Glebe Meadow

I moved out of New Cottages when I was seven after my Grandad died as the cottage we lived in was owned by Whitbread’s brewery where his father worked until he retired,  the cottage went with the job for him and his children for life.  We moved to a council house across the road in Glebe Meadow No 30 Glebe Meadow which was a relatively newly built and was directly on the opposite side of Bow Road. No 30 was a downstairs flat with a small garden at the front and back, my dad loved the garden and upstairs didn't so we had the entire garden allocated to both flats.

Above us was Mrs Irvine and her daughter Ann, next door was Mr and Mrs Dalby next to them were Mr and Mrs Seamark with their family of Diane, Angela, John, Ian and Garry,

At no 34 lived Bill Sharpe and his wife Dorothy. Their children were Monty and Jimmy. Mr Sharp was the local chimney sweep and vet as he would neuter the local tom cats! When he swept the chimney he would ask the kids to go outside and tell him when the brush came out of the top of the chimney. In about 1969 Bill and his wife moved next door to no 35  a new bungalow for the elderly. When the Sharpes moved Charlie and June Brotherwood moved into No 34.

Going up the road on the same side were more flats the bottom was Mr & Mrs Ken Muller who had one son Kevin, above them were the King boys John, Les and Michael who lived with their widowed mother.  In the adjoining flats were Mr & Mrs Cripps and I think Mr and Mrs Randall and their son Phillip. Next to the flats were semi detached houses the first of which was No24 where Mr & Mrs Foggin and their Son John and daughter Christine lived, the attached house (No 23) was Mr & Mrs Smith (Bunny and Dolly cousins of my Mum) and their sons Christopher, Clive and Graham, and daughter Karen.

At no 22,  lived  widow  Mrs Clark,  with children Frank the eldest and Anne.  Mrs Clark later married Mr Dunbar (a widower) who had a number of children. A couple of the eldest children were married and lived elsewhere. The children at home were Frank and Anne Clark, and Bobby, Maureen, Rosie, and Valerie Dunbar.  The Dunbar children often stayed with their sister June in Farleigh.

At No 21 were Mr & Mrs Jones and their two sons Nigel and Brian. That was the end of the road then with a small plot of grass where we would play football etc. I have been told that there was a story teller that would visit this piece of grass in the summer - do you remember? Across the grass and facing the main road (No 1) was Mrs Fisher and her son John who married and went on living in the house. Mrs Fisher was a piano teacher.

No 2 were Mr & Mrs Newick (Joan & Tom) with their sons Michael, David, Nigel, John and daughter Patricia. Before them in No2 were Tom and Eileen Shippey who later moved to No 17.

Across the footpath were Mrs Chapman and her daughters Jeanette, Christine and Jane and Louise in No 3 (thanks to Christine Chapman for her input on some names I had forgotten). Later in the same house was Delia Brooks and her family.

Initially the Petrie family lived at no 4. They included Mr Petrie who was an officer in the navy his wife, then children,  George, Doris,  Brenda, Pauline and Eleanor. Soon after Doris married Arthur Brotherwood the Petrie’s moved and Doris and Arthur took over the house.  Their children were, David, the eldest, then Valerie, and  Joan. Later Maureen and Jill were born, but I think the family were then living on Bow Road and the Adams family (Brenda and Les with children Paul and Amanda (twins) Diane, Gary, Roland and Shane moved into No4 Glebe Meadow.

At no 5 lived the senior family of Newick.

At no 6 lived the Foster family Mr and Mrs with children, Beryl, Raymond, Janise, Pat, Barbara, and Christine who I remember getting knocked over after getting off the bus outside the Handy Stores one day.

Then coming back towards my house there was a gap and No 20 with Mr & Mrs Clarke (George & Joan) with their son John and two daughters Kay and Dail (Dail has kindly contributed a great deal to this site and is an expert on the village history writing several books on it).

 Living at No 19 were Mr & Mrs Sellman with their children Pamela, the eldest, Brenda, Sylvia, Roger, twins Keith and Sandra, then Andrew, and Paul. 

The next house was an end of four terraced houses out side which the Fish and Chip van and Ice cream van always stopped. This was No 18.

