tiskev, can't say as i remember the cricketer but billy kiernan a charlton footballer lived by roundabout at top of ank.I survived the V2 as we were playing hide and seek and a neighbours garage had been bombed and i was hiding in his inspection pit when rocket hit the houses.My cousins the harris family lived in ank but moved in about 42/43 to redhill.Its a pity we can't pm as i'm sure other people will get fed up with us going down memory
lane.
I got into motorbikes while at Shooters Hill a interest i still have ,i'm a member of the suzuki owners club and we are in touch with members all over the world and when my wife had cancer the other year we got
messages of support from all over the place.by the way my name is rawlings and i'm retired now living in France on the old WW1 battlefield area.
I was sad to hear of the state of Eaglesfield and castle woods,i understand the academy has been sold as well .I'm surprised no body picked up on the burialmounds by the fire station and brinklow cres when time team found their saxon bits.THEY SHOULD READ VINCENTS HITORY OF WOOLWICH AND DISTRICT.

John This exchange is gaining ever more coincidences.
I also live partly in France at Le Touquet
I split roughly 50/50 between there and Hartley.
I am still well into bikes and have a Kettle
in almost immac condition.Plus a few Hondas
Depending on when you moved from Moordown(I left in 67)I had a blue MG 1500 VA Saloon which
I was often too lazy to put in the garage I built, so it was parked in the road outside the house.Part exed it for a Cortina in 64 for £80 the last one I saw sold at auction went for £52,000
I well remember Kiernan i was a Charlton supporter.
Remember the AJS/Matchless tester that lived on the roundabout at the top of Donaldson ?I belong to the vintage motorcycle club in the uk.
My youngest son lives in Meribel in the Alps
I can remember my mum talking about the Harris family and mum and dad had some friends called Rawlings the man was a policeman but lived i think in the bottom half of moordown before it met Ankerdine.We must try to get in direct contact i belong to the Mercedes benz club and the Porsche club in the uk and post under the same name so maybe we could get in touch via one of those places as we are not allowed to do it via this siteps I still watch 4 as obviously you do when in France Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by tiskev:
Yes ok Thanks Tet I had a good read up of the rules after my post.Is there any way one can send a private message to another Forum member?
As I am sure you guys and gals are not really interested in chats between John dr and myself
about shooters hill nearly 70 years ago as it is not actually thread related ?

On the contrary, you carry on. These forums are for everyone to enjoy.
There is a forum with a similar name where you can post PMs, pictures etc. Even edit you own posts

tiskev,that rawlings was not a relative we also had a tester AJS/MATCHLESS lived almost opposite and sometimes the two would be out there on their bikes.They used to take G50 and 7R s with trade plates on for test rides down the A20.My first bike was a 250 Greeves 25 dc roadster and then i bought a 650 AJS csr new from Francis at Welling ,remember them ?
My cousin Charles Harris also has a house in France at quinan down south,he also is still into bikes .He was a top trials rider in the 60s and 70s and rode works bikes for many famous factory teams.
I use same ID suzuki site so you may find me i will look on sites you suggested.

John you should have Suzi mail.We have a few talks at the Vintage Club from ex AMC workers from time to time Just as a snippet for other forum readers .When AMC were preparing race bikes they would try them out down the A2. The procedure was to phone the police the previous day and tell them that you were testing the next morning down the A2 at 6AM
the result was you were not caught in a speed trap with the resultant £1 fine and the police felt part of the team when you won the TT.Imagine doing that today you would not get a couple of miles before getting snapped 20 times.
Another shock yesterday John the old Fire Station in Shrewsbury Lane is now converted into F L A T S.I also looked for a plaque to Lady Hamilton(Nelson) which was in a garden in Shrews. lane but it's gone nicked or in a museum hopefully.The whole area is looking neglected heaven knows what they do with all the council tax they collect.We might moan about our taxe D'habitation but at least they keep the place clean and tidy

John getting back a little closer to topic
I have a vague memory of "Stuff" Military being located in Shrewsbury Park we did not go down there much always Oxleys. Castle, Eaglesfield and Jackwood. If you can remember anything it could be useful to the present locals.

