Nostalgic memories of Beddington's local history
Share your own memories of Beddington and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying Memories 1 - 10 of 14 in total
I remember these shops so well from my childhood. The first on the left was a newsagent the next a baker at the other end of the Broadway was the post office. My brothers,my sister and I passed them every school day on our way to Highview School up Plough Lane. I especially recall that in 1952 most of the shops had stuck stamps of King George on their windows; some they had edged with black ink as a mark of respect ...see more
This photo is looking towards the 1890 view of the snuff mills and the end of Bridges Lane. The footpath on the right connected to Beddington Lane and was our route to the park as children. The wall on the right was pock marked with scoured out dents created by twisting pennies or half pennies into the old brickwork something that could be seen all the way to the park particularly in the Tudor wall around Carew Manor ...see more
This view from Plough Lane bridge was a daily sight for me and my 2 brothers and sister as we walked or later cycled home to Beddington from Highview school. [Another of Friths postcard shots]. The primary school was beyond the secondary school in the that shot. At the Beddington end of Plough Lane after hurriedly passing the cemetery --always haunted in our imaginations, was The Broadway [subject of yet more ...see more
When I was a child in the 1940s, this sports field belonged to the Post Office. Occasionally there would be a horse in residence and this is where I had my first and only ride on such an animal. The stadium on the left caught fire one night and, it all being wood, burnt down to the ground. The area immediately sandwiched in between the railway fence and the railway line was my father's lineside allotment for ...see more
The grange and boating lake was a meeting place for many youngsters in the early 60s, Sunday afternoons we would turn up with our little radio's to listen to the top twenty music chart program. Many romances started and probably ended in beddington park, We all learnt to row, always upsetting the guy that ran the boats never going back when our time was up, such good memories.
I well remember the rowing boats on the lake in Beddington Park. One end of the lake seemed quite dark and sinister, whilst the other was open and safe. I remember creaky oar locks and wooden hulls, and being called in when your time was up.
Beddington Park was a large part of my childhood experience, my earliest photographs were taken near the Grange, and I feel it is part of me 65 years later.
There is nothing wrong with relishing the past....
My mother grew up on the Lodge in Beddington. Her family lived there throughout the war years and remembers the V2's and sheltering in the basement of the orphanage during air raids. Somewhere we have photos of milk being delivered by dog-drawn cart. A psalm was written around the windows on the ground floor of the Lodge. Mum and her sister slept in the bedroom over the kitchen and often talk about how cold it was....
I took her back for her 90th birthday.
My mom had the sweet shop on Croydon Road at Wallington Green. The fire alarm was sounded by Ken on his way home in the early hours after finishing his night shift. This was told to us, by Ken, at Mom’s sweet shop next day. Ken lived over the fish shop over the road from the Dukes Head. I went to see the damage with my girl friend Yvonne. The building was pretty much destroyed, although I managed to to ...see more
I too remember the fire and going to see the ruins the day after. I had previously gone there fairly regularly for speech therapy while I was at Holy Trinity Primary School. I vaguely remember the rather ornate internal wooden panelling. At the time of the fire I believe the building also housed a dental office, and the gas cylinders periodically exploded during the fire, as I remember it. We could see the glow in the sky from my bedroom window - we lived on Queenswood Avenue.
Fond memories..attending the church with my best friend Jean when we were at school, then in later years in our teens, showing off new outfits that we had shopped for in Croydon. So many weddings, including mine in 1960...so much has happened since then....
