Stanwell In The 1960/1970's

A Memory of Stanwell.

I moved from Egham to Stanwell in 1966 when I was nearly 6 years old. I remember Clare Road shops having a christmas tree on each balcony, it looked like a magical fairy land making Christmas even more special.

The shops were so much nicer then. 'French's' was the posh sweet shop which sold 'cut out dolls books' which I spent many happy hours playing with.
There were two lovely green grocers, a bank, two butchers (one of the butcher shops had a employee who would always be singing and was very funny!), a shoe shop (me, my sister & brother would have our shoes brought from there the start of every school year!), ladies hair dressers, wet fish shop with saw dust on the floor, 'Peter's' news agents where I later worked part time when I was 14, it was full of lovely jars of sweets & sherbert, traffic light lollies and pick & mix as well as my fav. magazines including 'Jackie' which I lived for each week!

The toy shop was magical and you could take your broken dolls, teddy bears etc. to them and they would send them away to 'the dolls hospital' to be mended!
There was the lovely wool shop where my mum would buy her wool to knit me & my sister cardigans, REM Radio, the mens hair barbers where the betting shop is now.
The only take away was the fish & chip shop, now the shops are over run with take a ways! The shop area was so tidy, not sure if the shops where Sainsburys local is were built back in the early 1960's as I don't remember them at all.

My childhood memories of Stanwell are of happy innocent times. Stanwell Moor & Stanwell Village was known as the posh parts. Not many cars on the road and if your family had a car, colour t.v & phone you were very rich!
The muffin man ringing his bell as he walked down the street, my mum would buy them and we'd have hot toasted buttered muffins for tea!
'Tonybell' ice cream van where we'd buy our 'witches hats' and 99's.

In the long, hot summer school holidays my brother, sister, me & friends would spend many long hours down by the twin rivers watching the fish & catching frogs spawn! There were no computers of course back then and most of us only had black & white t.v's so if we weren't down by the twin rivers we spent nearly every day out at the parks in Oaks Road & Cordelia Road or walking on the Stanwell Moors. Our parents had no idea where we were as no mobile phones, but they knew we were having a great time and would be home safe & well for tea!
In the winter we would build snowmen and have harmless snowball fights, unlike the idiots I witnessed last year throwing stone filled snowballs at passing cars in Clare road!

I remember the small off licence at the side of 'The Happy landing' pub where you could take back empty bottles and get some money!
The mobile library van which would park up near the shops in Hadrian Way.
St.Anne's Infant/Junior school I attended has been long gone, Stanwell Secondary School were I spent my teenage years was built and demolished.

Traylan's fun fair would be one of the most exciting weeks of the year when it came to the green, between Holywell Way & Mulberry Ave. The green has now sadly gone and a concrete jungle of houses now takes it place.
We had wonderful, well attended family events and I remember so well the yearly 'Donkey Derby' which brought families out for a lovely day at the recreational ground in Town Lane. A beer tent for the adults, lots of food & cake stalls, fancy dress and the donkey races.
The yearly fete at Ashford hospital with it's stalls of bric a brack, games, food, art show, dog show competition & fancy dress.
Happy times !

Today I still live in Stanwell but it is a far cry from the Stanwell I knew & loved.