ver 2 hours - on a good day!

nal. I met my wife through this organisation and she came from Townsend Road and her father worked at Southall Station. He used to look after the animals which arrived at the station for Billy Smart's Circus. Billy and his family lived in Southall. I saw Dare Devil Peggy (sometimes called Peg Leg Pete) at the shows in Southall Park. We were evacuated from Southall in 1944 and take to Burton on Trent.

My wife and I now live in the New Forest. My wife
also worked in Dorothy Perkins, the Jewish owned(Mr and Mrs Shack)ladies clothes shop and Harolds Sports shop all in the High Street.

The famous singer Cleo Laine came from Southall and I remember her at the Drill Hall at Hayes Bridge singing with a band called the Modernaires which I believe was organised by the record shop at the other end of the High Street, just passed the Three Horse Shoes pub (opposite the Fire Station). There was also an exceptional jazz club at The White Hart pub on a Tuesday evening as well as the Crane River Jazz Club at Cranford.

I could go on and on as we lived there for more than 25 years!

e cousin Beryl from South Avenue Gardens married Cleo's brother Alex who was a good jazz drummer as well as a very good singer. It was him that interested me in modern jazz although my original style was Dixieland which accounts for my visits to the White Hart and the Crane River at Cranford.

Good Old Days!

y (nee Tope) www.bigbucksgroup.co.uk

ked for Nellie Beach who was at Hounslow.

My family also knew Billy and Charlie Smart of the circus fame.
Billy use to have a site at Norwood Green and it was interesting to learn that after the second world war Billy's first circus was held in Southall Park. My mum Doll Thompson use to know Billy's son Ronny quite well.

As a kid from Southall I am proude of my heritage and it's history, which I have convayed to my grandchildren who are eaqually interested in our family history.<< less

e rest of our party were completly out of the picture, as the come from Staffordshire.

ng miles from anywhere, the canal and open fields made it feel almost like being somewhere other than a suburb of London.
The Dairy buildings are long gone and the site is being developed into the biggest Mosque outside Mecca......... Southall RIP

ed with beautiful light standards and lights. There are now excellent new housing estates been built. Southall has become a world specialist centre much sought after by people seeking a curry nosh or quality textiles specialist foods or jewellrey. Industry has been in decline nationally but we still have Quaker Oats and other specialist food manufacturers that have come in to the area. contrary to your belief we have eight active christian churches in Southall, St Johns, Holy Trinity, St Anselms, Kings Hall, St George, St Marys, Baptist and Christ the Redeemer ( my apologies to the other denominations I have not mentioned ). we have one main Mosque and a muslim cultural centre. ( I wouldn't say it rivalled Mecca ). You failed to mention that Norwood Farm Dairies was sold to the Sikhs for them to build the Guru Singh Sabha on the site. There are three main Sikh Gurdwaras and two centres. there is also a Ravi Dass centre and two Hindu Temples (mandhir). So all beliefs are catered for in Southall not just the Muslims. Southall has become a multicultural town where people live in peace and harmony which is more than I can say about other parts of the country or the world.
Of course ther is room for improvement; isn't that true of other areas that is why we have a regeneration project in progress. Yes I still get my milk from the smae milkman we had 35 years ago he decided to stay around!
Derek.

mit it, parking is out of the question (too many untaxed and burnt out cars taking up spaces), The Broadway is a permenant traffic jam, the streets are filthy and covered in rubbish, oh please lets have more towns like Southall......... ah perfection

nsed cars and burned out cars littering the streets is a national problem even to the extent that green belt land is being littered with such vehicles. I can say that there has been many estates of good quality housing built in Southall recently :- lancaster Road extension, Southall football ground, the old Adelaide depot site and Top Locks to name a few. Traffic congestion is also a national problem. you only have to go onto the M25 to prove my point. You try to get through any town in the UK these days, impossible. Contrary to your belief my eyes are wide open.
D.

and is as close to two major towns as Southall is to London.

lors,Butlers on the corner of South rd and Broadway, and many more too long to list.We had Snells farm down Dormers Wells Lane and does anyone remember the house next to Dormers wells School with its immaculate bowling green.We left Southall 10yrs ago because we didn't feel it had anything left for us.But everything changes and for people of our age it's harder because we remember the way things were.We are now in rural Lincolnshire and its a bit like living in the past so it suits us.I still miss Southall in some ways but after a visit am always pleased to come back to Lincs.Bye the way my mother-in-law was born in The Plough Public House in North Rd. in 1901.

ach in the winter hardly seeing a soul but have never felt vulnerable. Nowhere is perfect but i'll settle for what i've now got.At least i can sleep at night.

he filth everywhere.Maybe I'm wearing rose coloured glasses too when looking back but i don't think so.

