Nostalgic memories of Petts Wood's local history
Share your own memories of Petts Wood 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 17 in total
I was born in Farnborough Hospital during February of 1940. My home for the next 7 years was at 9 Kennelworth Road, and then we moved to 263 Crescent Drive, where I spent the next thirteen years. My recollections of the war are very sketchy, but I will try to give some insight on how people, and more specifically kids, were affected both during and after the war.
During the war we ...see more
I was born during the 1947 blizzard, Feb 2, 1947. Neither the midwife nor the doctor could get to our house, so my father helped my mother deliver me in the front upper bedroom of 88 Nightingale Road. I remember no more about Petts Wood, we moved to Bromley by the time I was 3!
I was born in 1932 at 36,Priory Ave. & went to Crofton Lane School & ST Dunstans Prep,run by Mr & Major Cole. After attending various schools around the country during the war I ended up at Alleyns in Dulwich which I attended from 1943 -49. Going from Petts Wood Stn. to Herne Hill via Bromley South throughout the V1 & V2 bombing threats.MY various friends at the time were Mike ...see more
My name is Peter Nutkins, I was born in 1939 and lived in Chesham Avenue for the first 24 years of my life.
I worked for Arthur Black at Queensway Radio as a TV engineer for a number of years in the '50s and '60s, so got to know quite a few people in the area.
My earliest memories were towards the end of the war when the 94 bus terminated at the Crooked Billet, some of the buses had outside stairs and a starting ...see more
My parents and I moved to Petts Wood from London in 1932 to a new semi detatched at 53 St Johns Road. The builder was named Wostall. My aunt, a school teacher, also moved next door. St Johns Road then was unadopted, and at the junction of St Johns Road and Tudor Way was a stream, covered with some large logs, serving as a crossing passage for traffic. When the road was adopted, rather later than most, the stream ...see more
I lived in Town Court Crescent with my parents, Norman and 'Babs' Treliving, from 1957 until 1974. The house was one of many designed by the architect Basil Scruby, whose name was carved in the wall at the back, facing onto the raised terrace. In the winter of 1963 we had severe snow, which was great fun for my friends and I, in our early teens, tobogganing down the hill ...see more
My father was a sailor in the Royal Navy and was overseas from 1938 till 1944, so my mum and I lived with her parents, Mr and Mrs Walter Davey at 76 Woodhurst Avenue, Petts Wood, three doors from Chesham Avenue. Our Anderson Shelter had been installed during the Dunkirk evacuation, and by early August of 1940 we were spending out nights in it. Grandad had sawn short the legs of our old kitchen ...see more
Firstly, I must say I was prompted to write this on reading the previous article, I went to school with that writer, Alan Tutt, at Crofton lane School, in 1939 I think it was, or perhaps 1941, anyway we were just starting our schooling.
The memory I write about occurred in late October 1940. In June of that year we had, like millions of others, had an Anderson shelter installed in the back garden, and ...see more
The night our ceiling fell in, is vivid in my memory, I lived in Fieldway, Petts Wood which backed on to Eastbury Avenue, on the night of the bombing a bomb fell in Eastbury Avenue, my parents, myself, brother, sister and an old lady from Beaumont Road were all sleeping in our Anderson shelter - the explosion was frightening, the French windows blew in, furniture was blown across the room and the ...see more
I was my parents' first child, born at a nursing home in Broxbourne Road, Orpington, in 1936. We lived in Woodhurst Avenue and my earliest recollections are of going shopping with my mother. I remember Queensway with its shops owned/run by local people - William Swift the butcher, Clare the grocer, Copeland the chemist, Marlborough(?) bakers are some that I remember. Also there was the Embassy ...see more