At no 18 in the early days lived Mr and Mrs Fleming with daughter Jackie.  Jackie was a Tiller Girl.  When the Flemings moved out the Crayford’s moved in from next door from  no 17. ...The Shippey’s  then moved from no 2,  to the Crayford’s house at 17, and one of the younger Newick’s moved into the Shippeys old house at no 2. 

At No 17 Tom and Eileen Shippey now lived (formerly lived at no 2)  with their children Diane, Anthea, Valerie, Dawn, Paul, Denise and Corrine.

Next door (No 16) was dead opposite my house where Mr & Mrs Marchant (Mick & Bella) lived with their two daughters Lavinia (Vinny) and Elizabeth and their son Michael who went on to be my lifetime best friend, I have some brilliant memories in this house which became my second home in my early years. Before I moved to the Glebe Tom & Mabel Walker (Mabel and Bella were sisters) lived with them but then moved to the Garden Shop on the Tonbridge road and later to a small holding at the top of Red Hill.

Next to Michael was (No 15) Mr & Mrs Peg & Jack Randall and their sons Bernard and Colin. At No 14 were Mr & Mrs Goodwin (Joan & Keith) and their family Ken, Mark, Philip, Wendy, Ruth and John. 

At No 13 lived Mr & Mrs Pearson (Jim and Marie) and their family Brian, Tony, Dave, Robin, Ann and Sue. Robin was a very good friend and my best man but has since moved to work in the Middle East and now has a home in The Philippines.

Then the road bends around the corner where Mr and Mrs Newbury and their son lived and I believe the Tompsets lived (No 11) next to them with their son Peter who I went to primary school with.  Previously Mr & Mrs Waghorn (Phyllis & Toni) lived with their Mum & Dad (Mr & Mrs Cyril & Elizabeth Oben) and daughters Yvonne (thanks to Yvonne for help with the names).  Later Bill and Millie Cowlard lived there until early 2005 with their son John and daughter Mary Jane (thanks to Mary Jane for reminding us).

No 12 was the Newbury's who were not there long and later Mr and Mrs Pooley moved in with their son Kevin and daughter Sharon. Before the Newburys were the Shadwell family with daughter Diane, Yvonne and twins. Before the Shadwells were the Reynolds (Dorothy).

At No 10 and opposite the police houses were Mr & Mrs (Kit & ?) Apps and their family Sherry, Lynette, Gillian and son David, then came (No 9) Mr & Mrs Driver with their daughter Jackie Lucknow and her son Richard.

In the Police houses opposite lived Sergant Sadlier and his family one of his sons, David was a play mate. Next door was the village copper Tony if I am correct. I should remember as we always watched out for him on his velocet!

Going around the corner and up the front of the estate at no 7 lived Nell Hutchins (a widow) Children Vera, Margaret and Ken. ( Older son John was in the navy and married)........At no 8,  lived  Albert and Mary Marshall with children Anne and Barry.

My brother Brian came along almost as soon as we moved into No 30 and so we put in for a swap and moved to No 22 which was a three way swap where Mr & Mrs Martin and their daughter Ella moved into No 30 and we moved into No 22, I guess the Dunebars moved into the Martins house somewhere. In the years to come Mr Martin and Mr Dunbar died and I remember being very bothered that my dad was the only surviving dad of the three way swap. My Dad died a couple of years later!

Lynn Apps reminded me that her Mum and her neighbour Mrs Driver would hold a skipping rope across the road for the kids. This reminded me how little traffic there was in the road and how we would play football and in summer we would tie a string across the road to play tennis.

Summer holidays for boys meant finding some old pram wheels to make a cart with. A length of 4 x 2 for the main part of the cart with two other pieces of wood each something like two foot six pieces of 3 x 1 to mount the front and rear axles on, a nut and bolt to fix the front axle to the main length member of the cart, leaving it free to move as a steering device. Brian Jones was great a making carts, and would burn a hole through the wood for the bolt with a red hot poker as drills were not readily available. A length of rope fixed to both sides of the front axle and a wooden apple box with one end knocked out for a seat and that was a great cart.
My Dad was a welder by trade and worked at Maidstone gasworks, he made me a metal cart out of gas pipe which was just something else.