EX PATS

If you are a Fleet or Crookham ex pat tell us where you are now living and a potted history of your life in Fleet/Crookham.

Do you remember Edith Ann Windiate

My name is Michael Windiate and I was born at no 3 Albert Street in 1961, the address at which I lived until the start of 2008. My father was Albert Windiate and my mother Edith Ann Windiate. Dad died some 20 years ago but mum only passed away last October, she was known to many people in the Fleet area as she had lived there since WW2. I am sure that there are still people I have been unable to contact who wonder what happened to Ann as she liked to be known. Sadly following mums death I was unable to remain at no 3 and at present am living with family in the Isle of Man ; however I hope one day to return to the fleet area. If anyone who new mum wants to get in touch my email address is below.

 

mikeathome@mistsoflight.co.uk


1st email from Chris in Canada

Hi there,
 
Took a look at your website last night..very interesting. i lived in Church Crookham from 1965-82, and went to Heatherside and Court Moor.I now live in Ontario, Canada and run a small shop called The British Touch, see www.thebritishtouch.com
 
cheers
Chris Hodgson

Reply to my email

Hi Allan,
 
I do sell HP sauce and Marmite..but of course you can get it all over in your area. They are both not so common here. The shakespeare link is dead due to the Buisnees association  in limbo. I did get your email from the expats page. I lived in church crookham untill i was 22, and remember Court moor well. 
i used to live in Heron close, on what was then a new estate! I drove a Triumph 2000 when i left the UK, I will look out for your video, sounds like a good idea.
We are deep in snow here as we have been since dec, so i had better get my snowblower out again!

cheers
Chris

Can you help

Dear Sir or Madam
I went to the Eriva Dene School in Kent Road, Fleet - the headmaster was a Mr Stevens, but  apart from the mention on this site I haven't been able to find out anything else about the school.
The only thing I remember is that one year they didn't write me a school report because I hadn't done any work!! LOL
 
Do you have any information about the school, or photos, newspaper reports that kind of thing - or are you able to suggest somewhere else I could contact.
Many thanks, 

Paulette in New Zealand

email psnewsletters@paradise.net.nz 


Do you know Alan

I’ve been spending a pleasant hour or two reading all the articles in your excellent web site.

I was born in March 1943 in Reading Road South (opposite what became the filling station), although our home at the time was 23 Clarence Road, a bungalow built in 1936 behind which was our Grandad’s blacksmiths ‘shop’. He was Ernest Light, who had two sons and three daughters, and he was England’s champion farrier in 1923. Vera married Len Cane, whose family had a colonial store on the corner right opposite the Oatsheaf, commonly known as ‘Cane’s Corner’. Effie (Euphemia) did not marry but upon leaving school went to work for the Crookshank family at Windmill House, somewhere north of Fleet Road. Maj Gen Sir Sydney Crookshank had been aide-de-camp to Earl Haig (I guess during the Boer War), shared the same date of birth as King George V, and the house was full of memorabilia relevant to those connections. The well outside the back door had mounted over it the bell of the first ship to sail through the Suez Canal.

Dorothy married an aspiring RAMC lieutenant, Richard ‘Dick’, our Dad, and I can recall his odd weekend visits to Fleet from Woolwich where he was based (and where they nearly set up home – blimey, we’d have bin Londoners!). We’d always listen to Much Binding in the Marsh before he left to go back up ‘smoke’. If the electricity stopped we’d shove another shilling in the meter. The house we had moved to in Kings Road was rented from Goddards the builders. We didn’t have a phone or a fridge, and the ‘bog’ was outside next to the coalshed. Grandad had bought the family’s first b/w TV in 1952 for the funeral of King George VI. Things improved when Dad came out of the Army and we moved to Westover Road. Fleet Pond was our playground – a very happy time. I played cricket for Elvetham and Fleet II and foootball for Crookham Ramblers

Brother Richard and I both went to Farnborough Grammar, where on Fridays we dressed up as soldiers in the CCF (Combined Cadet Force). Dad saw to it that we brassoed our buttons and blankoed our belts and gaiters properly, but we still got ‘done’ on occasions for wearing non-regulation socks! Our ‘baby’ sister Susan went to work for The Aldershot & District Traction Company and later married. Sue lives in Ilmington, Warks. Richard did well with the General Accident and Norwich Union (but succumbed of leukemia all too soon after an early retirement in 1998), whereas I went to the FUDC in 1959 as a clerk in the Engineers & Surveyor’s department (Jackie Chivers was the E & S, followed by Tom Hough). My boss was Bill Rider, who eventually emigrated to Brisbane.

