fleethants-expats

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.

If you send emails relating to any of the following please copy to community@fleethants Thank you.

I too am an ex pat and stumbled across the Fleet website and spotted your e mail, which triggered off all sorts of rather fond and funny memories, though I have to say, my memory was somewhat tested for some while.

I vaguely remember attending the little primary school about halfway down Reading Road South, with the little sweet shop opposite, where we could buy Pear Drop boiled sweets which were kept in a large glass jar. The sherbet fountain with a liquorice straw were a great favourite too. Miss Bracher taught us gardening and Henry Spearman was the PE master.......i do remember the move over to Courtmoor school, when it opened.... really grown up and exciting. Mr Spearman came with us and he and Len Culver and the hobbies master, Mr Wilson, ( i think) were favourites. Vincent Bach, the woodwork master was NOT a favourite. I believe the headmaster was Mr Fletcher.....a tall and a vrey gentle sort of person.

My only claim to fame at school, was that for reasons which escape me, i was base player ( tea chest, broom handle and string ) in a three piece skiffle group and "performed" Lonnie Donegans Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, for which I believe we came third in the Hampshire Music Festival / contest ..... ahh, those heady days of fame !!!!! The guitarist and lead singer was a chap called Mick, i seem to recall.

At that time, which i guess was 1960, we lived on Galley Hill Road and my walk to school was along the Basingstoke canal, which was a great playground for young teenagers. Much canoing was done between Church Crookham, Crondal and Odiham...... funny how only the sunny days can be remembered.

The Byrns brothers ( I remember Ray ) gave me a job at 13 or 14, as a paper boy and my patch was around the Wyvern pub, down and around the Galley Hill Road area....... gosh, those newspapers were heavy !

Great memories of "Long Valley", which i think was a military tank testing ground, but, it was our desert, where we could get lost for hours on end. Happy days indeed.

I left in 1963 and joined the Royal Army Dental Corp, as apprentice soldier, based at Church Crookham, Queen Elizabeth Barracks, where i did my "basic training", before embarking on a dental career......but that's a long, long story !

My parents moved away..... I got into property, ( worked for Messenger May and Baverstock, estate agents in Fleet Road, for a while.... i think that they were taken over by Hamptons or some such corporate outfit ),married in 1969, lived in Camberley for a year before buying house in Yateley and then in 1972 bought a house in ...........Stanton Drive, Fleet, of all places !

After a couple of years we "dropped out" to do the Good Life bit in North Wales for a few years before buying a house in Holland Gardens, Fleet. My two children both went to Court Moor and my daughter still lives in Crookham.

I remarried and and have lived in SW London for the past 20 years.

Sadly, my memory has never been my strongest aspect, and i wish that i could remember the names of people and friends from that era.... however i remember that my very first girlfriend was called Glynis, i think that she lived just off Pondtail Road and the pop single of the day was Telstar by the Tornados. I do remember the first coffee bar to appear....192 Fleet Road.....complete with a juke box and we thought that we were sooooo cool going in there !

Jon......i see that you now live in Saumur..... a lovely place to be sure. Have spent many a happy hour sitting in the sunshine after lunch at La Pierre Chaude.... a favourite of ours, en route to Cordes sur Ciel, where we holiday.

Sad to say that I don't remember your name, but hey......its good to reminisce, isn't it ?

Jeremy Hewitt

mobile: 07702 564 363

Hi need your help please , I’m trying to trace a friend I lost contact with 2 years ago , her name is Lisa Kent and lives in Fleet Hampshire, please can you help . I’m

Adam from Pontefract West Yorkshire

Hello,

I am trying to find some history of a trials motorcyclist.
.
Do you have any contact details for Andy Bamford of motorcycle trials fame please ?

Or perhaps he might contact me?

Kevin Lay,
Mawgan Porth, Cornwall 01637 860013 Oe email as above.
Sent from my iPad

(fleethants note: You could try emailing North Hants Motorcycle Club. Andy was a recent treasurer at the club. They might be able to help. email is Lesley.Winstone@nos-solutions.co.uk . Let me know how you get on.)

Dear Julie, My name is Graham Mules,I lived at 95 Albert street from 1946-1957.my grandmother was Mrs Somers,next door was Mr and Mrs Scott,who you used to visit. Also we both moved in similar circles during our teens.I went to Queen Mary,s school for boys in Basinstoke

I now live in Canada,

Wishing you well

Tight Lines!

