Bletchingley memories
Here are memories of Bletchingley and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bletchingley or a Bletchingley photo.
My Time in Godstone
I was baptised at St Nicholas church, we were then living at the Homestead vicarage. After a short time living in Sussex we moved back and lived in 13 Salisbury Road. I went to the school riding on my bike. We played by the bay pond, and used to slide up and down at the sand pits. I love the walks by the church and over the fields, and all the lovely lanes, Bull Beggars Lane, Flower Lane and Church Lane. My granddad helped to build the house in Salisbury Road, I wish I knew him, he died before I was born, his name was Alfred Streatfield, and mine then was Rosemary Waite. Godstone still feels like home, even though I had to leave many years ago.
Castle Hill House
This is Castle Hill House bought that year by Augustus Brandt of William Brandt's and Sons bank, my Great Grandfather. Mostly now demolished, and the rest converted into flats.
Childhood Memories at Tilburstow Farm
I lived at Tilburstow Farm through the 1950s, my dad was head herdsman on the the farm. My name back then was Margaret Robb, I have so many memorie,s of that beautifull place, the bluebell woods, primroses, walking for miles with my friends, we walked miles to school every day, first the school in South Godstone , then when I was older, Bletchingley. I remember taking my dad his pint mug of tea every morning while he was milking the cows, I always got sixpence to spend, I would save it up all week, then on Friday I would go to the ahop on the green in Godstone to buy a farm animal or something for my toy farm, they were such lovely times. I'm now living in Canada, have been back a few times and always visit the old places. Tilburstow Farm is no longer a working farm and there have been lots of changes, but it's just so lovely to have the memories and share them with my... Read more
Selmes Butchers
My father Francis Coppard worked here as long as I can remember until his death in 1957, he delivered the meat as well as slaughtering the cattle. I always remember his job on Saturday morning was to make sausages for the owners and staff and Saturday night supper was these fantastic tasting sausages, they do not taste like that today.
Small Boy on Donkey
The small boy on the donkey is my father, Arthur Wallis, born 1904 in Bletchingley. The man standing to the right is my grandfather, Arthur Wallis senior, born 1862 in Bletchingley. Arthur Wallis senior was the licensee of the Red Lion Inn and later the proprietor of the newsagents in the background. The Wallis family came to Bletchingley early 1700s and for 200 years carried out bricklaying as their trade.
Childhood
Looking at the pictures takes me back to my childhood, having lived in the village for 20 years. My home was at the end of this slip road behind the large hedge. I remember walking down to the bakers and to Taylor and Bristows, to me was like an Aladdin's cave, and then on to the butcher for steak for my dog. The village has changed but many things have stayed the same, only older. I still go back for the odd walk round. It was great to find this web site.
Selmes Butchers
I remember being sent to Selmes the Butchers to buy my Mother Mrs Dora Maynard, cuts of meat. The floor was covered in sawdust and there was a little cashiers office at the end of the counter. It always had a very friendly atmosphere although I used to cry when I saw the animals being unloaded from the lorries into the slaughteryard. Once or twice I saw them escape.
Helen Swabey (Formerly Maynard)
Church Walk
We moved to Bletchingley in 1958 [then spelt Blechingley] to no1 Church Walk [my mother named it Obberds]. I remember Selmes the Butcher and the animals being unloaded for slaughter, horrible. My dad and I would go fishing on Sunday mornings and catch pike which would be wieghed on Selmes's scales and then consumed by us for Sunday lunch! We owned nos1, 2, 3 and the old works where my Dad [Clyde Willats] ran an engineering business and we had a collection of vintage cars, Alvis, Morris, MG, Sunbeam etc. I now live in South Africa which I love and my brother and I are in the process of selling the Old Works which really is a bit of an eyesore! As a young man I loved Bletchingley and sometimes regret leaving!
Grossmith Families
My family members named Grossmith lived in Bletchingly for over two hundred years from circ 1600 to 1800. Their are named on the church records. I would be delighted to know if any Grossmith's still live in the area
Carol Anne Slater
Bletchingley
I grew up in Bletchingley and have just been looking at the photos of the village which provoked a lot of lovely memories I would like to see a photo of the post office during the 70's,which when i left the village in the late 80's was Lawrences auctioneers,can any one help.I remember going in the post office as a child and seeing a lovely wooden counter and smelling ground coffee which was ground in an old fasioned coffee grinder on the end of the counter.
Memories of Surrey
Did Ted Hart Ever Buy You A Drink?
The watering hole for any Monotype apprentices after working overtime on a Saturday morning. Seemed like I spent a good deal of my time in this establishment in those days. I'm 57 now and living in Devon. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers this great pub.
Headmistress at Nutfield C of E Primary
I visited Nutfield when I was 4 or 5 with my granny Lillian Curry - who was headmistress (a grand term for the head teacher of a 2 room school) of Nutfield C of E. She must have been appointed in the late 1930s and worked there for 20 years - through the war - and retired in the mid 1950s. She recalled the terrible smell of the trains she caught from Carshalton Beeches in 1940 after Dunkirk - the soldiers had been transported in them after weeks of retreat across France and days standing in the sea waiting for boats.
I wonder if any of her pupils are still in the village?
The Queen's at Nutfield
Yes the Queen's Head at Nutfield took a lot of money off the hard working Monotype apprentices. I was one of them. I am Graham Bourne. Terry Hindley and I would spend many a happy hour plus after overtime at "the Type" on a Saturday hoping in vain that Ted would eventually buy us a drink.
I even held my stag-do at the Queen's in July 1971. It must have been a good night because we had to go back and aplogise the next day on our way to the church. Even then I don't remember Ted buy me a drink.
The Happiest Time of my Life
I started living here in 1969 when I married my wife Juettee Burgess who was the riding instuctress at Stangrave Hall stables. I was stationed at the Guards' barracks in Caterham when we met and when I finished in the army I started work at Bristows Helicopter near Redhill. It was the happiest time of my life, the people were most kind and I made lots of really good friends, I wish I could go back. It was called Stangrave Hall when I lived there.
James
Lovely Memories Of Godstone
My Mum and Gran came to Godstone with me as a baby, we moved from Croydon because of the Second World War. My granddad, Alfred Sreatfield, now dead, had helped to build 13 Salisbury Road. I was christened at St Nicholas Church, and went to school in Godstone, and later in Bletchingly. I played on the green, and waked to school along the bay path, we scrumped apples and had lots of fun. We left Godstone in 1960, however I love to return and walk through the churchyard where my mum and grandparents are buried, it is so good to come back if only for a day, I still feel I belong there. My name then was Rosemary Waite.
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