Celebrating Peace after World War One: the street party

Based on childhood recollections of a working class area in north London.

The First World War ended in 1918, but the celebrations went on for a long time afterwards. The street parties were no exception. A lot of preparation went into them. Every street seemed to have one. Ours was in Lopen Road in Edmonton (now Enfield) where I lived at number 116 with my parents and two brothers, Ted and Jim. I remember money for the party being collected from door to door; games being organised, the street being decorated with bunting, our mothers preparing the food; and fancy dresses being made. Our street party didn't happen until the following year, in August 1919.

Lopen Road, Edmonton, Street Peace party, 1919.

Click here to enlarge.

Some streets had their teas on tables brought into the road itself, but we had ours in the church hall of the local church, St Aldhelms. Afterwards, we came back to Lopen Road with its bunting and had fun and games. Whole families joined in. My friend's father who was a professional singer had a small harmonium which he brought out, and we sang to that. I was dressed in the colours of the Belgium flag; Ted was dressed as an Indian; Jim as a laundry woman; and his friend as a policeman. The fancy dresses were not elaborate because so little money was available, but a lot of creative ideas went into them.

There was a great deal of talk about the war being the war to end all wars and the part that the League of Nations was going to play in this. I was a child at the time, and I believed it, but I lived to see different, in particular the horrors of the Second World War when Edmonton was bombed in the blitz.

Peace Celebrations in 1919, near neighbours, Lopen Road, Edmonton, north London.

       

Detail of my mother from the second photo.