High Street c1955, Putney
High Street c1955, Putney Ref: P332013
Memories of High Street c1955, Putney
Aftermath of The Great War
Born in Felsham Road, off the High Street, in 1927, I of course have many memories of the area in this photograph. One in particular, has stuck with me for the last 75 years or so.
It is of terribly wounded and maimed men, only in their 30s and 40s, none of them employable, begging for money. There would be 15 to 20 of them, some blinded and shuffling along with their hands on the shoulders of the man in front; some legless and being pushed in wheelchairs; some on crutches with only one leg, the other empty trouser leg being folded up and safety-pinned. Bringing up the rear were two men with fearful facial injuries playing a trumpet and a banjo. One able bodied (?) colleague in the kerbside held out a galvanized bucket into which shoppers and people going about their business would hopefully toss a copper coin.
There was no Social Security or NHS in those dark... Read more
Putney & local memories
Read and share memories of Putney and Greater London inspired by Frith photos.
The Great Years!
I remember Zeeta's coffee shop and the Rotary Club just round the corner. The Pontiac was a great club, Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds were the resident band there and we used to be there almost every week!
In The Town Where I Was Born......
In 1955 I was 9 years old and lived at No. 16 Putney Hill, which was on the right in this picture and if memory serves was the house before the white one behind the tree.
My grandfather owned the tobacconist and confectioners at No. 1, which is on the left next to the bank on the corner in front of the bus. I was actually born in the flat underneath this shop from which my grandfather, Archie Baird, would serve you a penny worth of sweets with a cigarette permanently dangling from the corner of his mouth...no health and safety or strict hygiene rules in those days! There was a bus and coach stop on the hill just up from the shop and opposite our house. You could catch a Green Line coach to Windsor and the Royal Blue Express Coach also stopped here on the way to the places like Bournemouth. Just out of the picture opposite the bank there was another bank at the foot of the... Read more
