These photos were kindly provided by Derek Cutts and show a variety of locations around Rainham station from October 1966 before the old station buildings were demolished and the new station built.

Photo 1

This is a view of the main Rainham station building taken from the coastbound platform. The large Rainham sign is fixed to the toilet wall and there are maps of the railway shown on the station building wall. It shows the Nelson Confectionery kiosk which is closed at the time. There is a stationmaster standing next to a pile of sacks by the station window but the platform is otherwise deserted. The adverts on the wall promote Carnaby Street shirts and Cockburns port along with “Chatham News for all your local news”. There is an old footbridge going out of shot to the coastbound platform.

 Photo 2 shows the London bound platform with a solitary passenger waiting in the somewhat shabby looking shelter on the platform. You can see the new looking houses on Tufton Road in the distance. The tracks showing have 3 rails so it suggests that the electric rail was already installed at this stage.

Photo 3

View of the station building from Station Road showing phone box on the corner. Multiple cars are visible in the picture, Austin A40 Farina registration 402DOD, Bedford CA van number plate 152 JKP. Over the railings is a Vauxhall Victor. The sign warns it is a private road which leads through to the station car park passing directly in front of the station entrance. 

Photo 4

This photo is of Rainham station car park and storage building. There is a canopy with motorbikes parked underneath it. Cars visible include a Ford Cortina MK1 facelift model, C plate registration (1965), Austin Mini saloon and beyond the fence a Mini van and another Cortina. There is another white car Vauxhall Velox PB or Cresta PB with number plate 5213D with GB plates on it parked in front of the motorbikes.

Photo 5

View of the Signal Box control room from Station Road showing the telephone box and sign for British Railways Rainham Station. There is a poster urging you to “Go by ship and train to the Continent and see more on your journey” The station buildings are out of shot to the left of the picture.

Photo 6

This is the key photo for dating the series. It shows the coastbound platform with the Wakeley’s Oast in the background before it became the RWCA Community centre in the early 1970s. The shelter for waiting passengers looks quite tatty and run down but the posters give a great view of 1960s life. One of the posters has the name Eric Lawson, Station Road Rainham which was an estate agent advertising property in the Medway Towns Area. There is an advert for the Woolwich Building society (bought up by Barclays Bank in the 2000s) and Coronet Real Fruit yoghurt – taste the real fruit!

Football at Priestfield Stadium Gillingham is advertised showing matches against Swindon on 12^th November 1966, Bristol Rovers on 16^th Nov, Grimsby (Town) on 10^th December 1966 and Scunthorpe (United) on 17^th December.

Medway College of Art is advertising their Session for 1966-67 and below that is another advert for Cockburns port. In the background to the left of the photo the new houses of Parkfield Road are visible.

Photo 7

One of the most interesting pictures of the set shows the front of the main Rainham Station building with a Renault 4 car registration 8853 KO parked outside near a No Parking sign! The Renault 4 was only introduced in 1961 so the photo must be later than this. The station car park and cars from photo 4 are also visible in the background but this picture gives the wider picture and context of the buildings in relation to the station car park. There are various boards on the wall of the building with British Railways headings. One hoarding promotes Cut Price Off Peak Travel so much the same promotions as today!

Photo 8

This shows a view of the Station buildings from the coastbound platform with the footbridge over the tracks and a passenger waiting on the platform. There is a poster for Chatham Reliance Building Society.

Photo 9

This shows a view looking down Station Road with the Rainham signal box on the left hand side of the picture. In the distance you can see a Ford Cortina and the allotments on the right hand side that became the new station car park in 1969.

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With the schools returning for the new School Year these pictures of Byron Road Infants' School taken in 1918 show how school life used to be 100 years ago.

The 2 photos show the same classroom but with group IVA (4A) and Group VI (6) so are probably taken 2 years apart. The pictures on the wall are slightly different although what looks like a painting of Humpty Dumpty is present in both.

The children in the IV A photo holding the board are Harold Hudson Light and Marion Grace Light. There are 24 children and 1 teacher showing. 

Harold appears to be in the below photo to the left of the Humpty Dumpty picture standing against the wall at the back of the classroom. In this picture there are 48 children so is it 2 classes together or just much larger class sizes?