By then we had moved to Weldon Close near Crookham Crossroads. Through a buddy at FUDC I met Christa, a German nurse who was au-pair for a family of stockbrokers. Unable to support two thirsty mouths on our regular pub crawls, I had to get a job earning more dough, and a friend arranged for an interview with British Eagle at Heathrow Airport which company I joined in 1964. Christa had moved back to Frankfurt, and I applied for jobs there with various firms, one of which was interested, so I used cheap company tickets to attend an interview which proved successful, and to effect the move.  That US company, Jeppesen, a provider of aeronautical charts and data for airlines and pilots celebrated its 50th anniversary in Germany this year (2007) and I have been with them for 42. We started exhibiting at the Farnborough Air Show in 1976, and my last official visit there for the company was in 1996. I used to fly from Blackbushe with the Fleet vet Holland ‘Holly’ Birkett in his Auster, but he sadly died on a flight in France in 1963, a flight he had invited me on. I still correspond with Ginny Birkett, who was Carnival Queen runner-up in the mid-60’s.

I remarried and we have a son of 20, David, and daughter Selina, 14. Selina’s horse keeps us busy (and me destitute!), but of course, it’s in the blood, and I love it. I bowl (10 pin) and my average is 178 (not bad for an old’un!).

I’m in Friends Reunited, but  have not been a good correspondent (it will improve, Ian and Mel, I promise). My email is atb1943@onlinehome.de and I’d love to hear from old friends.

Kindest regards,

Alan Lathan


To all who may help----THANKS
 
For some years i have owned a hillman car which has not turned a wheel for 25years.Now it is restoration time and i have discovered a  Retailers plaque fixed to the coachwork.As the bodywork is coachbuilt i wonder if it was built in Fleet!! or just sold there(perhaps to a local family).The car is a small hillman convertible black and cream ,I have no history whatsoever with the car following a fire in 1990.THE PLAQUE READS:_
 
Supplied by  F&J Maitre Station Garage FLEET HANTS  Telephone 113.
 
Any information on the garage or car would be more than greatfully received
 
Regards  Roger Key  (domiciled in Newark)

roger.key@homecall.co.uk 



Can you help

I am trying to find reletaives of

Ordinary Seaman ANTHONY ELI AUGUSTUS TIMMONS P/JX 790864, H.M.S. Theseus, Royal Navy
who died age 19 on 20 July 1947 in a Aircraft crash in Port Phillip Bay Victoria Australia
Son of John and Mary Timmons, of Aldershot, Hampshire.

Anthony was born 4th Jan 1928
 
but I nothing else  about the family - I attend the 60th Anniversary Memoiral Service of the crash that killed Anthony
a plaques was laid after all these year
 
I hope there is still someone in Aldershot that may have remebered the Timmons' family - http://www.wgrice.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/timmons.htm
this site is deicated to Anthony - ex Crew Member William Grice came to Australa last month for the sevice
 
 
Hope you are able to help - I hope to find someone before what would have been Anthony's 80th birthday 4th Jan 2008
 
Regards Toni
Victoria Austrlia

 


Can you help

Hi

Very glad I found your site, I would like to add something to the "ex-
pats" link but not sure if this is the right email.

