Various squats in the area

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Joviale
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Various squats in the area

Post by Joviale »

(retreived from the previous message board)
Rory:
I have particularly fond memories of the time spent in a squat et
the bottom of Church Road Richmond along with mostly ex-grosvener-roadies, Scratch,Keith-Oddjob [in his pink room that he then described as looking like a 'chinese-brothel' lol] Danny and Debby,my bro Colin for a while,Gareth J,I think Richard B,I remember the gorgeous * Becky who married Mac [they did it for a laugh!'] The soundtrack of that summer was PEACHES by the stranglers and GOD SAVE THE QUEEN by the pistols!My big romance then was with the lovely Susie B who lived just around the corner, she worked in a vintage-clothing store [silk-knickers oh yeah!]next to THEE place to be THE ORANGE TREE!

Richard
Hmm I was at Kingston poly then Rory, possibly in aleister crowley's old house which some idiot nicked the lead off (so it leaked) or in Pangbourne.

Rory:
wow yes Richard i remember we squatted a couple of places together around that time! one on the 267 route i think in whitton with dirty dave from plymouth [ooh-arr!] and essex girlfriend Janice gareth jones,,,,then there was that lovely house by the st margerets roundabout i think little-ken taylor was there too!and often jolly middle of the night visits by Gary in his blue van with number 7 grosvenor road door on the back, later belonging to little ken after Gary bought the 'here and now green prison bus[651DJJ] which he had parked in the garden firstly at Galsworthy road , kingston and later on, wasteland at 'squat-street'Latimer road, Notting hill. Then Gary turned up in Amsterdam in 1979 and sold it to Dutch-hippie friends of mine who made me the driver cos they were all too scared to drive it lol unfortunately it got towed and scrapped before i could save it in 1981.

Joelle
Waouh Rory, you could be our official historian, what a memory, i can't remember half of the name of the people i was living with at the time (well in the street, not n n° 7 of course!).
Once we get that web page together (lol) i had the idea to have a place for entering names or nicknames of people living in the different houses and when, to help us trace lost sheep, you surely could help!

Rory
ok, if im one of the historians..... i will have to qualify my reference to 'dirty-dave'
i was never completely clear about 'dopey-dave' i think the dave from up north and 'dirty-dave' the guy i reffered to , tall guy with curly-blonded hair and an 'afgan-coat' [hippie-uniform' for some!]from Plymouth and charming 'yokel-accent! not to be confused with tall natural-sunsilk-blond dave -s-k , he of the perfect put-down i remember him asking a guitar-playing squatter to play 'stairCASE to heaven' for his amusement! lol and on someone asking what the RUT on his council donkey jacket meant he replied duly ' Royal Ulster Terrorists!of course!One day he came upon Tony Hemmingway at the Warwick -hotel Squat he remarked that the then 'lady-killer' had become positively 'obese! lol tony smiled like a farmer with a toothache' as the dutch say! lol
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Dominic
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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Dominic »

I didn't know that it was previously owned by the 'Here and Now' band but many people must remember Gary's ex police bus during the first few years after Gr.Rd.. I only visited once when there were lots of people squatting in vans, buses and houses near Robin Hood Roundabout. It seemed to me that Gary's bus was often crammed full of people *socialising*. He would sometimes jump into the driving seat and drive away with loads of people on-board, who hardly cared. I passed it, stopped, half on the pavement in Kingston town-centre. He had just gone into a shop to buy cigarettes and Rizlas, leaving a load of people *socialising* in the bus.

He came to visit us on Llangubi Common in that bus once. But that's another story.

The squat near Robin Hood Roundabout, was, as I remember, houses and motor-homes on both sides of the A3, a major trunk road into London. There were multiple lanes and it was very busy. It was so busy that most people would go 100m up the road to a subway to cross. I was sitting in Mac's bus when he decided to go across to see someone on the other side. I was gob-smacked when he just danced across the road in his bare feet dodging cars as he went.
Here's the bus Rory mentioned.
Here's the bus Rory mentioned.
Last edited by Dominic on Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Dominic »

There was also another squat near Robin Hood Roundabout in some sort of industrial place. I think it was mostly people living in vehicles. I wonder if anyone remembers that. Again I only visited once in about 81 I think. Gary had his double-decker and Scratch lived there in a little building on the side.
Last edited by Dominic on Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Joviale »

I think that is where i parked my blue van (the one in my avatar) after being kicked out of that squat opposite kingston hospital (Galsworthy rd, wasn't it?). I have photos of that one i will post later.
I seem to remember something about the place you mention in the old message board, i had a look but can't find it, if whoever posted it could find it and copy it that would be grand!
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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Weed »

after the Norbiton squat (16 Galsworthy Road, opposite Kingston Hospital) most people moved to the squat in Roehampton Vale on either side of the A3 (wasn't this the site of Listerine House?) -- and what a horrendous move that was, so many vehicles breaking down and running out of petrol and getting lost and.. well, you name it, and it happened lol -- but somehow we just about managed it -- the only vehicle which didn't get out in time was Fritz's cortina -- the eviction was scheduled for 7.30am -- the last vehicle to leave was Mac's bus, about 4am -- he'd had to wait for the batteries to finish charging... as it finally started pulling away a car drew up with some guys wanting to score, so that was another delay -- and then when the bus got to Roehampton and pulled up, wouldn't you know it, there was already another car load of people there waiting to score

there were 2 houses on the north side, but one got busted straight away cos the door wasn't secured and the police just walked in and threw everybody out -- we managed to keep the police out of the other (104 Roehampton Vale)... they were pushing against the door from the garden into the living room from the outside, and Danny, John Sparks and myself were pushing from inside to try and stop them getting in, and they were getting so angry... we were saved just in time by the arrival of the hospital authorities (yes, we'd moved out of one house owned by a hospital into another lol), which almost certainly prevented the police smashing the door down

