Wandsworth Common

Mr K. M. Hubbard, a radio dealer of Northcote Road, had given the use of 18 television sets to Bolingbroke Hospital and promised a further 10 to Battersea General Hospital, free of charge, for Coronation Day. When Bolingbroke's matron, Miss A. Lane, had approached him a month earlier to enquire about hiring a set, he not only offered to lend them for nothing but undertook to install them himself in his spare time.

At the Friends of Bolingbroke Hospital annual meeting, the Bishop of Kingston, the Rt. Rev. W. P. Gilpin, praised the Friends for "keeping alight the flame of voluntary service." It was also announced that curtains had now been fitted to all wards (£750 spent since July 1951), and that two Coronation tickets had been presented to the hon. secretary, Mrs L. Dove, and the hon. treasurer, Mrs L. Manley.

The Coronation routes announced in March 1953 included, for Tuesday 9 June, a drive through South London: from Birdcage Walk via Chelsea Bridge, Queenstown Road, Battersea Park Road, York Road, and Fairfield Street to Wandsworth Town Hall (halt), then East Hill, Huguenot Place, Wandsworth Common (West Side), Trinity Road, Tooting Bec Road, Tooting Bec Gardens, Streatham High Road, Streatham Hill, Norwood Road, Thurlow Park Road, Dulwich Common, College Road, Dulwich Village, and back through Denmark Hill, Camberwell New Road, Brixton Road, and Lambeth Bridge to Queen's Gardens.

The Coronation of Elizabeth II took place on Tuesday 2 June 1953. One week later, on Tuesday 9 June, the Queen and Prince Philip undertook a tour of south London that brought them through Wandsworth. Their route ran from Birdcage Walk via Chelsea Bridge, Queenstown Road, Battersea Park Road, York Road, and Fairfield Street to Wandsworth Town Hall, where they halted to meet the Mayors and Mayoresses of Battersea, Camberwell and Wandsworth. From there the cavalcade continued along East Hill, Huguenot Place, Wandsworth Common (West Side), and Trinity Road, before proceeding to Tooting Bec, Streatham, and Dulwich.

The Queen wore "a vivid blue dress and small matching hat with a small black velvet bow at the back" (Dundee Courier). "From all over Wandsworth — the largest of the 28 Metropolitan boroughs — thousands had flocked to every available square inch around the municipal buildings to cheer the Queen. Women fainted in the hot afternoon sunshine and were carried through the crowds by members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade" (Liverpool Echo).

There were moments of warmth along the way. As the car passed Battersea Park Festival Gardens, the crowd was amused to see the Duke of Edinburgh turn in surprise at the sight of orange girls in Nell Gwynn costume. "As he looked back, the eight girls made a deep curtsey" (Bradford Observer). In East Hill, the Queen noticed a small boy and girl holding posies, stopped the car, and beckoned them forward; church bells pealed their welcome. Passing Tooting Bec Hospital, "there were special smiles and waves from the Queen and the Duke for 400 patients gathered on a tree-lined verge, some of whom were paralysed" (Yorkshire Evening Post).

[A personal note from the author of this database: "I was there, aged four, outside The County Arms pub on Trinity Road, waving my little paper Union Flag-on-a-stick." His memory is of the Queen in gorgeous technicolor — "all bright blue and yellow and pink" — travelling in an open-topped car. His friend Hugh Betterton also watched from outside his house at 26 Westside: "I waved my plastic union flag! Remember thinking at the time that it wasn't that good, but duty called!" Peter Farrow, another witness, recalls standing on Trinity Road north of Windmill Road, and the disappointment of the women on the Prince Philip side of the road, who had all wanted to see the Queen.]

The South Western Star devoted a full page to the local street celebrations of the previous Saturday (6 June), reporting on events throughout the Wandsworth area. Items include a mammoth £300 celebration, invitations to the over-65s, a concert party at Lane Estate, a "famous pianist at Adie Street," comedian Jimmy Wheeler at Earlsfield, touring entertainers, and parties in Home Road. The Mayor signed Coronation certificates, and a note records that the local M.P. was "among the guests." Street parties across the area were reported with evident civic pride.

[See also the British Newspaper Archive for the full article: BNA link.]

The Sunday Football Association was shortly to make a formal plea to the LCC for decent wash-places at London's playing fields in place of what the sports columnist Ken Drury described as "the abominable washing facilities" on offer. A Kensal House footballer had described the facilities at Wandsworth Common as "the nearest thing to a horse-trough he had ever had to wash in." The general secretary of the Sunday Football Association, Mr. Halfacre, told Drury that he would ask the LCC to install shower baths at their grounds — and suggested charging 3d. per shower to recover the cost.

Baskerville Cricket Club ended their season with an inter-club match: Wandsworth Borough Members versus The Rest, played on Wandsworth Common. Despite the terrible weather, the match was played to a finish. The Rest were dismissed for 129 — Hedgecock taking 4 for 21. Wandsworth batted in the foggy gloom and won by two wickets before the rain arrived, finishing 130 for 7 (Bone 3 for 30). The scorecard:

The Rest: Stallion c b Short 43; Schwarz run out 11; Sayers c b Hedgecock 22; Bone b Hedgecock 13; Mullett b Hedgecock 3; Baker c b Hedgecock 13; Barker run out 0; Sayers b Matthews 0; Mullett not out 15; Styles b Start 4; extras 5. Total 129.

Wandsworth: Burrage b Bone 15; Sankey c b Bone 13; Matthews b Baker 20; Bennett c b Bone 6; Start b Baker 16; Howe run out 20; Short c b Sayers 10; Polley not out 14; Gibson not out 5; extras 11. Total 130–7. Hedgecock did not bat.

The Sunday Football Association submitted a full report on LCC pitches to the Council. On Wandsworth Common specifically, two complaints were noted. First, three clubs had reported broken glass on pitches — investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. Second: "Clubs complain that Pitch 21 is too close to a row of pre-fabs; they constantly have difficulty in retrieving their ball from the fenced-off gardens of these pre-fabs, and considerable annoyance is caused to the occupants. Having visited this pitch, we would confirm the complaint is well founded, and request the attention of the LCC Parks Department be drawn to this matter."