Beckenham History
June 14th, 2010 Posted 8:18 pm
Peter now in Vancouver sent us his story about his life in Beckenham. His family of parents and children, Elizabeth born 1920, Peter born 1922 and Maurice born 1928 moved into number 12 Eden Way in 1930 when it was a brand new semi. ‘The Green’ behind their house was part of the grounds of the newly built Bethlem Royal Hospital but it was there that they played. Peter’s friend, Geoff, lived opposite at number 9 and they all went to Marian Vian. Soon Elizabeth (Betty) and Geoff started at the County Schools but Peter and later Maurice went to Balgowan Central, Peter from 1933 to 1938 and Maurice from 1939 to 1944. The school had been taken over as a military hospital in WWI and when it was reopened as a school, moveable partitions were used to divide the ward into five classrooms where Peter started at 11 at one end and finished at 16 at the other. Mr Goodspeed (Pate) was the Head and Mr Armitage (Army) taught Maths.
Geoff and Peter wrote a 4 page weekly newsletter called The Eden Way Chronicle’ which they sold at one penny per copy to the local residents using the proceeds from selling 75 copies to go to the pictures at the Odeon, Regal and Kings Hall. In 1937, Mayor Alderman Parker included it in his Coronation souvenirs.
On leaving school, Peter took up a 4 year journalism apprenticeship and has stayed with ‘words’ ever since. He was called up into the RAF in 1942, trained in Canada and became a gunner in Lancasters, surviving without a scratch. Post-war he became a probation officer from 1954 to 1983.
Peter was home on leave when the Vis started to fall on Beckenham early in the morning of June 16th although of course we were ignorant of what was happening. He recorded the events in his diary as follows:
Bed 11pm. Woke up at midnight to heavy ack ack and the sound lasted for ½hr, then all quiet but no ‘All Clear.’ Bed again then about 4.30 am I heard a whirring noise, diving and gunfire. I jumped up, covered Maurice as there was a terrific explosion and flash. Glass flew everywhere. We were all OK except for Mum (cut leg) but windows broken and ceilings down. Crater over in The Green near the Watchman’s Hut. All shaken, made tea then came dawn. What a mess. They were sending them over every ½hr or so and we had alerts all the morning.
It was recorded that 100 houses were damaged in Eden Way and one person killed but as the bomb fell in the Bethlem fields, it was said to fall in Croydon, not Beckenham where the first doodlebug fell in Tootswood Rd killing three at about the same time. When Peter was spending a holiday in England some twenty years ago, he visited Balgowan School and spoke to the Head about a memorial seat in memory of his contemporaries killed in WWII. One was placed in the playground but it has not survived.
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