Also would like to contact old friends, Sandy Wells, Roger White, Tim Carrol, Malcolm Grace Bob Millard, Les Cox and others..

I would like to post notification on your site advising of the Funeral for Jack James Grimshaw, 15th August 2017 in All Saints Church Mudeford Christchurch, Dorset. BH23 3HS. from 12.30pm

associated with All Saints School, a Governor for Calthorpe Park School and stood as an independent Councilor for Hart District around 1973?. He retired to Christchurch in 1985 but may still be remembered in the Fleet/Crookham area, he passed suddenly on 28th July 2017.

I lived in Haig Lodge , Haig Lines during and after the war, from the age of 5 - 10. We had two lots of prisoners in the barracks between Tweezledown Road and Aldershot Road. We were told that the first lot were Russians. They were very friendly and used to make us carved wooden toys in exchange for cigarettes. When they left the next ones in were Italian. Again they made a fuss of us kids. They were used to do jobs outside the camp, I know for instance that some of them decorated the windows of the army Catholic church of Our Lady of Lourdes which was in Tweezledown Road. The camp was divided by the road which joined Tweezledown Road and Aldershot Road which the families used to get to the Army Post Office. The POWs used to crowd the fence lining the road just to look and chat if they got the opportunity.

libri@homemail.com.au

Hi

I attended Heatherside school and then Courtmoor until 1966 when I joined Solartron as an apprentice. I lived in Kings Road Fleet and then Holytrees in Church Crookham until I got married and moved to Westland Helicopters in Yeovil.

I remember the Courtmoor Youth club which was set up by Len Culver the Geography teacher and then taken over by the woodwork teacher Murry Hodgson who married the English teacher and they had a daughter named Joanna.

I was a junior youth leader and loved canoeing, rock climbing football etc..

I also remember our Sports teacher Henry Spearman, English teacher C.A. (Chamblin Andrews) and my friend, Keith Hooker, who played for Brentford for a short while.

One of my best memories is the Christmas gift run, which we did for 4 or 5 years charging £1.00: Parents would drop off a wrapped present and we would deliver it on Christmas morning dressed as Father Christmas. From memory at the height we had 3 sledges pulled behind cars. What a lovely memory.

I moved up to the Midlands in 1981 but now live in France in the Loire Valley near the beautiful Chateau town of Saumur.

My Dad worked at the NGTE (Pystock) and I can remember going to the sports and social club with him and playing snooker.

Hi,

Does anyone know where the nursing home used to be on Gally Hill Road, Church Crookham, Fleet? Also if there are any records of staff who worked there in the 1940's?
I am trying to put together a family history and believe a Anne (Sarah Anne) Hamilton worked there. She married and her surname then became Ormrod.

Hope someone can help.

Regards
Sharon Ormrod

sharon.ormrod@btinternet.co m

Hello,

I'm doing some family history on Edith Josephine Daniel (was Luxa briefly) who lived on kenilworth road, fleet, in 1938. She came over that year from India, she was 28. Do you know any websites or people I could contact to try find any of her relatives?

Thank you,

Emily

I'm researching an ancestor of mine, Eustace Cranford, who was killed in WW1. He was born in Winchfield but moved to Fleet at a very early age.

I grew up the Church Crookham and Fleet area in the 50s and 60s. My father worked at the Gas Turbine Establishment and later Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough. We lived in Compton Road close to Crookham crossroads. I attended Crookham Infants School on Gally Hill Road with my elder brother Neil and younger brother Peter. We were all choir boys in Christ Church Choir under the organist and choir master Tom Grosch (known as Nuncs). To earn some pocket money, on Saturday mornings I used to mark the white chalk lines for Crookham Rovers at Abercorn Playing Fields opposite the Wyvern Pub. Later I attended Fleet Primary School on Reading Road South before passing the Eleven Plus exam and starting at Farnborough Grammar School. I did not excel here academically but being a keen member of the Combined Cadet Force under the PT master, Mr Thomas probably shaped my future career.

From my early teens, I owned a canvas covered wood framed canoe and explored the Basingstoke Canal with friends. We would cycle everywhere and always cycled to the end of the Farnborough runway to watch all those early fast jet aircraft fly low overhead at the annual Farnborough Air show. As young boys we explored the area around Tweezledown racecourse and the local military training areas. I spent a lot of time outdoors. We walked or cycled around with no worries or concerns. I joined the youth club that met on Fridays in a hut in the vicarage grounds opposite Christ Church. We held “discos” once a month or so! I remember enjoying Fleet annual carnival and the fair which came every year.

