Maidstone newboys and newgirls, I remember it well

Jim Howell

I moved to Maidstone in 1965 because

(a) I loved fishing and the River Medway was a favourite and

(b) because the houses in Maidstone were £500 less than a similar property in London.

How much was my house?Well it cost the princely sum of £3,950 and for this you got a semi detached with no heating unless you count the open fire with back boiler in the lounge.What a nightmare that was to light and keep alight,using a sheet of newspaper over the front to create a draught to encourage the fire to flicker,and this would invariably catch alight and have to be quickly added to the ashes!

I remember the old Maidstone swimming baths,they were near to the Maidstone Bridge and I was a definite non swimmer because of previous ear problems.Anyway this day I had a go and keeping my feet on the bottom of the pool I edged my way towards the deep end.,as I did so I lost balance and ended up hopping on one leg getting ever closer to the deepest part of the pool and certain death! What could I do to avert disaster? I grabbed the nearest buoy(well man really) round the throat and hung on for dear life I dont think the word gay had been thought of in that context in those days but he looked a bit concerned!!

Regards JIM

Ann Widdecombe MP

I remember when Maidstone was surrounded by hops. They would be used to decorate pubs as well as for their original purpose! Everywhere you looked there were fields covered in hopwires and during the picking season those fields were full of people. Then came the 1987 wind storm and suddenly the fields were bare. For all manner of economic reasons farmers did not return to hop growing and now when people ask how my hops are I reply "Both are well." (Ann Widdecombe MP, June 2007)

Good luck with your enterprise.

Nick Pendry

I remember crossing the bridge at Maidstone during the flooding of the sixties. The army had been called in to put duck boards down because the water was right over the road, many people were slipping about all over the place but we all helped each other.

Best wishes Nick

Hope this reminds you Nick.

Photo courtesy of KFRS

Photo courtesy of KFRS

Looking at this old photo you will see just how high the water rose to cover the bridge.

Peter Capon

I remember one year during the flooding, walking down with mum and dad to see dad off from Medway Street as they ferried him across the stretch of water by rowing boat. Dad worked at the Maidstone Electricity Company, goodness knows how deep the water must have been. They did bring him back safely because he returned home after nine or so hours presumably again by rowing boat.

I remember an amusing story told to me by my father who, during work would nip over the road to the local barber for his haircut. The barber by all accounts was usually the worst for drink and on this occasion someone had brought some fish to pay for his haircut (they can’t tax that) the barber dropped the fish in the newly cut hair by accident. He promptly excused himself nipped to the lavatory and they could all hear him flushing clean the fish in the loo.

Tony Egglesden

I remember the milkman coming around with a churn and mum would take a jug out and with a ladle they would fill the jug. That milk was excellent.

The milkman would sometimes give us those cardboard tops that they would push into the bottles and we would use them for what we called dobbing to see who could dob it the furthest as we used to with cigarrette cards. We stood a card up against the wall and the first one to knock it over by dobbing got all the cards.

Marbles was another game we played. They all had different values whether they were blood-shot or a spiral.

J B of Rye

Maidstone I remember it well I remember the river festival some years ago, the sun was shining people were enjoying themselves, it was a lovely day, with everyone feeling relaxed. Thank you Maidstone.

J C Minster

Maidstone I remember it well: I was a newcomer to Maidstone when I started at Maidstone Girls Tech. in 1957, unfortunately no longer in it's original position being sacrificed to the new road system at the bottom of the Sittingbourne Road. It's annex further up the road is now under new housing too. As I travelled by train to Maidstone West station each day it was something of an adventure to walk over the duck boards to cross the bridge when it was flooded. I can remember spending hours on the station during winter snow storms waiting for a train home at night - schools never closed for bad weather in those days!! I'm sure all us 'old girls' remember the fear we felt at ever having to report to Miss Thomas who ruled the school with the preverbial 'rod of iron'. Could anyone imagine in those days addressing any of the staff by their christian names? Unfortunately relaying these tales to our children and now grandchildren only goes to prove to them that we are really ancient!

Good luck to the site - it is very enjoyable

Girls Technical School

For J C from Minster

M B of Coxheath

I remember going to Aylesford Priory in my young days to participate in various annual ceremonies, together with a couple of saintly mates, and being shot at by another school chum who lived on the farm backing on to the Priory (Friars). This lad was called Michael. Incidentally even though Michael did go to the same school he was never asked to participate in the ceremonies, I think the Brothers were to scared he would shoot at the archbishop if he upset him. I was reliably informed many years later that he was an excellent shot. Even armed with this information it would not have been much consolation, especially when you are trying to protect your self with a metal sandwich box. Michael was a lad who loved life to the full and always had a smile on his face even when looking down the barrel of his air-rifle at you. Another character sadly missed.

