Reigate and Redhill Nostalgia

Thanks to all that have emailed in their reminises about Reigate and Redhill.
Send us any of your memories, you might jog someone elses!

NOSTALGIA 1

Thank you! An excellent site! Makes me quite nostalgic.

I grew up (well, some say I still have that to do) in Redhill in the fifties (nineteen, not eighteen fifties - I'm 57 now) & on my occasional returns to visit family I notice a lot of changes - not all for the better. The town centre has lost some of its character with the demolition of the market hall, St. Anne's & the Tech, etc & what has sprung up in their place is characterless & unappealing.

Your photos are very good & bring back some memories.

I was prompted to search for some local (well, local to you, I live in Melksham, Wiltshire, about 15 miles from bath, where I work) information since I bought a copy of "Frith's photographic memories of Reigate & Redhill" the other day. Of course, Frith’s were based in Reigate, where they produced postcards of all towns in the u.k. the postcards reprinted cover 1880 to 1965. The latter date about the time I moved from Redhill (1967 actually) & shows many views of old Redhill.

Incidentally, I'm glad to see that not all the pubs in Redhill have changed Their names - I didn't recognise some from their modern names, but glad to see that the "Home Cottage" & "Lakers" - I passed them every day for most of my school life, on the way from home, in Redstone park, to "Orme house" School, then in Ridgeway road, & later "Radnor" school, in Linkfield street.
Also, the "Elm Shades" near Redhill general hospital, where I worked. May I suggest that you include the "approved" (i.e. pre-1970's) names of these hostelries, so that oldies like myself know which ones your referring to!

Thanks for your reply, I will check your site regularly.

Bye for now,
Richard Longhurst

 

NOSTALGIA 2

                     Redhill
Don’t Cry for me ^ Argentina

I have always had empathy for Redhill. You see, I spent some of my teenage years growing up at No 7, Ranelagh Rd. My potential girlfriend Evie, lived at No 5, Ranelagh Rd. There is no blue plaque on the wall of No 7 no names or dates to commemorate my passing, Oh no! My passing went unnoticed.

Until one day in 1950, when King George VI wrote to me inquiring whether it would inconvenience me at all to leave my friends, rellies, and potential girl friend Evie, and for the next 2 years serve him in his army in foreign lands. I remember thinking at the time, I wasn’t all that fussed about his idea, but at the bottom of George’s letter was a P.S “Oh by the way, it’s compulsory”.

So, I served King and Queen. You see George died while I was serving him in Germany. I then went to live in London. Almost every weekend for about 6 years I travelled to Redhill to see Evie, my girlfriend. Oh, by the way, she wasn’t potential any more, Oh no! On balmy summer days we used to go for long walks over Redhill Common, and in the winter we used to collect holly and red berries from trees around the edge of the common, or walk over to Earlswood Lakes. Life was idyllic. Would heaven be like this I thought? Sometimes on Saturdays we would walk down Station Road past the little specialty shops, past Market Hall heading for the Odeon cinema. What Odeon cinema? I hear you cry. As a teenager I joined a very large youth orchestra, The Cromwell Road Music Club. It was not so much of a club as a full- blown symphony orchestra. We played at the Albert Hall one year at a Harvest Festival. I was also a member of a little dance band. We played in the Redhill Town Hall on Saturdays for the tweenagers and early thirtysomethings. We called ourselves the ‘Melody Five’ if my memory serves me right there were four of us in the band.

Then one day while the balance of my mind was deeply disturbed I lost my girlfriend Evie forever to someone else, and in 1964 I left for the antipodes to live in exile. Yes it was planned and deliberate. Looking back I wonder why I did not ask myself, “Now are you sure you know what you are doing?”

In the intervening 40 years I have visited Redhill six times. I feel like a time traveller. I cry at what the town planners have done to the Redhill town centre. If you are under 35 years of age, you won’t understand what I am talking about here. I suggest that one evening you turn the TV off, and ask your parents and grandparents what Redhill used to be like, when it was still intact, before it was violated. Sometimes I think the town centre has been custom designed so that other Town Planners from around the country can visit Redhill and observe just how a town centre should not be developed.

What they have done to Redhill would not have been allowed to happen to Reigate. Maybe the planners genuinely do find the architecture of Redhill pleasing, I will never know. For instance who was responsible for the Brabazon building monstrosity? Did they find it more architecturally pleasing to the eye than say the Market Hall? Give me strength! They had a chance to beautify Redhill, and they blew it! These faceless wonders have a lot to answer for. They spent millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money deflowering Redhill.

But thank goodness it’s not all doom and gloom. In fairness I must spring to the defence of the Redhill Town Planners, for when they had finished their work and surveyed enormity of the majestic stuff-up they had created, with a presence of mind I can only admire, hastily threw up a ring road around the town centre so that people can drive in and out of the place without hindrance, and as quickly as possible.

Now I know if you have always lived here, you probably would not have noticed the changes. It’s been agonisingly slow, subtle, creeping, and insidious. A tasteless analogy is like someone peeing on you for 5 years. After the first two years you don’t really notice it anymore………or care.

I am sure some people will accuse me of being somewhat cynical, which of course I am not. Maybe a critic might ask the question ‘Do you find anything about Redhill attractive’ Of course I do the road to Brighton. One critic did suggest that we give the map co-ordinates of Redhill to the Chinese. In reply I suggested in today’s political climate wouldn’t it be far more fruitful if we gave them to the North Koreans.

