Bringing the house down
by Robin Gill
1937 did not start well for the inhabitants of Malden: their popular cinema (Plaza) had burnt down on Sunday 27th December 1936, and all that was left of the main building was a pile of rubble and mangled metal. The cinema which could seat 700 stood on the site now occupied by McDonalds, it was purpose built, the site previously being allotments before the New Malden Picture Palace (original name) was constructed in 1921. The fire did not take long to take control, about 30 minutes after the alarm was first raised by a woman neighbour (who saw flames shooting through the roof), practically the whole of the inside of the building had been destroyed. It took five hours and thousands of gallons of water from the brigades of Malden and Wimbledon plus help from the London Salvage Corps to bring the fire under control. A local fireman Alan Ansell had a lucky escape when the roof collapsed causing a girder to fall on him. The blow shattered his brass helmet, which probably saved his life, Ansell asked to keep his helmet as a memento, and the other helmets were replaced with leather ones with the borough arms @£2 15s each (£2.75). The cinema was never rebuilt, though local shopkeepers felt it would improve their trade, and only the undamaged entrance lobby was used, for events such as friendship week.
Such was the demand for a cinema in the area, a number of sites including the original premises were proposed, but all were rejected for one reason or another.
The Gate House School which was on Kingston Hill, made an application to move into the building called Coombe Croft on George Road. This was one of three houses built by the Galsworthy family and would suit the school which had had to divide its teaching between two houses, but the council refused on the grounds that George Road was “zoned” for residential purposes not educational and a number of residents had complained about the prospect of noisy schoolboys in the area. The school successfully appealed against the decision and moved into the building just before the Second World War only to be evacuated to Cornwall in 1941. The building is now occupied by Rokeby who moved in in 1956. Near neighbours are Marymount International School for Girls, and Holy Cross Prep School, so that stretch of the road is more educational that residential, though the name Coombe Croft still appears on the gateposts.
Surrey County Council agreed to the purchase of land for the sites of two libraries. One at the junction of Avondale Avenue and Church Road (Old Malden Library) for £1,800, and another at the Junction of Sandal Road and Kingston Road (New Malden Library) for £1,000.
You can’t park there
Parking was becoming a problem in Malden Road (now High Street). The idea of parking on alternate sides on alternate days would not work, and Blagdon Road was rejected as a parking site as shops were to be built in the road, then the council decided to compulsory purchase 5½ acres of land in Blagdon Road for a car-park as parking restrictions were sending shoppers to Kingston. There were also plans to build a new town hall there, showing that current plans are nothing new. Plans were also put forward for the widening of the railway bridge and the road by the station, possibly meaning the demolition of shops in Malden Road and the existing Council Offices. Since Malden and Coombe had become a borough the existing offices had proved too small. Following the death of a lady who was crossing the road near the bridge these schemes took on a new urgency. We know now with hindsight, that because of the outbreak of war, these schemes did not come to fruition until much later.
Dark days ahead
The threat of war was never far away, and the real possibility of air raids and gas attacks were laid out in talks and lectures. For a town the size of Malden, 700/800 medical personnel would be required about 2% of the adult population, and an air-raid precautions officer was appointed (William Hann of Manor Drive North). The Rotary Club helped to draw up plans with the Red Cross for work on air raid precautions together with all the local churches. Shelters made of reinforced concrete (at least 12ft thick) at a cost of £2000 each would be required and the government were making respirators in the event of a gas attack with about 30 million being available by the end of the year. About 280 volunteers had applied by the end of April as ARP workers and 222 persons were being trained in first aid. Part of Manor Farm buildings in Old Malden were leased from Merton College for use as an instructional centre for air raids and gas attacks.
Gift of shelter
The council were presented with two bus shelters for use in the borough, it was decided to place one near Plough Green, and the other near the railway bridge on Kingston Road. These were a gift from Charles Dello Strologo a naturalised Italian who lived at Shamley Green and donated a shelter to many villages in Surrey, to commemorate the jubilee of George V. In the end, between 60/80 were provided at a cost of approx £300 each. About a dozen are still standing, including one in Esher with its original plaque attached.
Further constructions were, pillar boxes at the junction of Malden Road and Thetford Road, and Malden Road and Blakes Lane, and a telephone box in South Lane opposite Lawrence Avenue.
