUTHARD
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Recorded by Julian May
00.00 Childhood memories 03.32 Neighbourhood shops 05.50 Trafalgar Road 10.25 School Board Man and caring for the family 11.24 Evacuees
15.50 Father leaves, return to Greenwich 17.55 Father returns - relationship with children 20.05 Second hand bargain leads to a black mark
21.30 Working girl 24.12 Retirement and leaving Greenwich 25.12 Save before you spend
Recorded by Julian May
00.00 Childhood memories 03.32 Neighbourhood shops 05.50 Trafalgar Road 10.25 School Board Man and caring for the family 11.24 Evacuees
15.50 Father leaves, return to Greenwich 17.55 Father returns - relationship with children 20.05 Second hand bargain leads to a black mark
21.30 Working girl 24.12 Retirement and leaving Greenwich 25.12 Save before you spend
Barbara Southard by M&P on Mixcloud
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Trafalgar Road shops
Courtesy of The Trustees of Morden College 
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The Royal Mail Evacuees special issue stamp featured a picture of Barbara (centre), John (left) and Rosemary with their name labels
The Trafalgar Cinema, later the Odeon, at the foot of Maze Hill where Barbara went for Saturday morning pictures
Courtesy of The Trustees of Morden College |
Barbara Southard recalls growing up in Pelton Road, East Greenwich, alongside her many relatives living in the adjacent streets, including Union Wharf, now Ballast Quay. She remembers vividly the little local shops and also those on Trafalgar Road, which was a thriving high street 70 years ago. There were two cinemas where she went to Saturday morning pictures. As the eldest she took care of her sister and two brothers and also her mother when she was ill, taking time out from school to look after her. She was also responsible for her sister Rosemary and brother John when they were wartime evacuees. A photograph of them was chosen for a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp. Barbara worked from the age of 15 until she retired and moved away from Greenwich at the age of 65. She misses Greenwich and loves to visit her relatives still living in the neighbourhood near the river, including her brother and her cousin Fred Mason, the author of another Ballast Quay oral history.
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