Post Office Sports Field

A Memory of Beddington.

When I was a child in the 1940s, this sports field belonged to the Post Office. Occasionally there would be a horse in residence and this is where I had my first and only ride on such an animal. The stadium on the left caught fire one night and, it all being wood, burnt down to the ground. The area immediately sandwiched in between the railway fence and the railway line was my father's lineside allotment for years, officially accessed by way of a gate provided in the railway fence on the western side of the bridge from which the photo was taken (near the former Bandon Halt, the platform supports then still being visible). Unofficially, we would just go the few yards down Hindhead Way and cross the tracks which was much quicker. Passenger trains were electric, with occasional steam hauled goods trains. In the bottom left corner of the picture immediately on the sports field side was a .22" rifle range probably used by the local Home Guard. The butts were dug into the embankment of the Plough Lane bridge. The view from the railway bridge is approx. north eastwards. Croydon's power station and cooling towers are visible in the distance.

Norman Langridge


Added 15 July 2015

#338101

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