Leslie L Mills

taken from 'Memories of Reigate' an East Surrey Libraries production, an excellent booklet, which can be bought from Reigate Library

'I was born in Reigate at No.9 Nutley Grove in 1922, which is now a car park, situated on the corner of Upper West Street and London Road. My home backed on to the Parish School, which I attended from the age of seven. Previous to this I went to the St. Marks infant school which was then on the corner of Alma Road, and Holmesdale Road.

During my school years, Reigate was changing a lot, I remember London Road being widened at the Red Cross end and also Church Street. The new White Hart Hotel was built there, the shops and flats above were built on the site of the old White Hart Hotel, and of course the Majestic Cinema was built in Bancroft Road and Bell Street. I remember as a youngster going to the fourpenny matinee on Saturday mornings to see cowboy films like “Tom Mix” and “Buffalo Bill”. During the interval, Mrs Bancroft came round with a scent spray to refresh the atmosphere, most Saturdays the place was crowded out.

At the age of eleven, I used to work at La Trobes shop in the High Street, for an hour in the mornings before going to school. I had to clean the forecourt of the shop. I obtained a bucket of hot water from Mellersh and Neale's yard which was a brewery. In the evenings, after school I went back to work to deliver parcels to customers, riding a tradebike with an oil lamp on the front of the bike, one couldn't see much but at least other people could see you coming.

One summer in the early 1930's, Colley Hill was on fire, the grass and bushes were all alight, it was a terrible sight, the local fire brigade were working flat out to contain it. A Mr. F. Legg of Slipshoe Street was the fire chief, the Browning family who owned the Old Forge in West Street were also firemen. I think they got paid per call out, uniform supplied including crash helmets.

The police force were then the Reigate Boro Police who were all over six feet tall, the Chief Constable was a Mr Beecher who rode a big white horse when local parades took place, a number of police names come to mind like PC Kimber, PC Saunders, Sgt Thorpe, PC Stoneman and PC Jock Mason, who rode the first motorcycle and then a police car, which I believe was an MG Sports Car. The police also had a wonderful tug-o-war team, the anchor man being PC Stoneman.

At the age of fourteen, I started work as an apprentice at Mr. Harold Pendreds Plumbing and Heating workshop in Chart Lane. The master plumber I worked with was a Mr Ron Giles, a real craftsman, at lead work and was also Chief Scout at the 1st Reigate Group.

I joined the RAF in 1941, serving in this country and South East Asia. After the war I went to work for a Mr. Tom Jarret of Chart Engineering, West Street, Reigate and stayed there just over forty years.'