One of the sound bites talks about the smell of the Ironmongers, yes a smell that stays with you for ever, wonderful mixture of paraffin, candles, turpentine creosote and mostly I think the kindling they use to sell to light your fire with, which I think was tied with tar paper string. Sometimes the kindling would be brown so maybe came from old railway ties. The pie and mash shop used to sell jellied eels, and if money was tight many would just buy liquor and mash, when I came out of the army I moved back to the estate with my wife, who was a country girl, while I was at work our neighbour had knocked and said she was going round the Circle to get some liquor and mash and would she like some, my wife had no idea what she was talking about, so just said no thank you, when I came home and explained that it was just the liquor the eels were cooked in with mashed potatoes, the look of amazement on her face was priceless.

I am not sure if it was the Circle or Rose hill, or maybe both that had the greengrocers, that had long windows, with recessed doors and if you stood in the doorway, pressed your nose against the corner of the window, with half of your body in the recess and half in the street you could see your whole body reflected somehow and if you raised one arm and one leg it would look as if you had both legs off of the ground, we did it every time we went in or near the shop, something that the comedian Harry Worth did at the beginning of every show.

A real treat as a kid was to have pie and mash on a Saturday night. My Nan would send me off with a jug for the liquor and the money and I would get the 151 bus to the circle. The problem was coming back because the buses weren't that frequent so I would hold the pies over the top of the jug to try to keep it all warm. She would put a quart of ale in a jug, a poker in the fire and when it was red hot, warm up the beer-- none of this cold stuff in those days. Years later I would have a night in the Arms with my mates and straight over the pie and mash shop afterwards and it has stayed with me till this day, I still love it.

My dad was a driving instructor in the 60s and 70s and sometimes when I was on school holidays, dad used to let me sit in the back of the car while he was teaching. I remember with great affection the times we used to stop at lunchtime and go to the cafe at the circle. Dad knew the two brothers who owned it and they used to make a fuss of me when I went in. We always had their bacon and onion roly poly which I still adore to this day!

The shops at the circle were fairly mixed - there were several greengrocers and I think three butchers. A cafe, a sweetshop, a newsagents, a couple of grocers - the Maypole, the Co-op and a United Dairy shop. Boots the Chemist- had a waiting area by the dispensary with a large dark brown wooden bench that had a drilled out pattern on the seating part and a box for placing used medicine bottles. The scale for weighing babies was also in this area although there was a clinic opposite. There was a men's hairdressers with a ladies salon at the back owned by the redoubtable Mrs King - her son played in a band backing Tom Jones - where you could buy hair lacquer in plastic tubes to re-fill the squeeze bottle used for hair spray. The Maypole had a special machine that was supposed to check the freshness of eggs - it was illuminated from below and as you purchased your eggs they were placed on the machine - I never did find out what was supposed to happen if the egg was bad!!!

Sunday was a day of rest - sort of - football and the pub for the men, Sunday school or similar for the kids and Sunday roast for the women, followed by the washing up!!!! However all the shops were closed, except for Chummy's. Chummy's was I am sure an illicit shop housed in a garden shed at the side of a property in Buckhurst Avenue on the corner of Bramblewood Close. Nobody cared as to its legality - it was a lifesaver if you had forgotten to buy something or unexpected family turned up for lunch. Tinned peas, carrots, Bisto, washing powder - you name it he usually had a stash of it somewhere -- he also had a ready supply of sweets!!! Again I have no idea what happened to it but it was a very valued asset. There was also the van parked in St Albans Grove run by the Burton family. Once again it operated without any interference from the 'authorities' but it provided a huge service to the residents of the estate

I had almost forgotten the joys of a company called the Circle Trading Company - they did at one time even sell records - but they were the origin of the infamous 'Tally Man' a sort of cross between the shopping catalogues of today and a loan shark. They would call on the houses on the estate offering an easy payment scheme on anything from dresses to household goods. Usually young men with a very persuasive line in patter probably learned on a market stall somewhere - some of the young wives on the estate were relatively easy prey - hence the need to visit 'Uncles' on occasions.

I remember the circle shopping centre on the st helier estate My dads parents moved there in 1934 with dad and uncle of course ,loved the pie and mash shop and circle cafe on Fridays always had meal there instead of school meal at nearby Tweedale c.s.m Moved away with parents in 1962 lived in the area sinced 1946 fond memories indeed

I remember the barber's shop. In the 1940s to early 1950s it was my duty to take my younger brother there for his hair cuts. As a young boy he had very blond curly hair, of which my mother was proud, and I was always instructed to tell the barber to give him , "Short back and sides and not too much off the top". I felt too uncomfortable as a child myself to give instructions to an adult and so the words were never said. The barber would give him a short cut all over, and I would always be in trouble when we got home, unable to explain that shyness was the cause of my disobedience.

We lived in Shap Crescent Grove - he sold everything you needed. My friend Sylvie James (nee Gray) and I used to walk there together frequently to get things our mums had run out of. In our road there were lots of children all around 11-13, hardly any cars and we used to play outside our house on the green and had 'seasons'. There was marble season, roller skate season, rounders, hopscotch and it seemed the sun was always shining - I'm sure it wasn't! We also used to have a May Queen and King on May Day and everyone dressed up, so much fun making our own entertainment, so much different today.

We lived at 492 Middleton Road, between Peterborough and Shrewsbury Roads. Mum always sent me round to "Ted's Van" in St. Alban's Grove, to get her some stockings or cigarettes. I was allowed to buy some sweets if there was any change left.