People Pinewood Road TN2 3SH

Information about the children who lived in Pinewood Road between when it was built and the 1960s

If you lived in Pinewood Road on the Ferndale Park Estate as a child between when it was built and the early 1960s, have you ever wondered what happened to the children you used to know and play with? This page may tell you because it contains information, and some pictures, about some of them. It has been compiled from information and memories from persons who used to live on the estate, and from my own memories and research. Since 1998, I have been interested in genealogy, researching my own PAGE family extensively throughout East Sussex, and my mother’s HARRIS family in the East-End of London. I have used the various genealogy websites, especially the General Record Office (GRO), Ancestry and Find my Past, to help find information about the children and their families who lived on the estate when I was a child. All my research on this page is information that is in the public domain.

The GRO references to Tonbridge is because between 1837 and 1980, Tonbridge was the registration district that covered Tunbridge Wells. Since then Tunbridge Wells has had its own district. The centralised registration of births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales commenced on 1 July 1837. Indexes to the records are available for public inspection and are separated into birth, marriage and death indexes. Each index is divided into quarters for each year (January-March, April-June, July-September and October-December) and they are referred in the text by the year, followed by /1, /2, /3 or /4 to indicate the appropriate quarter, eg 1944/2 for my birth in June 1944. There are many references to items published in the Kent & Sussex Courier newspaper and these are referred to as just Courier.

The names of people are listed in address order. Some of the earlier built houses had names before they were numbered, and in those cases I have added the name to the address. Occasionally I have added text in italicised square brackets to information given to me from others for clarity.

Whilst I am very grateful to those who have given me information and pictures so far, I would love to have more, so if you know anything about any of the children who lived on the estate between when it was built and the early 1960s, then please get in touch with me so I can add it here. I also welcome any corrections or clarification of anything that has been written here so far – thanks (chris@g4bue.com).

2 Pinewood Road – Valerie and Pauline WATSON

Valerie and Pauline lived (and still do) next door to my home at 40 Ravenswood Avenue. Valerie is the same age as me and we were brought up together, our parents being best friends. Valerie’s father, Arthur William WATSON, born in 1912 was, like my Dad, a policeman at Tunbridge Wells. Our two houses are identical but ours was built first in June 1939 when Mum and Dad married (Arthur was Dad’s best man). Valery told me her parents married in November 1939 and as their house hadn’t been completed, they lodged with my parents until it was ready. Pauline is a bit younger than me (born in 1948/3).

The 5 November 1965 Courier reported, ‘Mr Arthur Watson, for 30 years a member of the police force in Tunbridge Wells, retires at the end of this week. Mr Watson joined the old Borough force in 1935, and is now one of the only three originals serving the area...In 1943...Mr Watson joined the CID doing part-time photographic work...In 1948 he went to the detective training college at Hendon and in 1955 had a fingerprint course at Scotland Yard...he covered the south-west Kent area going to scenes of serious crimes and fatal accidents as fingerprint and photographic expert. Mr Watson will not be severing all his ties with the police force. Later this month he starts work as a civilian in the photographic department at Headquarters in Maidstone. He will travel each day from his home in 2 Pinewood Road, Ferndale.’

See the 40 Ravenswood Avenue entry on the ‘People/People 1-40 Ravenswood Avenue’ page for more pictures.

John HEASMAN (42 Ravenswood Avenue): “Girls I recall at the youth club: Gillian, your sister, Pat EADE, Valerie WATSON, Angela HAFFENDEN and Christine and Sheila STILL.”

4 Pinewood Road – Ann and Pat CLARKE

See also 86 Ravenswood Avenue.

Ann and Pat CLARKE were older than me and I remember Ann regularly walking past our house to and from the bus stop for work, Pat was younger and at school. I vaguely remember their mother, but not their father. Street directories show their father as Thomas Edwin CLARKE and their mother (from 1957) as V F CLARKE, suggesting they had separated by then. They moved away by 1959 when the DOBBS family moved in.

They married on 28 July 1935 at Forest Row, East Sussex and their marriage certificate shows Thomas Edwin CLARKE was a 23-year-old civil servant living at 1 Hill View, and Violet Frances BEAVAN was 28 years old living next door at 2 Hill View. The only GRO birth for a CLARKE and BEAVAN mother is in 1937/1 at Hendon, Middlesex for Ann CLARKE. I cannot find one for Pat CLARKE.

