Menu

Skip to content
Friends of Havelock Rec
  • Events!
  • About Us
    • Who we are
    • Documents
    • Our Vision
    • Our Action Plan – help us decide!
    • Where we are
    • Contact Us
  • Gallery
    • Gallery
    • wild flowers in our park
  • Oral & Local History
    • History of the Brickfield and Local Area
    • Community Asset for 20 years
    • History of Local Road Names
    • The Havelock Fisherman and his Attempted Murder
    • Memories and Recollections
    • Remembrance and the Neighbourhood in 1914/18
    • A Selection of Neighbouring Local History
  • Bricks and Local Geology
    • About the brick pit of Coles-Child Lord of the Manor
    • The rocks – or clay – under our feet (the stratigraphy)
    • Pictures of our Brick Pit and Widmore Pit being worked
  • Thanks for our Campaign

Friends of Havelock Rec

Category: Local History

Neighbouring Local History – Heinkel bomber shot down in Johnson Rd

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Kerry Hood

On November 9th, 1940, a German Heinkel bomber was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and when crashed it on Johnson Road, demolishing numbers 26 and 28 houses. 

collapsed house with airplane propeller sticking out

November 10th 1940 Heinkel bomber shot

In one house, belonging to Mr and Mrs Monday, the husband survived but his wife was found to be dead when they reached her.  In the other house, occupied by Mr and Mrs Button, they had a remarkable escape from injury. 

On the Chatterton Road history page, Bromley historian Lewis Blake records:

“The awful truth dawned on everyone at the scene that the whole street faced disaster. As minds worked on how best to tackle the situation, Sergeant David Grigg, a traffic patrol man of P Division, Metropolitan Police, arrived on the scene and volunteered to remove the missiles one by one to open ground across the A21 Hastings Road. One of the bombs was thought to be ticking ominously, but Sgt Grigg nonetheless gingerly carried them to a safe distance from the street’s terraced dwellings.”

RAF sergeant Grigg was awarded the George Medal for his brave act in March 1941, cited that he “showed great courage and devotion to duty.” Captain Charles Lea of the 2nd Engineers disposed of the bombs, for which he was awarded the George Medal (but was later killed in Salerno) “by skilful and courageous work, he completed the disposal of all the bombs, so making it possible for the rescue of the trapped persons to proceed”.  A third George Medal was awarded to the New Zealander head of Bromley casualty services,  Dr Kenneth Tapper, who treated the casualties in the debris pile, between the un-exploded bombs, “Dr Tapper has shown great gallantry in his efforts to relieve suffering amongst air raid victims.“.

Of the aircraft crew, two perished inside the aircraft whilst the pilot’s parachute never opened and he was found dead on a local roof, and the navigator parachuted to safety near Sundridge Mansion Hotel where he was apprehended and taken to the police station.  Part of the machine was found in Bromley Common Cricket ground.

RAF sergeant carrying large bomb

Thanks to Brinley Hawkins for discovering and sharing this images

Another neighbour, a stretcher man, Mr Darby, described what he saw to a reporter: “My brother was standing at the back door when he heard the aeroplane coming down, and thought it was a bomb.  It sounded like a tornado; he shut the door and threw himself down.”

He and other neighbours removed what bombs they could from the wreckage though there was petrol over all the debris.  The ‘Rescue Squad’ discovered Mr Monday lying on a bomb and the Bomb disposal squad then removed the rest of the bombs after the local area was evacuated – in total there were 30 bombs, 50kg.  Several thousand rounds of ammunition was removed from the plane. 

The reporter continues: “Mrs Button was at the kitchen door and her husband pulled her to safety as their house collapsed.  They both crawled out unhurt.  Both are over 70.  Mr Button, and old soldier, went back and turned off the gas at the mains”

A fuller description can be found on this Chatterton Road history page. 

men looking at bombs laid at the side of the road

Thanks to Brinley Hawkins for discovering and sharing this image

Posted in Neighbouring Local/Oral History | Tagged Heinkel Bomber Johnson Road WW2

Neighbouring Local History – Keeping Riff-Raff out… Bromley’s own Class Wall

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Kerry Hood

In 1926, there was a ‘wall’ built on Valeswood Road/Alexandra Crescent (a private road) , to keep the inhabitants of The London Corporation’s estate in Downham out of Bromley (or to deter them from taking a short cut – thanks to Downham Estate Having Your Own Patch for the pic).  The estate was built to house people moved out of the London slums when the post-war clearances took place.  The houses are designed to be reminiscent of Kentish cottages. 