The council purchased land between Franks Avenue and the railway line for the building of council houses needed due to overcrowding. There were many objections to this project, (costs of £2000 per acre, special foundations needed for the houses due to the extraction of gravel, it was too damp, and too near the railway line), were dismissed and plans were made for fifty houses. (now Potters Grove)
Coronation celebrations
Coronation Day was set for 12th May (the same date intended for Edward VIII), and Malden looked suitably dressed for the occasion. Hung across the street and pavements of Malden Road were paper garlands in an assortment of colours together with other bunting. This gave the effect of a series of triumphal arches while on each lamppost there hung a painted shield. Every window in the council offices was surrounded by garlands which reached up to the clock. Underneath the clock was a plaque with the portraits of the King and Queen with the Royal Cyphers. Above the main entrance, blue and gold cloth was hung with the single monogram G. More garlands hung from the flagpole on the roof, and the next-door fire station was covered in garlands and banners, with a large red and gold crown on the tower.
Many of the shops were decorated with flags, bunting, and royal cyphers, and houses were adorned with bunting and flags hanging from upstairs windows.
The main event of the day, which was very wet, was the carnival procession. The entrants assembled in Malden and Coombe Sports Ground (now Manor Park). The parade which was a mile long, then wended its way via Malden Road, Thetford Road, Westbury Road, and Kingston Road past the council offices, cheered on by crowds sheltering under trees and umbrellas enroute.
Leading the way were the bandsmen of the Legion Of Frontiersmen, followed by the local postmen. The local Rotarians had a tableau based on the nursery rhyme about the old woman who lived in a shoe, the children came from the County Council’s children’s homes that used to stand in Kingston Road. The scouts put on an historical pageant detailing events leading up to the formation of their movement. Next were the Boys Brigade complete with dragon and crusaders (St George and the Dragon). Following them were the Girl Guides showing how their organisation came about. The council vehicles including fire engines and refuse trucks then passed, followed by the local British Legion with “Malden’s Henpecked Husbands” up to their elbows in washing up while their wives powdered their noses.
The Surrey Comet float depicted a printing press in true Heath Robinson style, but the rain came down so hard that the machinery became frozen, and failed to operate. A local industry based in Blagdon Road (Norbiton Potteries) included a man making pots on a wheel.
The procession proceeded via Dukes Avenue to Beverly Park where the judges presented prizes for the best entries. These included Mr C Northam on his bicycle dressed as a telephone box, and Mr TC Bird (Chairman of the Chamber Of Commerce) and colleagues who decorated their lorry like a Viking galley complete with warriors.
The evening saw dancing in a large marquee complete with sprung floor followed by the King’s speech, a special searchlight display by the local anti-aircraft company, and fireworks. Residents were also able to enjoy a funfair which had been set up in the park, and was open until the following Monday.
The elderly and invalided were not to be forgotten, with 100 disabled ex-servicemen and 180 pensioners sitting down to a meal and concert in the Malden Wanderers pavilion.
Other parts of Malden held celebrations later in the week. The residents of the Dickerage Lane area held a carnival and sports at the recreation ground in the Saturday. All were encouraged to wear carnival costumes and to take part in the procession led by a Tin Pan Alley Band, from the Triangle to the Recreation Ground via Clarence Avenue, Laburnum Grove, The Crescent, and Mount Pleasant Road. The sports were opened by the Mayoress; there was also a Punch and Judy Show and Cabaret with dancing in the evening. Each child received a chocolate medallion and a balloon.
The tenants in Thorne Road (now replaced by Georgia Road) gave the children a coronation tea opened by the Mayor, and later there was dancing to the residents own accordion band.
In those days, there was no gathering around the television set to watch the ceremony, in fact by the end of 1937 there had only been just over 2000 TVs sold in the UK so it was unlikely that anybody in Malden had one. The BBC did televise the event. They had three static cameras at Apsley Gate (Hyde Park Corner) to transmit pictures of the coronation procession coming down East Carriage Road. Most people still listened in on the radio, secure in the knowledge that even though this was radio, the broadcasters would be wearing morning suits for such an occasion. After all, this was the BBC.
Sunday 1st November saw the beginning of National Rat Week, and as a form of “celebration” the council appointed a rat catcher at a weekly wage of £3 2/6 plus 2/6 a week for the upkeep of a dog and ferrets. Rat biscuits were available from the council @7½ d per24.