An Ancestry family tree shows Thomas’ brother was William A CLARKE, born 19 March 1914, their mother was Edith Annie FIELD, born in 1882 and their father was William Una CLARKE who died in 1925. for 1937 and 1948, William junior and his mother lived at 86 Ravenswood Avenue, and the 1939 Register shows Violet Frances CLARKE, but not Thomas, also living there. The entry has two ‘closed’ entries which almost certainly refer to her daughters Ann and Pat. It would therefore appear that soon after this, Thomas and Violet, with their daughters, moved to 4 Pinewood Road. The family tree shows William married Kathleen E WALTERS at Tonbridge in 1940/3 and his mother Edith died in 1946.

I haven’t been able to find what happened to Ann and Pat after they moved from Pinewood Road, partly due to CLARKE being a common surname.

The GRO has a death in 1970/2 at South-West Surrey for Thomas Edwin CLARKE born 27 February 1912 and a marriage in 1964/2 at Hastings for Violet F CLARKE and Archibald ABBOTT (confirmed by her 1939 Register entry). The Ancestry family tree confirms Thomas’s death and traces his ancestors back to William CLARKE born in 1795 at Selsey, West Sussex.

6 Pinewood Road – Shirley and Pamela HOWARD

Street directories show the HOWARD family moved in between 1950 and 1953, after Mr and Mrs BREAN, an elderly couple, moved away. I vaguely remember Shirley HOWARD, who was younger than me. The GRO has a birth at Tonbridge in 1949/2 for Shirley A HOWARD, mother DENNY, and a marriage at Tonbridge in 1973/3 for Shirley A HOWARD and Peter R SHEPHERD. The GRO also has Tonbridge births, mother DENNY in 1952/2 for Pamela J, 1954/1 for Alan D and in 1963/4 for Richard G HOWARD.

The 13 July 1973 Courier reported, ‘Miss Shirley Anne Howard, eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs G H Howard of 6 Pinewood Road, Tunbridge Wells, and Mr Peter Richard Shepherd, son of Mr and Mrs R R Shepherd of 102 Ravenswood Avenue, Tunbridge Wells, were married on Saturday at Tunbridge Wells Register Office...The bride works in the intensive care unit at Pembury Hospital; the groom has been actively interested in saloon car racing for several years.’

The 31 October 1975 Courier reported, ‘The wedding took place at Tunbridge Wells Register Office on Saturday of Mr Alan Stoneman, youngest son of Mr and Mrs D Rice of Dymchurch, and Miss Pamela Howard, youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs G H Howard of 6 Pinewood Road, Tunbridge Wells...’

Street directories show Shirley’s father’s name was Geoffrey Hugh HOWARD, and the only marriage at the GRO for a Geoffrey HOWARD and a DENNY was at Hitchin, Hertfordshire in 1948/1 for Geoffrey H HOWARD and Kathleen B DENNY.

8 Pinewood Road – Peter ASKEW

Peter ASKEW was slightly younger than me and I remember him very well, although I did not get to know him until the late 1950s when his house was built in the second building phase. Peter had a younger sister, Patricia. The GRO has ASKEW births at Hastings in 1946/4 for Peter and in 1949/2 for Patricia.

In September 1963 Peter was one of several youngsters who organised a 1500 signature petition to Tunbridge Wells Council about the lack of entertainment for youngsters in the town. The story was published in the 20 September and 11 October Courier, in which Peter was referred to, ‘Peter Askew (17) thought a lot more could be tried by the corporation. “I know there are troublemakers who try to upset dances but action can be taken to stop this, as in other towns”.’ The paper included a photograph of the main three organisers of the petition: Roger MILLER, Nigel WOODLAND and Peter ASKEW, who met the Mayor to present the petition.

Whilst researching Peter in February 2023, I have only just discovered that like me, he joined the police force and, like me, he served in the CID for most of his service. Whereas he served in the CID, Criminal Intelligence and the Regional Crime Squad in Kent, I also served in the CID, Criminal Intelligence and Regional Crime Squad (amongst other CID units), but in Brighton and then Sussex.

Tragically, when Peter was a Detective Chief Inspector at Maidstone, he died of cancer on 24 December 1987 when he was only 41 years old, leaving his wife Sylvia, nee HAYS, who he had married in 1969 at Chatham and a daughter Vanessa Jayne born in 1975. His death was reported in the 31 December 1987 Thanet Gazette & Times and included, ‘Det Chief Insp Peter Askew, a popular figure in Thanet cricket circles throughout the seventies, died on Thursday last week. He was 41 and had been ill for a number of months. A close friend and colleague said: “Peter was a dedicated and professional police officer with wide experience in the criminal investigation branch. He was very brave throughout his illness and he will be sadly missed by all his friends and colleagues”.’

The report describes Peter’s police career in which he spent 11 years at Thanet before moving to Maidstone in 1980, his passion for cricket and that he was Chairman of the Thanet Works League and Secretary of the Broadstairs Club at one stage, and more recently was team manager for the county police cricket side. His funeral was held on 5 January 1988 at Staplehurst, Kent (where he lived) and was attended by three former Kent cricketers: Mike Denness, Derek Underwood and Alan Ealham.