SAME AS YOU VAGUE IDEA BUT CAN'PUT FINGER ON IT.BUT A BUNGALOW ON LEFT HAND SIDE OF SHREWSBURY LANE NEAR TO OLD SWEET SHOP ON TOP OF HILL ALWAYS LOOKED LIKE A CONVERTED MILITARY BUILDING. PROBABLY WRONG.

Just had a thought was'nt there an open air school in the park in what looked like converted army huts?

I am pretty vague might suddenly get some memories but I remember something about the park.

If im' right ATS were billeted there in wooden huts

The far end of S Park plumstead side there were allotments I think there were a number of Pill boxes or reinforced machine gun posts ??

Personally, I'm finding this exchange fascinating!

Belive there was a pillbox at swingate lane end of dirt track from Plum Lane to Swingate Lane which Roger informs me is called Red Lane and there were some obviously man made hollows/diggings in the edge of Shrewsbury Park along there.
Jenni glad we are not boring you and we have made contact via Suzuki Club lots of people on there have posted about WW2 in their areas as we have members all over UK and beyond.

There were definitly huts on right side of park as you entered first gate of off Shrewsbury lane they were converted wooden army huts i think top three or so feet taken of sides and canvas screens put there to replace wood remember going up there several times from Foxhill School for some lessons nature study or some such.It was thought open air was good for us kids who had to live with rationing.
Rember that ? My dad made some brilliant toffee when he could lay his hands on the sugar.

Not WW2 related but outside of Bull PH on top of Shooters Hill was a set of stone steps centuries old for getting on horses and into coaches when it was the main Dover road.Any one know why they've dissappeared and where to .Another piece of history gone.

Foxcroft School I had forgotten that.Pity i cannot remember more of Shrewsbury Park but we did not go down there much only if you went to school in Plum Lane or were on your way to the GLOBE cinema where we used to go in laughing and come out scratching.Opposite the entrance to the park was a wooden hut cant remember if it was a sweet shop or an ARP post or both?

Cant edit my post john but sorry see you mentioned the sweet shop in an earlier post
must be the same one or was there one near the old berial mounds as well.

still thinking about your mounting steps John.The Bus and Greenline stop used to be right outside the Bull am I right in saying they moved it and made one at Hillend and the other at Eaglesfield If so it probably went then.I have been back twice now since the programme and not noticed if there is still a stop at the bull.I will be meeting tomorrow night an old greenline and Bus driver that used to drive over the hill he is 87.
As a matter of interest tfor the forum you could catch a greenline from the hill to Epson and also somewhere in Hertfordshire or Bucks .
How we have progressed today you can never be sure the bus will come .................

There was always bus stops at Hillend and Eaglesfield but main one was The Bull.
Greenline routes went one to Epsom other to Sunningdale and in other direction one to Gravesend other to Wrotham.
When we had those long summer holidays from school and i was 12 -13 iused to get rover tickets red for London, green for country buses which started at Bromley.
Spend all day just hopping on and off buses going all over the LT system all on my tod.
Can you imagine a kid doing it now in todays wonderful society ???

forgot Greenwich council are going to get back to me about mounting steps.Don't hold your breath.

This will beat you John you could get a workmans return on the tram at the bottom of Shooters hill all the way to St.Kats docks for 2 pence if you caught the tram before 7AM.
Another trip we did as kids saturday by Tram all the way to Gamages in Holborn spend all day looking around and then back.

You'll be pleased to hear the mounting steps are actually still there


Roger

Thanks Roger tiskev must have had his sunglases on.His pm d you by the way for bike meet tonight at Pied bull

quote:

Posted 18-02-08 12:32 Hide Post
Personally, I'm finding this exchange fascinating.....

So am I Jenny, my husband grew up in the area.
He was born in 1942 so doesn't remember the war bits as such only the aftermath.

Anne was he from Ankerdine Donaldson or Moordown
or Shrewsbury Lane area? Wonder if he knew John or myself?