My mother’s family movedinto West Wickham fromHither Green, when WestWickham was beginning toexpand. They lived in one of the tinyroads off Croft Avenue; possibly AshGrove, but may be Oak Grove.

My mother was married to my fatherat St Francis Church in RavenswoodAvenue on St Swithin’s Day, 15th July,1939.

At first they lived in a shared house inNorth London, but early on at thebeginning of the war they took thechance to buy a house; 24, Links Road,at a time when people, nervous of thewar, were selling up and prices were alittle cheaper.

My father was called up during the warand my mother and my sister, born inOctober 1940, were evacuated torelatives in the West Country. I am notsure when this was.

During the war the house(s) at thecorner of Links Road and Station Roadwere destroyed by a bomb (there is abig bungalow on the site today.) Ourhouse in Links Road was damaged andall the windows blown out. My motherand sister were in a Morrison Shelterwhen the bomb was dropped.

Her leg was sticking out a bit, and wasscratched, but they were safe. Shedescribed the sideboard after theevent; glass had been blown into thewood and covered it. She was provid-ed with a French polisher who broughtthe furniture back as good as new.Unless she had told us, you would notknow it had been damaged. It is stillgoing strong. - - - - - - - - -

War-time stories; a German planezoomed up the main road firing atpeople – it was very scary.

Once the Americans arrived, mymother was asked out by one of them.By the time she was a married lady.My mother tended, never to say no,but gave, what she thought was animpossible request. On this occasion,she said she never went out with any-one who did not drive her to a dance.The story goes that this young mancame to collect her in a 10 ton lorry.Imagine those tiny cul-de-sacs behindthe present car park oppositeSainsbury’s!

After the war, I arrived on the scenein February, 1947 - shortly after myfather’s return from the war in 1946.I was brought up in West Wickham inthe Links Rd house. It was a wonder-ful upbringing. We children had somuch freedom. We spent much ofour time out playing; sometimes inthe garden, sometimes in the woodsin Woodland Way,

more often in Blake’s RecreationGround, riding around on our bikes(there were few cars at that time).Back doors were always open.

We also had lovely times indoors(when not bickering with my sister!).We played board games, listened tothe radio (wireless), stamp collecting,and sewing. This was the era pre-television. I remember one ‘party’when we were invited to see the firsttelevision. It was a small 9 inchscreen surrounded by a largecabinet. We did not get a TV untilthe mid-50s; I used to visit ourcleaner’s house to watch ‘Championthe Wonder Horse,’ ‘Fury’, and‘Lassie.’

Foundation stones of the current church laid in October 1935

Morrison Shelter

Both my motherand grandmotherhelped in the localkitchen with theWRVS.

By the traffic lights at the Stationthe swimming pool.

I was a keen swimmer and used towalk down to the station and takethe train to Clock House to theswimming pool there.

This was before I was the age of 10,and I would do this alone or with afriend.

We did get a car quite early on. Myfather had learned to drive during hisarmy days. After the war, there werefew cars being manufactured asindustry changed from war manufac-turing to peacetime manufacturing,so people went onto a list. One dayour name got to the top of the list andthere was some panic as we had tofind the money to pay for it. Myparents managed it and we were oneof the earlier families to own a car(even if we did not have TV!)

- - - - - - - - - -My recollections of the shops:

In a position where the traffic lightsare, by the ‘Swan’ was one of thoselovely old Oak Trees. I have littlerecollection of it, and wonder if it hadalready gone, before I was 5.

The site where the library is was awaste heap with wild plants on it. Wesometimes played there.

Glebe Way did not, at that time, openinto the High Street.

Where Iceland stands and the flatsthat they have now constructed, wasopen land. There was a big gapbetween the little shops that lead tothe corner (opposite the library site)and the fish and chip shop (is it stillthere?) the other side of a drive-way atthe far end of Iceland. This was wherethe fair used to set up every year.

In the parade of shops further alongGlebe Way, I remember the originallibrary stood and also the kitchenswhere the school dinners were cookedcentrally andthen distributedto the schools.I cannotremember therest of theshops.

Follow Glebe Way towards ConeyHall. When I was young, this roadwas incomplete – it stopped at thejunction of Silver Lane.

At the top, were two anti-tank con-crete blocks (I think that was whatthey were). Before the war, the cut-ting had been prepared, but I believethere were problems with drainage– it’s not called Spring Park for noth-ing - so it was a wonderful play-ground for us. We could go tad-poling and root around in the poolsand do whatever children do inplaces like that. My father had anallotment, It was accessed fromHawes Lane, but there was a gate atthe top of the cutting, so my friendand I could go with my father andthen into this ‘playground.’

Returning to the traffic lights, turnright towards Wickham Station andyou will see the Post Office, sadlynow defunct, and next door, Boot’s,the chemist. This building was thecinema - I saw Peter Pan there.

It was supposed to be ready for myaunt (who was the same age as theQueen), and then for me. It was finallyready for my sons in the 1970s, but bythen they were not eligible for lessonsas we lived over the border in Shirley,Croydon!