In 1971, I was accepted for entry to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst which was the start of a 27 year career in the Royal Hampshire Regiment. In 2000 I left the Army and migrated to Australia with my wife and two daughters and now live in Canberra.

Hello,
I enjoyed looking at the slideshow of old photographs on the website and wondered if anyone can tell me more about the Cottage School? I have plenty of information about the Albert Street School as we have all the original log books but I am keen to find out exactly when a Church school in Fleet was established.
Thank you.
Alison

Alison Wyld
Headteacher,
All Saints C.E. (A) Junior School
Lea Wood Road
Fleet
GU51 5AJ

01252 615428

I am pleased to advise you that this morning a cousin of my friend Suzanne
got in touch with me. Thank you so much for your kind help. The expats
page really worked this time, great idea you all had.
Cheers,
Suzanne

(see Suzanne Wille below)

Hallo,

I am a friend of Suzanne Jacqueline Edwards Conway who was born in Fleet on April 30th 1941. She has been a resident of Mexico for the last 48 years.

Suzanne passed away yesterday March 20th. after battling cancer for a few months. I have been a friend of hers since 1969. I promised her family here in Mexico to try and find family members of hers in England. Her brother's name is Adrian Edwards about 74 or 75 years old. There is a sister Marian and I believe a Mary Jo.

There is some connection to the surname of Newton too. Apparently Suzanne's mother adopted several children and I believe was married twice.

I know this is an unusual request but Suzanne's son and newly born granddaughter are interested in finding family members. Suzanne was asking continually for her brother Adrian in the last few weeks of her illness. It did not occur to me until today at her funeral to look for a Fleet Historical Society or similar.

If I am communicating in the totally wrong direction, I would most appreciate if you could let me know with whom I could get in contact.

I thank you in advance for any help you can give me. My name is also Suzanne.

Regards,

Suzanne Wille

Last evening I happened to come across this web site. I loved reading the entries and even remembered some names. What a surprise to read that Judy and Keith Rundle were asking if anyone knew anything about me, Julie Parfett! I have sent an e-mail to them which I hope they will receive. The problem is I don't know how long ago their e-mail was sent, so they may have changed their e-mail address since then.

Unlike some of the contributors I still live in the UK. As Julie Pirie I moved from Fleet in1961 to Bristol, then in 1971 to South Gloucestershire. I then, after a divorce, moved to Bath and later became Julie Hooper. In 2005 when I retired we moved to Seaton in East Devon to fulfil my wish to live by the sea.

I left Aldershot High School when I was just 16 years old vowing I wouldn't ever have anything to do with education again. In my naivety I didn't appreciate what a good education I had received there! I went to work as a scientific assistant at the RAE at Farnborough and there I had to continue my education part-time until I was 18!!

The qualifications I got there enabled me to go to a teacher training college in Bristol when my son started school. I gained my teaching certificate and a job close to home in 1967. In 1979 I got a headship in South Gloucestershire. After 13 years I retired from that but as I still needed a challenge I did the training to become an OFSTED inspector. I then became a leader of OFSTED teams and inspected nearly 200 schools all over the country, from Cumbria to the Isles of Scilly and across to Norfolk and up to Durham. Amazing for someone who at 16 years old didn't want anything more to do with education!

Back to this website; is Alan Latham any relation to Richard Latham, my boyfriend, when I was 10 years old ?

Julie Hooper

email from Fleet and Crookham Local History Group regarding "The Anchorage Home" see email below

Can you help Bernard find "The Anchorage Home" in Reading Rd

Hello,

I am trying to find out some information about my great grandfather, Archibald William Dewhurst who died in 1938 aged 69.

His death certificate shows that he died in The Anchorage Home, Reading Road, Church Crookham, Fleet.

I can find no reference to this place at all. Please does anyone know any information about it, where it was located and what it is now? In order to have been admitted to the Home would he have been living in the area? If so, how can I find where he was living? Would he have needed to pay to stay at The Anchorage? Is there any way of finding out how long he was resident?

So many questions, so few answers!

