Belvedere

The 'Village'

In 1959 I was 10 years old and the village was my big adventure trip out when I went to the shops for my mum.  Upper Belvedere was always known as The Village when I lived there, is it still I wonder?  I even went to school there too, Lesness Heath primary, so I have many fond memories.

Firstly the shops.  Derrett and Dorman comes to mind immediately, they sold toys and to a 10 year old that was magic - they also sold, around the fifth of November, fireworks.  There was House Brothers at the bottom of Albert Road virtually opposite Derrett & Dorman and further up the Albert Road on the left was another sweet shop, opposite the entrance to the park.  I remember the sweet shop in the middle just before the Working Mens Club, another small sweet shop about 20 yards further on and my favourite sweet shop up the top close to the church hall.  It was a tobacconists shop really which sold a... Read more

Albert Road, 2 Rose Cottages

Albert Road c1955
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My father was born at number 2 in 1911. My grandfather was a dairyman and would probably have worked at Parsonage Farm or Heron Hill Farm. All this is on my father's birth certificate. I imagine the place was on the right of this photo near the junction with Nuxley Road. Can anybody help with locating these cottages, with a photograph if possible?

Looking For Family Members

My name is Jean Hall, nee Mathis, I was evacuated during the war to Sandon, Staffordshire, came back to Belvedere in 1946, but moved back to Sandon in 1947, when I was adopted by my foster family. I am researching my family tree and looking for three brothers, Malcolm, Monty and Peter Fisher, if anyone knows their whereabouts. Their father's name was Ed Fisher and their mum's name was Minnie Mathis. Any help anyone can give me would be appreciated.

Nursery School, Franks Park Near Valley Road

A prefabricated hut or nursery school in Franks park I went to near Valley Road, I lived in Stanmore Road, any pictures please?

The Recreation Ground

The recreation ground, we use to call it the rec, it used to have a rocking boat, I caught my knee on the underneath bar, I still have the scar. I was married in 1967 in All Saints Church, Belvedere. We used to get the red bus to Erith on a Saturday to the Odeon cinema to the childrens club, 6p downstairs and 9p upstairs. I used to live in Upper Grove Road, there used to be prefabs opposite. There was also a very good fish and chip shop in the village and we were quite excited when the first supermarket came to the village.

It's my Life's Ambition to Return Home

My memories of my childhood in Belvedere are so precious. I was born in 1968, and my parents bought a house together with my paternal grandparents in Nuxley Road, number 86. The house is a big Victorian derached house between Narnfield Road and the car park. The house has sooo many fond memories for me, I have tears in my eyes as I write. We had the downstairs of the house and Nan and Grandad had upstairs, almost like two flats. My sister and I shared the front room with the bay window, and we used to talk all night. The garden was huge, or seemed it at the time, and I remember watching my dad and grandad build a shed when I was 3 years old, this shed still stands in the garden, exactly as in 1971. We used to go to Lessness Heath Primary School on Erith Road. I re-live the walk often in my mind and only wish I could remember a bit more detail of the... Read more

Family History in Belvedere

I have two separate enquiries for my family history research in Upper and Lower Belvedere. In Upper Belvedere there was a sweet and paper shop which also sold toys called Derrett & Dorman's. I believe that I have a connection with either the owner or an employee who worked there in the late forties and early fifties. I think that their surname was either Adams or Back. In Lower Belvedere my uncle owned Ford's Nurseries on the Lower Road near to the old Crabtree Manorway junction. I am trying to establish when the nursery or market garden was first set up. I believe my uncles father a George Ford first owned it and he and his wife may have run the shop next door. Any information about these two enquiries would be most welcome.

I lived in Belvedere (Osborne Road and Bedwell Road) from the age of about 2-31. I have wonderful memories of the Village, especially the newsagent's on the corner. My next door neighbour used to work there, and I can remember the rows and rows of sweets in jars and how very high the counter seemed to a young girl. Later as a teenager I used to walk up here every Sunday to buy my buspass for school. There was also a toy shop called Nuxley Toys, very small but packed with toys and the shelves seemed to go right up to the ceiling. I don't remember going in here too often but I used to gaze longingly every time we walked past. There also used to be a wool and sewing shop, which if I remember rightly was called Ladybirds, or they had ladybirds on the wall. Mum used to spend a lot of time in here and I can picture it all so vividly. The shelves were like pigeonholes and each one... Read more