Lady Neville Recreation Ground

A Memory of Banstead.

I played here from 1970 onwards.

Behind the building were the public loos. To the left of the building, and to the left of the entrance off Avenue Road was a hump, about 4 feet high with a double skin brick wall along the front. I was told it used to be a public air raid shelter?

The padding pool hadn't been built then (next to the tennis courts) - that came in the mid 70s???

There was a big hedge along the side of the tennis courts that we used to hide behind and run through.

There was a triangular concrete 3 foot hump just past the slide - no one knows why it was there, but I used to run up and down it. There was a metal slide that seemed so big at the time (only 6ft probably), next to the a roundabout which was old but smooth and heavy.

Then there were 4 swings - old but good. And finally a simple see-saw made of a sleeper with iron grab handles. All painted in dark green (bit like British Racing Green). I used to walk the dog at the weekends and sometimes my mum would let me come to the Rec by myself (age 7 or 8 maybe).

Old Harry was the groundsman - my mum chatted to him most days. Grand bloke.

There was that wooden "seating" along the path by the cricket field the other side of the tennis courts. I used to love running along the top of that, as it took a crooked path around some mighty trees. A few sections still remain, but it is a sorry reflection of its former glory.

There was the bowling green and a path up the side that either went direct to Park Road, or you could veer left and walk through the Woolpack carpark between a pair of dashed lines demarking the "official footpath".

Before the Woolpack and behind the bowling green is another small grassy field. Some athletics display was put on in the mid 70s - a hot day. Wooden posts were erected with rope loops to swing on and other things like that. I remember some sort of display that lots of people came to watch. I have no idea what it was for.

In November, there was a fireworks display in the field somewhere beyond the Cricket Ground.

Happy memories...