By David Rose
Eagled-eyed readers easily recognised Northmead Boys School in Grange Road as being the mystery vintage picture last week.
And they also correctly identified the drain hopper as belonging to Holy Trinity Church in Guildford High Street.
Click here to see last week’s post and all the replies at the foot of it.
Andrew Backhurst’s comments were interesting as he says he went to the school in 1972 when it became an annexe to the then new Guildford C of E School in Larch Avenue, later named Bishop Reindorp School, and now Christ’s College (in a new building).
I too went to the ‘Northmead annexe’ in 1971, so I guess we were a school year apart.
I remember being at Stoughton Junior School and dreading going up to the ‘big’ school as I had heard that the former Northmead only ‘played rugby’. I was mad on football and hated rugby (still do).
I was overjoyed when I learned that the new school arrangement was to feature football as well. I did play one game for the rugby team, as they were short of players one Saturday morning.
I can’t recall who we played, but we won. I was stuck out on the wing, I hardly touched the oddly shaped ball, but on one occasion when it came to me I headed it in defiance of the game. I also recall at the end feeling completely frozen due to the cold.
The following week it was back to football and the following year we won the Guildford area schools’ cup.
Swiftly on to this week’s mystery and buses again!
I don’t think this picture of an Aldershot & District bus in Guildford will prove to be that difficult to identify. Do you recognise the location? Can you add any details? The picture was taken by bus enthusiast Peter Trevaskis.
And the quirky picture is a metal tablet outside a Guildford High Street bank. Do you know which one?
If you know the answers please leave a reply in the box below. Replies will be published at about the same time next week with two more mystery pictures for you to ponder.
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Bernard Parke
February 4, 2016 at 9:22 am
The building behind the bus is 86 High Street which was once 9 High Street before the High Street was renumbered.
The plaque is on the wall of Lloyds Bank. It goes back to the time when we had true banking.
Dave Middleton
February 18, 2016 at 11:39 am
Alas you are mistaken Mr Parke, The buildings to the left of the bus are still numbered 3 to 11 High Street. Number 1 High Street is on the other side of the A3100, directly in front of where the bus is facing.
Dave Middleton
February 4, 2016 at 11:08 am
The photo is at the bottom end of the High Street at the junction with Park Street / Portsmouth Road, near St Nicolas Church.
Hidden behind the bus is the Greyhound pub – now the George Abbot.
The Town Bridge is in the background.
It looks like that bit of road was one way in those days – hence the bus apparently being on the wrong side of the road!
The bollards in the centre of the road are long gone. I think the shop immediately to the left of the bus is now a computer repair shop.
The plaque is on Lloyds Bank in the High Street. Alas, I’m no relation to Viscount Midleton – as far as I know!
John Lomas
February 4, 2016 at 11:21 am
The photographer is standing near the junction of Portsmouth Road and The Mount.
The bus has just emerged from the Farnham Road bus station and is passing what is now George Abbot and the shop next to it prior to turning right into Park Street towards the railway station.
The lamps on the town bridge can be seen by the trees at the riverside.
Judging by the two-tone car I think it dates from the late 50s or early 60s.
I think the old bank plaque is on the Lloyds TSB building.
Charles Graham
February 4, 2016 at 4:24 pm
The picture is Park Street at the junction with Bridge Street. A view I remember from working in the old Bridge House!
Sheila Atkinson
February 4, 2016 at 10:08 pm
The bus is coming out from the old Farnham Road bus station at the junction with Portsmouth Road.
Ray Springer
February 4, 2016 at 10:14 pm
The Aldershot & District number 20 bus is at the bottom of the High Street.
It has supposedly just come out of the Farnham Road bus station and is going to Aldershot.
The quirky picture is from the front of Lloyds bank in the High Street.
Chaz Folkes
February 5, 2016 at 10:18 am
No details on the bus but I think that’s the very bottom of the High Street, over the bridge by St Nicolas Church.
The George Abbot pub takes up a lot of that block on the left now.
The tablet is on the front of the Lloyds TSB branch on High Street, opposite Tunsgate Arch.
Jeff Hills
February 6, 2016 at 2:35 pm
The bus seems to be in the wrong lane as it has come out of the old Farnham Road bus station at the bottom of the High street.
The town brige is in the background.
The 24s normally did a left turn up the Portsmouth Road, on to Hindhead and Petersfield.
Steve Grove
February 7, 2016 at 11:52 am
The bus is turning right into Park Street from the High Street having just left the Farnham Road bus station.
The two-storey building behind the bus was the Greyhound pub, now the George Abbot.
To the right of the picture is the Town Bridge.
The Guildford Old Bank sign is on the frontage of Lloyds Bank in the High Street.
Margaret Cole
February 9, 2016 at 11:23 pm
The number 20 bus is coming from Farnham Road bus station into Park Street en route to Aldershot.
The Greyhound pub is just behind and the town bridge to the right with the lights showing on it.
The plaque can be found on the outside of Lloyd bank, 147 High Street.
It relates to The Old Guildford Society’s battle with the old bank who wanted to rebuild, but George Wilkinson who founded the society 1899 was very well connected and spoke to Queen Victoria who sent her daughter Princess Louise to meet the officials and they changed their minds.
It pays to have friends in high places.
Brian Holt
February 10, 2016 at 3:29 pm
The bus is turning right from lower High Street into Park Street, having just left the Farnham Road bus station.
Lloyds Bank High Street. I pass this plaque every time I go into the bank.
In 1765 William Hayden a draper, opened Guildford’s first modern bank here.
The plaque records that when the premises were extended in 1899, the original facade was preserved, the moulding in the shape of buttons is a reminder of the origins of the building.
Wanting to keep his money and valuables safe, Mr Haydon built himself a small secure room.
As other shopkeepers heard about it, he soon found that he was making more money than from his drapery business, by keeping other people’s money safe and charging them for the privilege.
The replica “sign of the crown” hanging outside at first floor level is a reminder that the building was the Crown Inn, and family hotel one of Guildford’s five large coaching inns until the 1850s.
Chris Townsend
February 10, 2016 at 8:21 pm
The metal tablet is outside Lloyd’s Bank.
Haydon’s was the first bank on the site, then the Capital and Counties Bank from 1883, and Lloyd’s since the 1920’s.
The present banking hall is impressive, and well worth a look inside.
The bus shown has just turned out of the old Farnham Road Bus Station, now a car park, past the Greyhound pub, renamed the George Abbot.
The advertising hoardings have gone, in the widening of Park Street, but the buildings in the centre look much the same today.
Sheila Atkinson
February 12, 2016 at 6:48 pm
I have just remembered that on the right-hand side of this photo (just out of sight) beyond the church nearer the Portsmouth Road used to be an Ayer’s cake shop and there was a hall at the back of the premises.