Part-time and temporary jobs in the 1960s When I was a pupil of the Thomas Bennett School (1959-1966) I was originally given a half-crown (two shillings and six pence or £0.125) a week as ‘pocket money’ by my parents, which would have bought me five Mars Bars, (had I been…
Cyril Victor Burr was born in London to parents James Arthur and Julia Hannah Burr on the 5thJuly 1908. In 1939 he was living with his father in Battersea and working as a printer. In 1941 he moved to Crawley where he worked in agriculture at Tysons Nursery to help…
After we had to stop our talks programme due to Covid-19, we are pleased to announce that our monthly talks are back. Crawley MuseumTuesday 30 November 7.00pm ‘The Other Princess Beatrice: Victoria’s Youngest Daughter and Her Circle’. Dave explores the life, family and friends of Princess Beatrice, including Eugene the exiled…
Iyadh: I’m Iyadh Daoud. I’m originally from Iraq, Baghdad. My mother was a head teacher and my father was an army officer. Thankfully I had excellent education. Free education. State education. And at the end of secondary school I got through the Baccalaureate and got a scholarship to come to…
MY NEW HOME – CRAWLEY Before I can talk about Crawley, I have to mention my first trip to England! I was born in India in 1950 but my parents moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1953. My eldest uncle was apparently supposed to go, but he backed out…
My MS Diary (almost) No Sartrean Yesterday my partner and I partook of our weekly visit to the town centre. This ‘visit’ may not be on the same day every week but we feel a need to get out once a week. Our route around the town centre is very…
Mr Beenie came to the UK in 1967 from Gujar Khan, Pakistan. He started working for Gatwick Cars in 1979 and retired in 2017. Q. What other ethnic groups were at Gatwick? When I started working there were mostly English drivers, one Moroccan guy, a few Pakistanis and Indian. In…
Q. What year did you arrive in England? I arrived on the 23rd January 1967 from Azad Kashmir Q. What year did you start at Gatwick Cars? I started in 1984 and then left in 1991 – due to the Gulf War. I relocated. Q. What did you enjoy about…
Growing up in Crawley in the 1970s I knew only two people that were a different colour from me, and they were brother and sister. My primary school was therefore almost 100% white. Indeed it was so white, on one fateful day in 1976 I found myself being held down…
I moved to Crawley fifteen years ago, having lived in Manchester for five years before doing so, and the first 31 years of my life in Leicester. I had pre-conceived ideas of what Crawley as a new town would be like. When I was small I had relatives in Milton…
