Peaslake, Surrey

childhood

i was born in guildford in 1986 and my parents had just taken over abinger post office and stores this is the house in the middle of the photo with all the ivy (that wasnt there in my time) the window above the shop was my parents room the spare room and the lounge are the rooms to the left. i loved living here and have many great memories of going to abinger village school, fishing in the stream, playing on the green and in the ruffs going to the abinger arms(probably the 1st pub i ever went to) and the tea rooms at the clock house now apparently i have heard that these tea rooms have moved to my old front room and front garden! i also remember the teddy bears picnic and the teacher who made me wear a bear mask one year, playing pooh stcks in the stream, pony rides on the front part of the green. i remember bonfires either at the cricket club or holmbury st mary or brockham i remember going to gordon peters farm and playing 40 40 it in bales of hay , i remember playing it in the cornfields at the end of the dene where my friends lived. The fact that the school is still going is a testament to what a great and unique place this is sadly we moved to croydon in 1995 and havent been back very much since then but one day i will move back there

Lightning strike

Since this photo was taken the top of the large tree in the background has been hit by lightning. Around four or five feet of bare wood sticks out at the top of the tree. I don’t know when this happened.

Living in the Squre Shere

Photograph No. 1. I was born in July l940 – Virginia Le Roux. The house on the left of the picture was where I lived until I was nearly 13 with my parents. The long narrow upstairs window was my bedroom. My mother’s mother and brother also lived in the house. My uncle - John Grover had a shop to the left of the porch, where he sold fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, some of which he grew himself. During the war people would come from Dorking and Guildford to buy fresh fish. The fish came from Harlow’s of Grimsby in wooden boxes, when the empty boxes were returned to Grimsby, my uncle used to fill them with rabbits and other game caught locally, because food was scarce due to food rationing. My uncle used to smoke kippers in a shed near the stream. He also kept the white ducks which swam along the stream. I have very happy memories of my childhood spent in Shere. Virginia Pawlyn – now living near Evesham.

born and raised there

I was born in Shere in 1942 to the youngest child of George and Margaret Bryant. The Bryants were a well-known Shere family, my father being the eldest of nine children born and raised in the village. I had a very happy childhood in the village, attended the village school as did my older brother and sister and several cousins. I remember the Shere bonfire nights which were very enjoyable. I left the village in the sixties and now live in Adelaide, South Australia. My elder sister still lives in in Shere with her husband who was until retirement one of the local postmen. I have only happy memories of my birth place. I was baptised and also had my confirmation at St James's Church in Shere.