Jim thanks so much for the photos, especially of Gunnersbury Park, the scene of many of my happy childhood memories! I spent many hours in the park as a child, mostly entering via Lionel Road. As I was pupil at Lionel Road School we used the park for many school activities such as practice for running races. Such a wide open space I used to feel as though I was in the country. Sad to see how the gate on the G.W.R. has deteriorated. I can imagine how noisy it is there now with all the traffic hurtling by. I still have pleasant memories of boating on the boating pond, and the putting green. I remember vividly sitting in front of the old Rothschild House on a summer's day listening to the doves cooing in their dovecotes. I do not see them in your photos, they must have long gone. Us kids used to go to a place we referred to as the "Burglar's Hole", probably was out of bounds but we did it anyway. On looking back I think it must have been the remains of Roman Bath or just a Bath house of some sort. It was in the vicinity of the Rothchild's house. One of my school friends' father worked in the Park as the Head Gardener his name was Armstrong I think. I seem to remember her bringing plants to the school from the Greenhouse in the park. During the war the park was taken over by Anti Aircraft guns, which made quite a racket during the air raids.
Doris M. Lediard ● 7142d