e 60's and when I had a family of my own, and I felt a minority, I knew it was time to leave, my children were outsiders in their own town. The Southall of my childhood was a safe place apart from the odd flasher. I would spend all day wandering in the golf links looking for frogsporn or golf balls,scrumping apples from the posh houses away from the council estate where I lived, or climbing the trees in Dormers Wells Lane. I built cubby houses on the dump (where an old people's home is now built) and hung around 'the green' until it was dusk. We didnt need TV as there was always something to do. I moved with my family overseas and now live in a safe city where my children dont know what it is to be afraid to go out after dark and the streets are free of litter. The last time I visited the UK, I rode the bus from Hounslow to Southall then Greenford. The bus was very crowded and I could feel the animosity between passengers. I could have cried at the neglect I saw around me - shops boarded up and rubbish everywhere. There is no pride in the town any more - it has lost its identity.

she lost what would probably now be a very valuable bracelet during one of our walks.
From memory it was not the tidiest place even then but I must agree that Mr Woolf and his rubber factory started the decline of the Borough.

ere for possibly 30 years with her husband Vic who also came from Southall and worked at Victoria Sawmills at Hayes Bridge. When you mention Butlers menswear I was one of the many men who used to queque up on a Saturday evening to get the fist copies of the football results. We now live in the New Forest.

m for my first baby from the pram shop on the corner of either Abbots or Oswald Rd.Think the shop was called Evans.Also remember The Mart. and The Arcade where they built the new Post Office.Used to be a Dollies Hospital there when I was a young girl,you could get your dolls repaired if you broke them.Also a Jewish owned Ladies clothes shop on broadway I think next to Saxon Rd.They would never let you out of that shop until you bought something.You needed courage to enter that emporium.There are many good memories of growing up in Southall.

ely on you love" I knew it didn't but didn't have the courage to say anything.I was young and easily intimidated in those days. Funny how certain things stick in your mind even after all these years.Thanks for the memory.

Southall Mart. My wife and I got married in 1957 and moved to the edge of Eton Playing Fields in I think it was 1965. We now live in the New Forest!

ll be. Having said that- to add to memories. Dances at Southall Town Hall- one advertisement was for Johnny Dankworth and the big 15 pieces of dance band. The Victory pub was pretty decent. The yobs in those days were just noisy that was all. Used to board with a Miss Rose on Featherstone Rd. She told me that the Salvation Army band used to stop playing when it passed her house. This was in memory of her late father. My everlasting contempt goes to those responsible and even more to those who deny, deny, deny. Cheers.

charles edwards and came from ascort gardens southall, its a sorry sight now,my autie was doll (doris clayton) who worked making bombs during the war, and i went to lady margret school does anyone remember us love to hear don

mber the havolock pub;the high street and the railway station.
i would love to know if my old school is still there
mabe i will pay a visit in the new year

o open their front door, let alone venture out at night.

Southall was a thriving town in the 50's and 60's with so much to offer. A selection of cinemas, lovely parks and shopping there was fantastic - especially Southall Broadway.

I used to spend most Sunday nights at the Community Centre where we saw all the top groups and we also had a lot of the top performers of the 60's at the Dominion.

If only Southall could have stayed just as it was - I for one would still be there now.

over to `New Southall` off Lady Margaret Road (where my mum still lives), and I can remember her crying every day for months cos she hated it so much. My dad worked for Quaker Oats for 25 years, untill his retirement and mum worked at Walls until it closed down. I moved away 16 years ago and I must admit that when I visit mum, I have no desire to return, I`m afraid I agree with the other writer, the place needs to be flattened and rebuilt!

orner diane squires and gmother lived.some of my primary school class came from council houses on left as you go in from dormers lane.went took photos of estates there 9 yrs ago and of primary sch now..dormers lane had badfog to bus stop uxbridge rd1950s coal changed to smokeless fuel.little row of shops down hollow brick wall all around at your green..bunny pk links bridge tubes shape and paddling.ice cream parlour..see high spire ahead..

ples home..aunt sis worked old peoples home years they loved her she did long hours .was ada hahnen sister..looks like they were built about 1930s whereas prefabs 1947.I was 13 ...8th parade...1952 to 1958 and they stayed on longer.dr cohn the doctor over by our corner.walk down old windmill lane to shops and little covered mkt at buses turn.squires lives village islip northampton in sales divorced grandchild.she is on school reunite.left dorm 1965.best wishes to you and uncle

de gate back prefabs..sports day 3 leg etc..2 have contacted me on juniors side...couple lads.but senior split school...times table chant..copy exact handwriting fashio of the school board then..3.15 pm bbc watch mother 5 different days..have photos me 5yrs old awalk over bunny park..got latest prospectus of 3 dormers.and went took photos of any chages

