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Sidcup
Sidcup maps
Historic maps of Sidcup and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Sidcup maps
Sidcup area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Sidcup and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Sidcup
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Sidcup.
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Chislehurst & Sidcup School For Girls
My parents were so pleased when I won a scholarship to the Sidcup branch of the school and my father bought me the new-fangled biro (was there a propelling pencil the other end?) as a present. Mum could only afford one set of uniform and it had to be washed every other night. I can't now recall many names of my classmates but can see most of their faces in my mind's eye. I can't remember the teacher's name!). She taught shorthand and typing and was very tall and elegant. She used to sign the last letter of her surname with a capital "R" - so, as I was LockyeR, I too copied her. Very swish, I thought. There was Barbara Payne who lived in a flat at the bottom of Station Road; Joan West, Sheila Fagin, etc. The Headmistress was Miss Anderson and her deputy was Miss Wayeth. They were wonderful, as in 1951 my little... Read more
Shops
I remember a shop on this parade where you could take a broken dolly to be repaired in a ' hospital. I lived in Blackfen, so only a short walk down to the Oval.
Or you could ride on a single decker bus.
Reception
Opposite this parade of shops was the Station Hotel where my wedding reception was held. I got married in Days Lane Baptist Church . Have used that bus stop many times on the way home from dancing classes .
The Oval.
We lived on the corner of the oval adjoining Burnt Oak Road in a flat, 53b, above what was at the time an empty shop. It was wartime and we used to ride our bikes around the empty shop. Out the back was a garden and there was an iron fire escape leading up to the back of the flat. I remember that the bakery on The Oval used a horse and cart for deliveries and if we had a penny we would go in and buy a sticky bun and for a farthing a sweet from the sweet shop. There was also a jewellers shop that was always getting broken into, we would see people casing the joint and hear them break in but when the police came around we acted dumb!
When the sirens went off for a raid we went to the air raid shelters on the green on the opposite side of The Oval, after the war we played in them. My favourite shop was... Read more
Cream Cakes
There was a bakery here. We would come from school, Alma Road Secondary Modern, and ask for "Any stales" from the bakery. For 3d or so we'd get a big bag full of cream cakes, doughnuts etc. My favourite was the cream filled eclair. Most times the cakes weren't what I considered stale, I think the women in the shop gave us some of the fresh ones. Anyway we loved them. It wouldn't be allowed today.
G.Jarrold
Christmas Eve
One cold Christmas Eve my brothers and I were out shopping with Mum. It was dark and we had just bought some tree decorations. I was excited, I was 6 years old. I saw a red light in the sky. My older brothers told me that it was Rudolph's red nose shining and leading Santa's sleigh. I believed and watched the light until it disappeared.
St Mary's College
Ah the old school and the playground, finally moved to the Sidcup bi-pass corner with purpose built buildings and a sports field.
Manor Road, Sidcup
I was born in Farnborough hospital in June 1956. My mother is Austrailian and my father grew up in and around Bridgwater in Somerset. From the period of 1956 -1960 we lived in the top flat at 12 Manor Road (now sadly gone), the family living below us were (I think) called Russell. Mum and dad had friends called Mike and Carol. I went to the local primary school, we had to wear shortgrey trousers, dark blue duffle coats, black and white striped scarfs. It might have been Birnbeck, or something like that. I can't remember too much about Sidcup as we left there when I was only 4 or 5 years old. I do remember the large and noisy train station filled with steam and smoke and the big red buses. I was taken to the park which turned out to be Regents Park Zoo to see the giant pandas, the tigers and monkeys etc. It wasn't longer before my mum and dad Peter and Gwen Bishop discovered I... Read more