By the way, I am only kidding about the North Koreans. I don’t know why I get so fired up about Redhill. For heavens sake I haven’t lived there for about 50 odd years. Maybe it was because that’s where I parted company with the ghosts of my youth, and my girl friend, Evie who wasn’t potential any more. I cannot come to terms with the realisation that Redhill will never be the same as I remember it in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Without any doubt they were the happiest days of my life.
Jim Gravina, Brisbane Australia

NOSTALGIA 2

REDHILL the NEXT GENERATION

It saddens me to read the ‘Inside information’ of Redhill on the Knowhere site. Why? because I remember it as a teenager in 1946-50 B.G (Before Graffiti). Maybe the writer has picked the worst observations of Redhill, maybe they are the norm. The comment ‘C’mon guys, Redhill Common is one of the best areas for drinking away from the prying eyes of the local bobby…near the monument” and continuing on “Redhill Common; a burnt-out stretch of land where all the 13 year olds set fire to the dried-up grass, spray paint the monument, and drink cider.

Now as a teenager we did not set fire to the grass on Redhill common. As a teenager Redhill Common was a well worn track taken by many teenagers who took their first painful steps into adulthood walking with their young girlfriends, feeling very self conscious but terribly grown up, sweatily holding hands and daring not to let go, feeling married and believing everyone was looking at them. The Common as I remember it as a teen, was a magical and romantic place, parts of it heavily treed and alive with squirrels and what magnificent colours of the leaves come the autumn and in winter the holly trees with red berries around the perimeter of the common. I still have a photo of my first girlfriend Evie and myself playing around the monument, but I believe now that this is THE place to spray paint and burn the grass. Well whoopee! The writer continues “The bench outside McDonalds where greasy haired children in big coats throw chewing gum and cigarette ends at passers by. Their intelligence leaves me breathless. In my teenage-age years we had very little money. I suppose one very big bonus that we were unknowingly blessed with was that greasy fast foods had not been invented. Teenagers did not smoke in those days either, again they had no money. Life was simple, and everyone was happy to wait for adulthood, it was not thrust upon them. We did not have to buy a place amongst the gown-ups.

Another comment the writer makes, “Halfords car park, for those who enjoy driving to the petrol station next door and back again,” sounds terribly exhausting but nevertheless quite exciting! Again in my time one would be extremely fortunate to acquire their first car before 30 years of age. I don’t really want to write about the Quadrant. It only makes me sad and dreadfully depressed. That was a very public example of the madness of the Redhill town planners. It is dreadful focal point. I read on. “McDonalds and the bus terminus where oversexed teenagers harass old folk” and “The benches outside McDonalds where greasy 15 year old Kevs (whatever they are) hang out and try to look hard”

I feel terribly sorry for these children and teenagers being dealt a life so alien to my teen years and I challenge anybody to convince me the social changes have benefited them or our society. These kids know no different, it is the world they have been born into; as far as they are concerned the world has always been like this. Trust me on this one, it hasn’t!

Another observation I make. As a teenager I lived in Ranelagh Road. I have a photo of myself cycling down that road when I was about 16. There was not a car in sight. Go there today after people have finished work and both sides of the road are jammed with cars. If one wanted to traverse Ranelagh Road only one car can pass at a time. Why is that? Well because when those little terrace houses were built the builders never expected the peasants to own a car so no houses had garages. If you were to park in Ranelagh Road today but not live there, you could cop a fair bit of abuse parking outside someone’s house, as they would like to believe the road in front of their house is their personal parking place and take it as a personal affront if you dare park there. So for piece of mind if you are visiting someone in that street or many other streets in Redhill, it would be more discreet to park in another road even though there might be empty parking spots available. But most towns have a ‘Ranelagh Road’

Older people I am sure will agree with me that young people’s expectations today far exceed their capabilities. I also think society has given them a raw deal as well. In many cases they miss out on their childhood and teenage years. They challenge authority and accepted social behaviour, they have been forced to believe that they are entitled to instant gratification, and without doubt Television has a lot to answer for.

When I was a teenager in Redhill there were two cinemas, the Odeon and the Pavilion. There were the swimming baths, a youth orchestra and dances in the town hall on Saturday’s. I used to cycle for miles around the countryside of Redhill, Reigate, Dorking and Guildford and Brighton. Many weekends I would cycle to Tonbridge in Kent to see my Uncle and Aunt, I even cycled to Cardiff once. At weekends we would walk up Duran Drive to Highlands Road at the back of Hatchlands Road Redhill, along Highlands Road past the allotments on one side and stinging nettles on the other, over the railway bridge up Madeira Walk to Wray common. Or I would spend lazy Sunday afternoons with Evie on Redhill Common, then to the movies in the evening. One needed very little money, looking back I realise it would have been a distraction. No, believe me, sitting outside a McDonalds smoking would not have appealed to me. It seems to me that Redhill HAD to have a one-way road system; it HAD to have a Mall. You see, these things are FAR more important than catering for the young people. A Mall with a McDonalds! Couldn’t they do better than that? Close the cinema and replace it with a night club, you have to be kidding! I would love the kids of today to experience my teenage years growing up in Redhill. They were simple, uncluttered, ordered, safe and memorably innocent.
Jim Gravina. Brisbane Australia