Surbiton, My Old Home.

19 years ago...

Well Hello Everybody,

I am a new boy to Surbiton.Com and came across it as I was searching for some photographic nostalgia. So sad to hear of the way it has become since I was last there in the 1990s. I grew up in the Surbiton of the 1950s and 60s. My happiest years were at St.Andrews Primary School half way down St.Andrews Road until I left there in 1955. Oh how I would love to meet up with all who were in Mrs. Durrant's class that summer.

I lived in Lovelace Gardens when it was full of huge magnificent private houses which could be bought for as little as £5,000 after WW2. Most were turned into flats and later pulled down to build more flats. Surbiton was a quiet and respectable place, no matter where one lived, and not as described in some of the forums.Yes there were the odd families who could be a bit on the loud side but we all got on and knew each other. There were snobs who thought they were something else but not quite as portrayed in "The Good Life".

I reget to say that our nowhere in our old country is quite the way it was and that is why so many of us have moved away to try and find what still remains of the pleasant kind of life we once knew. I guess the next stop may be France when the south coast goes into decline. From what I have read so far they should certainly pull down the YMCA.

I would very much like to make contact and share memories with old residents of my era and maybe pay a visit to The Surbiton Club one day which I never joined.

I am very interested in locating old 1940/50/60 postcards or a good illustrated book on the old place.

All the best to everyone for now, Peter.

By posting content on Surbiton.com, you agree to adhere to the following guidelines.

  • Your username and password must only be used by you, keep them safe. If a posting is made using your username and password it will be considered to have been posted by you. If you have a friend who wants to use our site and post messages on the site, show them how to register.
  • Be courteous at all times, inciting racial hatred, posting abusive, obscene, threatening, harassing, defamatory, libellous or sexually explicit material or any material that is found to be offensive is not acceptable and we may suspend your username and password.
  • Retaliating to offensive posts causes more problems for other users on the discussion boards. Just report such messages to us using the Feedback link which is available at the top of every page or the 'report this' link associated with individual postings. We will act on every report we receive.
  • Please respect other people's work and do not post material that infringes copyright.
  • Do not post information that you know to be confidential or sensitive or otherwise in breach of the law. You should only post material that you know to be public knowledge. If you have any doubts do not post it on the site.
  • Never attempt to gain unauthorised access to any area of the site. This is known as hacking and is illegal.
  • Content posted represents the opinions of the author, and does not represent the opinions of Surbiton.com or its affiliates and has not been approved or issued by Surbiton.com. You should be aware that the other participants are strangers to you and may make statements which may be misleading, deceptive or wrong.
  • Spoofing or posing as another user is unacceptable. Anonymous users' postings should always be considered with suspicion.
  • Help keep Surbiton.com a safe place for information and opinion. Please alert us of any anti-social behaviour as described above.
Please note that Surbiton.com does not monitor the comments posted and we are therefore reliant upon users reporting antisocial behaviour.