Reigate Springcopse Road

RE: RE: Reigate Springcopse Road

I lived in Cornfield Road in my grandparents' house. The house was called 'Ivy Dene', no: 54, and they moved in when it was newly built. My mum, Winifred Warner, was born there in 1905/6. I remember walking down Springcopse Road to the shops in Ladbroke Road and then into the town, it always appeared to be sunny, that sort of golden light, and all the shops closed for lunch or half day on a Wednesday. We invariably got to the shop too late! My mum used to be stopped by just about everyone passing, they of course had known all her sisters, she was the baby of the family. My nan, Alice, died when I was three months old in 1939, so I never knew her. My grandfather Walter had died when mum was only 19, in the twenties. I remember going into the copse to collect kindling wood during the war and walking all the way to St John's School over the common. The little shop on the corner, opposite the Post Office and general stores was owned by my mum's godfather, Mr Waghorne. Other neighbours that come to mind were the Strottens in no: 56, the Melvilles in no: 52. The other side of the road, opposite to where the crescent began where Dann, Stapleton and Hamm. We moved in 1946.