Bill Bailey's Gongs

William Kilby Bailey's First World War medals. From left to right we have:

1. The Military Medal. The inscription around the edge is 40734 PTE W K BAILEY 47.WORC.R

I presume this is an abbreviation for 47th Division, Worcester Regiment.

2. British War Medal

3. Victory Medal

The inscription for these two:

25174 PTE W K BAILEY S.STAFF.R which I presume is an abbreviation for South Staffordshire Regiment.

It is interesting to note that, as well as changing regiments, his service number has also changed.

Since he did not hold the 1914 or 1914-15 Star, his military service during WWI did not begin until 1916 or later.

For more about these medals see http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/wwi_medals.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_War_Medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Medal_(United_Kingdom)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Medal

St. Mary's Grammar School, Chislehurst Road, Sidcup

October, 1965. This is where your blogger spent his formative years from 1963 to 1970. I have had to scan as four overlapping sections. That's me in the fourth section (right hand end of the panorama). I am in the second row down, 13 from the left or 15 from the right.

We were assembled in a semicircle on the playground and the camera panned round. And nobody ran round from one end to the other to appear in the picture twice. Some time after I left, St. Mary's combined with St. Joseph's girls' grammar school in Abbey Wood to become co-educational. The school buildings visible behind us still stand, but extensions now cover the playground. The site is now occupied by St. Luke's sixth form college.

I shall not even attempt to put names to all the faces. It would take up too much space and I cannot remember everyone anyway. If you were there, you will have a good idea of who was who. If you were not, names will probably not mean much to you. But if you do have any questions about identities of the people in the picture, leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll see what I can do.

UPDATE 22 April 2019. I have added as a separate post these photos tagged with the names of those who were in the third year at the time. As time and available information permit, I hope to add other version.

UPDATE 4 August 2020. As you may know, former pupil Matt Eastley is writing a history of St. Mary's and there is now an accompanying website www.inomnibuslabora.co.uk. If you can contribute in any way, please visit the site and make contact.

St. Patrick's Church, Plumstead

This was situated on the corner of Griffin Road and Conway Road. It was part of a two-storey building, with part of St. Patrick's primary school occupying the lower storey. Your blogger and his sister attend St. Parick's school until 1961, when we moved to the newly constructed St. Thomas a Becket school in Abbey Wood Estate, the part of Abbey Wood built by the LCC in the late 1950s.

In 1970, St. Patrick's church moved to the former St. Paul's C of E church in Hector Street. The church in the picture was then converted to a school hall.

Some old postcards of Chislehurst

From top to bottom:

The water tower in Summer Hill, demolished in 1963. The village sign in Royal Parade, which still stands.

Two of St. Mary's church. Ada and Bill Warden were married here. Albert Mackie, Ada Warden (Mackie) and William Warden are buried here.

Red Hill. Albert and Ada Mackie lived at No 10. This is on the left, near the bottom but before the church.

Ada "touching the thatch" in Hartley

Two illustrations of the same church - the Oratory of St Francis de Sales, Hartley, Kent.

You will notice the thatched roof. Many years ago, Ada Mackie went on a church outing here. As she was leaving the oratory, she crossed herself with holy water at the stoop by the door, then casually put her hand up to feel the material of the thatch which was overhanging the lintel. The rest of her party noticed her do this and presumed it was some devotional practice peculiar to those parts. One by one, everyone was crossing themselves then solemnly "touching the thatch".

Bill Bailey - cricketer

Here are a few of my grandfather William Kilby (Bill) Bailey in a cricketing context. In the group photo, that is him kneeling third from the right. Two of the pictures show a formal dinner. Only the word "Club" is visible in the poster, but I think this must be Nether Broughton Cricket Club - these two were taken by The Melton Studios, 4 Sherrard Street, Melton Mowbray. It was clearly a very posh "do" - note the elaborate floral display and the bottle of HP Sauce.

Getting a fix on Mrs Beutell

This is addressed to "Mrs Mackay" (we are used to having our surname misspelt, even by relatives from other parts of the family) at "Dorlins", Orpington Road, Chislehurst. The Mrs Mackie in question is Ada. It is not possible to decipher a date inthe postmark, but I would guess early 1952. (It must be some time during George VI's reign, or not too long after he died in February 1952. There is nothing to place Ada in Chislehurst before WWII. Her identity card - see earlier post - gives her movements up to November 1951 when she went to Scrips in Coggeshall, Essex.

"Dorlins" is still extant. It is quite large house, which I think would have been much more than Ada could afford. I know she had spent a period in domestic service at around this time, after husband Bert had died, but while she was still fairly active and not ready to retire. From various scraps of conversation I remember, I know that one of her employers was a Mrs Beutell. John Stiles, who has assisted me with research for this blog, checked the electoral rolls and this is what he found. "The electoral roll for Chislehurst that was compiled in November 1953 shows the occupants of "Dorlins" as, Ethel M Beutell and Ada M Mackie. Ada is not at "Dorlins" in 1954, and from 1955 to 1961 Mrs Beuttell appears to have moved in with the family next door(the McGloins who live at "The Squirrels"). So after all these years, I now know where Mrs Beutell lived. Now I still have to track down another of Ada's employers, a Dr Burma.

As for the card itself, this is what it says.

In haste. Many thanks for words of wisdom. We are trying to get straight but waiting for furniture to come from Bedford. We have the electricians in overhauling the whole system. Father likes the quaint cottage and is getting used to the low ceiling after having a few bumps. Much love. M. Pearce

I do not know who the writer is. Although the card shows a Bedford scene, the writer is apparently now in or near Chislehurst. In our age of instant communications via telephone, mobile and e-mail, how often down we see correspondence with the words "in haste". I can just imagine father nursing a sore head after some close encounters with his new ceiling.