If we return to the Swan Pub and cango down the High Street, on the cornerwith the Grove was Sainsbury’s. It wasa wonderful shop: Each departmenthad a separate counter and you had toqueue at each counter – no plastic bagsat that time. But the best bit was howwe paid: The money was put in a canis-ter and the canister put into a contain-er above on a wire. The canister andmoney was whisked away to the till,money taken and change put back intothe canister. Then it whizzed back tothe assistant and then the customer. Imust admit it was a time-consumingbusiness, but this was a time when fewwives went out to work, so shoppingwas also a time, when friends couldmeet and chat – not in a coffee bar, butin the street.

Further down I remember the firstsupermarket appeared – possibly in the60s. If one remembers Woolworths,there was an entrance to the carparkat the side. Next to the entrance drivewas a small shop. I can’t remember ifit was the first or second one from theentrance. Here was the first super-market. I think it may have been aTesco’s, it may have had an earliername. It was very small, but it was anovelty as you took a wire basket andactually chose the products you want-ed, and paid at the checkout desk, in-stead of having to ask an assistant foryour purchases. At that time it wassuch a small shop.

Opposite, the fire station was in use.

Cinema changed its name 3 times

Glebe Way completed 1956

Location of West Wickham swimming pool

During that time, 1950s, the swim-ming pool site near the station was awilderness - just one shop - an oldfashioned sweet shop with thoselovely big jars full of sweets.

The plans for the swimming pool hadbeen on the books for years.

Building of West Wickham swimming pool

When I started school, since thenumber of children had increasedrapidly, and there was only one schoolat the time; Hawes Down, my firstschool was behind Woolworths. It isnow a Special School, but, at the time,it was an overflow for the Infants. Wehad a wonderful teacher, Miss Grossick(that is how it was pronounced, but Inever knew how it was spelled) and thegrounds were lovely to have as a play-ground.

Ultimately Oak Lodge Primary Schoolwas built and opened. Children at thatend of the village were moved into OakLodge and those of use close to HawesDown moved up there. The infantschool was in the same position as theyare to this day, with two separate,hutted classrooms in the positionwhere the Junior School now is. TheJuniors shared the two story-buildingat the opposite end of the school fields.The juniors were on the top storey andthe secondary school was on theground floor. I am told that there wasa cellar underneath and it was possiblefor boys to go down by sneakingthrough a trap door in the floor andcome back up into another classroom.

While we were there a canteen and twoclassrooms were built for the juniorsbetween the juniors and the infants.

We had plenty of space to play.Marbles were very popular in theschool.

There was a little groove between thewooden side of the garden and thepathway which was wonderful for thegame. We also played skipping – withsingle ropes and the long ropes withseveral girls playing together. We likedto do the ‘bumps’ (allowing the rope toturn twice between jumps).

School dinners at first were in a neigh-bouring building on the site, I’m notsure where, but possibly roundtowards Hawes Lane and into a hut.(Food was brought from the centralkitchen. Later the new canteen includ-ed its own kitchen.) We sat on forms,shoulder to shoulder. When we ate wehad to keep our elbows close to ourbodies – there was so little room. Foodwas plonked on our plates and we wereexpected to eat everything. There wasa gorgon of a dinner lady, who keptguard on the pig bin (yes it was a binfor waste food to go to feed the pigssomewhere), to stop children throwingfood away. We had names for some ofthe food; tadpoles for tapioca puddingto name just one.

Of the teachers I remember:Miss Washington – head teacher of theinfants and Mr T.O.Tapp, headmasterof the juniors. There was also a MissStaines and Mrs Woodrow (Wardrobe!)in the infants. In the juniors wasMr Dixon an older teacher who mayhave served in the Army, but I neverreally knew for sure – we were notcurious and he never spoke of it if hehad served, and Miss Richardson(a scary lady). If boys were naughtythey might get the slipper, but girlswere threatened with Miss Richardson.(Girls were rarely naughty!). Mr Maish(or Mash) was the teacher for the old-est children. He was more lax than MrDixon. He had a slipper nailed to theblackboard as a threat! I don’t remem-ber that it was ever used. There were 2classes for each year, but there wasalso another small class of boys. I havethe thought that the boys were fromthe local boys’ orphanage – but I neverreally knew who they were. It seems tohave been a special class

I do remember one occasion when wewere in trouble. We were in the topclass. We had those lovely slammabledesks with inkwells that had to be handfilled. Often blotting paper would beadded into the ink. These could then beused as pellets. We had anotherteacher for this particular lesson andsoon ink pellets were being flicked allaround the classroom using rulers. Imust admit I indulged in flicking one ortwo. The class was in trouble whenMr Maish returned. We all had to ownup and got an appropriate punishment,but I can’t remember what it was. Mygrievance was that I got the samepunishment as the main culprits.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

In about 1957 our family moveddown to South Eden Park Road at theEden Park end, near the house partof the St David’s College. Weneeded a bigger house so that myGrandmother could have two rooms;a kitchen and bedsit. I felt rathercut off from my friends inWest Wickham.

However the garden backed onto thewoods, some of which belonged tothe St David’s and the woods to theCouncil (I think). It was a great placeto play and climb trees.

There was also a stream (whichflowed beside the White Hart Pub).

We had wonderful times playingthere and frequently came homesopping wet. I liked playing ‘howdeep can you go in the streambefore the water goes over the top ofyour boots!’and hunting understones for creatures. My mothersometimes struggled to find dryclothes for myself and my friends.But this is really not part ofWest Wickham.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

West Wickham High Street 1940s

West Wickham High Street looking towards the oak tree

Pam Preedy