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The Queen's Coronation in 1953
Coronation Day The week's chilly winds and intermittent rain did not stop the people of Epsom and Ewell celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Some of the outdoor events were moved indoors but the celebrations mostly took place as planned. While the official programme gave priority to youth and age there was something for everyone. The day began quietly with almost no traffic on the road and hardly anyone on the streets. But as it wore on people drifted away from their television sets and the borough gradually came to life. Around 500 older people, all over 70, were guests of the Council at luncheons held in the Ebbisham Hall, Hessle Grove School (now Glyn School) and Danetree Road School. The oldest to attend was Miss A. Aldridge, 92, of Adelphi Road. The meal included ham and tongue with beer and soft drinks. Luncheons like this had been a tradition since at least Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Entertainment included Dave Roberts (banjoist), Peggy Dale (a song and a uke) and Wayne Gosling (the singing accordionist). There were sports and other events at four venues: Ewell Court, Shadbolt Park, and Court and London Road Recreation Grounds. Organisers at Shadbolt Park and London Road defied the weather but for the other venues a scaled-down programme at Pound Lane and Danetree Road schools had to do. Fancy dress parades and an old-time football match and were popular at Shadbolt Park and Pound Lane. Punch and Judy was a highlight at Danetree, together with a physical training display by the 1st West Ewell Scouts, Scottish dancing by the Girls Friendly Society and a ladies' ankle competition. Perhaps the highlight of the day was the Coronation Pony Derby run on Epsom Football Club's ground at West Street Ewell. There were six races by ponies ridden by top jockeys and trainers of the day. The event was staged to be as much like the real Derby as possible, with bookmakers, tic-tac men, racecard sellers and mock Gypsies (Civil Defence ladies dressed up). Tom Walls the actor and local resident started the races and the stewards were Lord Rosebery and Lord Derby. 5000 people attended despite the poor weather. But the event was marred when one of the ponies (Cracker, ridden by T. Carter) jumped the rails into the crowd. Four people were injured, one of whom, Mr. Leonard Pickard, was taken to hospital with suspected fractured ribs. The racing was followed by a boxing tournament by Epsom Racing Lads Club and Decca Radar Boxing Club. The day finished with a firework display. The children of the Borough were given Coronation souvenirs. The 5-6 year olds (2,700 of them) got souvenir mugs, spoons went to the 7-10s (3,800) while the 11-17s (4,500) received an ABC guide to the Coronation. All over the area street parties were held so that children would not forget the great day. Organisers had started months before, making collections and holding whist drives to raise the money. Rain stopped the party at Richlands Avenue Stoneleigh so the event transferred to the St. John's church hall. There, 80 children munched their way through an iced cake weighing more than 12 pounds with a coronation coach on top. Plough Road in West Ewell was a spectacle with a party for several surrounding roads. Every child was given a souvenir cup, saucer and plate. At Kendall Road 130 children made short work of five gallons of ice cream. There was a fancy dress parade and a prize for the best decorated house, won by Mr. J. Skilton. The Danetree Road party had to move into the nearby school, but each child received a lucky dip prize of a penknife, a propelling pencil or a commemorative medallion. School parties ventured outside the Borough to watch the Coronation parade from the rain-soaked streets on the processional route itself. One party from Glyn School was stationed on the Embankment at the foot of Northumberland Avenue. During the interminable wait before the start of proceedings came invigorating news: the New Zealander Edmund Hilary and his faithful Sherpa Tensing had just achieved the first-ever conquest of Mount Everest. It seemed a fitting triumph to celebrate the Coronation. Finally the procession began. A stream of unknown dignitaries passed by, some in open carriages others in closed, many in strange ceremonial costume. One colourful figure could not be missed, however - the ample beaming shape of the splendid Queen Salote of Tonga. Much feted by the press since her arrival in the country shortly before, the exotic queen was a favourite with the crowd who cheered her to the rain-bearing clouds. She responded enthusiastically, waving vigorously from all sides of her open carriage, quite eclipsing the small unknown male figure by her side (mischievously and unkindly described by the wit Noel Coward as the queen's lunch!) Nearer the climax of the procession came another colourful figure - the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Gaudily attired in the robes of the honorary office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, he gallantly doffed his tricorn hat to all and sundry. (He, however, appeared to have no lunch.) At last the magical glass coach bearing the young Queen and her Consort came into view. How youthful yet regal she looked, in her tiara and flowing white gown, delicately waving to the loyal crowds. What a long and taxing day it would be for her. But she was swiftly gone, and the Glyn boys took the prosaic train home to watch the rest of the great day's events at special parties convened around the small grey screen of a neighbour's specially-acquired television set. Derby Day 1953 The Queen arrived at the Coronation Derby by train at Tattenham Corner station, to be greeted by an unprecedented crowd of over half a million people. The 1953 Derby was a memorable occasion. Never before had spectators' loyalties been so evenly divided as they were that day between the two horses that fought out the finish. Pinza was ridden by Gordon Richards, who had just been awarded a knighthood in the Coronation honours and whose long, record-breaking career lacked up to that moment only a victory in the Derby. Aureole, on the other hand, was owned by the young and greatly-loved new Queen. In the end Pinza won and Gordon Richards was given a most wonderful reception as he rode to the unsaddling enclosure. The Queen sent for him to offer her congratulations on his success. Sir Gordon Richards was born in 1904. He rode his first winner in 1921 and was Champion Jockey in1925. He was to regain this honour no less than 26 times before retiring in 1954 after an accident. He rode 4870 winners, 269 in 1947 alone. He won the Two Thousand Guineas three times, the One Thousand Guineas three times, the Derby once, the Oaks twice and the St. Leger five times. Some local people who did not go to the Coronation Derby still hoped to see the royal car on its return route to Windsor, rumoured to follow Ashley Road, High Street and East Street. Large crowds gathered at the street junctions. But they were disappointed, as the Queen actually travelled via Reigate Road and long stretches of the Kingston Road. So, though Epsom people missed the chance to cheer their new Queen, Ewell loyalists fared better. Children stood at every vantage point, many wearing paper crowns and waving flags, while women wore red white and blue dresses. Those of more humble station had greater difficulty in departing. The homeward journey from the races was a sight to behold. This year the traffic exceeded all records and for long periods pedestrians simply could not cross the High Street. A Diary of 1953 1953 saw some aspects of wartime life slip away. With them went much of the area's long history of farming. Many of the wartime allotments were being released for other uses including housing. Allotments at Langton Avenue, Higher Green, Woodcote Road and Gibraltar were released. Epsom Common returned to the public after agricultural use during the war. But Mr. H. J. Hadlow at Bramble Walk could still apply to graze his hunter and milking goat opposite his farm, which would however later disappear beneath Willis Close. Cultivation stopped too in Nonsuch Park which was still producing wheat, hay, straw and potatoes. Other plans for Nonsuch were unsuccessful. Archery ranges and an aviary were stopped, but the idea to use the partially constructed carriageway between Ewell and Cheam as a training ground for motor cyclists went ahead, provided it was used by only three bikes at a time on Saturdays. During January a heated debate took place at a council meeting over whether council tenants should be allowed to hang out washing on a Sunday. Most councillors never hung out their washing on Sundays, it seemed, but still felt that the needs of young children, the sick and working mothers should be taken into account. Some did fear that council properties would become slums this way but one lady councillor asserted that her own white washing was her pride and joy and that any housewife would be proud of the same. In the end the motion was carried by 16 to 8. Every child's dream came true on 5 February with the end of sweet rationing. It had in fact been abolished briefly in 1948, only to be reinstated a few months later. On both occasions local shops were mobbed by children eager to buy all the sweets their pocket money could afford. The fear of further war and attack from the air continued. To counter this an experimental model Civil Defence unit was formed by the government on the former brickfields