Sydenham Town Forum

Hi Robert, thanks for your offer. I for one would like to see any images of Mill Gardens and the surrounding area that you care to share with the forum. (But don't ask me how you do that. I've got a bald patch from scratching my head!.) My parents and I moved out of the area in 1957 when we had our ...

Hi Julia, I'm sorry to learn of the passing of your father. He must have died shortly after your grandmother Doris. What a traumatic time for you. Terry and I were mates during our young formative years. We were 13 years old when our paths started to diverge. That's when I went off to a new school ...

Will it be third time lucky? Hopefully this will provide a link to a photo of the children of St Philips primary school taken in either 1948 or 1949. I have no memory of the names of these youngsters, however I do remember the girl in the middle of the front row. Her dress was made of a deep red ...

Thanks perryman. No it's not you, It's me. Clearly I have not got the hang of posting images. But I will do it!
It may take just a little while yet. David.

Dear James, We have already spoken privately but I should also like to pay a more public tribute to your mother. Muriel was my Sunday school teacher at the London City Mission on the corner of Bradford Road. The classroom was downstairs under the main hall. On the wall was a framed picture of the ...

I posted my first contribution to the forum on the 27th October 2016. I was a total novice [still am], having then just bought my first smartphone. My attempt to include a photo was of course a failure. So let me now attempt to send a link to the photograph of my classmates and I, standing on the ...

Hi Maureen, Yes it certainly was a different era, one of 'waste not, want not'. And I know that as a youngster Mabel signed 'The Pledge' to abstain from all intoxicating liquor. Her mother Martha was strictly religious, as was all that side of the family and was a stalwart of the London City Mission ...

I concluded my first post to this site by saying; 'Now Olive Smith....well Olive is another story...'. What follows is part of her recollections of life in Wells Road and Bradford Road, c.1925. Just as the photos posted by Falkor and Steve Grindlay picture the built environment, so I hope that Olive ...

Hi expat James, Thanks for that, Barry was a particular mate of mine, but I never knew that he had a younger brother. I do remember that his dad worked in Wells Park. We both attended Kelvin Grove junior school and both went on holiday together when our class had a weeks holiday in Swanage. It was ...

I'm posting this in response to Julia Field's request for memories of her father, Terry Field, who lived in Bradford Road. Julia, the fact that you are asking suggests to me that your father is no longer with us. He and I were childhood mates and I do hope that I'm wrong. There was a group of us all ...

Hi Maureen, Yes I noticed that Julia Field had contributed a post and I fully intend to reply to that. My mum's family moved to 4 Taylors Lane some time before the outbreak of the second world war. VE Day must have been a time of great rejoicing and I would expect that folk were busy dashing around ...

Hi Maureen, I'm full of good intentions and want to include something of Olive Smith. But before that, a little more of Mabel and other folk who made up our local community. Mabel had a friend named Doris Bradford. Doris married George Field, probably during the second world war. It was during this ...

Hi Maureen, like you I have photos that I would love to share. My problem is that I don't know how. I've been caring for both parents and it was only last year that I found I had the time to delve into the modern digital world. I bought my first smartphone in August and then a laptop three weeks ago ...

Hi Maureen, I'm glad to have made contact through the forum, even if I had recalled the 'wrong' Smith's. It's a very common name. Your reply has reminded me that your mum Mollie, and Babe Brooks often featured in Mabel's memories. You also speak of your contact with the Dales. Your post of the 23 ...

The Prospect Place topic is a time warp taking me back to my childhood in the late 1940's and early 1950's. And by remembering what my parents told me it takes me even further back. So many names are mentioned, friends, family, neighbours, folk at the London City Mission, people that I either knew ...

Mum was working in the scullery when she heard the sound of an aircraft. The air raid sirens had not sounded so she had no idea if the aircraft was one of ours or not. She was not taking any chances; scooped me up out of the cot and made a dash for the shelter. Once outside she could see a German ...

Hi decchips, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond to you. Home for the first eight years of my life was one of the smallest of the Wells Cottages. Open the front door and you were in the bedroom. A connecting door led to sitting room. Attached to that was the scullery. Outside was a small ...

Hi, my name is David and I'm new to the forum, and I've still to delve in and see what memories it holds. I was born in one of the Wells Cottages close to the Taylors Lane entrance to the park. I was one of that band of feral urchins that used to play in road and up in the monastery woods. Other ...