My Memories Of Mitcham And The School Cruise Which Made News In The Cinemas

A Memory of Mitcham.

I was born in the nursing home in Colliers Wood, the home was called Woodlands. My mother and father moved to Glebe Court Mitcham when i was six years old and I lived there untill I got married. I too remember going to the pictures in Mitcham and feeding the ducks at Three Kings Pond. I also remember the cockle and whelk stall which stood on the Fair Green. As I got older I visited the fair which came every year. My friends and I used to go to Streatham to the Bowling Alley every week and to the Pally Ally! I remember the gypsy camp site in Western Road close to the old gas works. I went to Western Road Secondary School and just before I left in 1963 I had the opportunity to go on a cruise round Greece organised by the school. This was a pioneering cruise as schools hadn't started taking pupils on educational holidays then. Pathe News followed us around Greece and filming us. My friends and I all rushed to Tooting Broadway to the cinema to see ourselves on the big screen. I wonder if anyone else remembers this.