LEWES ROAD HANDY STORES

Memories or what!
I lived at "Folly Field" 100 yards from the Handy Store.
Other corner shops were the "Cafe" (I have no idea why it was so called) on the corner of Lewes Road and Ship Street, Reenys(sic) and Chillmans in Elphick Road.
My mum used these shops regularly. Sweet rationing ended in 1955. It was heaven!

We used to live above the shop when Mr Maseline had it in the late fifties. I can remember one day when the alleyway was reconcreted we had to ask Mr Maseline to go through his shop to get to our flat. I was too scared at 4yrs old and so ran down the alley.You can still see the footprints from my red plastic sandals from Woolworths in the concrete now, almost 50years on!

I am the girl with Betty Lynch standing in the doorway of Handy Stores. I am 19 there, but all through my childhood my sister, Jenny, and I were always doing forgotten shopping for our mother. We lived in Lewes Road just above Folly Field, next door to Pat and Liz Lowles, and William Stovell on the other side, and also opposite the Goldmith girls - Ann, Susan & Sally.

Hi Aunty bet and Uncle Ken. I remember the shop very well, i also remember grandad working there and the fun days in your house opposite on the corner of Lawes Ave (happy days).

The lady in the picture outside Handystores with Betty Lynch (my mother) is Rosemary Taylor (was Lambert).

I also first remember this shop as Maselins stores when I was a child and I remember Mr and Mrs Lynch running the shop. I think the last people to run it before it closed were Mr and Mrs Ward.

As an older child we used to get cigarettes out of a machine on the outside wall of the shop and secretly smoke them up the back alley between Lawes and Evelyn Avenue! We thought we were very grown up at the time but not such a good idea looking back! 

In the bottom picture, the rectangular window on the white building straight ahead was my bedroom between 1952 and 1967.

The house was number ten when I moved in but number 32 when I moved out.

Lewes Road was a great area for kids to play with lots of alleys and twittens.