Rosina Ridley's impressions of Crawley New Town

By Rosina Ridley

Rosina reads the riot act

Photo from WRVS Heritage Plus project

Rosina Ridley remembers

First impressions of a new town

When we came down to Crawley, there was the Crawley Operatic Society. They were terrific. They were based at Thomas Bennett School and Tilgate theatre. We used to go dancing once a week. The firms used to put on a night every Saturday, a social club in the canteen hut, dances and a little band. Sundays, there used to be sports and social clubs run by the firms for the kids. Ken used to take the kids.

Working nine to five

There was a lot going on, all entertainment provided by the companies. We used to go to events at APV where I worked and Edwards where Ken worked. They did evening classes there too! Language classes, typing, needlework, pottery, everything was cheap and they had evening classes for learning to dance. We used to go there on our bikes.