Click onto the links on the right to take you to other pages
NEW EAST MALLING MEMORIES
PEOPLE PAGE INFO
On the menu above you will see a page labelled "People"
Its a page dedicated to the people who made my memories what they are.
Not only those from my past, but also the neighbours, walkers, characters, and individuals I meet as I wander through the village, and surrounding area.
From chance conversations to intentional interviews, I’m gathering the personal stories of those who live in and around East Malling, stories shaped by memory, belonging, and the privilege of calling this place home.
There are no rules for being included here.
All I ask is that you feel a connection to our village, whether you’ve lived here a lifetime, arrived recently, or simply carry East Malling in your heart.
If you’re willing to share a few minutes of your time, and perhaps a photograph, your story has a place on this page.
This is a space for anyone who helps weave the tapestry of our community, one voice at a time.
Please also read my story
NEW GUESTBOOK
We Now have a guestbook and I invite you to click the link below, which will take you directly to the
comments page
Your comments are most welcome, and if you have any questions or requests, or ideas of what you would like to see here, then please feel free to respond. I will endeavour to reply to all those I can
Did you attend this school?
Blacklands Junior school should conjour all sorts of memories from your childhood, but can you remember the teachers, the Dinner Ladies, or your Classmates names?
Our place of discovery
"We had so many “playgrounds,” back then, each one alive with memories, vivid and vibrant, just waiting to be brought back into the light"
Our Playground
We didn't need electronics....
Memories of the Park
Taken from "A Tree for all Seasons"
During the early sixties, whole sections of the park were thick with nettles, and it was in those wild patches that Kevin Handley, Steve Watson, myself, and many others built our “camps.”
Armed with sticks, we’d hack our way through the nettles to clear a space. The odd casualty was inevitable, of course. Stings were treated with a dab of spit on a dock leaf, deftly rubbed onto the sore spot
Many of the old trees have gone now, but back then there were so many more. We spent hours climbing them, and most had names of their own: Step Ladder, Single Barrel, Double Barrel, the Beehive Tree.
And then there was the “Shit Bugger Tree” the name alone still makes me smile. The story behind it is one of my fondest and funniest memories of my dear friend and partner in crime, Kevin Handley. I cover this and lots more in my Story
He’s sadly no longer with us, but he’ll always be remembered and missed.
Those were the days when summers seemed to last forever. We’d leave the house after breakfast and not come home until tea time.
Other days we’d head to the swings, which stood outside the old Green Institute, a corrugated-iron and timber building, as I remember it. There was a huge slide between two sets of swings, a see-saw, and a roundabout.
But our favourite was always the sandpit, especially when it had just been refilled with fresh sand. That was a real treat
You can still see the outline of that old sandpit today, just in front of one of the benches.
Local Landmarks from back then
"Certain places still bind us together in memory. The “Blue Door....The “Washer... The old cricket pitch roller... The Green Hut... The Beech tree where we gathered on Sunday afternoons for Sunshine Corner.” This sign was always a fascination for me, I have no idea what it represents....someone will know.