Mac & Kate (+ bus) and Gary (+ bus, with cash register) and OJ and others were opposite on the south side of the A3 -- the houses there were more derelict and stayed squatted longer -- they backed on to a pretty rough housing estate -- that's when i got into role-playing games (Dungeons and Dragons) -- i remember Joanne, Scratch, Bones and Canadian Cliff also being at Roehampton Vale

the next place we moved to was 30 Gloucester Road, a big house in Teddington -- again the police were round almost straight away and it looked like they were going to try and remove us by force, but Gary was visiting and he had his growly alsation Blue with him, and i think Blue's barking saved the day (one word from Gary... "They're after your food, Blue..." lol) -- it had an old gnarled plum tree at the bottom of the back garden with the most delicious plums i've ever tasted
Last edited by Weed on Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Dominic »

Re. Joviale,- wasteground.

>" My memories are so hazy. The weird thing is that i seem to have clearer memories of glamoran rd than of grosvenor rd."<


Glamorgan Road, Was that the one near Kingston Hospital? If so, I went there once,- or maybe twice. I was sitting talking to Scratch, I think, when a bunch of people came home having just taken a short-cut through the hospital grounds. They were all in stitches laughing and giggling. Apparently they had come across some nitrous oxide tanks and helped themselves to a whiff.

I think a little caravan that Jan and I had went there. I think Fritz had it off us. We used to use it like a spare bedroom on The Common in Wales.
Last edited by Dominic on Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Joviale
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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Joviale »

No the one near kingston hospital was, unless i'm mistaken, Galsworthy rd.
Glamorgan Rd was, i think in hamptonwick. We managed to get raided by the police and invaded by very irascible road rats within a month. The road rats visit was just when my parents visited with my little brother. Him and another person were quite badly hurt and had to go to hospital to get stitches. My main worry during the whole attack was "how do i explain to my parents what happened?"
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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Dominic »

Weed, you've stirred my memory. I think my old small caravan got trashed at Galsworthy Road because Fritz failed to return on time to retrieve his stuff.

That sounds like an exiting move from Galsworthy Rd. to Roehampton Vale(near Robin Hood Roundabout)

Sorry Jo, Ive been getting my Galsworthy and Glamorgan Mixed up. I will remember now. One is worthy of gall and the other is glamorous organ. I remember Glam-organ now. That had a turret. And I remember hearing about that horrible ordeal with the Road-rats. That was while we were still in Gr.Rd.

I didn't visit often once we moved to Wales but I have memories of at least one visit to a few different squats. It seems now that there must have been some sequence to them.

Apart from those mentioned, I remember a posh house in Teddy-town or Hemp-town, I can't remember which. There was an old nursery with a bungalow, somewhere in Hampton, and also another, next to the river in Hampton.
Jan and I loaded our truck with plant-pots from the old nursery, hoping to sell them back in Wales but there was no demand for them so we gave most of them away.
Last edited by Dominic on Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Weed »

Dominic wrote:I remember a posh house in Teddy-town or Hemp-town, I can't remember which.
this was almost certainly Broadmead in Hampton -- turrets and crenellated parapets, parquet floors, stained glass windows and 5 bathrooms -- there was a separate Gatehouse near one of the entrances where Jack and 4 others lived -- it had extensive gardens with summer house and orchard and exotic trees which were numbered and visited anually by people from Kew Gardens -- it was squatted a few weeks (?) before the deadline for the eviction from Grosvenor Road
Dominic wrote:There was an old nursery with a bungalow, somewhere in Hampton
that was The Nurseries, squatted about the same time as Broadmead, but further away from Twickenham -- i remember Mac driving some stuff out there and coming face to face on the narrow track with a council truck, and both refusing to give way -- Janet and others were living there

Broadmead and The Nurseries were in summer 1976 -- 16 Galsworthy Road was 1977/8, 104 Roehampton Vale was winter 1978, and 30 Gloucester Road was early 1979

i was in a couple more squats with OJ in 1979 -- one was Dover Cottage (which i think was on the Portsmouth Road in Thames Ditton), and another was Esher way -- one night i turned on the kitchen sink cold water tap and suddenly realised my feet were getting very wet... OJ, as was his wont, had removed the lead piping without mentioning it to anyone lol -- the main tank disappeared shortly afterwards, and after that we had to sneak down the road late at night to a miniature steam railway club and pinch the water they used for topping up the tenders on the trains lol

then i moved in with Scratch, Danny and Tom who had squatted 9 Watts Lane, a small cottage in central Teddington, which lasted for a year or so (1979/80) -- there were lots of visitors including Rory and Seamus (who were both living in Amsterdam) -- some time round then, OJ squatted a place in Barnes which i used to visit quite often

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Re: Various squats in the area

Post by Joviale »

Weed wrote: this was almost certainly Broadmead in Hampton ...
there was a separate Gatehouse near one of the entrances where Jack and 4 others lived --
I remember living in the Gatehouse with baby ëloïse, but i had the feeling i was on my own there, it was tiny and only a couple of rooms were hospitable, are you sure jack didn't live in the main house? It was indeed beautifull, art deco style, and they got us out by telling us they were going to turn it into an old people's home, we moved as i recall of our own accord, and then of course, no old people's home that i've heard of!
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