WE’RE looking to enlist the help of Peeps readers this week. Can you add some details to these photos dating from around the 1970s and 80s?
Picture 1 shows the premises of Jack Knight Developments Ltd in Butts Road, off Goldsworth Road, Woking, and, we think, some of its staff? The firm made and supplied parts for classic, historic, race and rally cars.
Although it appears the firm ceased trading in about 2006, details about it on the internet still read: “We have an in-house design facility with state of the art 3D CAD (computer-aided design) capability, combining 50 years’ experience with today’s technology.
“Our designers can work within the client’s operation, within a third-party project team or work independently. We have recently made a significant investment in technology, introducing new hardware, new software and disaster recovery procedures.”
Picture 2 shows Woking’s street market when it was situated just off Victoria Way. You can see the railway arch in the background.
Shoppers are browsing the fruit and veg stalls on the left and on the right there are stalls selling clothes, with a good selection of parkas and other winter coats. It looks to date from the 1980s. Do any people look familiar?
Some of the window panes in the row of derelict houses in Picture 3 are smashed, suggesting demolition was about to take place. Could these have made way for what was being described in the early 1970s as Woking’s relief road? Do you remember these houses?
Back then, the town’s surveyor, David Ward, told the Woking Review newspaper: “It [the relief road] will do away with congestion outside the railway station, because all except essential traffic, service vehicles and vehicles wanting access will be taken out of the town and re-routed along what was Boundary Road and Percy Street and round the swimming pool, which will be at the centre of a large roundabout.”
Picture 4 is of a Remembrance Sunday wreath-laying ceremony at Woking’s war memorial.
The memorial was moved from Sparrow Park – once at the south-west end of the High Street – to its current location in the Town Square in 1975.
With standard bearers from the Royal British Legion and cadets in view it may date to around the 1980s. Did you attend around that time?
* If you have some memories or old pictures relating to the Woking area, call me, David Rose, on 01483 838960, or drop a line to the News & Mail.
David Rose is a local historian and writer who specialises in what he calls “the history within living memory” of people, places and events in the west Surrey area covering towns such as Woking and Guildford. He collects old photos and memorabilia relating to the area and the subject, and regularly gives illustrated local history talks to groups and societies. For enquiries and bookings please phone or email him at: [email protected]