Dilwyn road

The History of Sydenham from Cippenham to present day. Links to photos especially welcome!
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Dilwyn road

Post by Annie »

:D
My husband used to live in Dilwyn road as a child (i think thats how you spell it) lower sydenham, which has all gone now, would you have any photos Steve that i could show him? :D
Steve Grindlay
Posts: 606
Joined: 4 Oct 2004 05:07
Location: Upper Sydenham

Post by Steve Grindlay »

I'm afraid this is the only picture I know of Dillwyn Road, Annie, taken from Coulter & Seaman's "Forest Hill & Sydenham in old photographs":
Image
It might be worth visiting the <Local History Centre> to see if they have any.
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

:D
Yes we already have that one but thanks for taking the time to look for me,
I have saved the website to favourites so i can check it out, thanks for that x
Annie
Falkor
Posts: 1371
Joined: 10 Feb 2006 17:45
Location: Surrey Quays

Post by Falkor »

I've already checked all of Lewisham library's photos that are available to the public, but couldn't find anything else on that road. However, there may be something through newspaper articles or upstairs in their closed archives.
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

:D
Hiya thanks for that Falkor,
when i get time i will do what you have suggested.
Savvy
Posts: 630
Joined: 16 Jan 2005 18:20
Location: SE26

Post by Savvy »

Have you noticed there are no black faces in that photograph? Its kinda spooky. I notice the same nowadays when I visit my friend in Farnham, Surrey, and to tell the truth, it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable - I'm always relieved to get back to London where there's a proper mix of people! (I'm white british by the way).
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

:?
Why is it spooky?
thats the way it was then, you can't change history.
I'm white English by the way. :)
kennyb2
Posts: 133
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 09:22
Location: wilts

Post by kennyb2 »

Agreed, why should it be spooky?

It was 1953, life was a lot different,and in many ways better even tho it was a lot harder.
I went to Dacres Road school late 1950s-63, I think there was only one black lad there even then out of around 1200 of us.

Now I see it is a school "specialising in the performing arts"

Taught me to read, add up and write, can`t dance though.
Generally, and on reflection I think I would prefer the standards of 1957 to those of 2007.
I`m sorry but I think your remark was a bit silly, and the result of you having been conditioned by the PC brigade.

I'm white English,living in Wiltshire which is better than Farnham, and I feel quite comfortable thanks.
Savvy
Posts: 630
Joined: 16 Jan 2005 18:20
Location: SE26

Post by Savvy »

OK, not Spooky, but it would be odd nowadays. The London I have always known has been multicultural and for me it was interesting to see a photograph of a very differnt time when it was a different place.
As for whether things were better I don't know, I'm not old enough, but I would suspect that there was just as much domestic violence and child abuse back then but it was massively under reported because there weren't the support systems we have now which allow people to speak out. Not to mention all those poor women who's children were taken for 'forced adoption' because of the shame of being a single mum. I would imagine that perhaps our food was of a better quality because there may have been less additives but the choice back must have been very narrow compared to what we can get now. My mother-in-law would get an orange ONCE a year at Christmastime, and because of the way they ate back then she still sees pasta, rice :roll: pizza, anything with any kind of spice (read 'flavour) as foreign to her palate and she misses out on a whole world of foods. Just for those reasons alone I would not want to chance going back.
And I DO feel slightly uncomfortable when I'm in a place so close to home where there is only a white population. I don't like it, I'm not used to it.
kennyb2
Posts: 133
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 09:22
Location: wilts

Post by kennyb2 »

Well, at the risk of being misunderstood, regarding your last line I am used to it, and I don't.

The "multicultural society" so beloved by the PC brigade is an oxymoron.

It does not and cannot exist.

As I got out into the world of work in South London, because of my trade, I met and worked with a lot of 1st generation West Indian immigrants, mostly a good lot, good company,honest and hard working often in skilled trades.
Their ambition was to settle into an ENGLISH way of life, which they mostly did.

The trouble as I see it is that their offspring have been manipulatedby the PC brigade into believing that they are somehow, oppressed,persecuted and deprived because of their race, this is sheer balls, and the cause of so much trouble.
We were all bloody deprived back in those days, but we didn't rob kill or indulge in drug culture to the extent that certain section of the population do these days,
The world owes none of us a living, nor special priviledges, whatever our colour.
My family has very strong south london roots on both sides, going back generations. I left, in 1988, driven out not by black folk, but by white rubbish, who had picked up on what has been impressed on them by "black culture" which of course it was not.
Take time out in Penge to see what I mean.
In August this year driving around Sydenham, Penge, and Forest Hill where I was brought up, the one thing that made a really big impression on me was the awful dismalness of the place, the high streets full of rubbish goods on offer, and worst of all the endless shuttered shops. There is a reason for all this and its was not there in 1953.
Sorry, not racist,but realist.
I think Savvy, that you are ingenuous.
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

[quote="Savvy"] I would imagine that perhaps our food was of a better quality because there may have been less additives but the choice back must have been very narrow compared to what we can get now. quote]

In school meals today there are less additives than there were, the food that is being served is "Healthy"compared to a couple of years ago, but do the children want it? the answer is NO!
they take the food from the counter then put it into the bin,Why? because they are used to McDonalds,Pizza Hut etc.
Then to top the lot the parents Run up the school complaining that their child didn't get fed!
Shame on the parents who can't be bothered to cook proper food for their children to the point that they refuse spaghetti bolognaise,meat pie,savoury mince,cajun chicken,fish jambolya,joloff rice etc etc.
And god help the canteen staff trying to get them to eat "Real Vegetables"