History Today mentions it on their website, demonstrating that the concept of gated communities is not a modern one: by Michael Nelson, here.  He grew up on the ‘wrong’ side of the wall in Downham.  "stood near the house where I lived as a child... the residents of Alexandra Crescent, a private road in Bromley, Kent, ... built a seven-foot wall, capped with broken glass, across the road. The wall was constructed to stop the working classes ... like our family, entering the streets of the adjoining middle-class estate."

Bromley was part of the county of Kent until the boundary changes of 1965, so the houses in areas of Bromley, still list ‘Kent’ in their addresses. When the boundaries changed, the Orpington residents were given a vote as to whether they wanted to join the new borough or not.

Posted in Neighbouring Local/Oral History | Tagged Bromley Wall

Neighbouring Local History – Jubilee Country Park’s Not-so-quiet WW2 role

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Kerry Hood

Jubilee park nowadays is a peaceful place where you can walk through natural oak woodlands and through wide grassy areas.

If you walk up towards Petts Wood, you can spot second world war concrete trackways disappearing into the undergrowth in the woods, and the imprint of circular concrete platforms in the grass. 

This was the site Thornet Wood Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, one of a defensive ring of gun sites encircling London during the Second World War: there were about 8 gun emplacements, and a small town of Nissan huts were the crews and support workers lived. 

WW2 soldiers and sandbag wall

Artillery men standing around sandbagged emplacement

 

More can be found out about Jubilee Country park, and the events there, at the the friends website for Jubilee Park. 

WW2 artillery men around large gun

One of the gun emplacements in 1941, thanks to Friends of Jubilee Country Park.

map

Map of Jubilee Country Park

 

Posted in Neighbouring Local/Oral History | Tagged Jubilee Park WW2

A Selection of other Local History in the Neighbourhood

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Kerry Hood

 

The Crooked Billet V2 and Bomb-Alley

Another notable event in WW2 was the destruction of the Crooked Billet pub on Southborough Lane, half a mile to the north east, by a V2 rocket on 19th November 1944.  Locals say that they were initially told it was a gas explosion, so they wouldn’t panic at the inexplicable damage from the unknown new weapon.   It was the largest single incident for casualties in the old Borough of Bromley during the Second World War: 27 people were killed and dozens more were injured, many very seriously. The Crooked Billet was rebuilt in 1957 and is now a Harvester restaurant.

The British counter-intelligence had fed the Germans the mis-information that their V1 bombs were landing ten miles too far north, and the consequent adjustments meant that those that were not shot down in “bomb-alley” landed in this part of Kent. Just half a mile north, this side of the Crooked Billet, in what is now Jubilee Country Park, was the Thornet Wood Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, one of a defensive ring of gun sites encircling London during the Second World War. **

 

At this time, there was a ‘wall’ built on Valeswood Road, to keep the inhabitants of The London Corporation’s estate in Downham out of Bromley (or to deter them from taking a short cut – thanks to Downham Estate Having Your Own Patch for the pic). Bromley was part of Kent until the boundary changes of 1965, so the houses in the area still have ‘kent’ in their addresses. At this time Orpington residents were given a vote as to whether they wanted to join the new borough or not.

 

The Crooked Billet V2, Bomb-Alley and Bromley Wall

Another notable event in WW2 was the destruction of the Crooked Billet pub on Southborough Lane, half a mile to the north east, by a V2 rocket on 19th November 1944.  Locals say that they were initially told it was a gas explosion, so they wouldn’t panic at the inexplicable damage from the unknown new weapon.   It was the largest single incident for casualties in the old Borough of Bromley during the Second World War: 27 people were killed and dozens more were injured, many very seriously. The Crooked Billet was rebuilt in 1957 and is now a Harvester restaurant.