I lived at 33 Award Road with my younger sister Alison and my parents 
Bill and May Jones from the late 50's to about 1972. My father worked 
at Pyestock and I understand he was well known there. We moved to 
Leeds and a few months after we moved my father died. If anyone 
remembers my father (or any of us) I would be really please to hear 
from you. I'm now living in Bedford

Michael Jones
grumpygrapefruit@mac.com
 


Can you help

Wonder if you can help me please?
In Sept 04 I lost a good friend, Bob Hunt who lived at 101, The Fairway, Southgate, London. We originally met some years ago as we both had a holiday home in Cromer, Norfolk. My wife and I attended Bob's funeral and met one of his children who lived with their partner in Fleet. I cannot remember whether it was his daughter or son. I understand that Bob had previously been married and divorced. At the time of his death Bob's partner was Susan Purcell who, in turn, tragically died earlier this year and at the time of her death had retained Bob's ashes. I have recently discovered that the ashes are now in the possession of a family friend in Mundesley, Norfolk and I have offered for him to try to find Bob's living family in order that they take possession of his ashes should they so wish.
Is it possible that you can help me in some way in finding Bob's family assuming they still live in the Fleet area. Any suggestions would be most welcome. You can contact me by email, of course, my telephone number is 0116 2416112,
my address 56 Sedgefield Drive, Thurnby, Leicester, LE7 9PS.
Regards
Keith Carr.

Can you help

I lived in Fleet from 1964 til around 1971, i was Tessa Sampson then , since then i have lived in Sheffield, Isle of wight, Wakefield and back to sunny Sheffield.

Sadly for me my Dad who was Tony Sampson died in 1970 , he died near to court moor School, I was then a pupil at Heatherside infant and Junior school, If anyone has any memories of my family please contact me at tina_hague@yahoo.co.uk thanks , i have very fond memories of Fleet and would love to hear from People , we went to Fleet Methodist Church and lived in  Springwoods.

Hi all in good old Fleet.
I have certainly enjoyed your site. My name is Eileen Pockett (nee Neville).  I was born in Fleet and myself, hubby John and four sons emigrated to Aussie in 1974. Hubbie & I live in Richmond, Tasmania (the little island below Melbourne). 3 sons live in Tassie and one lives in Cairns, Nth Queensland.
I attended Albert St infants school in the 50's, Heatherside primary and then Aldershot County High. Have been back to visit quite a few times to visit mum & dad (now both deceased) Unfortunately not able to do much travelling now as I have that ************* disease MS and it has left me pretty disabled. Keep up the great work with the site!
Regards, Eileen
email:
epockett@bigpond.net.au

Can you help

Keith Rundle and Judy Poulter were born and raised in Fleet. We married in 1959 and moved to the Norwich area where we still live. We both have relatives and friends in Fleet so visit fairly often ,Judy goes to the Odiham Grammar School reunions and we both attend the Fleet Primary School functions every year. For some time we have been searching for Terry Thomas  who lived in Fleet( Albert Street) during the late forties and early fifties. He worked at County Commercial Cars for a while before joining the R.A.F., National Service I suppose. He had a brother named Boyce and a sister( name unknown) who married an American and moved to the U.S.A. Terry later went to America to live with his sister. Does anyone have contact with him or have any idea of his whereabouts?

email k.jrundle@tiscali.co.uk 

 

             Thankyou   Judy and Keith Rundle

Email to Graham Slingo (see last letter below) from John Mears. Both live in Australia. 

Dear Graham,
                        Read your email on the Fleet web site.I was born in Fleet in 1930 migrated to Australia in 1957 Colin Slingo was my best man when i got married.We lived next door in Elvetham road Fleet. then both familys moved to Ch Crookham again next door his brother and sister still live in Fleet. Colin lives in Farnborough His Father Would have been born about 1898 played goal keeper for Fleet F.C in the 1930s he was also a Bricklayer by trade.I keep in contact with Colin so he might know some thing I do not know if there is any conectition with the family but who knows. I live in Geelong Victoria My email address is tobby30@ncable.net.au      Colin's fathers was Fred Slingo i was last in England in1997 for 3 months saw a lot of Colin and family who would be about 76yrs old. 

Its a small world regards John Mears.