and works at Kiln Lane off East Street Epsom (now occupied by Sainsburys and other enterprises). It consisted of 150 officers and men trained in rescue work, all ex-army and RAF but in Civil Defence uniform. It was opened by the Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell-Ffyfe. However the Mayor was not invited to the 'informal ceremony' and ordered the Town Clerk to protest to Sir David at the 'Civic Discourtesy' and 'most regrettable incident' of not inviting him. The council was in fact a great supporter of civil defence and the Epsom unit comprised 149 men and 170 women. The local Home Guard battalion, the 56th Surrey (Epsom and Ewell), was also adopted by the council. The council had undertaken a house building programme in Hook and Tunstall Roads and was beginning the Cox Lane housing estate. They had also bought the Horton Estate farm for housing and begun negotiations to buy the Meadows, West Street, Epsom. This would become the Mounthill Housing Estate at a cost of £121,364 for the 68 dwellings. Another major project was to improve street lighting. £26,900 was spent on seven miles of roads and shopping centres, at a running cost of £3,000 a year or 1½d on the rates. Though the Mayor did not open the East Street Civil Defence centre, he did get to open the new T.A. centre in Mounthill. The council had supplied the land and built the access road. It also acquired the old Pavilion Theatre site at the corner of Hook Road and East Street and by the end of the year this local landmark had disappeared. Floods devastated eastern England that year and at least 125 people were drowned on Canvey Island alone. Epsom and Ewell people collected £2,100 for the relief fund, with £240 coming from local schools. Children also gave toys and sweets. Seven tons of clothing were sent, including three fur coats. 25 men's suits were collected by the Second Ewell Scouts and were driven to the clothing centre in Benfleet by W. Beams, a local builder. At the district hospital a much-needed building programme was about to begin. 'Waiting lists are far too long and move too slowly' stated the Surgeon-Superintendent. There was also a shortage of nursing and domestic staff, though no bed had gone out of service. The cost of an average stay of three weeks had risen to £12-12-6d. In March the Vicar of St. Martin's called for a new church to be built on the Woodcote Estate as the parish church was too far for children and elderly folk. Financially the church had had a phenomenal year but the Vicar lamented that, religiously, it was otherwise. During April the new Civil Defence Experimental Mobile Column was put through its paces at Kiln Lane. Epsom was 'devastated' in a heavy air attack and the Column leapt into action along with other local organisations. The exercise went well and though the Home Secretary did not come this time they did remember to invite the Mayor. The flags were out at 115 Upland Way Tattenham Corner to welcome home Corporal Leonard Charman after 2½ years as a prisoner of war in Korea. He had been captured with the Gloucesters during their stand at Imjim River. He had also been a POW for 2½ years with the Italians during WW2 when captured serving with the Buffs in North Africa. At the beginning of the year the council announced that tenants could now purchase their own homes. 398 houses were available for sale but there were only three enquiries in two months. The buyers could sell at a profit after five years. A deposit of £25 was required and it would cost £40 a year more to buy than to rent. New by-laws were enacted for Epsom races. It became an offence to 'carry, deposit, possess or use any chair, box or other article capable of being used as a portable stand the use of which would be likely to cause an obstruction or nuisance to other people in the free strips.' The rules for council housing were changed in June. 1,751 applicants were waiting but only 386 properties were to be built in the next 2-3 years. So in future applicants had to have worked or lived in the area for 2 years. But it was objected that the council were pretending that there were few people in housing need, and were just playing with figures. During June the scout HQ at Christchurch on Epsom Common was finished. It was built of heavy concrete as malicious damage was expected - and hooligans armed with hammers and heavy stones obliged with no less than seven attempts to break in. At the start of July a tablet was unveiled to commemorate Miss Martha Swail through whose generous gift of £42,000 Swail House was acquired and developed for blind people. The flats there were the first in the world for registered blind people. In an attempt to lower its waiting list the council began 'exporting' (by consent) families on its list or in its accommodation to the