Blindley Heath memories
Here are memories of Blindley Heath and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Blindley Heath or a Blindley Heath photo.
My Wedding
I was married at Blindley Heath Church in June 1961, it was a lovely warm sunny day. We had our reception at the Red Barn, it was superb and it only cost 7 shillings and sixpence a head. Those were the days.
My Childhood
I can remember walking from the village school to Gibbs stores with my mother so that she could place her weekly grocery order and pay for the last week's delivery. She did this on a Monday and the goods were delivered on a Friday.
Childhood
I lived in Danemore Lane just a few yards from Anglefield Corner from 1939 until I was married in 1961. I remember having to wait for ages to cross the road at weekends because there was so much traffic. As my father was a special constable he would be on duty to direct the traffic at weekends.
1960
I was living in Edenbridge and every Saturday night our group of Young Farmers went to the Red Barn to dance and get together. Those nights were some of the best times I ever had. I married and moved away a couple of years later, last month I revisited the Red Barn - it has certainly changed, but so have I!!
63-81
I lived on Carlton Road, across the A22 from Danemore Lane, close to Anglefield Corner from 1963 to 1981 and have very fond memories of a fun childhood, lots of friends, and a lot of fields, streams and lakes to play in. I went to Oxtead County, and then did my apprenticeship at Monotype in Salfords while going to Redhill College. In 1981, I moved to the USA and worked at Honda of America in Ohio. I now live in Arizona as a Flight Instructor, and wonder if one day I'll ever get back to where I grew up. Gibs Store, Godstone Pond, Fiedlers Lake, 'The Stream', and Julie Amanda, all spark good feelings of a great life, and a terrific place to live.
Memories of Surrey
Grandparents in Service
My paternal grandparents used to work in service at Wonham while my father was a young boy in the years before WW2. I believe my grandmother was a cook and my grandfather was a driver/handyman. I think my father told me the house was at that time a girls school and he remembers being allowed in to read in the school library. He said the school mistress was called Martha (?) Sterndale-Bennett. My father said that the house suffered a fire at some point and my grandfather rescued a number of items from the house during the fire. He was allowed to keep a few of the antiques from the house as a thank you from the owners. He also was given other pieces of furniture etc in leiu of payment for his work on the estate. Sadly a lot of this was lost from my family when sold, following my grandfather's death, but I still have few little pieces, including letters and photos from their... Read more
Falling in The Pond
Rod Swift remarked about falling in the pond - well I was one of these. Rod must be my cousin's son, as my aunt and uncle lived in the house referred to. Around 1953 on an icy cold day in winter, a crowd of us were going home after school. On passing the pond we knew there was thick ice so decided to skate on the ice. We did not take into account that it was beginning to thaw and around the outside you could see ice had melted. Quite a number of us went on the ice and most were fine, but I was in the rear and suddenly the ice caved in. I don't remember how many were actually in the water but I was very lucky as a bus inspector waded in and pulled me out from under ther ice. Fortunately no-one was injured, and I only had hurt pride as my mother made me undress outside in the cold. I wish we could have thanked the... Read more
Just Lingfield
If you hadn't fallen in the pond, you were not from Lingfield! So says my dad. The building to the right of the cage in this photo was a shop. My memory of this shop only goes back to the mid 1970s. My grandparents' house was behind the shop (the hedge to the right on this photo is the edge of their property), and whilst on holiday visiting them, my brother and I would play cards with Grandad for 5p a hand. He always claimed that he 'was the best pontoon player in the world', although he would always twist on 18+! We always managed to win and when we both got up to 50p we would always run down the garden path and go to the shop and buy a Cornetto. (They were banned from sale on the Isle of Man back then.) My dad was born in the house and we would go back every 2 or 3 years but now my grandparents are both gone and these... Read more
Lingfield
Jean Chambers mentioned the bomb dropping on the school in 1943 - my parents shop (John Banks Outfitters) was almost opposite the school and I was born at the end of 1943 being given my second name of "Heather" after Heather Lumsden who was killed in the school and was a good friend of my parents.
Jean also mentioned the bomb that was found in 2002 at the bottom of what had been their garden. I wonder whether we lived next door to her. We lived for a time (about 1948/50 I should think) in Mount Pleasant Road - just before the corner next to a large house in big grounds and I understand this is where the bomb was found.
I see from looking at google maps that there is now a house in the grounds between that house and ours.
We left Lingfield in about 1960/61 and I now live in New Zealand but I have great memories of... Read more
The Village I Knew
I used to live at Raymead which was a complex of 24 prefabs, they have been replaced now by a new estate. I come back to Lingfield every year to see the village I grew up in. When I got married to a local lad in 1963 we moved to Tandridge, unfortunately it didn't last due to me but we used to walk to the village pond at night and there was at Christmas one night when it was snowing and they had put fairy lights round the tree by the prison, it looked so lovely I will always remember it as long as I live. I lived ther from 1942 - 1965.
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