Central Road c1950, Worcester Park
Central Road c1950, Worcester Park Ref: W455016
Memories of Central Road c1950, Worcester Park
The Bakers
I remember Mr Morley, who owned the bakers at the corner of Longfellow Road, roping the bread delivery cart , fully loaded, to the back of his old Ford car and pulling it up the hill to his shop at the top , with the delivery man, who only had part of one arm, swinging between the shafts of the cart. The poor old delivery man's feet barely touched the ground with the rear metal support wheels striking sparks from the road every time the cart lurched back onto the wheels. If the rope had given way, the cart plus the dangling delivery man would have gone backwards down the hill! Health and safety was not the same in those days.
Worcester Park, Central Road
The concrete streetlamps only appeared in the mid-1950s. Before then, the street lights were puny strutures housing ONE electric bulb. Everything was very dark at night. You would think that all the motorists would drive around on dipped beams, but no...Everyone drove on sidelights as use of headlamps was thought to induce glare. Motorists who used their headlamps were much disliked.
When the new lamps were installed they contained state-of-the-art sodium bulbs. At first they were disliked because the lamp posts were considered ugly, and because the yellow light was revolutionary. As a young boy, I thought to myself "Yeah, but at least you can see where you're going now."
Then there were the pre-war-built 213 buses - awful vehicles. They used to struggle up the hill, engines wheezing and grating their gearboxes. They frequently broke down and I can remember one bus that had struggled to the top of Coombe Hill actually caught fire!
Last memory of this part of the world was a jumble sale... Read more
Pam Cook And Mr Morley The Baker
Pam lived with her family in Washington Road and on leaving school at first worked with Mr Morely the baker in his Longfellow Road shop, helping to keep the books and doing counter work.
Years later when Pam was 24 we were married in St Philip's Church - now no longer there.
Morley's Bakery
Morley was a funny old chap, he ran a top bakery but was rather miffed when 'these 'ere new fangled electric vehicles' started being used for home deliveries ... his response was as the previous poster related - to pull his wooden delivery carts to the top of the steep Central Road hill behind his car and let his delivery men continue through the higher streets pulling their vehicles behind them. It was a 'Canute' effort I'm afraid - doomed to failure. He was an enthusiastic gambler on the horses and would back every animal in the Derby each year with a convoluted system designed to guarantee a successful financial outcome - he would boast 'I always back every horse running'.
On a different topic, does anyone recall those huge houses in The Avenue (seemingly mentioned in one of H G Wells's books) - I seem to remember them being 5 or 6 stories high - what happened to them?
Houses in The Avenue
I lived in Woodlands Avenue and used to walk down The Avenue every day in term time to catch the bus to Kingston. At that time many of the big houses were still standing but one by one, probably as the owners died or they became too much for them, they were demolished and flats built. Even today there are some big houses still standing, mainly towards to top of The Avenue as you approach the church. It holds many happy memories for me and now it's all on Google Street View. I often browse the roads which were my playground.
John Morley Was my G/grandfather
I have no real memories of my g/grandfather only what my family has told me about him. I only met him a couple of times when I was about 2 or 3 years old. He died in 1965 the year we moved to Canada but thank-you for the nice feedback
Worcester Park & local memories
Read and share memories of Worcester Park and Surrey inspired by Frith photos.
Childhood 1950s-60s
I remember Mr Morley, he lived in my road, Lynwood Drive, as did Mrs Mearing who owned the cycle shop and yes I remember Toni's for our icecreams. Greggs the grocers with the overhead "flying" capsules to the cashier and Freemans fabric shop with the cash going up in a lift contraption to upstairs. We used to roller skate on the smooth tiled front to McFisheries supermarket, previously the Odeon. I remember the high street being widened and watching the railway bridge widening. We used to play in Beverley Brook now sadly banished underground and happy days playing in the 'Hogsey' down Worcester Park Rd. We used to help at Parkers by the station and ride some of the horses there. Love this picture of the Green. Also remember the annual Horticultural show on the Green and afterwards the dahlias and chrysanths would be displayed outside Pearsons at the bottom of the high street. A good place to grow up then. It's so crowded now, Don't often go back, prefer... Read more
Collision Junction
The photo of this junction at the bottom of Central Road brought back memories of a motorcycle accident I had resulting in my girlfriend, later to be my wife, breaking her pelvis and me losing a front tooth. It was dark and the car driver failed to see me, pulling across into my path, resulting in both of us flying over his boot. Very painful.
Worcester Park
I don't know much about Worcester Park really, my dad's family (Prowses) lived in Washington Road, he was the eldest of 14 so a lot of people crammed into quite a small house. I remember him talking about an ice cream parlour and a few other places.
School
John Major, who lived with his parents in Longfellow Road, started school this year, 1948, in CHEAM COMMON ... which was Balmoral Road School when I was there in 1932! His father's garden ornaments were sold from the family shop in Central Road.
Yes! He did become Prime Minister.
Worcester Park From The Bridge
I lived in Worcester Park from when I was born (1939) until early 1956 when I joined the RAF as an apprentice. The lad in the picture (W455012) could so easily have been me (it isn't) because I was often there looking in the model shop window, as he is. Memories of Keil Kraft and Jetex and balsa wood and plastic cement.....
The picture is actually taken from the lower slopes of the ramp leading up to the station, on the left. The road dropped down behind the camera to the right, under the railway bridge which was too low to accommodate ordinary double-deckers. In the shopping parade in the distance can be seen the shop of Elliot & James, where my father bought my first bicycle, a Hercules Tourist Kestrel. A small green is on the right with the Huntsman's Hall pub just beyond. Past that was a petrol station and Toni's ice-cream parlour. Happy days!
Redcliffe Cottage
Before he died in 1993 I persuaded my Dad, Ted Simmonds, to write his life story. This turned out to be fascinating, and included his account of the Coventry Blitz, when he was able to get the necessary services and equipment laid on the next day to give the traumatised citizens much-needed tea and buns. The story has been told on BBC's Songs of Praise, The One Show and Midlands Today. The connection with Worcester Park is this - that his mother Alice Maud, my grandmother, was cook to Lady Stapleton, and the family lived in a "small but pretty cottage" called 'Redcliffe' on Cheam Hill, in Worcester Park. And it was in this cottage that my Dad was born on January 14th 1906. I can't find 'Cheam Hill' in the atlases now, so I have no idea where the cottage was, or whether it still exists. Does anyone know?
Barrow Hill
My father bought the land on Barrow Hill, and built a house called Carrick Lodge (1961). I am not sure that everyone at the bottom of the hill were totally impressed with the house although it did not effect the view. We did have our dogs poisoned however with rat killer! I used to cycle to and from the station down the Avenue as I was nursing at Epson District Hospital.
The fields adjacent to the house had retired horses on it and I have fond memories of my father breaking the ice on the water trough so the horses could drink, they all became good friends and were all named by us! It was a wonderful place to live and I hope the people who live there now enjoy the house and the fields as much as we did.
I lived in South lane before the house was build from 1946 went to Malden Manor Junior School, so was bought up around the area. I rarely go back but... Read more
