Croydon, Shirley & New Addington
A Memory of Croydon.
I was born in Croydon in 1943, moved to Addington, then Birchington (Kent) before returning to New Addington in 1953 where I attended Wolsey Junior School & Fairchildes Secondary School. Shirley Secondary, Lanfranc Boys School & finally John Ruskin Boys High. I have many vivid memories of life in New Addington in those early days for this large sprawling estate. Built on a windswept hill several miles from Croydon, life was tough as many parents were unemployed. The winter weather was often extreme with heavy snow & howling winds; no wonder the town was dubbed "Little Siberia"
I am trying to research the polio outbreak that virtually closed New Addington for a month or so in the 1950's. Has anyone got news items or memories please?
My three brothers & me lined up each month to have our hair cut in a pre-fabricated garage; the business was run my a Mr. Scutt.
Unmade roads full of muddy puddles didn't help the general air of an unfinished job. The older part of our estate, close to Thursley Crescent, was a mass of asbestos roofed pre-fabs that seemed to constantly choke the vale in thick smoke from domestic coal fires. Unemployed men would hawk their crudely made toffee apples & questionable "muffins" around the estate.
On two occassions I remember the sky over New Addington turning pitch black as a mass of trapped smoke & filth (Thermal inversion?) rolled over the area from south London. Bird song sudenly stopped & it was so dark that the street lights were turned on early; it was quite frightening to a young boy.
During a particularly bad outbreak of polio, New Addington Library, the swimmimg pool & community centre were all closed to try & slow down the spread of polio. Several people died & it was months before life returned to normal.
The Croydon Advertiser seemed to carry several pages outlining the criminal activities associated with New Addington & it was difficult to obtain credit or take out a repayment scheme in Croydon if your home address was New Addington. Despite its poor reputation there were lots of lovely normal families who lived in this rather isolated community.
Three years later, my mother had managed to move us to Selsdon; talk about chalk to cheese!
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My mother’s family were East Enders and I frequently travelled to the East End to see my Nan and other family members but always loved to get back to New Addington. Walks, to pictures at West Wickham Gaumont theatre and walks to Keston and just having fun in the fields and woods around New Addington was a way of life when we were kids. Croydon proper never really did anything for me London and the East End was always more exciting.
New Addington was right on the edge of the countryside and I loved it I would cycle all over the place and went fishing at Millar’s Pond Keston Lakes and Edenbidge. I went to Wolsey Primary Junior School and Fairchild’s School my brother and sister also went to those schools I did not like Fairchild’s very much though I met and made some really good friends there.
I now live in Perth Western Australia I went to university there and completed a degree and work for a government agency there as a records management consultant and next year retirement.
David Hogan Perth WA