Dedication

This site is dedicated to the memory of my late grandparents:

maternal : Ada Humphreys & Victor Dorling M.M.

paternal : Elizabeth Storey Edgar & James Burrell A.F.M.

 

The photographs and tales they passed on have ensured my interest in

both local and family history and inspired this project

 

Although none of them were originally Chessington people, they moved

here in the 1930s and enjoyed living here for the rest of their lives

With thanks also to the many people who have contributed to making Chessington the place it is today.

To Mark Davison for his contribution to keeping the identities of Hook and Chessington separate and therefore unique, and for putting them both on the bookshelf with his books Chessington Remembered, Hook Remembered +Tolworth Remembered, and the recent addition Hook Remembered Again which helped our family have many happy "rememberings" of our own

To Sean Whetstone for putting Chessington firmly on the map that is the World Wide Web with his Virtual Chessington web-site: we enjoyed going for a Virtual walk around Chessington on Christmas Day '99 when we had eaten too much to take a real one!

To June Sampson of the Surrey Comet: without her local history pages I would not have known of the existence of a photo of my Great Grandfather, Oliver Dorling, driving the last horse drawn bus in London, on 31 May 1912. I knew of the event from my Grandfather's tales, but never considered there may be a surviving photo until I opened the Comet to see him looking across the years at me, waving.

And a big Thank You to local residents who have kept photos of Chessington for future generations to enjoy. You may have been accused of hoarding photos in the past, but now you can say with confidence that you are an archivist, a custodian with the special task of protecting a memory!

Contributors include

The late Edith Lovell for Cox Lane as a cornfield

Margaret Vine for many images and for being a great source of local knowledge, and an inspiration

Peter Young for The Post Office

David Lipman for the earliest photo of Edana's

Mrs A Bainbridge for Pear Tree Cottages

Sue Evans (nee Webb) for memories of Dr Khan

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