Remembrance Of Things Past......In Ilford

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm not going to write about the attack in Westminster. Not because I don't feel any sympathy for the family and friends of those who lost their lives or to those who died (bar one) but simply because I have nothing original to say and won't bore you rehashing what many other people have said already and will say in the future.

What I do want to chat about is a shooting that took place a few days ago. I won't go into the details about it because that would make me seem to be a vulture on grief. All I'll say about that is that the victim was (according to the London Evening Standard's website) ambushed by a gang.

The thing about this particular death, and it was what made me jolt up and take notice, was that it was a shooting in Ilford (which I'll say is in Essex although it could also be categorised as East London). My first instinctive reaction was "a shooting in Ilford?"

I am not someone who generally likes to reminisce. For the most part reminiscing causes a bittersweet quality at best and regret at worst. The last time I actively sort out the past was in September last year when I made the trip to London for the twenty fifth anniversary of my father's death and also said a belated goodbye to Upton Park.

Sometimes though the past catches up on you unawares and this was the case here. Up until I moved to South Wales in 1997 I regularly went to the town. But I've not been for about sixteen years.

When I was a child in the Seventies and living in Forest Gate East London. My mother and I used to take the bus (the numbers 25 or 86) for trips some Saturdays to Ilford. And much as I liked Forest Gate and would always defend it there was an excitement about these trips because Ilford was different.

For a boy between six and nine the town had a sort of glamour to it. The shops had a sort of style. There was Maison Riche. Your actual French no less. Of course in my more cynical teenage years I realised that it was really "Rich House".

It also had a TV where I could spend the time whilst my mother was clothes shopping appearing on TV for the first time. Of course that was on the security monitors they'd put up there but who cares? I was on TV.

It had a department store on a slope (Bodgers) and a massive BHS. If that building could tell the future it would have been in perpetual despair.

Most of all though it had W H Smith. More than any other shop the Ilford branch of W H Smith fuelled my love of reading. Part of the reason why I dislike the shop now is that I remember what it was like then.

And even as a more knowing teenager. When reality began to enter my vision. I still liked Ilford. Essex County Cricket club would play at least one Sunday league game in the local Valintines Park and I'd go to see them play.

Ilford on reflection began to change when further east, and definitely in Essex there was the creation of the Lakeside shopping centre. And the town was replaced as the place you would go to for "event shopping". They did build a shopping centre in Ilford, presumably to compete, but it wasn't the same.

Since moving to South Wales in 1997 I've only ever been back there twice. The last being about sixteen years ago so this week's event came as a complete shock to me. Shooting, a gang...has it changed that much?

The past they say is a different country and speaking from a different country it appears very much so.

Until the next time