Happy Days In Coulsdon, 1947 To 1955

A Memory of Coulsdon.

Born in Purley Hospital in 1947, we lived in Bramley Avenue for the first 2 years of my life, but of course I have no memories of that. We then moved to 30 Grove Wood Hill, which is off Woodcote Grove Road. I had a couple of good friends in the road, One called Julius Caesar believe it or not, and another whose name I can't recall but he collected birds eggs, now illegal. Beside our house there was a footpath leading to fields behind the house, now built upon. My sisters and I would play all day in the fields, helping (or hindering) the farm workers with haymaking or occupying a bomb crater, in the middle of one of the fields, which was our "secret island".
I went to St. Anne's Prep School in The Drive. Mr Ferne was headmaster and his wife was fearsome. One of my friends at school was Clive Humm. Our grandmother lived at 59 Reddown Road, off Mrlpit Lane, and other relatives lived in Woodfield Hill, off the Brighton Road. The shop I particularly remember was Bobby Wills, near the fire station on the Brighton Road. He sold models, Dinky toys and model trains, and I used to save my pocket money to buy Matchbox cars.
In 1955 we moved away to Kent but those happy days in Coulsdon are never forgotten.