Our dad, Ernie Heale, owned the “Jet Garage” on Bread and Cheese Hill after taking it over from the Packham brothers. He took this film of the garage in about 1965/66.
It is a family film, so it contains many shots of our family. However it is still a view of part of the area from over forty years ago. In particular note the price of petrol, 18/- or 18 shillings for 4 gallons. That’s 4/6d per gallon or 22.5p per gallon or in today’s terms 5p per litre!
The garage is now a Hand Car Wash.
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Thank-you Alan for your comments about my father and yes thats me on the bike, remember it well.
I remember Ernie with great affection. Even in those days Jet petrol was the cheapest so I used to get a couple of gallons and collect my pink stamps which if I remember correctly could be redeemed in Southchurch Road, Southend.
I seem to remember that Ernie lived in one of the roads off Kents Hill road (possibly Oakfield road) but I am not sure. The thinner/older man in the video I always believed was his father who went on to open a car sales in Furtherwick Road Canvey but that is only a very vague memory.
Next door to the Jet garage was the Auction rooms (at least thats what we called them) and I would often be in there trying to find a cheap part for my car to keep it running.
After Ernie left the garage it was eventually managed by a man which we called Wrestler Jack who wrestled professionally under the name of Jack Duval (he was a bad dude). I worked with him on ABC taxis and you could not wish to meet a nicer guy. Remember, this was in the late sixties when wrestling was the in thing.
The one thing I do remember is that if I had a problem then Ernie would do his best to help me. Not like todays garages.
I lived at The Rundels from 1975 to 1980, up until I was ten, does anyone remember the Silver Jubilee party on the green, Dark Lane, with one copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica for all kids that attended. I still have it somewhere ???
I moved to the new Wimpey estate on Dark Lane in April 1972 from the east end of London. I lived at 106 The Rundels and although the house was quite posh (at least I thought so coming from a pokey flat in East Ham!) they weren’t without problems ie the toilet flushing hot water! Does anyone have any memories of this estate when it was first built or did they live there? I remember Bill and Nadine Arrow lived next door one side and George and Brenda Kay the other side, the Connellys down the road and the Blanchards?
That’s me on the bike and I’m now 56, thanks for the comments.
What a brilliant video. Thank you so much to the Heale family for making this available. As a child my family and I lived quite close to this garage and my brothers and I would often play on Bread & Cheese Hill, so it was wonderful to recall just what it was like all those years ago.
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