A HAMBURG VISUAL VIGNETTE

 ILLUSTRATED IMPRESSIONS  OF AN EARLY TEEN IN A  FOREIGN CITY

 

.                                                     AGED 12

CONTENTS

1.WHY WE WERE THERE  

Dad (a RAF catering Warrant Officer )was posted early 1951 to RAF Altona (1) 2nd TAF   depot serving RAF stations (part of -British Zone service personnel of the new NATO force based in West Germany) .

2.WHERE & (HOW) WE LIVED

13 KALLMORGENWEG (off Kalckreuthweg) OTHMARSCHEN in a married quarter (3)

About half of the houses in Kallmorgenweg were requisitioned for RAF service personnel ,the attic in no 13,was my bedroom & the houses had a cellar,& small fruit garden,& ours was enclosed with  white wooden fence.At bottom of the garden were allotments up to 

Eberallee (in 1951 some of  the prefab garden sheds therein (at that 1951-53 postwar era )twere occupied as housing (see post war photos of devasttion of centre of Hamburg immediately following WW2)

Food shopping was done by a weekly Saturday army bus at the Hamburg House (Dammtorstrasse):central NAAFI 'supermarket' shop for UK sourced food &with  local German shops for 'top-up' fresh meat ,milk etc just round the corner from Kallmorgenweg ,at junction of Kalckreuthweg&Eberallee. (3)

RAF Altona (1) station was a short cycle ride (for Dad-no cars in those days!) up Eberallee to the Hillfeldersteg junction. (3)

3.WHERE WE WENT TO SCHOOL-

LOCATION OF BRITISH SCHOOL HAMBURG (4)

BSH (BRITISH SCHOOL HAMBURG) 57 HohenzellernRing Altona Hamburg BAOR 3 A (B)ritish(F)amilies (E)ducation (S)ervice  Secondary+Primary Day School 1947 thru 1954 (4)

 ...believed to be the first comprehensive, co-educational, day school under the terms of the Education Act 1944 and ...

was the largest BFES school  established in Germany in 1947(  known initially as HohenzellernRing Altona) 

We were collected by an army bus  each day from a pick-up point on Eberallee Othmarschen to BSH Altona campus.School routine was much as it was in England,except for wednesday afternoon sports when were bussed out to a Hamburg sports country club to play football in the winter & cricket in summer.

After joining May 15 1951 I took their Moray Intelligence Test,and was in their 2nd year grammar ' stream' (form 2W1)with 'double ' homework for a year to catch up with others in my form.!

This proved to be a 'life-changing ' event (for as a consequence on return to England I having gained a 'grammar' education & thus thereby 'articles to chartered accountants obtained an FCA qualification .

Whilst at BSH school I earned 20 german marks to appear in an English language educational programme on the local (german) Hamburg radio station.

4.WHAT WE DID OUT OF SCHOOL

I had a personal  'crystal radio' set (which rarely worked) in an era (without TV) when BFN (based then in Hamburg) was the only radio station available.

Two German friends (Wolfgang & Peter) lived nearby and I played table tennis with them in the garage of Peter's house in Kallmorgenweg.

Kallmorgenweg house had small gardens but were full of fruit trees,ours at no 13 was particularly blessed with succulent yellow cherries.Others had plums &greengages so we kids often spent hours up in those trees during the long summer holidays.Otherwise we played in the street ,just as we had in England,(in those days imagination was the 'rule of thumb ' for kids)

Saturdays ,a regular army bus service (see 2 above) ran to Hamburg House NAFFI centre in Dammtotstrasse  (nearby to the Alster lakes)

NAAFI HQ had upper floors for snooker & table tennis & closeby further down the 'strasse' was a cinema showing Hollywood & English films(albeit a bit later than when premiered in UK)

Summer swimming was a favourite pastime(see map A (3) ..weekdays..to the indoor one at the local Othmarschen country club,...sometimes mid-week by cycling to the outdoor Blankanese Army camp pool on those long summer evenings & ...occasionally for the day  (4 or 5 of us with a packed lunch,(by our selves without parents !!).. during school hols crossing the city... to the larger (more crowded) & sophisticated Hamburg forces pool & leisure centre (travelling on our free passes,via S-bahn Othmarschen station pic (2) to Dammtor strasse, in centre of Hamburg )& then by catching a tram to the location of the centre.

RAF Altona sports 1951 was memorable 

Winters often had frequent snow we went toboganning & making snow/ice/slides the steep undulating paths of Altona Volskspark (map (3) close by the RAF Altona station.)

 May 1952 watching League winners Wolves(a star team then) play Hamburg FC on their summer tour.

Sunday evening(a night out for our parents)@ 11pm.tuning in to 'top 20' music chart played on Radio Luxembourg was a regular 'must do'

5.WHAT TRIPS WE DID

One memorable  trip (Dad hiring a Volkswagen minibus ) driving a small group to Lubeck (approx 50 miles north of Hamburg) to spend day on the beach & a swim in the very cold Baltic Sea.!

Annual School weekend sports trips against the two  (compatriot BEFS ) ..KAS & PR boarding schools at Wilhelmshaven & Plon ,both in North Germany, so easy to reach by school coach/train.

Beach trips down to nearby Blakenese on the Elbe estuary were quite frequent summer trips & an arranged boat trip to the U boat pens in Hamburg docks was quite amazing.

Occasional city centre visits to Alster lakes & events thereon & Christmas vists to 'Monckeberg strasse' toys shops still live in the teenage memory.

Locally the Laternelaufen winter festivals (with candles) still celebrated in Othmarschen then were joined  by we 'English' neighbours.

As we were a 'part of the ' occupying' powers ,one priviledge was...we were issued with free passes for the S-bahn & trams which facilitated some of these foregoing blog vignettes.

6.NOTES/LINKS/PiCS

1.RAF ALTONA Luruper Chausee ,Othmarschen

2.Othmarschen S-bahn-Durerstrasse (as below)

                                                           station  ^

3.My guide to Othmarschen

4.BSH link https://britishschoolhamburg.blogspot.com/