The Broadway c1952, Wimbledon
The Broadway c1952, Wimbledon Ref: W375019
Memories of The Broadway c1952, Wimbledon
Old School Friends
I attended the local Pelham County Secondary Boys School which was close by. A number of my friends who attended came from outlying districts such as Carshalton, Chessington, Tolworth and Walton on Thames, travelling by Southern Railway services to the main line station further up the Broadway.
The photograph must have been taken around 4pm as some of the pedestrians are in school uniform walking towards the station.
I can also recall the dentist Theo Callender whose shingle board appears over the sweet shop on the corner of Russell Road and the Broadway.
Tuck Shop
I remember going to the shop run by Mr and Mrs John Croft in Pelham Road at break time, to buy hot jam doughnuts and beer lollipops.
Lived in Gladstone Road, went to Pelham School and Merton Rush (on the corner of Dorset/Kingston Road). The smell of fresh ground coffee from a shop in the Broadway. Saturday morning pictures. Now living in Morden since 1987.
Lovely Childhood
I was born at St Hilliers, Carlshalton and lived in Pelham Road for the first 5 years. I started school at 4 in Pelham Road School. Then we moved to Mayfield Road and I went to Dundonald School. We moved away in 1961 in the London overspill scheme. I still am homesick after 50 years and go back whenever I can. We get the train and go to the theatre. I love just walking around, looking at the houses our family lived in and owned. I always get a tear in my eye. My heart is definitely still in Wimbledon.
Wimbledon Broadway
Hi Lesley, your life is a mirror image of mine! I too went to Dundonald Junior School then on to Pelham. We also moved in the London overspill scheme in 1961 to Frimley in Surrey. I also left my heart in Wimbledon, it will always be special. In those days I was Pam Page and had a sister Pat, we lived over Dunn & Co. in the Broadway opposite the Town Hall.
Wimbledon & local memories
Read and share memories of Wimbledon and Greater London inspired by Frith photos.
Garfield Road Rec
Half way down Garfield Road was the Recreation Ground; better know to all as simply the Rec. It was quiet a large area bounded on one side by Garfield Road and the other by the River Wandle, about which more another time. Along the top end was the railway line and the bottom the fence dividing the Primary School from the Rec. You could see the kids clinging to the fence fingers and noses poking through the mesh peering at the green grass and all they had was a bitumen playground. On the Wandle side of the Rec was another wire mesh fence with a large padlocked gate at one end. Half way along the fence was a huge Sycamore tree. Of course the tree had lots of carving in it with hearts and initials, and you would ask yourself why they nearly always added ‘true’. Off centre towards the road side of the Rec were 2 mounds like square beached whales. On each corner was a concrete plate, which made the mounds... Read more
Mr Atlee of Garfield Road
Mr Atlee, or as he was when I knew him, Old Mr Atlee, lived on the corner of Cowper and Garfield Roads. Garfield Road was a long road starting at the balloon factory, passing the primary school and the Rec and ending at the Carton factory. Running along its length shooting off at right angles were 5 roads named after poets, starting with Cowper followed by Milton, Dryden, Tennyson and ending with Caxton. Caxton of course was not a poet but I suppose the developer either did not know it or thought “Ah well, it’s to do with writing” . Being on the corner Mr Atlee had two entrances, the one on Cowper Road had what we liked to describe as “the front garden”, the other was just a door giving onto Garfield Road. The front garden was in fact a patch of dirt with a low wall and a gate and a dustbin waiting to be collected. The wall used to have ornate iron railings running along the top,... Read more
Mmmm...Rushmere
How well I remember Rushmere. I used to attend Kings College School around 300 metres away, and a group of us would frequently return home along South Side with a quick detour to the pond. It was best in winter because of the weather. In winter it froze up at some point every year and skaters would be attracted to it. In 1963, the winter was so severe that it was frozen for almost 3 months.
Then there were the fogs - fantastically thick fogs which not only swallowed the light, but which produced an eerie silence. People would noiselessly emerge out of the fog as little as 5 metres away.
In later years I was in the school Cross Country team and all our races would start from the school and clip the edge of Rushmere before twisting away towards the windmill.
Ohhh. I didn't think I could be so nostalgic! I bet that somehow they have spoilt it in the intervening years.
Gladstone Road, Wimbledon 1967
I hope someone can help me on this, I worked in a garage just off the Broadway in Gladstone Road in 1967, quite a large garage which sold cars etc, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it. I do remember that it had a ramp to the side of it going up to the roof of the building and it also had an entrance in Russel Road and had a fuel pump located there, if someone could help me on this I would be most grateful.
Talent Contest . . .
On holiday from Inverness in 1952, my mate entered me in the Saturday night talent contest that was, I believe, held every Saturday then. I sang a brand new song called 'Luna Rosa' and went over very well. After all entrants had had a go, judged by audience applause a chap who had performed 'That Old Black Magic' and I were said to be a draw! So to decide which of us was the winner, both of us had to sing the same songs again! I WON!
The prize was a giant box of chocolates that I took home to my mother.
