Ham, Surrey

Molesey Pictures

My nan was the usherette at Molesey Picturehouse.She then became manager and stayed there until it was knocked down. This was next to Roberts radio. Does anybody remember her?

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]

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]

helper

During the war my uncle was in the army with a man called Bert Sprake.  When they got out of the army Bert opened a butchers shop in the parade almost opposite Plough Road.  I used to go into his shop and help him make the sausages.  I never got paid for it but it was great fun. I lived in... [more]

Childhood days at rivermead island

Rivermead Island takes me back to my childhood through the 1960s, I remember the outdoor swimming pool, BRRR!  Paddling in the Thames, a real family place to go on summer Sundays, school holidays.  My first school was just across the road, Beauclerc, which was shut and pulled down. The big white building was owned by a Major Morris, offices downstairs, flats... [more]

The ferries

There were 2 ferries in the mid-1950s when I was about 12. Clarke's as in the photo was a chain ferry and the cost was tuppence - ie 2 pence. The other ferry, Wilson's, opposite the church was pole driven and cost 1 penny. Some years later I joined the Young Conservatives - we used many of the Thames Street pubs... [more]