The British counter-intelligence had fed the Germans the mis-information that their V1 bombs were landing ten miles too far north, and the consequent adjustments meant that those that were not shot down in “bomb-alley” landed in this part of Kent. Just half a mile north, this side of the Crooked Billet, in what is now Jubilee Country Park, was the Thornet Wood Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, one of a defensive ring of gun sites encircling London during the Second World War. **

Though the Gas Board owned the pit (to put the leftover cinders from making town gas in), much of the rubble from all the building damaged in the bombing was placed in the pit, along with household rubbish.

At this time, there was a ‘wall’ built on Valeswood Road, to keep the inhabitants of The London Corporation’s estate in Downham out of Bromley (or to deter them from taking a short cut – thanks to Downham Estate Having Your Own Patch for the pic). Bromley was part of Kent until the boundary changes of 1965, so the houses in the area still have ‘kent’ in their addresses. At this time Orpington residents were given a vote as to whether they wanted to join the new borough or not.

 

 

do posts appear

collapsed house with airplane propeller sticking out

Neighbouring Local History – Heinkel bomber shot down in Johnson Rd

On November 9th, 1940, a German Heinkel bomber was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and when crashed it on Johnson Road, demolishing two houses. A neighbour described it as "It sounded like a tornado; he shut the door and threw himself down." and the local paper reported "Mrs Button was at the kitchen door and her husband pulled her to safety as their house collapsed.  They both crawled out unhurt.  Both are over 70.  Mr Button, and old soldier, went back and turned off the gas at the mains".
see more...

WW2 artillery men around large gun

Neighbouring Local History – Jubilee Country Park’s Not-so-quiet WW2 role

Just half a mile north, this side of the Crooked Billet, in what is now Jubilee Country Park, was the Thornet Wood Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, one of a defensive ring of gun sites encircling London during the Second World War.
see more...

Neighbouring Local History – Keeping Riff-Raff out… Bromley’s own Class Wall

Bromley's own Class Wall - built iIn 1926, across Valeswood Road/Alexandra Crescent (a private road) , to keep the inhabitants of The London Corporation’s estate in Downham out of Bromley.
see more...

A pile of rafters on top of a pile of debris

Neighbouring Local History – The Crooked Billet V2 and Bomb-Alley

Another notable event in WW2 was the destruction of the Crooked Billet pub on Southborough Lane, half a mile to the north east, by a V2 rocket on 19th November 1944.  Locals say that they were initially told it was a gas explosion, so they wouldn’t panic at the inexplicable damage from the unknown new weapon. The British counter-intelligence had fed the Germans the mis-information that their V1 bombs were landing ten miles too far north, and the consequent adjustments meant that those that were not shot down in “bomb-alley” landed in this part of Kent
see more...

Posted in Local History | Tagged neighbouring-local-history

Neighbouring Local History – The Crooked Billet V2 and Bomb-Alley

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Kerry Hood

A notable event, for the neighbourhood, in WW2 was the destruction of the Crooked Billet pub on Southborough Lane, half a mile to the north east, by a V2 rocket on 19th November 1944.  

A pile of rafters on top of a pile of debris

A pile of rafter and debris is all that remained of the Crooked Billet public house

Locals say that they were initially told it was a gas explosion, so they wouldn’t panic at the inexplicable damage from the unknown new weapon.   It was the largest single incident for casualties in the old Borough of Bromley during the Second World War: 27 people were killed and dozens more were injured, many very seriously. The Crooked Billet was rebuilt in 1957 and is now a Harvester restaurant.

 

The British counter-intelligence had fed the Germans the mis-information that their V1 bombs were landing ten miles too far north, and the consequent adjustments meant that those that were not shot down in “bomb-alley” landed in this part of Kent.

 

Just half a mile north, this side of the Crooked Billet, in what is now Jubilee Country Park, was the Thornet Wood Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, one of a defensive ring of gun sites encircling London during the Second World War. **

book jacket with picture of blue plaque

Book jacket for “Not forgotten the Crooked Billet” with blue plaque

Posted in Neighbouring Local/Oral History | Tagged Crooked Billet Jubilee Park V2 rocket WW2

Remembrance and the Neighbourhood in 1914/18 – Group 4 – St Lukes Roads

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Kerry Hood

Men who died from the local roads in the 1st World War: (group 4 – St Luke’s roads)

<!–more–>

St Lukes Road Group –  households bereaved

See also the interactive map done by A Street Near You, at: https://astreetnearyou.org/
 
The original data to produce these pages came from http://www.bromleywarmemorial.org.uk/

 

 

Bourne Road: (7)

households in the 1909 survey map.

