Sonnet for Battersea
Your fames are few and mean: a bridge, a park,
a shield; of course the Dogs' Home - probably
the best-known of your assets - and a dark,
forbidding power station, now smoke-free,
for which nobody's come up with a plan
except to knock the chimneys down. I bet
that's all there is for most, but as a man
who loved you in his youth, I'll not forget
the way you used to be. You were a land
of sure adventure: streets of terraced homes,
bomb-sites we could explore, the Culvert and
its rows of little shops. As kids we'd roam
the Latchmere, Prince's Head, the Rec, the Park,
and play at knock-down ginger for a lark.
John Wood 23 June 2006

Battersea was a great place for kids to grow up in. I'd like to gather memories, descriptions and photographs of our borough as it was up until the early seventies. Since then a lot has changed and memories and records of what it used to be will disappear as previous residents get older. So, if you have memories or photographs of this era and around this location please share them with others who are also interested in recording them for posterity. Let's keep Battersea alive here.

There are more Old Battersea photos at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OldBatterseaPhotos/.