andrew brimson
I was lucky enough to be brought up in the cotham area of bristol,from 1962 to 1983 i lived in clare road,which unfortunately is not shown in the pictures,although the picture of st matthews is in clare road,the top half,as fremantle road divides clare road. i occasionally walk throught the area and it has obviously changed in the type of people who live there,it was not a wealthy area as it seems to be now,most houses were rented as flats with some very hard up familys in them,mine being one of them,it was a quiet area with Tucks the news agent doing good business,i did a paper round for them for 5 years,there was the hardware shop,hearns which again did a good trade,although not strcitly cotham there was the glorious kingsdown swimming pool,old and cold but a place of fun and many people learnt to swim,they knocked it down to build the shabby high kingsdown estate,the playground below the swimming pool went as well,again a great place to knock about in.cotham gardens was a regular place to play,again over the years this has changed,well the bottom half has,football and cricket was played with gusto with us little lads moving home by 7pm when the older kids came to the park. there were very few children in the area,although this might be my memory failing. I will always have a fondnest for the area as great times were had.