To say that I was chuffed would definitely be an understatement!
Wimbledon Town Hall
I worked at Wimbledon Town Hall 1966-1970 in the Computer Room. My sis & my friend Kathy worked there also. We worked at the top of the building. Mr Powell was the boss, & Elsie was Supervisor. My friends & I would sometimes have lunch at the Indian Restaurant opposite, or have a picnic in a nearby park.
Diane Williams
Wimbledon Park
I lived in Durnsford Road. My father had two shops a Florist and a Greengrocers both with the name "Bloom's". With my mates, we hung around the Woodman Pub, while our dad's enjoyed their pint, I remember they had a nice garden at the side. Went to Wimbledon Park Primary in Havana Road and was part of the gang who built the pond and gardens in the school, which I believe is still there today! (Built to last was our motto and pride). We also went to the Central Hall on the corner of Ravensbury Road and Durnsford Rd, (sadly that is now demolished). I had many mates in the Durnsford and Revestoke Road areas, would hope anyone out there might remember those wonderful days, including up in the pavilion in Wimbledon Park on a Sunday afternoon, come Winter/Summer. Does anyone know of the whereabouts of Ron Lancashire, David Purl, Kalin Twins(Singers). Mike Langlois. Did anyone remember David Rainbow, sadly he passed away a couple of years ago. I married Patricia Harding,... Read more
The "ORINOO" Coffee Bar on Hartfield Road
As a teenage resident of Morden in the late fifties, my friend Dave and I occasionally frequented a coffee bar in Wimbledon on Hartfield Road near the junction with the Broadway.
We got around a bit as at the time, I had a little 1936 Austin Seven.
The coffee bar was actually called THE ORINOCO, but it managed to lose the "C" in the name on the facia one day, which I don't remember being replaced.
So it became known by us and our friends as the "Orinoo."
Great days!
Pitt Crescent/Durnsford Road SW19
I was brought in council flats overlooking Wimbledon train depot and Gap Road Cemetery. It was grim but being young we saw the paved area in the "front" of the flats as a football stadium and cricket field in the summer...Down the road by Durnsford Road Bridge was The Dump, a wasteland of fly-tipping, choking weeds, railway rats, and rusty metal. To us boys it was land to explore right back to the banks of the River Wandle. It was part of growing up in those days. As was crossing mainline railway tracks clinging onto the outside of Durnsford Road Bridge -one slip and we were dead or seriously injured...but we did it for dares as kids used to do.
What with constant steam trains roaring by there was a perminant smell of soot and sulphur, an a breeze would whip up the dust and grit left by the trains. Mum used to complain that... Read more
"The Woodman" Pub/Arthur Road
The first pint of beer I had was in The Woodman pub, Durnsford Road, and I was under-age which the landlord knew but I looked 18. My first pint was brown & mild.
Just around the corner was Arthur Road which has importance as it was the nearest shops to Pitt Crescent where I was brought up in the 50s. I recall mum saving up metal Co-Op tokens, Green Shield Stamps, and for awhile she worked Marion's Modern Modes...My attraction was the local library, Wimbledon Park, that was like a shopfront, next to the local butcher. In the library I was in my element. Further up Arthur Road there was a deli where I was introduced to all kinds of new tastes, like garlic and chilli. Further up on the left was Wimbledon Park Station, part of London Transport, with regular trains to and from London. I used to but car magazines from the newsagent just... Read more
Wimbledon Arcade
Enoch Power sold pet food (Fido Meat) in the arcade next to Tiffany's night club / disco and Wimbledon Theatre.
He had been a Japanese POW.
Interesting chap.
Hutchins Family of Dundonald Road, Wimbledon
My father, Eric Hutchins, lived at 44 Dundonald Road, Wimbledon and went to Rutlish School and, as quite a young man, went to Argentina where he lived and worked until 1946. He was born in 1910 and so there cannot be many people who actually remember him but I wonder if there is anyone who knew the famiy and oh, I would be so interested to hear from them.
Wimbledon Park
I lived in Wimbledon Park from birth until 1955 when I left for Western Australia, I remember going to Wimbledon Park Primary School during the war years and there was an airaid shelter in the rec next to it, I went onto Queens Road Secondary School after that, but mostly I remember going into Wimbledon with my friend Jean on a Saturday morning to the Odeon cinima to the morning pictures there and then going down the High Street afterwards. I miss my home country a lot and always visit Wimbledon when I get home on a holiday. We used to play in Wimbledon Park itself after school and weekends, and I remember one day my dog Judy pulled me into the lake, Jean laughed at how wet I got.
Schools
I went to a school in Queens Road called Hazelhurst, it was a private school, in 1949 until 1963 and then to Pitmans College in Russell Road. I lived in Wimbledon till 1967 and then moved to Crawley where I still live.
Wimbledon Arcade
Wimbledon had an 'Arcade' very close to Wimbledon Theatre, here you could purchase many items, from cottons to wet fish, but best of all cheap 45rpm. records ex-juke box versions ,many of which you had to add a 'spider 'to the centre.Does any else remember purchaseing records here.
