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“ M y fi r s t e x p e r i e n c e o f l i v i n g o n t h e s t r e e t s ” 2
Great Yarmouth I lived in Brixton Hill in a bedsit. It was a run down place, lots of trouble, drink and drugs. But I got a job doing removals for a mate I knew, so I stayed there for 6 months. One day after I finished work, I met someone from the past, his name was Colin. I had not seen Colin for 17 years. He told me he’d lived in Brixton for 3 months. Me and Colin went drinking a lot. Colin said to me, “Let’s get out of Brixton.” I said, “Let’s go to Blackpool.” But Colin said, “Let’s go to Great Yarmouth.” We got a coach to Great Yarmouth, but the coach was only going as far as Norwich so we had to get off there. Colin said, “Let’s start walking.” Great Yarmouth was 20 miles away. We never stopped, we just kept going. We got there at 7.30 in the morning. We were cold and aching and hungry. We sat down for twenty minutes and then we started looking for somewhere to sleep. We had to sleep on the streets. The first night was a nightmare, it never stopped raining. We took cover in a block of flats. They were rotten and dirty. We were cold and hungry but we had to get in somewhere. We had about three 2
hours sleep.
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Next day we went to the Dole Office to make fresh claims. We left and started to look for somewhere to stay. We went along the seafront and we went to a Bed & Breakfast. The man asked us for our Dole Cards. We had to fill forms out. We booked in and went upstairs to our rooms.
Me and Colin were in a bad way. Our feet were bleeding, we were rotten and dirty. We had not washed for three days. We felt tired so we had a bath and got some sleep. Next day we went for a cup of tea then went along the seafront and talked for a long time. We went back to the B&B but Colin wanted to go and find somewhere else to stay. We got our gear and left. 3
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We went up the road and we met this Indian guy. He had rooms above a restaurant. He showed us the rooms and we signed the forms. Then we went to the Housing Department to sign more forms. We went back to the restaurant and had a sleep. Then we got up and went downstairs for dinner. After that we went back upstairs and watched TV. Colin and me went for a drink later on.
London So Colin said, “Let’s go back to London.” At this time we had been in Norfolk for three months. We’d had enough. We were getting fed up. So on the Thursday, we went to the Dole Office to 4
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get a loan so we could get back. I could not get one but Colin did, so we decided to sleep out all night near the Coach Station. It was very cold, we stayed awake all night. The coach came at 7.30 in the morning. We got back to London at 12.30 in the afternoon. We went to Colin’s brother’s house. We stayed there for two weeks and then we left. We took our chance on the streets. We slept in a block of flats near the Oval. We were cold and hungry, we started looking for somewhere to stay. We went to the Elephant and Castle Housing Department. They had nothing to give us so we walked to Euston. We asked them, “Any flats or houses?” It was the same old answer, “You’ve got to be gay or have a drink or drug problem.” So we gave up. We went all around London looking for somewhere to stay, we just kept looking. We had no money so we went back to the block of flats we were staying in. It was raining, we were cold and wet. We went to sleep but we were shaking with the cold so we got up and went for a walk. It was 2 in the morning. 5
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We had no blankets to keep warm with at this time. We saw this old garage so we stayed there. It kept us a bit warm and kept the wind off. The next day Colin went to get his Dole money. We went to the Cafe for tea and something to eat. We left and went to Dorset Road where we used to stay back in 1975. We were drinking a lot and talking about the old times. Then we 6
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went back over to the old garage where we were sleeping. So we got up the next day. I said, “Let’s go knocking on churches for some food,” and we asked about churches. We got our food and carried on walking. We sat down and finished our food. We went to Brixton. I knew a bloke called John who I used to do a car boot sale with. On the Sunday morning, he asked me and Colin to do some work for him. He knew we had no money. He took the piss out of us. So that night we went for a drink. We hated the way he treated us so we left the next day. We never told him we were going.
Pimlico We were in Vauxhall one day and Colin said, “Let’s take a walk up to Pimlico.” I said, “Let’s not go up there.” He said, “Come on, let’s try the churches up there.” So we walked over the bridge. We came to this church first. He said, “The best place is ‘Saint James the Less’ church in Vauxhall Hill Road. We walked over there. 7
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That’s where we first met Miriam and Brent and I worked with Brent in the Hanbury.
Brent said, “If you come here tomorrow, we have a meal.” And we went there and went to the meal. We met a couple of guys there, Bill and Nigel. Met them all up there. It all started there. 8
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We went to the Salvation Army and got a flat in Peckham. I was off
the streets then. I was staying on my own. I knew this old boy called Harry Budd. Harry came to stay with me for a while. I had a big flat in Peckham. It was great. It was the same old thing, drinking in the park. Same old story.
Harry So old Harry left his flat in Pimlico and came and stayed with me. There was a guy called Barry who lived downstairs. He was a drinker and a guy called Tony. I was always down in their flats. Loads of drinking, me and Harry went to the pub a lot and Barry come over. Sometimes Barry would cook us something to eat but most times me, Harry and Barry were drinking a lot. The next day, Tuesday, it was a bad day. Harry left my flat at 9.30 in the morning. He was going down to his flat in Pimlico. I stayed at home in Peckam. 9
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At 7.30 at night I got a phone call saying Harry had passed away. Someone found him outside the pub in Pimlico. I was shocked. I went out and got a bottle of whiskey and drank myself silly. Old Harry was 82 years old. I went down to Saint James church for Harry’s funeral. Brent, Mims, Bill, Nigel, Harry’s family, my mate Tasha came. We all went to the pub, got totally drunk. I went back to my flat in Peckam on my own, no Harry no more. I sat in my bedroom, Just drinking and crying. Harry was my old drinking partner. I still miss him today after 8 years. Published by MyStoryUK story and drawings by Lee H 2009 (Hanbury) design and photo RodB the Spitalfields Crypt Trust www.sct.org.uk and the New Hanbury Project 020 7613 5636 3 Calvert Avenue London E2 7JP February 2009 RecoveryChannelUK@gmail.com lots of short films at YouTube RecoveryChannelUK online books at ISSUU MyStoryUK 10
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Feel free to share this heartwarming story with your family and friends. For paper copies please contact Spitalfields Crypt Trust Janice Taylor 020 7613 5677 janice.taylor@sct.org.uk 116 - 118 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JN.
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