Nice one

Paul Brazier

Maidstone I remember it well: The day we moved to Maidstone, to the village of Lenham, 10th January 2006, to the former home of Major W. Pitt, Lenham Court. The house hadn't been lived in for sometime and it was snowing. The heating didnt work properly, we had no cooker and it was freezing cold! We sat and wondered if we had done the right thing as there was so much work to be done. 18 months later there is still much work to do but we are really glad we moved as we love living here and in the village of Lenham.

Maidstone I remember it well: My mother, together with her best friend of 68 years standing, working every year as a waitress at the County Show in Mote Park, for Clacey's Cafe, which was situated towards the top of Week Street. I can remember walking through the park, and trying to dodge both cows and sheep which were allowed to graze therein.

Rosie

When the County Show was in Mote Park, we actually lived in Hermitage Lane (cottage now demolished), opposite the old Oakwood Hospital. School was Westborough for a year, and then we moved to Hampshire Drive, Shepway, and I went to Mole Hill Copse, when it was brand new - happy days!!!! Why did the sun always seem to shine, and winters had snow?!!!

Playing outside, in the street was a right, not a luxury - and certainly not a risk. Even in Hermitage Lane we used to go "over the back" where there were orchards, which had housed Nissen Huts during the war - the concrete foundations were still evident - quite lonely, but actually safe, even in spite of some patients being trustees and being allowed offsite from the hospital.

N. Morley

Lovely website of yours. Jane enjoyed your story of Mote Park Airport. The trolley buses were interesting. They did go up through Shepway via Plains Avenue, Oxford Road(where we lived) and up Westmoreland Road, where they turned to come back. I have an idea also they did come down Sutton Road and joined Loose Road at The Wheatsheaf, where the Conductor would get out a long pole and transfer the contact-arms from the Sutton Road Cables to the the Loose Road Cables.

T. Smith

Maidstone I remember it well: I remember swimming lessons at Maidstone Baths in the early 60's, a Miss Hollingsworth who had greasy grey hair and rubber shoes, and would push us under with a long pole. The changing cubicles were awful, you could see under the doors if you were in the pool. I too remember thinking how strange it was that people came to have a bath...

Colin Mason

Maidstone I remember it well: The flea pit in Earl St. was also called the empire and I think the Ritz in king St. was called the Central before it was renamed the Ritz when I was a kid it was the ABC but was always known as the Ritz. I was a grenadier and remember Saturday morning pictures from the late fifties until the early sixties. the best thing about the Granada was the organ and the sing songs. Your site has brought back happy memories spent many years ago at the Granada and the Ritz although I didn’t like the Ritz as much. I remember in the sixties they shut the Granada for a refit of the screen and projection and sound equipment ready to show the sound of music which ran for many weeks. The organ at the Granada was a Compton I think. Regards Colin.

Colin Mason

Maidstone I remember it well: regarding the granada cinema in Maidstone I stated that the organ was a Compton in fact it was a Christie and after the floods in the late sixties was shipped to Queensland Australia.

Colin Mason

Maidstone I remember it well: I must correct you on the route the trolley buses took. They did't go along Plains Ave. or Oxford Rd. they were diesel bus routes. The trolley routes were Barming to Nottingham Ave. later through Parkwood and Barming to Loose regards colin

Colin Mason

Maidstone I remember it well: regarding the memories of Wheeler St., Serck Radiators are still in business and are now called Serck Intertruck part of Unipart the depot is now in Aylesford. regards Colin

Dennis Acott

Maidstone I remember it well: Yes, the trolley buses went from Barming. There was a terminus at the Fountain, as per your picture, and the other one was a bit further out on Tonbridge Road at the Bull. From one Barming location they travelled to Loose and from the other to Nottingham Avenue and, later, to Park Wood. They both travelled the same route, down Tonbridge Road, Broadway, High Street, Gabriels Hill, Stone Street and Loose Road until the Wheatsheaf, where the change occurred. As I remeber it, the petrol/diesel buses went from Hackney Road to Oxford Road and from Allington to Penenden Heath. There was another route to Shepway (Westmoreland Road), I think it was from High Street. I lived near the depot, near the junction of Queens Road and Tonbridge Road, so I could get almost any bus home after 10pm, when they all headed for the depot. I also remember a bus went from the depot down Queens Road to London Road, for football matches at the old Athletic Ground, when Maidstone United played at home. They all had conductors then, to sell tickets and you could jump on and off because there were no doors!

John Palmer

Maidstone I remember it well: I remember catching the trolly busses after school (West Borough on Tonbridge rd) into the town centre. They accelerated very quickly and in jerking movements, which made climbing the stairs to the upper deck quite a feat. I agree with you, in these green conscious times bring 'em back. Today's kids don't know what they're missing!