21 Private Greenwood 72902

and

Private Greenwood 9323

Frederick and

George

17/08/1918 (age 21)

and

25/04/1915 (age 28)

Royal Army Medical Corps (53rd Field Ambulance)

and

Royal Irish Fusiliers

21 Bourne Road, 2 brothers lost from 9 children of Charles & Ellen Greenwood, a Park fencer 21
32 Leading Seaman Anderson J918 William John 22/09/1914 (age 23) Royal Navy (HMS Hogue) 32 Bourne Road, 6th of 11 children of George & Elizabeth Anderson (nee Watts), a Labourer in brickworks.  On board HMS Hogue William was in charge of a group of six inch guns and was present at the Battle of Heligoland Bight. The Hogue was sunk by a U-boat on 22nd September 1914 along with her sister ships Aboukir and Cressy.
33 Sergeant Ashlee 9314 Thomas William 15/05/1915 (age 23) South Staffordshire Regiment 33 Bourne Road, a Groom and gardener, married Jean Elizabeth Anderson, one of 5 children of Thomas Wiles & Mercy Emma Ashlee (nee Wood), a Farrier 32
4 Private Wyatt 33698 Henry Ernest Walter 01/12/1917 (age 21) East Surrey Regiment 4 Bourne Road, one of 7 children of John Arthur & Ada Wyatt, a Upholsterer
42 Corporal Lane 1301 Ernest Walter 03/03/1917 (age 33) Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment 42 Bourne Road, an Errand Boy and Labourer, married to Louisa Agnes Dunlop, father to Stanley, Gladys and Louisa, one of 8 living children of William John & Martha Jane H Lane, a Bricklayer

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

6 Private Barker 18949 William Clifford 09/04/1917 (age 30) Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment 6 Bourne Road, a domestic gardener, father to Claude, married to Emily Annie Milstead, one of 4 children of George W & Clara Barker, a Ostler, Gardener 6

 

Elliott Road: (4)

houses in the 1909 survey map.

Private Adams 49918 Edward Lewis 15/05/1918 (age 21) North Staffordshire Regiment 6 Elliott Road, a Carpenter & joiner, conductor of St Lukes Mens Choir, married to Lilian Fostall, father of Eric and Kenneth, himself one of 2 children of Edward Whyte & Harriet Adams (nee Lettington)a Stonemason. He joined the Royal Engineers in June 1916 and went to France in September, 1917, being transferred to the North Staffordshire Regiment. He was admitted to hospital on 13th May, 1918 suffering from acute mustard gas poisoning and died 2 days later
Private Ryan 22234 Charles 17/09/1916 (age 25) Grenadier Guards 17 Elliott Road, one of 5 children of Thomas & Susan Ryan, a Brickfields labourer. 17
Private Anderson G/41651 George 28/04/1917 (age 24) Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) 28 Elliott Road, Laundryman, married Florence Darn, one of 7 children of John & Annie Elizabeth Anderson (nee McDowell), a General labourer/laundress 28
Sergeant Revens 13732 George Samuel 28/10/1915 (age 24) Lincolnshire Regiment 36 Elliott Road, a Gardener’s assistant, one of 8 living children of George P & Louisa Revens, a Gardener.

SergeantGeorgeRevens

Posted in Local History | Tagged remembrance ww1

Remembrance and the Neighbourhood in 1914/18 – Group 1 – Havelock Roads

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Kerry Hood

 

Men who died from the local roads in the 1st World War:

Read more
Posted in Local History | Tagged local-history remembrance ww1

1940s: “My memories of my early life are still so vivid it’s as if we never left…”

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Kerry Hood
My memories of my early life are still so vivid it’s as if we never left, there is so much to tell. You mention the mounds of rubbish and rubble, so I’ll start with that. Much of it was the damage from the bombing during the war. In one place was a large mound where the lorries from the gasworks sometimes used to come and tip the clinker and byproducts from the gas works. Often the local lads used to go and collect bits of coal and coke. It earned quite a few of us a fair bit of pocket money.
 
