My Life In Petts Wood 1936 1967

A Memory of Petts Wood.

I was my parents' first child, born at a nursing home in Broxbourne Road, Orpington, in 1936. We lived in Woodhurst Avenue and my earliest recollections are of going shopping with my mother. I remember Queensway with its shops owned/run by local people - William Swift the butcher, Clare the grocer, Copeland the chemist, Marlborough(?) bakers are some that I remember. Also there was the Embassy cinema - now a Tesco. On the railway side of Queensway were shop units with accommodation above. As I remember these were unfinished, work having stopped with the commencement of hostilities. The basements of these properties were used for storing the huge rolls of newsprint which I used to enjoy watching being loaded. My father was a newspaper worker and told me that these weighed two tons each and had to be rolled up a ramp onto a lorry using a winch and cable. I started school at Crofton Lane Primary - the old one which is now a housing development. Most of the buildings were of wooden construction and had survived beyond their intended life. The headmaster was Mr Tomalin and some teachers I remember were; Miss Hoad, Mrs Challice(Challis?), Mrs Stribling, Mr Gawtrey. Although the family was never actually evacuated (I have a brother born in 1944,) my primary education was rather disjointed and we moved around the country mostly staying with friends. I spent periods at schools in Blackpool, Gloucester and Winchester, settling back into Crofton Lane at the end of the war. Despite this I managed to pass the 11+ and went to Bromley County Grammar School in 1947.
On my way to and from primary school I remember a place along Shepperton Road (roughly opposite Ryecroft Road) where there were the remains of a tennis court. Further over, near the recreation ground there had been an old house, the basement of which had bee made into a static water tank for firefighting during the war. This had obviously been a house of some significance because it had a long drive which went through the woods, over a stream, and emerged onto Towncourt Lane where the 'new' school was built. At that point there had been another fairly large house which in my time, was derelict. I have been unable to find out anything about the history of these properties and would love to hear from anyone who can help.
I visited Petts Wood a few years ago and wish that I had not bothered - fast food outlets, estate agents, parking meters, a lot of litter. I shall not go back again; I think childhood memories are best left undisturbed.
I had an enjoyable career in electrical/electronic engineering and now live in Devon.
If you have read this far, thank you. I know I ramble on (my wife tells me) but I think memories are an important part of what we are.