new towns of Crawley, Frimley and Camberley, and Woking. One factor in the choice of tenant was their employment needs and those of employers in the new towns. The demand for housing had begun to put pressure on the local green belt. An example was The Looe, Reigate Road, famous as the home of Tom Walls, Derby winning horse trainer and film star. The council rejected housing development on this green belt land, which had been purchased as a smallholding for pigs, poultry and cattle. The development was justified as in-fill. With the start of summer came a food poisoning outbreak at Stoneleigh West schools, This was caused by the midday meal of stewed mutton with tomato sauce, greens and potatoes, followed by butterscotch flan and cream. (One council member complained that children should be fed on plain plum duff and money should not be wasted on fancy dishes). School cooks were told to take special note of the medical officer's advice on keeping meat refrigerated or under fly proof cabinets in a cool place. The outbreak was caused by milk powder. As the summer drew to a close Ewell's new technical college, designed to be one of the best in the country at a cost of over £1m., was due to be completed. But before it could open it was hit by a strike of electricians. It would be on time, however, declared the registrar 'if it merits working during daytime hours and closing when dark.' A census of local businesses in the early 1950s revealed 492 retail firms with 1,832 full-time and 738 part-time staff, a total turnover of £5,500,000 and a joint salaries bill of £486,000. Most dealt with food - dairies, butchers, fishmongers, poulterers, greengrocers, fruiterers, bakers, and off-licences. But small businesses were starting to be eaten up by larger ones - Joy's Dairies in West Street, Epsom, for example, had sold out to United Dairies in June. In 1953 the borough boasted 72 grocers, 70 confectioners, tobacconists and newsagents, 93 clothiers, 44 hardware shops, 11 booksellers and stationers, 19 chemists,16 jewellers, 17 corn, building and coal merchants, 59 catering establishments, 29 hairdressers, 20 boot and shoe repairers, and 30 motor and cycle suppliers. A school building programme was needed at that time because of the increase in the number of local children and the new school leaving age of 15. Two new local schools appeared then: Ruxley county secondary (now Epsom & Ewell High School) and Cuddington county primary. The expense, however, could be offset by the closure of day nurseries which were a wartime innovation and no longer needed. £2-10s. a week per child would be saved. Opening the Ruxley school, the local MP, Malcolm McCorquodale, declared that : 'In these days of atomic energy, jet-propelled planes and nylons, it is good that boys and girls should get instruction in scientific matters.' But he believed in the three R's - and there was a danger of schools becoming too 'arty-crafty'. The girls, he thought, were especially lucky to have so many rooms for housecraft and domestic science. All was not well in the private sector, on the other hand. At Bourne Hall Girls' School in Ewell new pupils and their parents were left waiting at the gates, only to learn that the school had closed, never to re-open. Existing pupils had been informed, but parents of the new girls were displeased at having bought useless uniforms (though at least they had paid no fees). Epsom's townscape was changing. The Post Office sorting office was beginning to take shape in East Street, while behind it the Salem Baptist Chapel was sold to help pay for a new hall to be used as a United Synagogue. Epsom Baptist Church's hall in nearby Church Street was also completed. On land costing £190, the hall was for a Sunday School aimed at halting the decline in Sunday School attendance - down two thirds from 1900. Opening the new hall, Alderman Sir Cyril Black, prominent Baptist, local politician and MP for Wimbledon, said that this decline was related to the increase in juvenile delinquency. Epsom and Ewell's local shops were threatened by the opening in nearby Sutton of Gardners new-style 'serve-yourself' shop, forerunner of the modern supermarket. Claiming to be the biggest and best-stocked in the country, with all one's food needs in one shop and on one floor, it had five checkouts so there would be no queuing, and all prices were marked so that one had to refuse nothing when paying. It stayed open until 7pm. on Fridays, the food was refrigerator fresh and everything was there for a weekend shop - important when the weekend was the only time many homes could shop and most lacked a refrigerator. 