please empty your brain below

I've just moved to Ilford so will be making the most of this post. Thank you.
Philpot Path seems to be an almost entirely new creation, the Sunnyside Road end does match an existing footpath though.
[1961 OS map]

Mercedes with unpaid fines - this reminds me of a work college with terminal cancer, he drove a car awash with parking fines.
I used to use the footpath over the railway at Goodmayes to visit my Grandad in the 70s. Ran the risk of being attacked by older teenagers who had some sort of camp hideout underneath one end of it,

Other grandparents lived on Sunnyside Road.....
3) 'Specifically Clayhall Park' should say 'Specifically Claybury Park'.

Clayhall Park is further south, more open and smaller.

dg writes: Fixed, thanks.
Stuff I Have Seen on Long Walks
Most recent post:
I Saw Two Tractors On A Footpath In Ilford
Sounds like the farmer has ploughed up part of the footpath for the last one. The entrance on Billet Road is clear on Google maps. Where is the other end meant to emerge?
I enjoyed this one DG. I've walked a couple of these on my travels, but may end up including the rest at some point...
A poetic quality to this post. Very enjoyable reading, but it does not tempt me to follow in your footsteps for once.
It shouldn't be assumed that farmers are always at odds with walkers over the existence of footpaths. After all, they, or their families if living on the farm, may find paths useful at times!
That was my experience some years ago as a farm worker, admittedly not in an urban area.
I love these little snapshots of suburban life.
It's the little observations of the mundane, like the discarded fine notices and trolleys full of sandwiches, that brings it all to life.
Journey1: my dad grew up on a farm across the road from The Iron Bridge (as it's known locally)
2. Can't believe Philpot Path is now 30 years old...
3. Used to do school cross country up Claybury...
4. Sister had riding lessons at Aldborough-hatch
Thanks for the memories, DG
Is there an alternative cycle route from Stratford to Ilford - avoiding the Romford road and the dreadfully polluted intersection where Romford road meets north circular road? On the maps, there doesn't seem to be a parallel alternative route.
I pity your encounter in the last paragraph, and thinking that this is one half closer to your current home than either Heathrow Airport or your birthplace!
You've just reminded me of cross-country at Claybury during my ICHS days - I remember in the first year a lot of boys got sick notes but were made to stand out in the rain as marshals and got absolutely drenched in their school uniforms.
Andy v - Pancake Hill, perchance?
This brings back happy memories. I taught in Ilford from 1970-1984. For the first couple of years I would get off the train at Goodmayes, next to the banana warehouse (https://www.britishpathe.com/video/bananas and then take the 238 bus to the Hawbush at Little Heath. At that location was the sharp boundary with the Green Belt beyond which were arable fields and farms (shown in your pics). All a very flat area (Thames Terraces) which had been used for airfields in WW1 (Hainault Farm) and WW2 RAF Fairlop.
Whenever you asked any of the locals where they lived it was always Ilford, ESSEX rather than Redbridge.
Offshore - indeed it was.

GB - Hawbush was my local - now flats sadly
I taught at the college (then very new) from 1970-1974. The Hawbush was popular with both students and staff. Looking at StreetView I see that whilst the detail has changed the basic layout of that area remains the same. New houses and flats squeezed in wherever possible-roads a lot more congested too. From the depths of my memory I remember a well known map publishing company (now gone) was located next to the college entrance gate.
GB
This is my neck of the woods. In case you ever wondered dg.

@andy v. Yes definitely had to do that too come athletics season
Ilford, Essex - No No No No
As part of my work for the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (a statutory body that reports to the House of Commons Speakers Committee) I reviewed the ward boundaries of Redbridge. As part of the review we visit the area to get an idea for potential issues. One of these was where to place the Repton Park development. Even with our official designation we failed to get access to Repton Park, so if the residents think they ended up in the wrong ward then blame your overzealous security guards and not me!










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