One particular occasion was when a large general store in the market square was bombed. It was I believe called Edward Isard, much of the rubble was also tipped over there.
Some of the local Mums soon spent some time over there recovering molten bars of soap and other items. However, back to the brickie. My older brother Bob spent some time in hospital with a badly burnt foot, caused when the mound collapsed. the heat generated by spontaneous combustion was terrific. But to younger kids it was the most wonderful playground.
Many of the kids camps were either in the huge patches of Burdock that used to grow there or the older ones made quite large more permanent structures out of the abundance of water tanks.
“God Help You” if you ever went near or touched a camp belonging to another street. Among the rubble there was a constant supply of asbestos sheets that when thrown on any of the numerous bonfires resulted in loud explosions. Be assured I am in no way fantasising or exaggerating, To young kids it was the most fantastic playground you could ever imagine with new material being tipped there on a daily basis. Quite often there would be tipped a tanker of a creosote like product from the local gas works. It lay in the ground like tar. Many a kid had a good hiding after going home with it on your boots, after a couple of days the soles of your boots just fell off.
 
Every November the competition to build the largest bonfire caused many a fight as it was almost a nightly job to nick stuff from anywhere you could find. There was always a large one near the Walwyn road entrance.
 
Reading your oral history brought up just a few of the local names. My grandmother lived at No. 13 Havelock Road, next door was the Crist family of boys from the top was Jackie, Johnny, Dougie and Leslie. A little further up in the last house before the bombsite lived George Aveling and his sister Flossie the other side of the bombsite was the Matholie family and the last house lived Sheila Jarrett Then there was Mr Clapsons Shop (General Store). Directly opposite on the corner of Marlborough lived the Shaddocks family next door to the Danahers Billy, Monty and twin boys, pretty sure there was a sister Margaret also. Coming back down Havelock there was the Luck Family and the Wiles sisters Sylvie and Betty. A few doors further was the Phillips family (quite large in number) I remember the oldest George I believe joined the Guards. Then came Ray Brigden, cousin to Teddy Brigden who lived opposite me in the cottages in Homesdale Road Ted sadly died last year. Next door lived Neville Stubbs who had a printing business and shop in Homesdale Rd. Also his sister Lorna.
 
The Model Railway Factory you mention was located at the top of Homesdale but on the Main Road and was called Graham Farish. They are still in production and are at the top end both in quality and price. There is a stockist near me in East Grinstead called Martells
 
I know I’m flitting about somewhat but you mentioned free coke ? If there was any it never came my way !!  It was regular pocket money for a lot of us. My dad made me a purpose built barrow that took 28lbs of broken coke (that is what you had to ask for when queuing at the window in the gas works). From memory you could get a small coke, broken which was larger lumps and then boiler nuts (they were a form of compressed coal dust and something else) they were the most expensive and burned very hot.
 
The Gas Works was I believe run by a Mr Skudder  who lived in a house just inside the Main Gate and the ticket windows were further along on the left. You bought your ticket and one of the prisoners of war would take you with your barrow under the hopper and dispensed your measured amount. They, the POWs, would be all over the place driving low trucks called Lister trucks.
I had a regular delivery to the lady next door at No 109 Homesdale called Mrs Stokes, her husband was the manager of a large Ironmongers in the High Street called Weeks, Manager or not, he still had to come in the house through the back door AFTER HE HAD CHANGED INTO HIS SLIPPERS AND CLEANED HIS SHOES FOR THE FOLLOWING MORNING. But she was very kind to me. I still remember her giving me a lovely shiny Half a Crown for my birthday in 1943  I dropped it between the floor boards when we were hiding in the cupboard under the stairs. 
My parents continued to live there until my mother died and i moved my father to live near me in Crawley He sold the house to a Mr Hennesey in 1986, I often wondered if he found my half Crown.
 
I think it’s time i stopped rabbiting on but if you are still interested I can clearly recall the Mornington and Walwyn Crowd  And many of those from around Bourne and Jaffray Rd
Quite apart from the Homesdale road lads. Has any body mentioned the large Horses and their tip Up two wheeled carts that used to tip in to the brickfield? They were stabled in Old Homesdale Road at Mackintosh’s Yard  The Night Watchman during the war was a Mr Jerry Hodder From Waldo Road He would sometimes roast a potato for us in his fire.
 