Thanks very much

Kind regards

Bernard Hudson

In January 2011 I promised to dig up a photo of the nativity play I took part in way way back, I guess it would have been in 1952 or '53. At long last I've been successful!
My three companions are, on the left (of the photo) Mr. Vincent, a near neighbour of Mr. Akerman (centre), and Mr. Carroll on the right, son-in-law of Goddard's, the builders. The location was in the grounds of Lobswood, on the corner of Wood Lane and Alton Road.

The Carrolls had three sons, Tim, Steve and Robert, and our gardens were connected by a wood in which we used to have a lot of fun (since built on of course).

For Mr. B. Chandler of Boston Lincs I hava a date and names of those involved in the plane crash on Tweseldown. I sent it to a friend who runs a very interesting website on Hampshire Aviation, and you'll find it on the 'front page'. I only sent it out of interest, but I see he has posted it, therefore you should be mentioned too. Here's the link: http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/hancrash.html click to enlarge>>>

Scrolling down to 11-6-50 you'll see a reference to a collision of two Spitfires. At the tender age of seven I was wandering down to the canal just after Sunday School when it occurred more or less above me. There were possibly six in loose formation, when one cut the other in two, the front fuselage coming down in a field in Aldershot road, and the tail ending up in the front garden of a house in Regent Street. I ran home to Kings Road screaming that 'the bombs were going to explode(!)', but went back with my brother a short while later, by which time a policemen had been posted at the gate of the field. From what I gather they were practising for a mock dogfight with aircraft from another squadron, an annual event at the time.

During school holidays we would often take pocket-money jobs with Fleet Council, such as refuse collection, or ditch clearing, etc. 'On the dustcarts' was a particularly odious job where you would tip the contents of the dustbin (no plastic bags in those days) into a tin bath which two of you then manhandled down to the road to heave it up and over into the open-sided Dennis dustcart. Then it was off to the tip (at the end of Alton Road I believe, or perhaps Calthorpe Park). Little did I know that I would be ordering new dustcarts from Dennis in my first job with the Council!

One year I was allotted ditch clearing duty together with the father of a school chum in a ditch down towards the canal and we were hard at it when my colleague suddenly disappeared in a swarm of wasps - he had chopped into a nest with his sickle! They were upset, and he was in distress. I started to brush them away with my gloves and we eventually got his shirt off which managed to contain most of them. He'd been stung quite badly (strangely enough I didn't get one sting!) when I remembered a household antidote. Attracting the attention of the lady in a nearby bungalow she fortunately had what I stammered for - an onion. She threw it down to me and I neatly sliced it in two with my own trusty sickle (not true!) and rubbed his poor old torso with it. She must have also called the ambulance which took him to Cambridge military hospital in Aldershot. Within a few days he was as right as rain.

That lady's bungalow had been built all those years later in the field that Spitfire came down in - isn't life full of coincidences!

And I'm happy to inform Judy of the Windmill House article that I have sourced a photo of Lady Crookshank and will retrieve it from my niece in Norfolk in due course.

Very best regards,

Alan

Hello

I have a painting of Wensley, Fleet, painted in 1912 by Grandfather to
Alizon and I wondered if the property still existed? Do you know of a
propety called Wensley? I'm struggling to find it on any maps.

If you have a mobile number I could text an image to you? Perhaps you
might recognise it?

Many thanks from Elizabeth in North Yorkshire

I live in Wensley Drive. It is understood that this is where Wensley House used to stand. There are now three Houses on Wensley Drive. It would be great to see a copy of the painting. We appreciate if you could give my details to Elizabeth above.

I should be grateful if you would forward this to Elizabeth in North
Yorkshire who asked about a house called Wensley on Fleet ex-pats.

Fleet and Crookham Local History Group has local street directories and the
1950 edition of May's Directory shows Wensley occupied by A P Boone. The
directory and an undated plan show Wensley at the station end of Elvetham
Road, where Wensley Drive is now.