And all the way from Australia thank you. PC

Barry Newman

Maidstone I remember it well: I remember the small pool, where I learnt to swim, and the big pool, where I failed to drown. BUT most of all I remember the Eccles cakes afterwards with the chlorine sting in the eyes, and a drowsy wellbeing.

New Zealand

Funny how we remember different things but the one smell and taste I remember vividly were the magarine bread rolls, they were magic. PC

Thomas Dixon

Maidstone I remember it well: ref. trolley buses,which I drove from 1959 until the end in in 1967. they did not go to shepway estate. they ran from barming via sutton rd. to Parkwood estate, returning the same way.

Dave

Maidstone I remember it well: With regards to the small chap with the pint of beer on his head, sory i dont know his name but he worked for Wallis as a labourer along Hart Street. I worked there when I left school as an apprentice electrican.

Dave

Maidstone I remember it well: Have been in contact with my brother who also worked at Wallis regarding the chap with the pint of beer on his head at the London Tavern. He thinks his name was Adrian which does ring a bell with me.

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: I don't know where to start!!! Finding this site has awakened so many memories!! I used the buses all the time, as neither my parents nor I had a car. I went to the Girls Grammar School on the London Road motorbuses, we were so much better behaved in those days, as there was always a prefect around to report misbehaviour, or else an irate passenger would write to the headmistress. The worst thing we did was giggle and eat sweets( forbidden in uniform anyway)

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: My father worked at Tillings Stevens for over 25 years, he met my mother there in 1930. He worked on a machine as a tool setter, and she worked in the Timekeepers Office. I worked for Kent County Coucil, starting in 1959 when I left school. I wore suits and white gloves to work, everyone was called Mr & Mrs unless you were invited to use Christian names. I went back to KCC in 1994 as a matter of neccesity, and did another twelve years. Things had changed such a lot, even bosses were called by Christian names. The last straw was when I had to attend a workshop in which actors showed us how to behave in an office, one example was not eating chips from a bag whilst ignoring someone at your reception desk. I felt this a real insult after all the years I had worked there!!

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: Penenden Heath was a nice stroll on a Sunday from where I lived, and I always clamoured to go there. When I was little there was only one big splintery old long swing, which the boys would rock till it smashed into the iron uprights at every move!! Elf'n'safety where were you!!! The Di Marco family had a little tea kiosk there, but often we couldn't afford a cup! When I was older, I played tennis very badly on the tennis courts. I adored the sand pit, despite my mother's lamentations about stains on clothing ( no washing machine then). A few weeks ago I was sitting in the car park by Brewers in the area, and realised that it was actually built in the sand pit and I could see a little of it in the corner!!! It brought a lump to my throat remembering the fun I had there.

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: My grandparents, Ethel & Frank Simpson, ran the Working Mens Club until 1953 when they retired. I used to think every gran lived in a cavernous old property with mysterious corners and scary staircases. There was a big concert room where all my aunts had their wedding receptions. The smell of beer/vinegar still takes me back to the cellar, with all the tubes leading to the pumps. We used to spend Christmas there, as we only lived in Perry Street, so it was a short walk. The room where we sat was floored with worn brown lino and all the seats were lumpy, but there was plenty of room to do the Hokey Cokey!! When my gran was dying apparently she kept saying "I've got to get down to the bar".

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: I am still on the Medway now, we have a little cabin cruiser, so I have had a lifelong connection with the river. The trip boat I remember going on a few times was "The Swan" a lovely old wooden boat. I was in the Information Office at the Town Hall last summer and an old lady asked if "the Swan" still did trips, bless her. There were dozens of real swans by the Old Palace in the forties & fifties. attracted by the plentiful supply onf fruit & vegetables from Foster Clarks, and by all us children taking stale bread down to feed them. The water is much cleaner now, there were huge lumps of pulp from the paper mills floating, plus the fruit & vegetables, and the colour of the river varied with whatever Foster Clarkes was canning that day! There were the wood yards on the bank where the Law Courts are, and a narrow alley to access the bank by the palace due to the wharf buildings there. I have slept there many a time on our boat when attending the River Festival, and it still brings back memories.

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: Your Civil Defence story brought back even more memories!! In 1968 I was picked by KCC to train in their underground nuclear bunker to run opeations in the event of war. It was scary to think how seriously everyone took it at the time.

