Lives Saved

A Memory of Heath End.

In 1949 my father died of TB, contracted whilst serving in Irag/Iran during WWII. At that time many sufferers of the disease were sent to sanitoriums in the European Alps for a cure. My Father died at our house in the village of River, nr Dover in Kent. I have never been aware of why Dad was not sent to a sanitorium. That same year it was discvered that I had caught the disease from him.
I am not aware of how my mother found out about a TB sanitorium located at Heath End near Farnham in Surrey but it was there that I was sent. It was an establishment run by an organisation called The Church Army in a beautiful old mansion that had a semi-circular curved drive leading to and from the main road.
The inmates were all young boys (children) ,mostly from London who had presumably caught the disease through the poor living conditions endured by them in wartime London. There I spent the next two years where, miraculously it seems from my perspective in 2016, I was cured. Nowadays with modern drugs I understand that a cure can be effected within a few months but then with no specific medicines the formula was clean air and rest - in my case two years of it.
My memories of the place are scant, i was nine years when I entered the hospital and eleven when I left. But some of those memories remain. Immediatly behind the sanitorium was a heath I believe called Bagshot Heath. The children used to spent a great deal of time.up there chasing dragonflies hovering over various pools, watching trial bike riders in competitions on bikes with names like Matchless, Triumph,Arial and BSA. This heath,at its summit looked down at some distance to Farnborough Airport. I remember during one of the annual air shows seeing the largest aircraft ever built, at that time,-the Brabazon - touch down but immediatly take-off,too big to land on that runway.
I have lived in Western Australia now for thirty five years and often my thoughts drift to those disjointed memories. In 2010 my wife and I took what I termed 'a sentimental journey' around various locations that figured in my life, school in Lewes in Sussex, training ship in Hamble in Hants, Navy apprenticeship training in Torpoint in Cornwall and Fareham in Hants. We also tried to find the spot where that sanitorium once was locted. I believe we did find the unmade road which was once the driveway although it did seem a little uncertain because the houses looked too old. Then I had to remind myself how old I am - ain't life strange?!.
The location which we thought was the site of the old sanitorium was 'The Crescent' just off the B3005. Does anyone have any knowledge of the sanitorium, photographs, when it closed, was demolished or any info on the Church Army? I emailed an organisation called of the same name a few years ago hoping that I might be able to get some information or old photos of the sanitorium but recieved no acknowledgment.