Coney Hall 1950/60s

A Memory of West Wickham.

This picture brings back many memories. I was born in 1953 and lived in Coney Hall until 1972, attending school at Wickham Common and then Hawes Down Secondary.
The view from where this picture was taken is not dramatically different today. The parade of shops that can be seen on the right included the newsagent and confectioners, Butts ( for whom I did a paper round for 2 years) and a pet supply store (Pearson's??). The Coney public house ( a place of exotic mystery when I was growing up) is just out of view. On the far left can be seen the rather stylish garage and petrol station. I remember using this facility to put a pounds worth of petrol into my first car, a Hillman Imp. The last time I was in Coney Hall this was a DIY store.

Out of view on the left is another parade of shops, one of which was the Harry Minting music store from which I bought my first ever record, and , my first guitar.I also attended guitar lessons conducted by Harry (ably supplemented by Bert Weedon's Play-in-a Day instruction book). This would have been around 1964 when nearly every kid wanted a guitar in a quest to emulate the beat-boom stars of the day.

To the left of the garage from this view was another parade of shops. Amongst these was Maison Frederick, the local barber and ladies salon, where I was subjected to some hideous examples of the craft of hair-dressing ( I still have the photos to prove it). However, the indignity of being given a hair style that made me look like a convict ( or lunatic) could always be made up for by being treated to a new Dinky Toy from the Wool Shop alongside!