NB: My thanks to Barry Bannister who contacted me regarding my request about information on the POW camp. He remembers walking past the buildings with his mother while shopping for coal. He feels that the inmates were Italian with eyes for the girls!
by Robin Gill
1937 did not start well for the inhabitants of Malden: their popular cinema (Plaza) had burnt down on Sunday 27th December 1936, and all that was left of the main building was a pile of rubble and mangled metal. The cinema which could seat 700 stood on the site now occupied by McDonalds, it was purpose built, the site previously being allotments before the New Malden Picture Palace (original name) was constructed in 1921. The fire did not take long to take control, about 30 minutes after the alarm was first raised by a woman neighbour (who saw flames shooting through the roof), practically the whole of the inside of the building had been destroyed. It took five hours and thousands of gallons of water from the brigades of Malden and Wimbledon plus help from the London Salvage Corps to bring the fire under control. A local fireman Alan Ansell had a lucky escape when the roof collapsed causing a girder to fall on him. The blow shattered his brass helmet, which probably saved his life, Ansell asked to keep his helmet as a memento, and the other helmets were replaced with leather ones with the borough arms @£2 15s each (£2.75). The cinema was never rebuilt, though local shopkeepers felt it would improve their trade, and only the undamaged entrance lobby was used, for events such as friendship week.
Such was the demand for a cinema in the area, a number of sites including the original premises were proposed, but all were rejected for one reason or another.
The Gate House School which was on Kingston Hill, made an application to move into the building called Coombe Croft on George Road. This was one of three houses built by the Galsworthy family and would suit the school which had had to divide its teaching between two houses, but the council refused on the grounds that George Road was “zoned” for residential purposes not educational and a number of residents had complained about the prospect of noisy schoolboys in the area. The school successfully appealed against the decision and moved into the building just before the Second World War only to be evacuated to Cornwall in 1941. The building is now occupied by Rokeby who moved in in 1956. Near neighbours are Marymount International School for Girls, and Holy Cross Prep School, so that stretch of the road is more educational that residential, though the name Coombe Croft still appears on the gateposts.
Surrey County Council agreed to the purchase of land for the sites of two libraries. One at the junction of Avondale Avenue and Church Road (Old Malden Library) for £1,800, and another at the Junction of Sandal Road and Kingston Road (New Malden Library) for £1,000.
You can’t park there
Parking was becoming a problem in Malden Road (now High Street). The idea of parking on alternate sides on alternate days would not work, and Blagdon Road was rejected as a parking site as shops were to be built in the road, then the council decided to compulsory purchase 5½ acres of land in Blagdon Road for a car-park as parking restrictions were sending shoppers to Kingston. There were also plans to build a new town hall there, showing that current plans are nothing new. Plans were also put forward for the widening of the railway bridge and the road by the station, possibly meaning the demolition of shops in Malden Road and the existing Council Offices. Since Malden and Coombe had become a borough the existing offices had proved too small. Following the death of a lady who was crossing the road near the bridge these schemes took on a new urgency. We know now with hindsight, that because of the outbreak of war, these schemes did not come to fruition until much later.
Dark days ahead
The threat of war was never far away, and the real possibility of air raids and gas attacks were laid out in talks and lectures. For a town the size of Malden, 700/800 medical personnel would be required about 2% of the adult population, and an air-raid precautions officer was appointed (William Hann of Manor Drive North). The Rotary Club helped to draw up plans with the Red Cross for work on air raid precautions together with all the local churches. Shelters made of reinforced concrete (at least 12ft thick) at a cost of £2000 each would be required and the government were making respirators in the event of a gas attack with about 30 million being available by the end of the year. About 280 volunteers had applied by the end of April as ARP workers and 222 persons were being trained in first aid. Part of Manor Farm buildings in Old Malden were leased from Merton College for use as an instructional centre for air raids and gas attacks.
Gift of shelter
The council were presented with two bus shelters for use in the borough, it was decided to place one near Plough Green, and the other near the railway bridge on Kingston Road. These were a gift from Charles Dello Strologo a naturalised Italian who lived at Shamley Green and donated a shelter to many villages in Surrey, to commemorate the jubilee of George V. In the end, between 60/80 were provided at a cost of approx £300 each. About a dozen are still standing, including one in Esher with its original plaque attached.
Further constructions were, pillar boxes at the junction of Malden Road and Thetford Road, and Malden Road and Blakes Lane, and a telephone box in South Lane opposite Lawrence Avenue.
