Earliest Days

A Memory of Petts Wood.

My parents and I moved to Petts Wood from London in 1932 to a new semi detatched at 53 St Johns Road. The builder was named Wostall. My aunt, a school teacher, also moved next door. St Johns Road then was unadopted, and at the junction of St Johns Road and Tudor Way was a stream, covered with some large logs, serving as a crossing passage for traffic. When the road was adopted, rather later than most, the stream was then covered over. The house owners had to pay so much towards the road adoption according to the amount of road frontage they had. As our house had rather a large frontage compared with others, my father was not particularly pleased at the cost! Reasonably rural, there was a field at the corner of our house between the footpath and Eastbury Road. From our kitchen window, during the season, I could see larks rising. During the war the field was used as allotments - and is now built over. I started primary school in Orpington - it was on the right just before entering Orpington High Street from Chislehurst Road. I think I was 7. I walked from St Johns Road through the footpath to Scads Hill on the Chislehurst Road where I took the 61 bus to Orpington. I believe the cost was one penny. When the new Primary School in Petts Wood opened, I was transferred there, Opposite that school was a large field which had strawberries during the season. There was also a pub at the corner of the Crofton Lane railway bridge which had a sweet shop attached. This was well patronised during school term time. On the Chislehurst Road, Scads Hill was quite steep. From Orpington, the double decker bus had quite a grind to get to the top when the bus was full. This was particularly noticeable when it was requested to stop on the middle of the hill at the corner of Crofton Lane. From my bedroom window I could see the trains. During the winter when it was frosty the sparks from the live rail reflected in my bedroom. Later most of the view was blocked by properties built by Davis Estate.
Bread was delivered by Stringer's horse van from Orpington. Walls and Eldorado ice cream in the Summer by tricycle - probably from Orpington. Milk was from the Co-Op and later by Express Dairies. The shops round the Station Square gradually increased, and extended to Petts Wood Road. The Dunstonian Garage was at the corner of Fairway, and there was a coal yard by the railway station. We had quite an early telephone with the number Orpingtom 6450. Due to increasing demand the number was changed to 26450, and then became a Ravensbourne number. During the late 1930's early 1940's an accordion busker had a place by the side of the station entrance steps during the morning rush hours. He was there for several years - each year looking more elderly and dishevelled until he never appeared again. On the other side of the rail line, Woolworths was built on Queensway, and a library was commenced opposite the then Embassy Cinema. Saturday mornings at the Embassy were booked for children's films. I believe the entrance was 4 pence for the stalls, and 6 pence for the balcony. The balcony provided entertainment of another sort, as some youngsters took pea shooters with them, and bombarded the children below. This caused the ushers considerable irritation, as they had go up the balcony and flash their torches to try to catch the offenders. With, I believe, little success. I'm sure the cleaners had plenty to do following the performance!
I remember the bomb that fell on Eastbury Road. Not far from us, it broke a number of windows and took off a quantity of tiles. A few days after that, my aunt had a stray large ginger cat appear. We wondered whether from the bombed house, or nearby. It was never claimed. She kept the cat and took it with her when she later retired to Worthing. In 1938 I started at Bromley County Grammar School, leaving Petts Wood in 1953,and my parents leaving Petts Wood around 1967-8. Many years later a quick visit was a disappointment - it was then becoming an outer London suburb.
There is a book 'A History of Petts Wood' by Peter Waymark, Millenium Edition, 2000. Out of print but available occasionally secondhand. This gives a detailed history of Petts Wood, and is extensively illustrated, It contains also a map of Petts Wood that marks where the various bombs fell during the war. There were over 100, that included high explosive, incendiary, V.1's, one V.2 and parachute mines. I can highly recommend this book if you can obtain a copy.

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