Peter
Posted in Oral History in the Words of Local Residents | Tagged local-history-by-residents

1948: “My Recollections of Raglan Road school 1948 to 1955

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Kerry Hood

My recollections of Raglan Road school 1948 to 1955.

 
I was born at Farnborough hospital in October 1942 and as my mother died giving birth to me and my father was serving in the army my maternal grandmother decided to bring me up.  Unfortunately it did not work out as we never got on well even though she did her best.  I still live in the same Chatterton Road house opposite what used to be Joe Russell’s sweet shop “The Popular”.  I still recall seeing crowds of school children anxiously hovering over the newly installed YZ chewing gum vending machine waiting for someone to use it so that they could claim the two pack bonus for the fourth penny inserted.  What a mad scramble that was !
My time at Raglan Road school commenced in January 1948 and I left to attend Cray Valley Tech. in June 1955 after I passed my 13 + exam. The infants school headmistress was a dietetically challenged lady named Miss Crossley. We youngsters used to throw six inch square bean bags to each other and I made a raffia table mat that my gran used to stand the tea pot on. Each 24th. May on Empire Day we would all march round the playground behind Miss Crossley as she carried a huge Union Jack flag then we would go home as was the case when, on Wednesday 6th. February 1952, the headmaster of the junior school named Mr. Pepper came into our classroom and informed us King George the Sixth had died.  The classrooms were heated by three large black water pipes that ran along the back of each room.
When Miss Crossley retired we bought her a mirror and she told us each time she looked into it she would be reminded of the lovely children.  My favourite teacher was Mrs. Taylor who took a shine to me. Other teachers that come to mind are “Dusty” Miller, Mr. Lewis, Miss Nora Fox, Miss Cosgrove, Miss Kerrigan, Messrs. Jones, Ingward and Hunt, David “Loopy” Lake, “Hoppy” Harwood, “Ripper” Gantley, “Potty” Parsons, and “Percy” Sessions.  The caretaker was Mr. House.
One day we learned that Mr. Pepper’s house in Southborough Lane was on fire so we all rushed round there to gloat.  A thin lady named Mrs. Payne would go from classroom to classroom selling 6 pence and 2 shillings and 6 pence National Savings stamps.  We also used to pay small amounts into a boot club in order to save up for new footwear which we bought from the Co-Op shoe shop on the corner of Addison Road and Chatterton Road. The money was entered into a small yellow booklet.  Miss Fox was very strict and took no nonsense from anyone.  She had no classroom and ran her class just in front of the stage.  Mr. Lewis had his classroom in the corner next to the stage so any children who arrived late for his class had to disturb Miss Fox’s class and got a ticking off from both of them.  The music teacher was a strange “Percy” Sessions.  Several times we went on strike.  On each occasion we waited for him to complete his long piano introduction then as he turned to us to start we remained silent.  After another attempt he gave up.  Peter Woodward took over from him.  David “Loopy” Lake was our PT [physical training] teacher and at the end of term we would play Pirates in the gym.  This consisted of pulling out all of the ropes and each team had to get from one end of the gym to the other using the ropes or wall bars without touching the ground and avoiding being caught by the other team members.  He called me Happy Harry Appley and was a lovely friendly man.  Years later when I worked at the Town Hall and used to sit on the Ivy Bridge near Bromley South station waiting to see the steam trains during my lunch hour he suddenly appeared pedalling his old bike up the hill and had a lovely chat with me.  His favourite saying was  “You frivolous fannies – anyone would think it was friday” and it was !   “Potty” Parsons took us for chemistry and as the science lab. had gas taps on the large benches one of the village idiots would regularly light one of the taps and burn the bench.  One experiment was to make glass “divers” that looked similar to cycle light bulbs with holes in the end.  When placed into a screw top lemonade bottle filled with water the “diver” would sink to the bottom as the top was screwed down then pop up when unscrewed.  He was another lovely master and would give me chemicals to take home and experiment with in my back garden.  In those adventurous days there was no such thing as the Health and Safety curse.  If you blew yourself up it was hard luck !  His favourite saying was “Oh my godfathers”.  “Ripper” Gantley was a nasty man who put me off literature for life.  We had to read certain recommended classics then write preces on them.  I used to cheat and crib other pupils preces but eventually the supply ran out so, in desperation, I wrote about Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  He went mad.
