Pilot Officer Awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross Pilot Officer R.F.L. Tong Among a number of awards approved by the King is the Distinguished Flying Cross to Pilot Officer Roland Frederick Leonard Tong, Royal Air Force, Volunteer Reserve, No. 57 Squadron. Born in Bromley in 1917, he is the son of Mr and Mrs P.C. Tong, S, Upper Park Road, and an Old Boy of the county School, Hayes Lane. Afterwards he was on the staff of the West Minister Bank (Lower Sloane Street branch). He enlisted in June 1940, and…
Month: March 2022
Thomas Holloway
Sergeant Thomas Holloway Chislehurst Sergeant’s Letter Sergeant Thomas Holloway, R.A.F., of 11 Church row, Chislehurst, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany since May 1940, has written home to his mother in Chislehurst giving of how he and his new found friends spent Christmas Day in a German prison camp. In his letter he said that they had a grand time on Christmas Eve decorating their hut and setting up a fine Christmas tree adorned with fairy lights, tinsel, and the usual decorations. About 250 communicants attended a…
Interview with Pam Preedy
Interview with Pam Preedy Interviewed by In Life Magazine At the age of 74, local historian Pam Preedy has published her first book, Living through the Great War at Home: How the People of Bromley Faced the Challenges of War. Pam has always been interested in history, but the trigger to enter into print was a course she took with the Oxford Continuing Education department on local history. Pam said: “I had come to believe that as far as history went, Bromley was one of the most boring towns in…
From Mammoths Teeth to the Tudor: A History of Orpington
From Mammoth’s Teeth to the Tudor: A Romp Through the History of Orpington Written by Pam Preedy. On 15th December, 1922, the Bromley and District Times announced that a Mammoth’s tooth, about five feet long, had been discovered in a gravel pit at Green-Street-Green. It seems quite amazing that mammoths were roaming over our local landscape until the end of the Ice Age over 12,000 years ago. Perhaps early people living in Orpington would go out to hunt one of these huge mammals, or an early species of rhinoceros and…
A Romp through the History of Bromley
A romp through the history of Bromley Written by Pam Preedy. On 15th December, 1922, the Bromley and District Times announced that a Mammoth’s tooth, about five feet long, had been discovered in a gravel pit at Green-Street-Green. It seems quite amazing that mammoths were roaming over our local landscape until the end of the Ice Age over 12,000 years ago. Perhaps early people living in Bromley would go out to hunt one of these huge mammals, or an early species of rhinoceros and hippopotamus. Throughout human history people must…
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941 This report describes the aftermath of a heavy night of bombing on the town of Bromley in Kent on 16th April 1941. Due to government censorship of newspapers at the time, no exact location is given, other than a South-East residential location, but we now know this location to be Bromley, St Peter’s and St Pauls’ as the parish church which was destroyed, and the furniture depository being Dunn’s of Bromley which was located on Market Square. Heavy Bombs and Incendiaries in a residential…