Claygate, Surrey

Lawrence and Peggy Berg

My uncle Lawrence married Peggy Smurthwaite in about 1935 and took over the Hinchley Wood Hotel. It was already well-known to him and his brother, Ellis, because he was a partner in the building firm E & L Berg which had developed an estate over the other side of the Kingston Bypass. Though he knew little or nothing of the licenced... [more]

Happy Days

Mary Edwards was my sister, she would have been 15 at the time. We lived in Sandown Road, Esher, in a house called Madresfield, where I was born. Sandown Road was a private road, off the A3 Portsmouth Road, opposite Sandown Park and next to the Council Offices; my father was the Clerk and Solicitor to Esher UDC. ... [more]

Happy days

In 1945 I was stationed in Esher racecouse, as a Welsh Guard who had just completed 3 months of hard discipline in the guards depot in Caterham. The difference in Esher to the depot was remarkable, N.C.Os were suddenly human beings who treated men as men, not objects. I can say in the 3 years I was in the army that... [more]

My life on Weston Green

I was born in Weston Green, my parents having lived at Maisonette, Weston Green. My grandfather Charles Dobson was the local baker and lived on the green in the house on its own called The Lodge which was where the cricket was played. I used to watch it from my grandmother's back yard. She had ducks and hens and used to... [more]

Oxshott

My memores relate to 1950 (year of my birth) onwards. My maiden name was Lockett. I was born at The Pines, Sheath lane in 1950 (delivered by John Lytle) and about 2-3 years later my father built 'Whitethorns' on Goldrings Road. It was a wonderful road to grow up in and I had lots of friends my own age and we... [more]

Sheath Lane and Goldrings Road

My great-grandfather bought Heathway in Sheath Lane in 1925. We lived there from 1945 to 1953 when my father built Winterbourne in Goldrings Road on Crown Land with a 99-year lease. I went to Oxshott Primary School and St Andrews Sunday School in the old village hall. I can remember the milkman and the rag-and-bone man driving horse-drawn carts... [more]

Conliston

Does anyone know of a house called Conliston in Oxshott.  Built in the 1930s, it  was "one mile from Oxshott Station and Leatherhead Golf Course.  Standing on the brow of a hill, facing full south".  This house was built by my aunt and her husband and sold in the early 1940s for £3,000.  The property was said to be held on... [more]