 

From Australia

Hi Hampshire
This is by far one of the best sites for the area around Fleet which is of an interest to our family.
Our mother Doris Heathers and her sisters were born in Fleet and I believe the three girls were baptized in the church there.
I understand their address at the time was giving as "Lyndhurst" Clarence Road but I doubt if this exists now.
I wonder if the records could still be at the church.
Keep up the good work and I will sure to be back to this great site.
Regards
Robert from OZ

From Adelaide Australia

Hi, Nice to find your site I lived in Magnolia way 1970 to 76 then in Farnham for a year migrated to Adelaide Australia to join my family here.I still have a friend from Court moor school I keep in touch with and have happy teenage memories of Fleet Crondall and surrounding areas i miss lots of old friends and would love to know how John findlay and Steve Etherington and families are are.

Wendy Mallet


From a local author living in Market Harborough.

I spent my early years in the Solent area -- Portsmouth Gosport and Stubbington -- and moved to Crookham Village during my teenage.  This was the time when I had plenty to do but no money to do it.  I remember spending hours, late at night, waiting for the last train from Farnborough Station. Or the last bus from Aldershot, only to be told that the Number 9 wasn't running and I'd have to catch the 8 and walk from Fleet to Crookham. Usually in the rain. My girlfriend lived near Fleet Railway Station, so I got used to walking from there to Crookham.  Eventually, I got an old Austin Somerset which made things a little easier.  Anyway, things didn't work out with the girlfriend so I ran away to Portsmouth and joined the police.  There, I fell in love with the girl who made me tea in a petrol station on 3 Beat. I still had no money, so we spent our wedding night in The Oatsheaf at Fleet crossroads instead of a honeymoon.  Thirty years later, we run a second hand bookshop in Market Harborough and I write detective novels.  My wife is still waiting for the honeymoon.

If I can select a book -- try 'Fleet and Crookham A Pictorial History' by Stan Knight and others. It has a good mix of photographs.
 
Malcolm Noble

From Australia. Can anyone help?

I am so pleased to have found your site. Could you pass this on to your local history society.
 
My father and grandparents lived in Fleet for an unknown (to us) length of time, but from at least 1926 through WW2 (I think). My grandfather was Dr Edward Martin, his wife was Ethel and my father was (Cecil) John, who went up to Cambridge to do Medicine, worked at St Bartholomew's, on the Blue Funnel line (carrying pilgrims from Jeddah to Indonesia) and then served in the Royal Naval Reserve during the war. Dad also had two sisters Anne (who became Anne Granville) and Helen. I do remember my father saying that his father wanted to retire, but he had to keep practising during the war. He died during a locum in Megavissy in the late 40s, and my grandmother died in Oxford in the late 50s.
 
I have so little information, but if the Library has any old directories of Fleet, maybe someone could do a little research for me, and perhaps find an address where they lived. Their house was named 'Braithwaite'.
 
I would be so grateful if anyone can find any information to pass on to me and my siblings.
 
Thank you,
Elizabeth Howarth
Sydney, Australia

From the USA

The Harley Family actually came from Mottingham (near Eltham and Bromley)
with our parents migrating there from Deptford in the mid 30's.  Michael,
and family, finally ended up in Fleet many years ago and their two daughters
and son live in the area too.  My sister, Janice and I came to the states -
I live in Petaluma, California and Janice now lives in Florida after trying,
also, to live in Fleet - Her, and her husband, stuck it out for a couple of
years and decided it wasn't for them and moved to mid Florida to live.  Our
other brother, Jimmy, and his family, had settled in Orpington, Kent, but,
sadly he died several years ago.  So there are just the three of us now.  We
visit Michael every year - that's why I know Fleet so well. We had all been
together a couple of weeks ago in Florida visiting our sister who is not in
good health.

Lots of loverly memories of Fleet, Farnham, Guildford, etc., which keep me
going from year to year.  I'm about to retire and if I had my druthers
(where did that word originate?) I'd return to England and Fleet and settle
down. It's not possible I know - perhaps if I win the local California
lottery - ah! dreams.