The council purchased land between Franks Avenue and the railway line for the building of council houses needed due to overcrowding. There were many objections to this project, (costs of £2000 per acre, special foundations needed for the houses due to the extraction of gravel, it was too damp, and too near the railway line), were dismissed and plans were made for fifty houses. (now Potters Grove)
Coronation celebrations
Coronation Day was set for 12th May (the same date intended for Edward VIII), and Malden looked suitably dressed for the occasion. Hung across the street and pavements of Malden Road were paper garlands in an assortment of colours together with other bunting. This gave the effect of a series of triumphal arches while on each lamppost there hung a painted shield. Every window in the council offices was surrounded by garlands which reached up to the clock. Underneath the clock was a plaque with the portraits of the King and Queen with the Royal Cyphers. Above the main entrance, blue and gold cloth was hung with the single monogram G. More garlands hung from the flagpole on the roof, and the next-door fire station was covered in garlands and banners, with a large red and gold crown on the tower.
Many of the shops were decorated with flags, bunting, and royal cyphers, and houses were adorned with bunting and flags hanging from upstairs windows.
The main event of the day, which was very wet, was the carnival procession. The entrants assembled in Malden and Coombe Sports Ground (now Manor Park). The parade which was a mile long, then wended its way via Malden Road, Thetford Road, Westbury Road, and Kingston Road past the council offices, cheered on by crowds sheltering under trees and umbrellas enroute.
Leading the way were the bandsmen of the Legion Of Frontiersmen, followed by the local postmen. The local Rotarians had a tableau based on the nursery rhyme about the old woman who lived in a shoe, the children came from the County Council’s children’s homes that used to stand in Kingston Road. The scouts put on an historical pageant detailing events leading up to the formation of their movement. Next were the Boys Brigade complete with dragon and crusaders (St George and the Dragon). Following them were the Girl Guides showing how their organisation came about. The council vehicles including fire engines and refuse trucks then passed, followed by the local British Legion with “Malden’s Henpecked Husbands” up to their elbows in washing up while their wives powdered their noses.
The Surrey Comet float depicted a printing press in true Heath Robinson style, but the rain came down so hard that the machinery became frozen, and failed to operate. A local industry based in Blagdon Road (Norbiton Potteries) included a man making pots on a wheel.
The procession proceeded via Dukes Avenue to Beverly Park where the judges presented prizes for the best entries. These included Mr C Northam on his bicycle dressed as a telephone box, and Mr TC Bird (Chairman of the Chamber Of Commerce) and colleagues who decorated their lorry like a Viking galley complete with warriors.
The evening saw dancing in a large marquee complete with sprung floor followed by the King’s speech, a special searchlight display by the local anti-aircraft company, and fireworks. Residents were also able to enjoy a funfair which had been set up in the park, and was open until the following Monday.
The elderly and invalided were not to be forgotten, with 100 disabled ex-servicemen and 180 pensioners sitting down to a meal and concert in the Malden Wanderers pavilion.
Other parts of Malden held celebrations later in the week. The residents of the Dickerage Lane area held a carnival and sports at the recreation ground in the Saturday. All were encouraged to wear carnival costumes and to take part in the procession led by a Tin Pan Alley Band, from the Triangle to the Recreation Ground via Clarence Avenue, Laburnum Grove, The Crescent, and Mount Pleasant Road. The sports were opened by the Mayoress; there was also a Punch and Judy Show and Cabaret with dancing in the evening. Each child received a chocolate medallion and a balloon.
The tenants in Thorne Road (now replaced by Georgia Road) gave the children a coronation tea opened by the Mayor, and later there was dancing to the residents own accordion band.
In those days, there was no gathering around the television set to watch the ceremony, in fact by the end of 1937 there had only been just over 2000 TVs sold in the UK so it was unlikely that anybody in Malden had one. The BBC did televise the event. They had three static cameras at Apsley Gate (Hyde Park Corner) to transmit pictures of the coronation procession coming down East Carriage Road. Most people still listened in on the radio, secure in the knowledge that even though this was radio, the broadcasters would be wearing morning suits for such an occasion. After all, this was the BBC.
Sunday 1st November saw the beginning of National Rat Week, and as a form of “celebration” the council appointed a rat catcher at a weekly wage of £3 2/6 plus 2/6 a week for the upkeep of a dog and ferrets. Rat biscuits were available from the council @7½ d per24.
NB: My thanks to Barry Bannister who contacted me regarding my request about information on the POW camp. He remembers walking past the buildings with his mother while shopping for coal. He feels that the inmates were Italian with eyes for the girls!