Shirley

Maidstone I remember it well: I started school on 5th April 1947 at St.Paul's Infants School. It was a grey stone Victorian building next to St. Paul's Church, in Fisher Street. The main hall was divided into three by curtains, and three classes were taught in it at once. There was an ancient green stove at the end of each section (by the teacher's desk!!) but I don't remember any more heating than that. When you started you were known as the "Babies" class, and much derided by the pupils of the loftier ages of 6 plus!! We learned our letters by writing them on sand trays, then shaking the sand to make a clean surface for the next letter. (No-one believes me when I tell them this, but it's true!!) The toilets defied description, and the staff toilet was at the end of the row of pupil's toilets. so the staff must have suffered as well!! Friday was Toy Day, when you could take one of your own toys to school, or play with the very motley collection the school had. There was a maypole in the hall in a corner, but it was never used when I was there. We were sometimes given a sweet for good answers, which during sweet rationing was a real treat. Bad behaviour in the Babies class was rewarded by being "Put to bed" on a camp bed in front of the whole class, a shaming experience! I left there at 6 to go to North Borough, which was much more modern, and the work harder. Victorian conditions seemed to affect the atmosphere, but I am glad I had such a good grounding in how to behave at school.

Max

Country: Canada

Maidstone I remember it well: Walking down Stone street from MGS there were 3 fish and chip shops you passed by where you could buy as little as 3d. worth of chips. School rules decreed that you weren't to be seen eating them in school uniform! Ha. There was a fourth shop on the other side of the road in lower Stone St. I was intrigued by the Cavernous Beehive Store in Mill St. (?) and around the corner a little Herbalists called Sprunts. I loved Mote Park, in the late 50's there were still loads of cylindrical and conical concrete anti tank castings with nettles growing around them that were fun to jump around on. Sometimes I would cross the through the park coming home from Shepway Primary School, past the mysterious fenced in "Cow cave".

Thank you Max the Beehive stores and Sprunts that you spoke of where in Union Street off Week Street. Have a look on the site on Streets.

jean

Maidstone I remember it well: Maidstone I remember it well! Went to West Borough secondary school, left at 15 and went to work as a shop-assistant at Featherstones Department Store in Earl Street. Tried but failed to learn to swim in Maidstone swimming baths. Went roller skating in the Corn Exchange and to the pictures in the cinema at the bottom of Gabrials Hill- I think it was called the Ritz. Happy memories!

That cinema was called the Granada Jean

Kevin

Maidstone I remember it well: Do you remember a male instructor who used the phrase 'come on my ducklings' he was tallish and was balding and he also used the pole. Remember the clothes baskets and red arm bands with the basket number written on in biro.

jean

Maidstone I remember it well: Yes Featherstones did have tallymen, my friends dad was one! I worked in the shoe department which was next to the dress and lingerie department and it was run on the same lines as 'Are you being served' all the customers were Sir and Madam and I can even remember being asked 'Are you free'. We put the receipts and money into a canister, put it into a tube and it disappeared down to the office. Might seen a tad old fashioned but I have to say it didn't keep breaking down as modern tills do. Happy days!

jean

Maidstone I remember it well: I started at Westborough Secondary school in 1953 having spent my junior years at Nettlestead Church of England school. It was a bit of a shock after being in such a small school but remember it as a very happy time. Mr Diamond was head master and although a strict disciplinarian he was a very nice man. Half of our lessons were taken at Oakwood House which we thought was great as it meant a nice walk from the main school, in all weathers I might add! If our last lesson of the day was at Oakwood we would walk down the drive to the main road to catch our bus home. Where we waited for the bus there was a bakery and the wonderful smell of freshly bake bread was a torture when you were starving hungry and ready for your tea. I can still smell that bread now! Are there any photographs of Westborough Secondary School before it was destroyed, it was a truly wonderful school.

Colin mason

Maidstone I remember it well: Regarding the chap with the pint of beer on his head at the London Tavern I remember him and seem to remember he was called Mike Elvis.

John G

Maidstone I remember it well: I went to Westborough Secondary School from 1964 to 1968 when I left to join Hammond Rentals a TV rental shop at 3 Mill Street Maidstone (later to become Southern Rentals. I was an apprentice engineer spending one day a week at Maidstone College of Technology in the Tonbridge Road. My Dad worked at the Gas works in St Peter Street where he was the maintenance fitter until it closed down when North Sea gas arrived. As the apprentice I was sent out every morning by Bill Pool my boss for sausage sarnies from the cafe at the end of Mill St (still a cafe today). The trolley bus was still around running from Barming Bull to Shepway and Ringleston. 1968 saw the floods show on this site and one evening I was on the last buss to get over the bridge (only one bridge in those days). When at Westborough School Mr Diamond was headmaster and Mr Sherman deputy, Mr Sherman was more frightening. Yes there was discipline in school then. Cinemas were the ABC in King St 9now the entrance to the Chequers centre) and the Granada in Stone Street.

John G

Maidstone I remember it well: The one major group were Chicory Tip with the No one hit Son of My Father. We followed them to most Kent venues. I remember one of the band lived in College Road.

joan williams

Maidstone I remember it well: I loved maidstone I used to go to my grans at 9,marsham street in the 60s and seventies.

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