Wallington, Surrey

Wallington

I lived in Wallington in the late sixties early seventies. I lived at 7 The Mead and I spent some great years there. I went to Highview High School. There was always something to do and friends to hang out with. I loved Wallington, I still have a great friend who lives there. I used to hang out on Roundshaw estate and I know it got a bad reputation after some years.

1950's

I lived in Redford Avenue, Wallington when the road was a dead end with the old Croydon aerodrome at the end. I attended St Philomena's School in Carshalton. I came out to Australia in 1963 and have a son and a daughter and two grandsons. I am visiting England in September 2008 and will certainly walk up Redford Avenue with memories.

SANDY LANE NORTH

I moved to no. 6 from Thornton Heath, aged 3, with my parents, Sylvia and George. My maiden name was Ruthven. My brother Keith was born in 1958. I initially went to Bandon Hill school, but my brother got pneumonia just after his 1st birthday and they transferred me to High View, as there was lollipop lady and my mum wouldn't have to take me. One of my favourite memories is of Sunday School at the Methodist Church by Mellows Park. Our Sunday School teacher would regularly lay on tea and table-top games evenings in her home close to the church, which were terrific. I also loved going to Beddington Park and remember rowing in the boats by the Grange. Visiting my grandmother at Richmond Green in Beddington and going to Wandle Valley Park just along from there are also very happy memories, along with shopping and going to the cinema in Croydon. I remember the bread strike, but don't know what year it was. We had an old Ford Anglia which we'd driven into Croydon to buy bread, but it broke down on the way back and we ended up pushing it! When I first left school in 1969 I went to work as an office junior in Clarke & Smith Manufacturing in Wallington and in 1972 I went to work in the offices of British Gas in Katherine Street, Croydon. I finally left Wallington in 1975 to live in Swindon, where I still live.

Roundshaw

I lived on the Roundshaw estate through the 70's and have great memories of playing runouts. I knew every nook and cranny of that estate. I had many friends that lived on nearly every close. I lived in Wallington for nearly 20 years.  I loved going to Croydon shopping with my friends on a Saturday and walking across the fields at the back of the estate to the open air swimming pool, many a happy time there.  It has changed so much what with the new development. When I got married 26 years ago we ended up living on the 6th floor of Instone Close. It had a great view. We lived on the St Heliers estate for a while near the circle, then moved near to Bristol where I am now.

Sutton Photographic Memories

This view looks north along Woodcote Road towards the railway bridge. The station is on the left, but is concealed by the distant shops. This is the commercial heart of Victorian Wallington, uphill from The Green, and we see a fine row of Edwardian shops with flats above. Their canted full-height bay windows step down the hill in an elegant rhythm. Unfortunately, the developments on the left are considerably less consistent, being built at various times between 1910 and the 1950s.

Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories

Nestled in the rear slopes of the North Downs, the village derives its ancient name from the Saxon word ‘wudmeresthorn’, meaning ‘thornbush by the boundary of the wood’, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. This 1930s mock-Tudor shopping parade still stands on Rectory Lane as it winds its way south to the junction with the Chipstead Valley Road, where the buildings of the Woodmansterne Treatment Works, belonging to the Sutton and East Surrey Water Company, are just visible.

Around Cheam, including Sutton, Ewell, Banstead and Epsom Photographic Memories

Much of Banstead High Street was rebuilt during the 1920s with a series of shopping parades. The leafless lime tree in the middle distance occupies the spot where the village pond once existed, while All Saints’ churchyard is concealed behind the trees on the extreme right.