Really appreciate your input.  I'll look at the ex-pats site.  Do you ever
look at the Telegraph Ex-Pats web site.  Very interesting on how people live
and work abroad and the stories they have to tell.  I've been putting some
notes together to develop a story for the site.

Keep well.

Muriel Truett


From Australia

Dear Sir, Madam

That I have occasion to write to you is to enquire if you have and Yeomans family in Fleet, as my Grandmother Amy Yeomans was said to come from there. In her later life she lived at western road Aldershot. I am currently trying to piece together a past or family history. I trust you will grant me the courtesy of a reply. Ron Walker.

                                      South Australia.

From New Zealand

Hi Allan

 
I was actually born in Woking, Sept 1940, that because my Father was at sea (RN) and my Mother decided to be where her parents lived for the birth.  They were at Bridge Stores before the war, but due to a shady business partner who did a runner with the money they had to sell , from which they never recovered financially.
 
I can remember a few things from the war like seeing a Doodlebug, the sky black with bombers going on daylight raids, being bundled under the stairs when a lone Jerry plane was circling around, hearing Jerry bombers following the railway up to London at nighttime, tanks being parked on a dried out Fleet Pond, Italian POW"s cleaning out ditches .  Highlights from those times were going to Fleet station in the darkness to meet Dad coming home on leave and the ensuing high tea to celebrate.
 
Avondale Road was the where I was raised, No 25, a great area as a boy, the pond just at the bottom of Wellington Avenue, happy days punting on home made rafts to Fir Tree Island and the Sandhills, often slinking home with wet clothes.
 
Infants and Primary schooling at Albert Street / Church Road schools.  Secondary schooling at Heatherside, always known locally as "The New School".  We thought it was the end having toilets indoors after having to cross the playground at Albert Street in all weathers.  My daughter Joanna actually went to Heatherside infants prior to us emigrating to OZ in 1982.
 
Upon leaving school I served a five year apprenticeship as a Fitter at the REME workshops in Aldershot followed by employment at FVRDE /MVEE at Chertsey. 
 
We now live in a suburb of Perth WA, Armadale. My wife Sue who was a hairdresser in Fleet is in command of the family home, I look after the maintenance of the bus fleet, my son James is a primary school teacher, a degree in Sport Science enables him to have a PE bias, Joanna is now a Mum herself.
 
A potted summary of the Morgon's.

G'Day

I'm also an ex pat from Fleet, 1940 - 1982.  Have you got email address for Roger Vincent?  I read his 'opinion' note but there is no contact address.

Congrats on your site.

Roger Morgon

Roger V:  If you read this Roger M's email is RMorgon@pta.wa.gov.au 


Email from NZ to fleethants.com - can anyone help?

Hi, as an  ex pat of Fleet Circa 1944  to 1968 and having searched the net from NZ for any news of  "the old home town" and having found zilch your site was most welcome indeed.     I wonder if any of your followers can fill me in on the history of the old scout hall which was situated down near the cricket ground where Tavistock Road is now situated. the last leaders were Eddie Shrimptn, Neville ? and Mallinson?   Perhaps you may wish to start a remember when column or expat ramblings!  horror.

                                                             Anyway thanks for the site   Cheers Roger Vincent


G'day
Great site!
I live near Brisbane Queensland, Australia. 
Can any one help me discover any thing about the Slingo families living in the area from 1700-1901.
In the 1881 census eight Slingo family's lived in your area, but the name is rare. George Slingo born 1851, had a greengrocers at Crookham in 1901, Elizabeth Slingo born aprox. 1826, had a greengrocers at Church Crookham.
I think this is his mother, but have no proof. if so there was at least four generations of George Slingo's living at Crondall in 1881.
George born 1799, at Crondall, father of.
George born 1825, at Southampton.Husband of Elizabeth.
George born 1851 at Southampton, father of.
George Born 1877 at Stains.
Other George's were in the area also.

Graham Slingo gslingo@dodo.com.au