The headmaster of the senior school was Mr. Bullock and I well remember standing outside his office on many occasions waiting to be given the slipper or cane for my endless examples of bad behaviour.  I am not much better now.
We read comics like Beezer, Film Fun, Eagle, Hotspur and, of course, the wonderful Dandy and Beano.
The games we played were marbles, conkers, cigarette cards, five stones [later to be called jacks], yoyo, hopscotch and we made models out of plasticine and glitter wax.  We would sing silly ditties like “Tell tale tit, your mother can’t knit, your father can’t walk without a walking stick” and songs like “Glad that I live am I, that the sky is blue, glad for the country lanes and the fall of dew, after the sun the rain, after the rain the sun, this be the way of life ’till the work be done.” 
Our sports day events were held in Whitehall Recreation Ground and in those days we had winners and losers rather than the present day situation where everyone has to be a winner.  Sometimes we would walk to the Blue Circle outdoor pool in Crown Lane for swimming lessons.  I believe we also went to the lido in Baths Road. A group of us would regularly scale the railings at night and climb over the bike sheds fence and onto the balcony of the lido to swim naked in the large pool. On several occasions the police were called because of all the noise we made but we just hid until they went away.
A lad named Robert Hayward kept bullying me so one day when he was standing at the top of the playground stairs I pushed him off and he rolled all the way down to the bottom of them.  We got on well after that.
In the winter we used to make ice slides the whole length of the playground.  One day when I was sliding someone must have tripped me up and I fell onto the back of my head and was rushed to hospital with concussion.
My gran’s cooking was so awful I thrived on school dinners. The lovely cooks included Mrs. Bartle, Mrs. Paige, and my dear aunts Maud “Sammy” Salmon and Peggy Lewis with Miss Bloomfield as chief cook. To the well known Max Bygraves song “Out Of Town” we would sing “Say what you will school dinners make you ill and Davy Crockett died of shepherds pie, all school dindins come from pig bins out of town.”
The building now the Studio was originally the workshops where Mr. Ingward taught metalwork and Mr. Hunt taught woodwork. Where the garden area now is stood a wooden building where Mr. Jones held his pottery lessons.
Our favourite sweet shop was Townsend’s opposite the Co-Op where we would buy liquorice pipes, gob stoppers, lemonade powder and sherbet dabs. In Wallace Pring’s the chemist we bought penny liquorice wood to chew.  We took empty jam jars to Mr. Stansfield who lived in a gypsy caravan in Chantry Lane and he gave us a penny for each one.  He always wore wellington boots and was the wayward son of Lord and Lady Stansfield.   We walked to the local stream to catch sticklebacks or minnows and climb the ash heaps that were eventually levelled and landscaped to make Normans Park or go to Whitehall Recreation Ground which we called the “rec.” and play on the large swing by Union Road or sail our model boats in the shallow pond where the children’s playground area now is.  When, for example, we cycled in the park the park keeper, Mr. Doggett, would chase after us, much to our amusement and derision.  One of the keepers we nick-named Walrus because of his bushy moustache.  The head keeper was Mr. Sid Mortimer who lived in the house at the corner of Walpole Road and Cowper Road.  How many of you remember the lovely Victorian water fountain near the house that mysteriously disappeared in the 1950s ?  Another pastime of ours was roller skating along the length of Chatterton Road or pushing each other in our home made soap box carts.  
On Saturday mornings many of us attended the Gaumont cinema at Bromley South where, for sixpence, we would sing popular songs before watching features like Zorro, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Dick Barton – Special Agent.  At one time we had yoyo championships on stage and my pal Pete Gilbert, another Raglan Road pupil, won a dart board and I won a cricket bat which I still have.
 In the early days it was a very rough school with many poor and ragged children attending but over the years it has been turned into the high standard and desirable school it now is.  
Despite all my domestic problems I do have very happy memories of my time at Raglan Road school and am very grateful to the teachers who fought hard to teach me my basic knowledge to face the outside world with confidence.  Bless them all – even “Ripper” Gantley.
 
Adrian Appley.
 
