WEALDSTONE IS NOT THE PLACE I KNEW.

The latest reports of extreme violence on our streets over the weekend include a shooting in Southwark, 2 shootings in Wealdstone and another in Lewisham. The Southwark victim died although the others seem to have survived, so far at least. However, one does wonder just what is going on.

I don't know much about Southwark or Lewisham other than that they are south London boroughs; Wealdstone, on the other hand, was very familiar to me as a child. This was the local shopping area, mostly concentrated in one long street, and where my mother did her everyday shopping. It had an array of shops including an old fashioned Sainsbury's, Boots, Timothy White's and the Co-op, as well as clothes outlets, a toy shop, barbers, newsagents and lots more. It was a peaceful neighbourhood on the outskirts of the main shopping centre of Harrow. It was home to the famous Whitefriars glass factory and to a large Kodak site. 

As soon as I was old enough, probably around 9 or 10, I was sometimes sent to buy a few bits and pieces, walking the 1½ mile long round trip on my own and with no thought of there being any danger. The only reason that Wealdstone had ever made it into the national news was because of a terrible railway crash there in 1952; 112 people died and hundreds more were injured when 3 trains collided in what remains one of the worst rail disasters ever in this country.

The last time that I visited the area, I hardly recognised it. Inevitably, road lay-outs had undergone some changes which were confusing at first but the most noticeable thing was that the small town was not remotely as I had known it. Whitefriars and Kodak had long gone but also gone were the old traditional British shops and gone were the faces that I recognised. Instead of being a white working class area, it was now populated almost entirely by immigrants; the character of the area had changed out of all recognition. Now we read that it has changed in other ways too, with 2 young boys, aged 13 and 15, being shot there.

The passage of time brings changes but this is too much. Over the last 50 years we have seen parts of our country change so dramatically as to be unrecognisable while drug dealing, knife and gun crime seem to have become endemic in some areas. Harrow and its environs used to be a better than average location, having its famous school at the top of the hill but, apart from the continuing presence of the school, it is no more. I no longer wish to go there even though the first 35 years of my life were spent there and I have many fond memories of those years.

In a way, my past has been taken from me and replaced with something with which I have nothing in common. Some call this 'progress' but can an outbreak of muggings, knifings and shootings really be called 'progress' ? In my book, it's a step back to the dark ages and, however unpopular his views may still be, Enoch Powell was right.