Sorry i digress!
:)
I was brought up in a very large family and the school meal was the main meal of the day.
:(
As for the diverse mix of people where you live or lack of them where you visit, I honestly don't see a problem with either,at the end of the day people go where they want to go, perhaps like prefers to stay with like, for example we have the Chinese community who tend to have an area they prefer to live in, the Somalis,Nigerian, tend to stick together etc etc,
but they know they can go anywhere if they wish to.
Freedom of Choice is what this country is all about. :wink:
victoria plum
Posts: 8
Joined: 6 Oct 2006 21:28
Location: selondon

Post by victoria plum »

School meals may consist of more junk food nowadays but I would not go back to the school dinners I was served up at Sydenham High School in the sixties. Mince ladelled onto your plate that looked like diarrhoea, boiled cabbage that smelled dreadful, mashed potatoes with lumps and black bits. We used to have to eat it too, teachers patrolled the refrectory and made you eat it. It was dreadful. Give me a bag of chips any day and a decent meal at home in the evening.
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

[quote="Give me a bag of chips any day and a decent meal at home in the evening.[/quote]

Problem is that some of these children do not get a decent meal when they get home.

And school meals are much improved to what you experienced in the 60s,
although perhaps it was your school, because my school meals in the 60s were lovely. the only thing i ever refused was the liver and bacon, "they" never made me eat it after i threw it all up over the table once haha, that'll teach em! :wink:
Annie
Posts: 1187
Joined: 13 May 2006 11:08
Location: Sydenham

Post by Annie »

:D
Oh by the way my Hubby is in that photo! :wink:
kennyb2
Posts: 133
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 09:22
Location: wilts

Post by kennyb2 »

My late Mum was a cook at Sydenham girls school in the late 1960`s and early 70`s, and as my sister ate there, there was nowt wrong with the grub as I recall. Can`t get any fussier than her.
The school dinners at Dacres road were Ok too, at least, I always went back for seconds.
Mind you, as a child of the 40's we were always hungry, and ate what ever was put in front of you.
Grub was grub, no such thing as junk food.
And the phrase "Junk food" in my opinion just about sums up every thing thats wrong in modern life. What a conception, food in a bucket. obscene
rolyevans
Posts: 18
Joined: 2 May 2010 23:59
Location: dartford

Post by rolyevans »

Steve Grindlay wrote:I'm afraid this is the only picture I know of Dillwyn Road, Annie, taken from Coulter & Seaman's "Forest Hill & Sydenham in old photographs":
Image
It might be worth visiting the <Local History Centre> to see if they have any.
I remember this time clearly. I was at St.Michael's school at the time and we all got an apple and orange, a coronation propelling pencil (dark blue with a little crown on the top and we had our street party in Champion Road
rolyevans
Posts: 18
Joined: 2 May 2010 23:59
Location: dartford

Re: Dilwyn road

Post by rolyevans »

Annie wrote::D
My husband used to live in Dilwyn road as a child (i think thats how you spell it) lower sydenham, which has all gone now, would you have any photos Steve that i could show him? :D
I remember Dilwyn Road well. I used to live in Champion Road.
When bookmakers were illegal my grandad used to give me
his betting slip and money and I used to go down Holmshaw Road
turn left (off licence was on the corner) and go to a house in Miall Road
where a man would take the bet. But my grandad always collected if
he won. I was 6 at the time. Can you imagine that happening now?
Jacquie
Posts: 4
Joined: 10 Feb 2011 00:08
Location: Eltham

Re: Dillwyn road

Post by Jacquie »

I have read most of the garbage written here regarding Dillwyn road, SE26. My grandmother started married life here as did her mum before her, then my mum and her sisters one of whom is in the photo of the 1953 celebrations. She is in the lower right hand corner knelt down with a stripy skirt with my cousin Denise perched on her knee, sadly Aunty Phyliss passed away in 2007 but Denise is 60 now. I have the original of this photo plus another view from a different house. I remember Dillwyn road with nothing but affection. we all knew each other so if I went to visit nan and got there too early I could knock at any of about 15 houses and know I could be safe to wait for nan to come home. there were also a few remaining prefabs on the opposite side to nan's place and as residents moved out we used to play over there. I remember when people were driven out by the council compulsory purchase orders to build the "rabbit hutches" that exist there now and although smaller I bet there aren't as many homes on that estate as there were when Dillwyn existed. Down on the bottom left hand corner of Dillwyn near the gasworks used to be a timber yard and on the opposite corner was a small and I mean small play area. Up the top of Dillwyn on the left used to be a grocers with a budgie outside. My mum went to Adamsrill school and her tennis ball went up behind the main school crest badge and probably rotted there ha ha. I remember going to Adamsrill during the school holidays in the mornings to play and have a sandwich, fruit and drink of fruit squash good times. Opposite the school on the corner was a shop which sold clothes I know I had a few dresses from it. Does anyone remember that scaffolding up in Champion road which is still there now? That went up in 1959ish!!!!! By the way Aunty Phyllis and Uncle Frank were one of about 3 families who owned a car back then. I hope this helps.....Jacquie x
Annie.
Posts: 2070
Joined: 11 May 2012 17:48

Re: Dilwyn road

Post by Annie. »

Your opening line is a bit odd.Garbage? Why do you say that?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ] Image
linda
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Dec 2011 19:19
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Dilwyn road

Post by linda »

i also have that photo my mum and sisters are in the photo
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