Posted in Oral History in the Words of Local Residents | Tagged local-history-by-residents

1940s: “Rubbish from derelict bomb sites … always steaming hot…”

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Kerry Hood

“I have lived in this road since I was five years old, and I am now 81 years.

This park has beneath it rubbish from derelict bomb sites during the war.  It was always steaming hot.  Some parts of the Rec sink (because of this) so it was deemed unfit to build on – I don’t know if the powers that be still know about this – heaven help us if they built on this ground and it started to sink!  I thought I should tell you the history of this land as there are not many of us left in the road to tell this story.  

Before this [that it was a dump] my Grandad used to work in the Brick pit, building bricks, and this is why it was originally called Havelock Brickfields.  It was a large hole until it was used as landfill of the wartime bombing rubbish.”

from a supporter’s email (2018). 

Posted in Oral History in the Words of Local Residents | Tagged local-history-by-residents

Post navigation

  • Older posts

Join us on Facebook

Have your say:

Tell us what you'd like to see in our park; see the pictures and details on What to add to our park page or just jump in and fill in our survey If you don't like surveys, you can just email us

Local History, Photos & Reminisces

Browse our collection of remarkable local reminisces in our oral history pages look at the park's previous incarnation as a working brickpit or a summary of it all here.

See also:

  • Bromley Civic Society
  • Friends of Whitehall Rec
  • Bromley Friends Forum
  • London Friends Network

Check out the Gallery

Early morning landscape by Jon Emmanuel
Landscape by Jon Emmanuel
IYellow Lab Daphne playing with her friend Molly
It's snowing!
evening light over our park
snow angel!
10422371_10152598816492595_4131414265842496626_n
2002jul02 tansy with little cricket bat
2008 double rainbow brickfield
HotBalloon060630-3
033 field water fight
IMG_1001-3
dragging the sledge back up the dip
snowmen and snow forts in 2009
The firemen parachuted in to raise money in 2005
fun-in-the-snow
fun-in-the-snow2
fun-in-the-snow3
fun-in-the-snow4
fun-in-the-snow snowman making
sledging-the-dip
dog in the snow
15jul01_sunset_over_brickfield_havelock_rec.jpg
14jun08 50490 view pink clouds brickfield.JPG
15feb28 dog walkers in field.jpg
andy_loakes_snow_on_the_brickfield.jpg
14jun08 50495 view sunset brickfield.JPG
P1090838.JPG
15jun29_4567-brickfield-field-bindweed-768x1024.jpg
15jun29_4583-brickfield-elderflower-768x1024.jpg
15mar14-brickfield-bulbplanting.jpg
15mar14-di-and-felix-litterpicking-brickfield.jpg
16jan18_volunteers-planting-hedge-brickfield.jpg
16jul18 bug-day-tent-view.jpg
16jun12 big-lunch-tug-war.jpg
16sep12-hoedown-2.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20059-baker-girl-beauty-dancing-1024x768.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20064-andy-emma-connie-pimms-tent-768x1024.jpg
17sep09-brickfield-hoedown-20071-girls-umbrella-rainbowjpg-1024x768.jpg
1924 o-peills-brick-pit-half-mile-SW-Bickley-Stn-looking-S-16386_synch-l.jpg
1940 havelock-rd-bomb-damage-1940-4-e1437292677505-1024x699.jpg
P7190918-3rd-bromley-on-brickfield-1024x768.jpg
see our photos in full size..

Categories

  • activities
  • campaign
  • documents
  • Events
  • front-page
  • History of Roadnames
  • Information
  • Local History
  • Media
  • Neighbouring Local/Oral History
  • News Letter
  • news-items
  • Oral History in the Words of Local Residents
  • scenic-n-wildlife
  • Sponsors
  • Uncategorised

Recent Posts

  • Neighbouring Local History – Heinkel bomber shot down in Johnson Rd
  • WW2 – bombs in Havelock Road
  • Neighbouring Local History – Keeping Riff-Raff out… Bromley’s own Class Wall
  • Neighbouring Local History – Jubilee Country Park’s Not-so-quiet WW2 role
  • A Selection of other Local History in the Neighbourhood

Extras

  • Bromley Civic Society
  • Friends of Whitehall Rec
Proudly powered by WordPress
Theme: Flint by Star Verte LLC