Forty Years On
1978
As we know the threat of development of the Stowford plot at the junction of Devonshire Avenue and Brighton Road was the reason for the founding of the South Sutton Neighbourhood Association in 1978. On September 11 that year Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, was murdered by a wound from a poisoned umbrella as he crossed Waterloo Bridge. The first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born in July. Anna Ford became the first female newsreader on ITV that year and May Day became a Bank Holiday. Apart from being established, I don’t know from Newsletters what the SSNA did that year because our archive only survives from the mid 1980s.
1988
In 1988 the SSNA put out a plea for help at the Queen Mary’s Hospital Friends Centre for patients, parents and visitors. The ‘Keep Sutton Tidy’ campaign launched by the Council began. To celebrate our first 10 years the Association contributed £250 for planting bulbs in public open spaces in our area. This led to the adoption of the plot outside Sutherland House. We also put a seat on the corner of Cavendish Road and Langley Park Road. In Sutton a six month experiment began to stop traffic going down Sutton High Street between 10.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Saturday; a similar experiment was planned for Carshalton but only lasted a limited time; and lead free petrol went on sale under an EEC directive. A Poll Tax Register was being drawn up in preparation for the introduction of the Community Charge in 1990.
1998
In 1998 the London Borough of Sutton was trumpeting its green credentials: the borough claimed to have 186 recycling centres i.e. places where recycling bins are placed; it also claimed to be the first Council to process plastic bottles and to handle rechargeable batteries; and had introduced a pilot scheme of wheelie bins. The Association successfully lobbied the Council for a seat to be placed in the High Street near Lloyds Bank and we were notified of improvements to Sutton Station and its environs.
2008
2008 featured surveys. Following a traffic calming consultation, speed humps were introduced in Langley Park Road and Cedar Road. In the survey there was only a 23% response overall with the highest participation in Cedar Road. The SSNA ran its own questionnaire which received only a 10% response but included useful suggestions about the Newsletter.
We also learned that Sutton Council appointed one of the eight Banstead Commons Conservators and at that time contributed £6,000 to their work on the four separate commons in the north of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. Improvements were made to the Devonshire Nature Reserve and our Committee bought a new shredder for garden prunings and made it available to borrow. The Smart Car with the periscope CCTV made its first appearance. The aim was to identify illegal parking, especially outside schools.
2018
This year we celebrate our 40th anniversary at the AGM on Tuesday 15th May at 2.00pm at Christ Church in Christchurch Park.
Filling in the gaps ...
If you have any copies of the first 31 issues of the Newsletter we would be very interested to make copies of them for the archive. Our set, which is not complete, begins with issue no. 32 for July-Sept 1986.