1953 saw the centenary of the council as a water undertaking. The local Board of Health was formed in 1850 to supply clean water and a main drainage system, the lack of which was the cause of so much ill-health in Epsom. Work began in 1853 after plans to drain water off Epsom Common were abandoned. An artesian well site in East Street was purchased and Epsom's first municipal undertaking began. 100,000 gallons a day flowed from the well, 20 gallons for each inhabitant. By 1953 the flow was 1,200,000 gallons daily. Epsom and Ewell Housing Association opened its 'Old Folk's Home' at Coulthurst in St. Martin's Avenue, Epsom. Claiming to be one of the finest in the country and to offer the greatest dignity, comfort and security, the home accommodated 22 people in 12 single and 5 double rooms, all with hot and cold water and central heating. It also boasted a sick room with accommodation for relatives. The house cost £15,000 and the residents would pay £3-10s. to £4-4s. per week, all found. These charges would make the home self-supporting. During the speech day for Epsom County Grammar School for Boy, held at the Baths Hall in November, a new name for the school was revealed : Glyn Grammar School. This choice drew on the name of the Glyns, Ewell's most prominent family for many generations (the school being in Ewell rather than Epsom) and commemorated in particular the first Chairman of Governors, Sir Arthur Glyn. Sir Arthur was the last of the male Ewell Glyns and the last squire of the old rural village. The association of the Glyn family with the modern school, built for the new suburban population of the borough, is a felicitous link between the old and new Ewells. More practically, the new name also served the wish of the headmaster, Norman Dawson, to dispose of the school's popular nick-name 'Hesslegrove', taken from the adjoining road. In that he succeeded. It was with regret that the plans for a Book of Remembrance of service personnel and civilians who lost their lives in both world wars had to be scaled down. Only £394 had been subscribed towards the £1000 required. Thousands of local residents in the run-up to Christmas heard of proposed increases in bus and train fares. 'There was no other course in the grip of rising costs. Passengers are still paying less than the cost of their rides.' Passengers from Epsom would, however, have been reassured to learn that they would have to pay no more than 2d extra on a return trip. Monthly season tickets would increase by 2/-. Their other main complaint concerned lighting on trains: they wanted brighter light to read their books and papers. But to no avail! Perhaps this dim lighting was one reason for the decline in books lent by local libraries. But the chief reason given was increased television viewing, followed by influenza, bad weather, good weather and gardening. Still, local libraries were still able to buy 9220 new books, with Epsom the busiest single library in Surrey, issuing more than 300,000 following the extension and completion of the lending department. At the Foresters Hall in Epsom, the Ancient Order of Foresters gave its first Christmas party for children since the war. 130 children were entertained by a ventriloquist and a puppet show. Every child was given a present from the tree by Father Christmas. Christmas 1953 broke all records for spending, prompted by more plentiful supplies and some de-rationing, and was the best since the war in the view of most traders. But it was spending with care - sales of tea were up but not ready-made cakes. Housewives were busy making their own with the sugar and dried fruit now readily available though butter was still scarce. Bacon, though rationed, was easy to get, and turkeys and poultry were good - which led to window displays not seen since the war. There was a big demand for cheap wine following a surfeit in France and Portugal. Gramophone records and radiograms to play them on were the 'must have' gifts that Christmas. Toys and books were also popular. But the mild weather before Christmas led to a drop in sales at clothiers and drapers - quickly reversed when it turned cold the next week. This and the pay-out of Christmas club money that week made Epsom High Street exceptionally busy. Children brought up on rationing and restricted food supplies found the displays amazing - and traders noted that they were buying larger and more expensive presents. Plans were made for the old and lonely to receive a Christmas dinner, and 170 older people tucked in. The Mayor, Alderman H.V. Usill, visited Epsom hospitals and the elderly at home and in institutions with presents of cakes, sweets, toys, cigarettes and comforts. At Epsom Cottage Hospital every ward had a tree and every patient awoke to find a full sock at the end of the bed. Epsom Parochial Charities, who ran the Almshouses and Rest Cottage, distributed 100 tons of coal to the old and needy.
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