You are here:
Burgh Heath
Burgh Heath photos
Displaying the first of 24 old photos of Burgh Heath. View all Burgh Heath photos
Burgh Heath maps
Historic maps of Burgh Heath and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Burgh Heath maps
Burgh Heath area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Burgh Heath and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Burgh Heath
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Burgh Heath.
There are 13 shared memories to read.
Add your memory of Burgh Heath
or of a photo of Burgh Heath.
Burgh Heath Methodist School
I went to the Methodist School just before the Second World War, the school closed because we had no shelters, and we were transferred to three classrooms at Picquets Way. I remember Miss Parrott as headmistress and a Mrs Godfrey. We still used the Galleon for swimming lessons, usually in the morning before the pool opened to the public. Yes, it was sometimes very cold! We fished for newts and tadpoles in the pond. As there were no sweets generally available to us we bought Bonio dog biscuits at Privetts store to eat, they were very tasty!
Methodist School
I was at the Methodist school at Burgh Heath from 1950 to 1957, my maiden name was Hopper. I was born and lived in Burgh Heath until 1965 when I married and went abroad. When I returned in 1971 I moved locally to Epsom Downs. I remember all the teachers, the school house and spending play times on the common. The little shop near the conker trees was owned by Mrs Jones and the grocery shop next to the pond was called Privett's stores and run by Mr and Mrs Palmer. The old guy that served Tizer and tea leaves in his coffee from the shop by the alley to Ballards Green was called Fred. Does anybody remember Mrs Stanley's tea rooms which were near the pond, and having to walk over to the war memorial hall for our dinner?
Sugar Bowl
Wasn't this an indoor swimming pool?
Methodist School
I was at Burgh Heath Methodist School from about 1953 to 1956. My mother was Mrs Coleman, who taught reception. Mrs Parrot was headmistress, Mrs Westwater taught the second class. Miss Marshall was at that time the milk lady and lived with her mother in a little cottage at the end of a cobbled path, opposite the school, by the pond. They had gas lighting downstairs and a candle was used upstairs. They had a garden that went down to the pond and always flooded in the winter. My father was a photographer in his spare time and took photos of the years that I was there, which I still have. We lived at Belmont and my mum cycled along the Brighton Road to school every day, with me on the back! We had nature walks around the pond and I remember being warned of the dangers of thin ice in the winter, as a boy, Alan someone I think, drowned when he fell through the ice a few winters previously. Miss Fletcher took... Read more
The Galleon
I also have fond memories of The Galleon. Mum and I sometimes went there after school, and sometimes we went to The Sugar Bowl.
Swimming Lessons
I remember swimming lessons at the Galleon, laying in a 'cradle' that was held by a long pole that the teacher let go of when she thought you wouldn't sink !!! I also remember how freezing cold the water was, the fountain at the end of the pool that we used to play in, AND I remember my sister Frances getting her elbow stuck in the side of the pool !
Dancing Round The Maypole
I can remember dancing round the maypole by the conker trees just down from the pond on May 1st with the Burgh Heath Methodist School, Head teacher Miss Mary Fletcher - and buying sherbert in the little shop nearby which was weighed out on an old set of scales - sherbert and humbugs kept in little glass jars on the shelf - can't remeber the name of the lady that owned the shop but knew her daughter Mrs Freida Day - anyone else remember any of this or what this lady's name was? Also remember hearing stories of the horse and cart that went down the well in the pond - wonder whether that was true -Miss Marshall who lived by the pond (school secretary) told us this story - gosh so many memories flooding back :)
Memory of The Galleon
I remember gooing swimming and getting my elbow stuck in the bar that went round the edge of the pool
