The Grove in Old Carshalton.

We children knew the Grove in Old Carshalton as the Two Ponds, wrote Ray Crawley. We lived in Rosehill, which was quite a way from here, it was either a very long walk, or a twenty-minute bus ride!

Usually we walked here with our jars and nets for it was a smashing place to catch sticklebacks, redthroats, newts and frogspawn! We used to make our own nets from a cane and some old stockings!

If we didn't have nets we would use a sack that would be dragged by two of us and we could catch quite a few if we were lucky. Fishing wasn't allowed in the ponds, so we had to keep a lookout for the keeper, if he was seen we would hide under the bridge until it was all clear.

During the war, we used to have to come to the Grove to collect our free orange juice and I think other nasty things like cod liver oil, or another one was called, I think, Parrish's Food, it was white and horrid!!

Good friends of my parents moved from next door to us to Pound Street, which runs to the right over the bridge. Len & Marie Ward were their names and they had five children. I remember we always had parties at their house; running about, playing the piano and generally making a noise, we loved it there.

Later in life, I was best man at my friends' Fred & Sheila's wedding which was at All Saints Church, which is hidden behind the trees in the above picture. The church is 11th century, beneath which are Neolithic remains.

Just along the road, I remember, used to be a Christmas cracker factory where my eldest sister Janet used to work for a time.

The ponds do in fact feed the River Wandle, which in turn feeds the Thames.

All Saints' Church




Two pictures showing the Ward family, who were friends of Ray Crawley's family in the 1940's. Top pic Ray is in front, Lena Ward is just behind him, his two sisters are in the flowered dresses, and Lena's sister is between them. In the bottom pic the Wards are in their garden in Pound Street; that's Marie standing up. Her husband was called Le, and one son was called Terry.
If anyone knows of any of the family Ray would like to hear from you, please email the editor of this site in the first instance.