The Local History Group would love to have a copy of the painting by
Elizabeth's grandfather(?) for the Group archive, if she would send it to my
email or via www.fclhg.hampshire.org.uk

Many thanks

Phyl Ralton

Somewhere I have a photo of a nativity play that was put on in the grounds of School Headmaster Taylor's house (possibly on the corner of Wood Lane and Elms Road). A stage was built of pine trees, and the Reverend Ronnie Wynne asked if I would take the only child part with a speaking role. At first I said I'd rather not, and he wouldn't speak to me for ages. Then I remember bumping into him in the school playground, and told him I'd do it, which pleased him no end. I was a peasant boy who got to say 'solace now and bliss in my heart come is' having been visited by the Angel Gabriel. My 'uncles' were played by a Mr. Carroll (son-in-law of Goddard's - the builders) and I believe a Mr. Vincent, who lived on Kings Road between Clarence and Connaught Road, next door to Akerman's the grocers, opposite Vincent's the butchers.
I'll see if I can dig it up and send it over.

Happy New Year!

Alan

Through Facebook I have been able to trace an old friend who left Farnborough Grammar to join the Canadian Navy. Lynn Caple moved from there to the east coast of the USA where he has a catering business and 9 children! They lived on Elvetham Road.

His father was the electrician on 617 Squadron quoted as ‘Capable Caple’ in Guy Gibson’s Dambusters book.

Nice to see that fleethants/expats is getting people together - keep the emails coming - webmaster

Hi All, Judys entry re Windmill House has triggered the grey matter, I think I did a Bob a Job at the house when in the scouts circa1955, what was the road, Church Rd ? Also Alan I have been in contact with your sister Susan by way of Friends reunited, my dad’s bothers had Vincents Butchers on the Clarence RD/Kings road intersection. I used to work as butchers boy after school and Saturdays. Interested to read about Ginnys fathers accident, I do remember that, she married my mate Morrie Millard and moved to a small block {called it Vermor!} on the Alton Road !? Whilst on line would like to thank Mike Carter for the scout hall info..thanks. Great being between jobs/retired to visit memory lane!.. cheers Roger Vincent NZ P.S Apologies to Roger Morgan and my extended senior moment memory loss but I do now remember you and Colin Field and The Fleet Hotel..happy days.

In response to the article below by Alan I am sending you a notice about an event I am organising at Windmill House directly connected to the period you mention when Sir Sidney Crookshank was in residence. I am in a small way recreating the village community fete that used to be held there with dancing displays stalls, music, food and games on June 27th. Sorry about the short notice but I only just saw your entry today. I had a similar one but without the musical entertainment and had 200 people including at least 5 past residents of the house. We put together a collage of articles and photographs (including an obituary of Major Gen Sir Sidney Crookshank) which I have in my possession. It is in aid of the local Hospice and I am asking Allan Gibson to give it front page treatment on the website perhaps even coming along himself??? I am just about the same age as you - 1945 vintage - and have been fascinated by the history of the house (first owned I understand by Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven after changing his name to Mountbatten). In the Crookshanks ownership it was used for girl guide camps, local history meetings, carol singing and I suspect much much more. Am leafleting all the people in the neighbourhood to give it a local feel. Am attaching my forward programme for you Allan to put on the events list but would be glad if you could highlight the 27th June Windmill House and garden event on the home page. Where can I get more info about the House? Judy

Alan If you see this, email community@fleethants.com - Webmaster

Hi, I'm a Church Crookham expat having lived there from 1957 until 1967-68. I originally came from London but my stepfather moved to Crookham after retiring from the Army. We lived in a new bungalow at the top of Pine Grove and after leaving Wandsworth Grammar School I followed him. I played football for Crookham Ramblers in the hay days when they were winning everything and played with Ray Bryne whose family owned Bryne Brothers Newsagents on Crookham Crossroads. Other names I remember from the football days are Pete Savage, Cyril West, Kenny Cooper, Wally Cliburn, Cyril Dudley, Fred Dudley,
John Rose, Dickie Upwood, Kevin Donegan, Denny Grinham, Dave Oakes, Trevor Moreton and the best man at my wedding Charlie Peters. At this time I was just 17 and most of the other players were much older, but I am wondering if any one remembers me or my time spent in Crookham. My other big mate was Charlie Cheeseman who had an elder brother Gordon. They both lived in Weldon Close. I would be interested to hear from anyone who knows me from that time and my e-mail is sierracharlie806@hotmail.com . I do know and am recently in touch with Alan Lathan whose sister Susan was my first wife .I currently live in Thailand.

Steve Coutts

Hi/

Some time ago I left a message for Roger Vincent who had been asking
about the Scout Hut off Tavistock Road. You asked me to let you know if
I did subsequently hear from Roger. This is to let you know I have.
Interestingly, I copied in Peter de Lacey, Leader of one of the local
scout troops, who had also posted a comment. He in turn has put me in
touch with Ray Oldham who was my scoutmaster back in 1963 or so.
Amazingly, Ray is still involved with one of the local scout groups!

