John Cummings – Southcote

Hi Jo  and Alan

I have had a lot of emails regarding my Coley page but only three in connection with the Southcote page but in fairness it is far from developed. I did get an email some time ago from one of the Prendergast boys who said he was very friendly with Raymond. I did reply but haven’t heard back from him again and I have mislaid his original email.  And now within a few days I have heard from you two – which is great – it might inspire me to do more work on this page. My problem with me trying to add extra data to my Southcote page is I only lived there for about four years.  I was 12 or 13 when we moved in and 17 when I left  sometime in the latter half of 1957.  And I have never been back.

The information you have given me has brought back many memories.  I didn’t think the family at 240 were Irish and I have memories of young children – perhaps the Irish family moved in after I left.  I can’t add to your list of names Jo of people living nearby.

My memories are:

I remember well the newsagency shop on the Bath Road in Calcot where I did a paper round for many years – Fred Joel was the newsagent.  I remember Bucknall’s farm at the end of the estate – I went to school with Tom Bucknall – I heard recently that Tom has passed away.  At the other end of the estate, there was another guy I went to Reading School with who prefers to remain anonymous as far as the Internet is concerned who lived in Kenilworth Avenue, and Mickey Bolton who lived nearby – he also went to Reading School with me.  Mick had a sister Lynne.  Not far from Roy Seymour was Liz Marks whose father played in goal for Reading FC.  Near the end of Kenilworth Avenue was a small group of shops.  I remember Carol Williams lived near there and she was very friendly with Clive Upton who I believe ended up in trouble with the law.  Carol eventually ended up marrying David Bicknell (Bignell?) who lived in the vicinity of Ashampstead Road.

Then there was JamesThompsett who went to scholl with me at both St James and Reading School.  He lived with his parents and sisters in Hatford Road.  I am still in contact with his sister Nora (via the My Coley pages) but Jim died quite some time ago.  There was also the Patterson family who lived in Southcote Lane near the junction with Burghfield Road.  There was a girl Angela and a boy Chris.

I remember Dr Taylor who operated at the clinic on the corner of Southcote Lane and Circuit Lane.

That’s about all I can dredge out of this tired brain at the moment!!

Look forward to hearing more from you.
Cheers, JC

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