Derby Day

The Derby races held in nearby Epsom had quite an impact on Chessington.

In the days before pedestrian crossings were installed across Bridge Road, my grandmother used to visit us every Wednesday, but never on Derby Day as the traffic on Bridge Road was so dense she couldn' t get across the road.

The Queen's route home from the Derby was along Bridge Road, so we would all stand out to wave - in later years her journey was re-routed up Mount Road and then eventually one side of the A3 was closed for her to make a speedy dash home.

Coming soon: photo of Queen in car - did you take any of the Queen passing through Chessington?

We used to enjoy standing in the street to wave to the racegoers in their impressive cars and on the open-top buses, who would wave champagne bottles and top hats at us. One year a tragedy occurred when people standing on the top deck of an open top bus hit the bridge at Surbiton - from then on the sight of the open top buses seemed tinged with sadness. A few helicopters started to appear taking people to the races, these are now very common overhead on Derby Day, which has been moved to a Saturday.

The 1981 Derby attracted colourful characters

Derby Day 1908

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