Sydenham Town Forum

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/20909292409_f1d30066fe_z.jpg Upper Kirkdale by Michael Viner , on Flickr Sherlomi-For some reason there aren't many old photos around(or that have ever turned up) of the top of Kirkdale,formerly Sydenham Hill Rd..Here is a Judges postcard from the late 1960's of t...

Dear Bill,Here is a photo of your stepfather S.H. Hall's hairdressers at 84(not 76) Wells Park Rd-it's the shop with the bike parked outside. The photo was taken in 1953,a few years before demolition,which was around 1957/ 1958.To the right is the United Dairies, looking decidedly worse for wear.On ...

Here are a couple of photos of the Forest Hill Lawn Tennis and Swimming Club in Perry Rise(incidentally,the Getty archive photo IS the club) which was behind Queenswood Rd./ the houses at the top of Perry Rise/the Prince of Wales Pub/Shaw's Cottages. Paxton Rd. was built on the site in the 1990's. T...

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8736/16761217438_9049464a24_c.jpg Kelvin Arms by Michael Viner Re.' The Kelvin Arms ' beerhouse/off license on the corner of Kelvin Grove-here is a scan from a nice (& rare) postcard I found showing it close-up;the same Barclays beer advert seen in the Steve's pho...

Re.the 67' plane crash tragedy-as a very small child I was taken to see the funeral cortege in Wells Park Rd by my mother (although I was too young to remember) Here is the diary entry by my dear Mum,Joan Viner (1925-2011) for Friday 16th June 1967.We were living in Oaksford Ave. then. "Took tw...

Here are a couple of photos of Beechgrove. Firstly a c1905 photo and then an early 70's colour photo taken around the time of the New Scotland Yard filming (courtesy of the Dulwich Society magazine) You'll notice the ramp for wheelchairs that was added in the 1950's when it was the Red Cross Home Fo...

I forgot to add that there is a typically good history of c.1862- built Beechgrove by Steve Grindlay on his Sydenham and Forest Hill History blogspot-just google 'Beechgrove Sydenham Hill'.

While watching the old early 70's TV crime series New Scotland Yard on DVD recently(New Scotland Yard-The Complete Series 3,available on Network DVD) I was pleasantly surprised to see Dulwich Park featured as a location in one story(Diamonds Are Never Forever) and truly amazed,when a few episodes la...

Dear Chjajo,Your neighbour is quite right,it was a centre for AIDS patients in the 80's(late 80's,I think) I remember going to a fund-raising jumble sale there once,that's all I can tell you or remember about it really. Good luck in your new home and hope you enjoy living here in Upper Sydenham! Kin...

Hello there-here is a sketch from 1930 (from the Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette 10th Oct.1930) of the missing pair of charming timbered cottages 32 & 34 Willow Way, on the left It is the only known image of it You'll recognise the other pair on the right from the photo you put up of i...

Dear Conker,Thanks for sharing your great memories of Willow Way-yes, that waste ground/empty land was still there when I was a boy in the late 60's/ early 1970's-it was a favourite play area for my late twin brother David and I-we used to love to play 'war' there- wearing our soldier dressing- up o...

Hello there-re.the photo of 36-52 Willow Way,which was taken on 27th November 1952 .These were the last old houses in Willow Way to be demolished-they survived until 1977(I knew a family who lived in one of them) whereas all the other old Victorian cottages-some of them timbered and quite picturesqu...

Dear Carolyn, Here's another photo of Sydenham Childrens Hospital showing a lot more of the nursing staff-it's a lovely one of the hospital's Christmas Teddy Bear's Picnic,December 1957,taken in one of the wards upstairs.I hope you like it and hope your Mum is in it.There's a couple of pretty young ...

Here's a photo of the then new rocking horses at Sydenham Children's Hospital in November 1960.The horses had been collected by the hospital's League Of Friends and had been painted and restored by pupils from Kilmorie School. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7392/9155182932_fe7fd42153_c.jpg Sydenham-C...

Here's a photo of Prospect Rd's Coronation Party,6thJune 1953.It's taken near the top of the road on the left(from Wells Park Rd.) i.e. the odd numbered houses.The houses behind the people are,I think possibly No. 5 and No. 7. The dark wavy- haired chap smiling and holding the toddler on the left is...

Dear Brannan,Thanks for more great photos! You just beat me to it with the nice photo of Muriel Tripp in the back garden of 8 Prospect Rd. I have a very similar one, taken 8 houses down on the same side at No.24 and around the same time,too.It shows my friend John Millers'uncle Frank Miller in the b...

Dear Brannan,Yes you're absolutely right-it's the back of the houses(3,I think) that were between St.Phillips School and the church.I have a photo from 1963 of the front of the house on the right with the wonderfully distinctive bendy-look chimneys.Where your family are standing was an overgrown bit...

Dear Brannan,Glad to be of help.My 1931 Kelly's Directory of Sydenham&Forest Hill has,as resident of No. 121 Wells Rd.(they only listed the 'head of household' nearly always the husband,unless a widow or spinster)' Lowing Hy(Henry?) Tripp,Removal Contractor'. 121 and 123 Wells Rd. were unquestio...

Sorry,in my last post I should have said the first CLEAR(ish) photo of the shop on the corner of Oaksford Ave..The top of it,mostly the roof&chimney, can be seen in a c.1905 Wells Rd. postcard reproduced on page 78 in John Coulter&John Seaman's 1st book of archive Sydenham&Forest Hill ph...

Dear Brannan,Thanks for another wonderful photo! Yes that's St.Philips Church in the background.Your grandfather is standing in Wells Rd. at the junction with Oaksford Avenue.The house on the left is 119 Wells Rd., one of the three terraced houses between 'The Wells'(a small part of which can just b...