Memories Of Grosvenor Sanatorium

A Memory of Kennington.

My mother was a patient at the sanatorium in the early 1950s. She suffered from TB and died in 1955, though not in the sanatorium. My father and I made weekly visits by Wootten's coach from Lewisham. There nearest I was ever allowed to get was to wave to her from the coach park while she stood on a balcony as I was considered to be at risk of being infected. Not sure which would have been worse - not seeing her at all or only seeing her from a distance. I remember that the coach would stop at the Singing Kettle restaurant at Harrietsham on the way down and my dad would buy a roast dinner for both of us but I could very rarely touch much of it.
I was in Ashford today and drove to what I thought was the site of the sanatorium but there were locked gates so I could not get close - the place seemed busy with youngsters on adventurous activities. Sadly the museum in town only had a note of Simone Weil's time there on a timeline and no other information.