Living In Teddington 1950s To 1980s

A Memory of Teddington.

We moved from 76 Princes Road in 1957 to the other end of Teddington, to 143 High Street, opposite Kingston Lane. My parents bought the house for about £1400 (yes fourteen hundred) as a refurb project. It still had gas lighting, which had to be stripped out to install electricity. There were servants bells too. In the 1960s anything Victorian was just considered old-fashioned and grim. My father had all the original Victorian fire places removed, in the belief he need to modernise, and electric fires were inserted as they were cleaner. Cleaning a house in those days was hard work, especially one of four storeys, so it was common to remove fireplaces as coal was dirty. The chimney breasts were heavy and unattractive so he had them narrowed and then curved at the top making the more aesthetically pleasing. He designed and inserted stained glass to the side windows to bring some warmth into the hallways. I hope they're still there. All the ornate cornicing was kept although I do know that some people removed that too as they were thought of as dust collectors.
Quite amazingly, the front basement room was turned into an underground garage making it quite a talking point. My parents had to fight to get planning and it was granted as long as they backed the car in, so we could come out front first. In reality there was no way anyone would wait for us to reverse the car across the High Street, holding up traffic so we never did. One car would be in the garage and another on the slope down (the garage has now been converted into a kitchen). The room behind the garage was my father's office as he worked mainly from home.
The building work took ages and we had to move in with the builders still there just to get them to finish. I was six years old at the time and clearly remember the stress of it all. My mother caught really debilitating bought of flu shortly afterwards. We knew the stress had got her down as she was the one dealing with all the dust and dirt whilst washing and cleaning for four children and my father. This was the only time we would ever know her to be ill.
Shops in the High Street in those days were mostly small, individual businesses. There was only one restaurant in Teddington then, near Dibles the bookshop in Broad Street but it didn't open in the evening. Ormande Evans the grocers with a wonderful display of fruit and veg was opposite us on the corner of Kingston Lane. Manley's the chemist, a sweet shop which sold hot, salted peanuts and jamboree bags, a fishing tackle shop, a pet shop and wonderful hardware store with a great smell of wooden floors called Booker's, a butcher's with awning over the pavement where I would be sent for 'six lean loin chops', newsagents and Miss Stroud the grocer among others. On the corner of Wade's Lane was a tiny greengrocer's where the owner's daughter Jan (?) was a dancer, one of the Tiller girls I think. There was a boutique run by Mrs. Norfolk, a hairdresser's and a baker's - these three places I worked in during holidays or on Saturdays.
Bushy Park was a lovely place, and I'd walk there to fish with my net or play on the swings with friends when I was quite young. There was a playground at the end of Wade's Lane too. I'd be out most of the day during the summer, walking round or cycling. I would play in St Albans Gardens, at the back of our house as it had bushes where you could hide and build dens. I think there's a house there now according to Google satellite. I would often visit an older couple who lived in the first house at the newly built Kingsleigh Cottages. They were very kind. The husband was always smartly dressed and would doff his hat when he saw us in the High Street. It seemed a very safe place.
I went to school in Cross Deep Twickenham and hated every day - the same school from the age of 4 to 17. At the time Twickenham was mainly where I caught the bus back to Teddington. I remember Len Smith's where we had to buy our uniform, Woolworth's was at the junction and the music shop opposite Len Smith's had interesting instruments. They sold the Lilac Series sheet music which was affordable and had simple versions of pieces for the piano which I was learning. My teacher was Miss Jacobs (aka Mrs Snell), such a nice person.
During the Christmas holidays I used to deliver the Christmas post from Teddington sorting office. The postman I worked with was so kind, he used to give me some of his Christmas tips. I had to deliver the post on Trowlock Island, going over on the chain-linked platform which was very unsteady, especially on cold, icy mornings. I was told the milkman's crate of milk slid off one day, into the river.
Teddington High Street was usually busy but not like today I assume. Trolley buses made their silent way from Twickenham to Kingston and back, until the time came for them to be replaced. The overhead wires were cut over night and you could hear them slapping the ground as they fell. Pollution started with the diesel buses, going backwards in technology rather than forward.
I moved out in the early 70s but my parents lived there until the 1980s so they were there for about thirty years. These houses are now crazy prices and Teddington is more crowded now. There are probably rarely moments of silence in the High Street as there used to be.
A place is about the people and the memories you forge there. We all have our own experiences and in different times. It's rarely the place at fault. A place is what you make of it and how you remember it.