My name is Graham Hackney.

We moved from Wimbledon to Crawley in 1958 (I was a baby) when we opened a new branch of the family business which was Tooting Tyre Service at 7 Horsham Road, West Green. We lived above the depot.

My Uncle, George Mullen (Mum’s Brother) owned the company. My Father Fred Hackney was a Director and ran the Crawley branch along with my Mother in the office. My wider family of Uncles, Aunts and Cousins were also Directors and worked for the company and at its peak we had 13 Branches across the South East from Forest Gate in East London to Brighton. I grew up playing in the spew rubber from re-cutting the treads on tyres and when I left school worked in the company until I was 28.

These photographs show my Father, Fred Hackney outside the depot with one of his Sisters and Brother in-law when they visited from Lincoln, his birthplace. The top photograph shows the Dairy on the opposite corner of Victoria Road.

Here is another showing myself in my Uncle’s arms, my Brother Derick on my Mum’s Lap and my Father far right in the yard of Tooting Tyre Service. My parents were known as Lovie & Fred. She later worked for years in M&S in Crawley.

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