12 Pinewood Road – Barry and Richard DAILLEY

Street directories who the DAILLEY family lived at 12 Pinewood Road from 1940 to between 1950 and 1953, and I vaguely remember him being referred to. The GRO has DAILLEY births at Tonbridge in 1940/1 for Barry D and in 1944/3 for Richard M (who I don’t remember despite him being the same age as me), mother GEER.

The family appear to have moved to the Aldershot, Hampshire area when they left Pinewood Road because the 8 June 1956 Aldershot News, reporting the Aldershot and Farnborough Schools’ Sports, said, ‘Barry Dailley, aged 16, a Farnborough Grammar School boy, who lives at 74 Prospect Road, Cove, had a successful day breaking his own record in the Putting the Shot competition with a distance of 45ft 5½in, which is 2ft 5½in above the national standard. Last year he came second in this event in the Hampshire schools’ competition and was ninth in the All-England finals... Barry was also second in the Discus on Friday.’

Moving to Aldershot is confirmed by an Ancestry family tree that says in 1962/3 Barry married Ann M BEAVIS at North-West Surrey, and died on 7 January 1963, aged only 22, while living at Aldershot, Hampshire.

The GRO has a marriage at Aldershot in 1970/1 for Richard M DAILLEY and Maureen R WILLIAMS, and 2009-22 street directories show them living at Brecon, Powys, Wales.

Alan DANE (70 Ravenswood Avenue): “I remember Barry DAILLEY. He, as I recall, was the leader of the pack, and I have vivid memories of adventures in Sherwood, prior to its becoming a housing estate. During our explorations, we discovered a lake ( I believe it still exists) with an island and found a raft in the reeds. Barry jumped in the water and pulled us (David JOY, Bob McBRIDE and myself) over to and from the island. Barry was always up for an adventure. I do know some residents, ie Mrs OAKLEY, Mr and Mrs SAVAGE and Mr and Mrs PRING regarded Barry with some disdain but from memory, this was more about their disapproval of him leading ball games in the road outside of their houses.”

Although I don’t recall hearing about the lake incident at the time, I do remember the lake very well because I used to go fishing there with my pals from the estate, although we never found the raft! The lake was still there in the early 1980s when, during a visit to my parents from Brighton, I took my twin boys, Gary and Steve, there to show them where I used to go fishing when I was not much older than they were then. Recent research shows the lake is called Sherwood Lake and is situated just east of the present day Warren Walk off Greggs Wood Road (see picture above right). It was once part of the wider Calverley estate which was one of the first ornamental and wooded mansion estates in Tunbridge Wells.

18 Pinewood Road – Susan and Catherine Adamson

18 Pinewood Road was one of the houses built in the second phase of building in the 1950s and street directories show the ADAMSON family (as Jack ADAMSON) living there from 1958. The GRO has births at Wharfedale, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1950/2 for Susan E ADAMSON, and 1952/3 for Catherine M ADAMSON, mother WOLSTENHOLME, and a marriage at Dewsbury in 1949/3 for Jack ADAMSON and Emma WOLSTENHOLME.

The 4 August 1972 Courier reported, ‘A water polo player for the Monson Swimming Club, Mr David Cheeseman, son of Mr and Mrs C A Cheeseman of Manor Park, Tunbridge Wells, was married on Saturday at the Baptist Tabernacle to Miss Susan Adamson, elder daughter of Mr and Mrs J Adamson of 18 Pinewood Road, Tunbridge Wells...Attending her [the bride] were her sister, Miss Catherine Adamson...’

Florrie Watson (left) and my Mum Rene Page chatting over the garden fence in later life.

Pat Clarke, 4 Pinewood Road, in the top class at St Barnabas School in 1950 – photo thanks Clive Stace.

Shirley Howard, 6 Pinewood Road, and Peter Shepherd, 102 Ravenswood Avenue, wedding – photo thanks Courier.

Pamela Howard, 6 Pinewood Road, and Alan Stoneman wedding – photo thanks Courier.

Roger Miller, Nigel Woodland and ASKEW, 8 Pinewood Road (right) who met the Mayor to present the petition – photo thanks Courier.

The report in the 31 December 1987 Thanet Gazette & Times of the death of Peter Askew (8 Pinewood Road).

Susan Adamson, 18 Pinewood Road, and David Cheeseman wedding – photo thanks Courier.

Above: Valerie Watson and me in Valerie’s back garden. Above right: a young Pauline Watson and below Arthur Watson on his retirement in 1965

The present day Sherwood Lake – photo thanks In Desperate Need of Adventure website