Social Snapshots

1945. V.E.Day. Local Legacies. WW2 had ended in Europe after years of difficulty for everyone.   But before that had been years of severe economic depression.   Many little cottages had been condemned.  However, these cottages were inhabited throughout the war due to the shortage of materials and need for accommodation.   Harry Floyd recalled one property owned by his father, where a new lavatory bucket cost him more than the rent and letters landed indoors in a puddle.

Local Legacy.  In 1950 the Council built Greenlands.  Supposedly to help replace houses lost in the ‘blitz’ in London.  The list of the first occupants in 1951, related by Ted Janes (he being one of them), shows the vast majority were local residents, moving into better housing.

Local Legacy.  Bomber Command. Established in 1939.  The headquarters are just in Lacey Green Parish.  Over the years many of the high ranking Air Force officers have retired locally.   1939 saw the officers’ children coming to Lacey Green School – an ever revolving intake of about two years to be fitted in.

Local Legacy. The New Road from Lacey Green to Walters Ash.  Previously the road from Lacey Green went left into Slad Lane round in a semi-circle across into Smalldean Lane.  Shortly after this it turned left into a road much of which later disappeared under the bunker of Bomber Command.   This direct new road was built to speed access from Bomber Command to an airfield constructed on the flat land of Stocken Farm.  This necessitated them renting land miles away.   Officers’ families were also billeted in Stocken farmhouse (2 rooms, one upstairs, one down).

The Airfield was not to be a legacy of the war, as the land was given back after the war.  But it was to leave lasting happy memories for the boys who played football with the pilots and guards of the hanger housing the planes there.   Extensions to the school now cover its site.  

Local Legacy.  Hambe Close.   A far cry from 1939 when the site was a famous indoor tennis court.  Built by the Revered Robson, then bought by Harold Carter who owned Grymsdyke House.   Harold Carter’s business being bombed out of London, he converted the Tennis Court into his offices.   This brought many  people here.  Some lived in the property and some in the villages.   Light industrial and warehouses followed until Hambe Close was built.

Local Legacy.  May Dell.   In 1939 the North Kensington Nursery School, its children and staff evacuated to Loosley House.   After VE Day, the children and staff went home.   But May stayed here and married Bert Dell.   Bert and May ran the much loved  Hickmans Stores for many years.     Hickmans Stores – locally famous in their day, before supermarkets were invented.

The Legacy of the memories of families whose cottages were full to overflowing is vast.  Many children had been sent out of London, land army girls needed rooms, friends likewise, all squeezed in.  (The school had about 40 extra children to fit in.)

John West remembered the German prisoners of war who were living at the bottom of Smalldean Lane.  They were brought to work on Stocken Farm.   They begged to have any hessian sacks that were beyond repair.  Unpicked, they were made into espadrilles.  These shoes were very popular, clothes being rationed, and the Germans got a little money for them.  They craved some crusty bread from Sid Janes’ bakery as that given them was often blue with mould.  They gave young John the money to buy them some nice bread.  (Bread was not rationed until after the war).

Local Legacy. After the war most of the German prisoners went home, but several opted to stay here. Without exception they all established very successful businesses.

Many memories of those in the Home Guard recalled look-out duty in the semi-derelict windmill. Also those from the local fire service who were conscripted to fight the Blitz in London.

Details of all these events are to be found on www.LaceyGreenHistory.com   To comment or add information about people or places in any era around the area email me on  LaceyGreenHistoryWiki@gmail.com

Joan West.

2024. Dentists. Dentists.   Recently I was made aware that now, in 2024, it can be difficult to find a National Health Service dentist.   In this case the need included some children.

75 to 85 years ago that would not have been a problem because the dentist came to the school.

Now, if any children are reading this, let me reassure you that the dentists of today would kill the pain, so that anything that had to be done to the teeth would not hurt all that much.   They couldn’t do that all those years ago.  

In 2000 the Local History Group invited past pupils of Lacey Green School to a reunion.   89 former pupils came.   They were all given a questionnaire to fill in.  There was also a blank space to write about any special impressions that stuck in their mind.

You need to imagine the school 75 to 85 years ago, which then only consisted of the old part nearest the Main Road.

Margaret Harris, the policeman’s daughter, who lived at the old Graham Cottages and was at the school from 1933-1939, wrote -  

“I wonder how many remember the school dentist.  Mrs Guerney's office/stock room was used I still recall the dusty surroundings and the smell of old books.  The Harris twins (me & my brother John) had toothbrushes, but still had more treatment than others. Some who didn't have a toothbrush needed no fillings.  Our mother was in Barts having a major operation, but oh how I needed a cuddle.  Thank goodness dentistry has advanced since then.”

Dennis Claydon, who lived in Kiln Lane, was at the school from 1947-1953, he wrote :-

“The visits of the school dentist left a lasting impression.  To a small boy of six or seven the dentist appeared to be an elderly, silver haired lady, although she was probably not so elderly!

There was a very big dentists’ chair.  One had to climb on a box to clamber into this large piece of furniture.  The drill was operated by means of a foot treadle, which was very terrifying, there being no pain killing injections.   Even today the thought of it makes me shudder!”

Others wrote of the horror of it and how the dentist seemed to work that treadle so slowly.

Dennis Claydon, was the last to mention the dentist.   He was six in 1948.   The National Health Service was started that year in July.   Although this school service was loathed by the children, I can’t help thinking they must have had their welfare at heart.

After 1948 it seems that the school left the NHS to get on with it.   It is a pity they seem to have a problem in 2024!

I would welcome any comments or information you might be able to provide to add to my media wiki about our local history, such as some information just given to me of how that person’s father managed to pull out his own bad teeth.

To see the wiki for yourself go to LaceyGreenHistory.com.   Put any word into search (top right}

My email address is LaceyGreenHistoryWiki@gmail.com.