Beryl Kingston, best-selling author from Tooting, entertained our May monthly meeting with her stories of wartime Tooting. Beryl spoke about the innovative and quirky teaching techniques at Rosa Bassett School (then Streatham Secondary School), the goings-on at the beauty parades at the Granada Cinema and the characters from Tooting market.

Beryl Kingston and Rosa Bassett (Streatham Secondary School) school friend inspect the 1946 school photo at the THG meeting

We had an eye-witness account of dogfights over Croydon airport and a vivid account of being evacuated to Harpenden in a chauffeur-driven limousine.

John Brown, Janet Smith and Beryl Kingston at our May meeting.

We also heard how the latest news travelled via the conductors on the trams during wartime, including news of the bombing of Balham underground. Beryl lived in Longley Road and above the off-licence on the corner of Church Lane.

Most movingly, Beryl spoke about going to see a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie at the Mayfair Cinema and watching the grim scenes from the Belsen Concentration Camp on the Pathe news reel.

You can stay in touch with Beryl via her blog here.

Another big crowd at the may meeting of the Tooting History Group

Janet Smith, Tooting History Group Chair, and beryl Kingston, best selling Tooting author at our May Meeting