Thanks.

Mike Carter

mikea.carter@virgin.net

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.

That's my Scout HQ he's talking about; I'm Group Scout Leader of Fleet Sea Scouts that meet there. If you forward this to him, I'm sure he will be glad to hear what's been going on!

Searching for the widow of:

                  Mr David Jolly (Deceased)
                  Who died 13 June 2006, Guildford
                  Born 15 February 1956 (Corsham Wiltshire)

Please contact:
                  Sharon Tarry @ NPI
                  on 01733 476214

I was so interested to come across your history of Fleet. I was only young when we lived there for a short time in 1953 when I was nine, but have some vivid memories of the coronation and a very hot summer and long walks in the country side with my brother and sister. I also remember walking to the railway station to take a train to London on a few occasions, and it was not that long a walk. I wonder if anybody could help me with any information on the house we lived in. My father was on leave from Burmah Shell in India, and we stayed I believe at St. Anne's in Elvetham Road. It was owned by a Lady Reynolds (who would walk around singing "How much is that Doggy in the Window - a big hit then!) and although I suppose we rented the house, it was definitely her home and she lived there at the same time. It was a wonderful place with a fabulous garden. Sadly, both my parents have died and now that I am wanting to write some notes for my children and theirs, I have nothing but my recollectionshich are very hazy in some areas after all these years. I am quite sure it has either been demolished or is now used for something quite different, but should anyone have any idea, I'd love to hear. After returning from India we lived in Chobham for a few years but then moved to Hertfordshire. I eventually married and moved to the States where we now live in Dallas, Texas. I do get back to the UK quite often, as still have many family and friends, and even after all these years (December 1972) England is still home, and where my soul is! Would appreciate hearing any info anyone might have.

I have some information about the old Scout Hut which I can pass to
Roger Vincent, but have no e-mail address for him. Alternatively do I
just pass it to you for posting on the ex-pat page?

I should add that I am not really an ex-pat, only having managed to
migrate as far as Bedfordshire!

Regards.

Mike Carter

I have been searching possible websites to find any information on the
enclosed picture. I have just been looking through your archive photos and
wonder if, through your website you can identify the time, date, people or
anything to help.
I live in Boston Lincs now but spent the first fifty years of my life in
Reading, so I know the area but this picture was even before my time! I
think I may know the young person in the foreground but unfortunately he
died some years ago so I now need help from other quarters.
I will be very grateful for ANY information you may be able to find.
Many thanks anyway, Sincerely B CHANDLER

Hi, I was wondering if you had answered the question on the expats page from B CHANDLER.

I was very interested in the articles displayed on your web site
I am studying genealogy on my ancestors who have been traced back to 1700 and were from the parish of Yateley
I was particularly interested in the article ‘ A thousand years of History,’ by Fred Wilmot mainly because my Grandfather 9 times removed was living in Fleet farm and was known as Thomas Reynolds of Fleet. It may be that Fred Wilmot is also related to me as Thomas Reynolds son also Thomas married Mary Wilmot in 1762 and her brother Richard Wilmot married Mary Reynolds a sister to Thomas in 1759 Both couples were married at Yateley and form part of my family tree.
If at all possible I would like to make contact with Fred Wilmot or anybody else that knows the history about Fleet. Be free to pass on my e-mail address

Yours truly

D H Reynolds

Reply to david2611@btinternet.com

Hello.
I don’t know if you can help. I’m trying to find out about the church in Fleet where my parents married in 1958. A year or so ago they visited Fleet again for the first time and were told the church had been demolished and replaced by another building.
I’m trying to purchase a picture (or a book containing a photo) of this church as a wedding anniversary gift. Unfortunately I don’t know the name and don’t want to ask my parents as it will spoil the surprise. Do you know anyone that might be able to help?
Thank you,
Helen Murphy

Note: The church was the old Baptist Church in The Avenue and a photo of the old church was sent to Helen, by the fleethants.com webmaster, which her parents were delighted with.

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 football 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 to 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 50^th 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@googlemail.com and I’d love to hear from old friends.

Kindest regards,

Alan Lathan

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

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

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.

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

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.

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