![]() ![]() We had so many different occupations within our area, from fireman (part-time) to lawyers and doctors and then there were the Metcalfes, the Grahams and the Wightmans who ran care homes for the elderly people, those who were less fortunate as my mom would often put it. Given that we were actually quite poor (a fact that I never really realized at the time) I tended to see my neighbours as people just like our family, trying to live their best lives. We had the Bondi family down the street who seemed to me so hard working within the fruit and vegetable business which was likely the best job to have in my opinion. I remember Philip’s parents being so very kind to me and sharing the bounty of their business with the area children. Today, I would be hard pressed to name more than one or two neighbours where I currently reside but ah, back then I seemed to know everyone. The funny thing is I can still name all those who dwelt in my little ‘childhood city’ and still tell you all about them. I remember it contained a real cross section of Newmarket at the time, an environment rich in every way. When I say that my ‘childhood neighbourhood’ was Queen and Niagara streets, I mean that that was its general coordinates. My ‘home turf’ spread south to Millard and Niagara, east to Main Street, west to Arden Avenue and north to Simcoe Street. A relatively small area as I look back now but as a child it seemed a virtual city, with everything that I valued within its environment. ![]() Throughout this article I will be sharing my personal memories of my own ‘childhood neighbourhood’ which consisted of the area of Queen and Niagara streets during the early 1950s to 1974 when I would head off to university and the ‘big smoke’. In many ways, I have never been able to recapture that magical time and place no matter where I have roamed in the last 50 years. I hope that my story will trigger some fond memories of your childhood neighbourhood. Perhaps your current neighbourhood encompasses all of the elements that I shall share with you in this article. In that case, you are indeed blessed. In column I want to focus on our childhood neighbourhoods and examine the part our early environment played in colouring our development. Our childhood neighbourhood often remains deeply ingrained in our psyche to this day. ![]()
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