Danson Park & Bellegrove Road

A Memory of Welling.

Growing up in the 1950s I remember spending a lot of time going to Danson Park; it was always an all day thing as I had to catch two buses to get there. I lived in Upper Belvedere (off Parsonage Manorway) and caught the 401 or 486 to Bexleyheath and then I think a 99 from Bexleyheath clocktower to Danson Road/Park. I would have been about 10 when I first went there alone, mainly to go swimming in the open air swimming pool - I remember that fountain - or to visit the fair. I also remember the boats on the lake and was thrilled when I first went on the big boats instead of the kiddies' ones that were in a roped-off section of the lake.

On Saturday afternoons my dad always went shopping in Welling, he did it for years, and sometimes I would go with him. It would be about 1962/3 when I bought my first LP, 'Honey Hit Parade' from a shop in the middle of Welling, although I cannot remember the name I can still see the shop in my mind's eye. While I was off looking round the shops, Dad would be buying fruit, veg, meat and cheese from the market stalls.

A few years later I used to go to the Twisted Wheel - happy days.

Alan Roberton