In the late 60's I worked for the off license, Findlater & Prentice, as a delivery driver. The manager was Peter [surname forgotten] Thoroughly enjoyable, delivering to the many t.v. stars that lived there, clothes designer Geff Banks, the bearded actor from Z Cars, Sandy Shaw. I remember the barriered estate, that was closed once a year, to maintain the private status. The roads had speed humps, one time I was rushing to deliver cases of drinks, & several dozen glasses, I drove over the humps too fast, breaking around 150 glasses, Peter was not too pleased. .I remember a very thin house I delivered to, it appeard to have been built in a gap between two existing houses, It was named something like "the thin house" or the narrow house" i worked there for about two yeats, before moving to Suffolk.. Many happy memories

Having just become aware of this archive and particularly noted the photographs depicting the village as it was in the 1930's, I came to wonder just how many of my contemporaries are still, to coin a phrase, in the land of the living. I vividly remember the village as it was in the thirties: I entered the world in July 1929, my parents at that time living at 10 Kidbrooke Grove. I was baptized at she Wesleyan Methodist Church in Banchory Road by the Revd. F Bartlett Lang (who was my father's employer) and attended Invicta Road School from 1934 until 1939. In that year my Mother and I moved to live in Reading with her parents as, in August of that year my Father, as a member of the RAF IVR) was mobilized. Just one of the many memories I have is of of my very first girl friend - Betty Dorvil, the daughter of the owner of a horse-drawn cab that plied for hire at the Railway station. Happy days. I would love to hear from anyone who also lived in Blackheath in the thirties ([email protected])

Lovely site full of fantastic archive material.

But what about the rest of Blackheath? Blackheath Vale, Duke Humphrey Road, Goffers Road, Hare & Billet etc, to the north of the village all sorely missing.

My fiance, Matt, and I are sitting at the Hare and Billet, doing some history hunting about Blackheath. Matt is the son of Roy and Liz Lambert. Roy used to frequent the H&B in the early 80s, and Liz was working behind the bar. The rest is history. Would love to know if there is anyone that met Roy or Liz (Liz was on a working holiday from NZ) during that time, or if anyone has any photos of this pub from that era. You have a fantastic resource with this archive. Thank you for your time and effort.
Rochelle & Matt from New Zealand

Great website, looking for info on the Coach and Horse pub in Blackheath Road (now The Graduate) for my mum who grew up there in the 1930's

Amazing photography!

I found your site and excellent archive after discovering Neil Rhind's books about the village where I grew up. We actually lived opposite Neil's residence in the 50's and up to the mid 60's before having to move away to allow renovation of our home. My interest in my home village has been re-kindled by a postcard on ebay with my mother and I walking away from the bus stop outside Sainsbury's!

I have also found the Blackheath Bugle blog but this does not seem to be active any more. Is there a replacement?

Pleased to see that a new batch has been added, but the wartime album has disappeared

Great but very hidden site. Particularly love the windmill pictures, as I wrote a book on the subject last year. Delighted to see I got most of the important images plus a few more!