MY EARLY YEARS IN SYDENHAM
By JOHN HOLT

ISBN 978-1-900467-35-3
Softback. 150 x 210mm (approximately)
Illustrated
Text: 119 pages.

£9.99 + £1.00 p&p (UK only)
+ £2.00 p&p for orders outside the UK.

Available by post from:
Mr John Holt
57 Dickens Court
Harold Road
Margate
Kent
CT9 2HN
UK
Telephone 01843 295633

Cheques to be made payable to
'John Holt'.

In ‘My Early Years in Sydenham’ the author,
John Holt takes a nostalgic look back at his life in Sydenham between 1938 to the early 1950s.

He was born in 1934 and does not remember much until he was four years old but he does have a few pre-war memories.

He had a happy childhood, in spite of the war. He was not evacuated and his excellent parents kept him away as much as they could from harrowing sights and did not convey to him the fear that they must surely have felt during those grim times. Also the Holts were a close-knit and loving family and John writes, with affection, about his grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, and also about his brother who was born in 1943.He also enjoyed his schooldays at South Hill College which was in Mayow Road, Sydenham, which helped to take his mind off the war.

He recalls the grim days of the war, and then the absolute elation shown by the people as they celebrated the Victory in Europe.

He then writes about the shops and other premises in Bell Green and Sydenham Road which hold special memories for him.

He goes on to write about the big changes in his life in the immediate post-war years. In September 1945 he left South Hill College to continue his education at Alleyns School, Dulwich. In February 1948, he joined the Boy Scouts and in May of that year, became involved with a local cricket club.

He thinks that the people with whom he came into contact in Sydenham were mostly very friendly and remembers many of them with affection.

He hopes that he has written a book which will be of interest to past and present older residents of Sydenham.

John Holt