Roy. Do you remember families named Grimes and Dunham from Panhard? Clarke, Garaty, Johnson, Buckland, Workman, Langley, Lee, Dowling from Faraday? Look forward to hearing from you. Janice

family. Andrew Grimes was the same age as me. When I was first married I lived in Susses Road Southall and I think the Grimes moved somewhere over that side because I saw Mrs Grimes once pushing a pram with Myra's baby in it. I also remember Mrs Dunham who lived a couple of doors away from me. I remember Mr Young's sweetshop in Faraday Road. I stole a halfpenny chew from his shop once but couldnt eat it because of the guilt ! I remember making cubby houses on the 'dump' opposite his shop. They have since built an old people's home on the land. You can contact me at my email address by logging onto the Friends United site under Dormers Wells High School. If you went to Dormers, have you checked out this site ?. You can look for ex pupils of both the Dormers Senior and Primary school. regards Mary

Whatever happened to Myra? I had a schoolfriend (Keith Brant) who lived in the prefabs that were knocked down to make way for the new estate - I'm not sure whether it was an improvement or not. My only other memory of the Golf Links was during 1972, when I was working as a gardener for the council and used to tidy up the flower beds (they were mainly trampled mud). In my breaks, I'd go and see Sue Broome and her mother for tea and a chat (can't remember the name of the block but it ran along the Greenford Road side of the estate).

fish, all kinds of newts and collect our frog spawn. We also used to find many golf balls in the bushes. In the winter we also went skating on the pond!

and also before at old cottages by southall rec..see dormers site free.mrs bowles games but mrs short took over

pretty tough in those days. Classmates included Colin Walker, Mick Ager, Paul Little, Billy Brooks, Tom Stratford, Johnny Eagle, Jeff Everett, Brry Mead, Stanley Wilkinson. Teachers included Jeffreys (biology) and Nobby Clarke (physics).

nybody knows there where abouts please let me know.

nybody knows there where abouts please let me know.

Reply

from terry bates now living in dorset but moving to spain in the next 6 months

up.not sure if maurice is alve still. what a small world we live in.
Regards Steve Hill ( formerly 163 northcote ave)

granddad..n green rd searcy .hughes.unwin.then the church

rstone was a wicked laugh! Anyone remember the lovely Mr D Jones - all the girls would checking him out! What is everyone else up to? Does anyone know who Im even chattin about? Anyway, hope I've jogged someone's memory. By the way, Drama with Mr Hammond was a laugh, there were some safe teachers. By the way if there are any Pakistanis - from Southall who have sometime to spare can I interview you? I'm doing research on Pakistanis from Southall and their leisure and tourism experiences and attitudes. I'd appreciate any help or comments from anyone interested. Laters!

DUDE !.

ALL THE BEST !.

LIVED ALMOST NEXT DOOR TO EACH OTHER IN THE PREFAB ESTATE ON THE GOLF LINKS ESTATE.ONE OF EARLY GIRL FIRENDS AT THAT TIME WAS THE LOVELY MOLLY NEWBURY WHO OF COURSE MARRIED TEACHER PERCY RUSSELL AND WHENT TO LIVE I BELIEVE IN WHAT WAS RHODESIA. FOND MEMORIES. DO HOPE THIS FILLS THE GAP AND IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE OF OBTAINING A COPY OF THE PHOTOGRAPH I WOULD BE OVER THE MOON.HOPE YOU ARE KEEPING WELL AND EVERYONE
MENTIONED IS HAVING A HAPPY LIFE REGARDS

of Miss Chapple,Mr Payne,Miss Headdon (Mrs Hanvey).Also serving were Miss Mills, Miss Dry, Miss Bush etc.

n her front garden, lovely lady.Molly may remember me as I was the goalkeeper in the school football team, under those great managers, Mr Rogers and the Headmaster Mr Blanchard.As for any plays Arthur produced, I was no Larry Olivier so the best he could ever offer me was as a scene shifter in his production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.I do hope you are all in good health, and are having a happy life.Look forward with geat joy to hearing further news, kind regards

ther Roy played John in Arthur's production of Peter Pan and he also holds happy memories in mind. The last time I heard anything about Molly and Arthur was in the 1960s when my parents moved house and found themselves living next door to Arthur's sister Wyn and her husband Jim. Please give Arthur and Molly my best regards. Janice Johnson

n off together! By the way, Janice, I'm also on that old photo of Miss Roberts class at North Rd round about 1949 - I'm the one with the awful ringlets - and I can remember most of the names. We were all so young and unwordly then, not so streetwise as today's kids, but we had fun.

planets suite gradually.1960 to 66...my 32 yrs school career the c of e school is still wonderful today and latest prospectus of dormers looks splendid achieving great modern strides

in the winter. I think MRS JEFFERIES was an assistant - she used to accompany us when NITTY NORA came to check our heads for lice. She also used to hand out milk during the school holidays. Happy days.