Croydon And Sanderstead

A Memory of Croydon.

I was born in Thornton Heath, in 1954. We moved to Sanderstead , I think in 1958. I attended Sanderstead Junior School and Ridgeway. I remember Croham Hurst, Purley and Fairfield Halls, my mother worked there. I remember the library on the Sanderstead Road, the Good Companions, the Swan and Sugar Loaf. I am the youngest of three children born to Kathleen Dean (nee Bodger), former FANY, and Denis Dean, RAF Flying Officer, former Whitgiftian. I have two elder brothers; Nick, who went to Coulsdon Grammar and played rugby and Simon, who went to Warlingham and Selsdon. My grandparents (both sides) lived in Norbury. We emigrated to Canada in 1964, but I still consider the UK my home. I remember Allders and Sainsbury's on the road to the railway station. I think there was a Jaegar shop on the corner in Croydon.