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This photo of child with old style pram was taken in the garden on 28 Woodside Wigmore Kent in the summer of 1946 so within a year of the Second World War ending. My grandparents had built the house 7 years earlier, you can see the receipt for the construction here. Costs of Building in Woodside,Wigmore 1939

The bungalow opposite looks virtually unchanged in 2021!

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This photo of Rainham Co-operative Store was taken in 1975 from the church tower. The store was located opposite St Margaret's Church and demolished in 1997 to make way for the new Medical Centre. The store front clearly shows the date of 1928 on the front facade. To the right of the photo you can just see the old Rainham Sorting Office that is now the McCarthy & Stone retirement home.

Photos of the demolition in 1997 are here Rainham High Street Coop Co-operative Store Demolition

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This photo of HL Bodiam Seed Merchants shop in  Rainham Kent was Simes Ltd in the 1970s. Photo was in Action Forum - May 1975 Number 69

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This undated aerial photo of Crescent Shipping at Otterham Quay Rainham Kent shows the full layout of the docks

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This photo of the VE Day+1 party in Henry Street Rainham Kent was kindly supplied by Paul Edwards. The reverse of the photo reads "Souvenir of the Children's Party held in Henry St Rainham on VE Day Plus One (9th May 1945) Paul believes that the man second from right is Percy Woolley and the lady far left may be Percy's mother Ellen.

The street has changed significantly since 1945 but based on the gaps in the houses I believe the photo was taken looking towards where numbers 9 & 11 Henry Street are now and the edge of number 23 Henry Street is on the right hand side of the photo. This would have been the location of Akhurst Building Yard.

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This aerial photo of Parkwood housing estate in Rainham Kent was taken in 1978 and published on the cover of Action Forum magazine in 1983. 

Deanwood Drive runs from the top left corner to the top right with Lonsdale Drive and De Mere close going off the top of the picture. In the top left Deanwood Drive meets Maidstone Road and the Queen's Head pub is just visible in the corner. Long Catlis Road runs from Deanwood Drive through the centre of the photo to the middle of the picture at the bottom edge. Foxburrow wood is still visible in the top right hand corner of the picture.

IN APPRECIATION OF PARK WOOD

The first ever Ordnance Survey map at a scale of one inch to one mile, published over 164 years ago on the 1st day of January 1819 by one Colonel Mudge in the Tower of London, reveals that where Parkwood now quietly hums, stood the Kentish forest of Park Wood. At that time, perhaps six generations ago, the nearest settlements were the then hamlet of Bredhurst and the tiny village of Rainham (but without a single house in Station Road!). Further afield, there were but forest and fields, with distant Gillingham a mere village.  

But today, all the most beneficial aspects of village life throughout the ages have been brought together here. Not one person is unfortunate enough to live on a main road or bus route, and yet all have easy access to good bus services and to our motorway network. Many of the original forest trees remain for sure, particularly around Parkwood Green, which in turn affords a most relaxing and enjoyable approach past the “big houses”, the “Rectory” and Church, to the decidedly 21st century village centre whose complete range of both commercial and social services hardly need enumeration. Not for the residents of Parkwood the City style of drab uniform unbroken rows of houses all of identical style, in streets as straight as arrows with such charming names as Brick Street! Nor the criss-cross of telephone wires overhead for our feathered friends to perch on and spoil our cars!

Village greens abound and it can be but a matter of time before cricket is played on warm summer Sunday afternoons. Joggers and walkers alike will have noticed that they need never follow the same route twice, so varied and inter-connecting are the twittens and byways. They will also have noticed the artistic gardening skills which are developing for us all to enjoy, and when traversing Peverel Green some will be reminded of their links with London in that there is a Peverel Drive within a stone’s throw of the open spaces of Hampton Court Palace.

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The photo of WK Barling's Drapery Stores Rainham Kent was published in Action Forum November 2010

W.H. Barling Drapery Stores on the corner of Ivy Street about one hundred years ago. The business had previously been owned by Walter Rush.  On page 2 we include a letter from Wendy Bean (nee Green) updating the history of the shop her parents ran for nearly 30 years from I935.

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In the early 1900s there was Hooker's Garage for Cycle and Motor Works situated on the A2 in Rainham Kent at the top of Station Road opposite The Cricketers Inn where Barclays Bank is now located. It would have been next to The Bargain House which was established in 1924 - see article THE BARGAIN HOUSE Rainham Kent

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