My family’s memories start with my mum taking me to be weighed at the Baby Clinic held at the Monte, I have a 1947 newspaper cutting of a party at the hall with all the mums, toddlers and babies. The announcement of Crawley being selected for a New Town was…
Marion Cecilia Buckett was born on the 2nd April 1892 in Brompton Kent. She married Reginald Milton Crowe in Horsham in 1925 and they lived and worked at 57 High Street, Crawley.From 1924 – 1968 Reginald is registered as being a Print seller and Picture Frame Maker. Involved in the…
by Martin BastoneTilgate Park with view of the lake. CAMPBELL’S LAKEMy earliest memories of Tilgate Park are from the mid sixties when I joined the cubs at their hut in the woods. These huts were previously army barracks and were cold and damp but, as we were required to jump…
Lyons BakeryDuring the summer of 1966 I worked a week of twelve-hour night shifts at the bakery operated by J. Lyons and Co. in Telford Place, off Southgate Avenue. This was a famous restaurant chain and food manufacturing company, founded in 1884, which would later be a pioneer in the…
London Road Bingo My older brother was friendly with the son of the owner of the Railway Hotel in Crawley and together the two young men ran twice-weekly bingo sessions at the Sea Cadets hut near to the old Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers depot on London Road, in Northgate.…
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…
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…
