Banstead Village

I have been given the privelage of producing the Banstead Athletic match day football programme over the last two seasons. We are currently trying to find out about our club badge, the history of it. We have been in touch with libraries to see if they can help. It would be great if we could include the answer to the puzzle of the picture, maybe even put an article in a future programme from a relative of the above lady. If you know of the identity or maybe a contact please email me, it would be of great interest to our club. Thank you

Hello Robin and Bob
My name is Christine Kent and I am a member of the Banstead History Research Group. I have today 3rd November 2010 sent 5 messages to people on the website Friends Reunited who have listed Banstead Athletic as one of their places, and to see if they can identify the young lady in the photo.
Will let you know the outcome.
Christine

George Corbett shown on the lady's pullover is my dad. He's now 88 years old & still lives in Banstead village.

Hello Lyn
Would you be able to show your Dad the photo?
We have still not been able to identify the lady, maybe your Dad could help.
Many thanks.Christine

Hello Lyn, This is superb news. If he could identify the lady that would be brilliant. I know it's probably a long shot but who knows. My email address is lockyerAstar@aol.com if you find anything out. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I am also trying to find out about the badge of our club. A few ideas have come to light and I'm following those up. Any help would be great. If it would be possible for me to have a chat with your dad it would be very helpful. Before I took over editing the programme for the club someone tried to find things out but didn't get very far. This is certainly great news for the puzzle we are trying to solve. Regards Bob

Dad doesn't know the lady but remembers seeing her at matches. Also he knows nothing about the origins of the badge.
Players:Ray Taylor, Peter Giffin, Ray Hack, Len Walker, Tommy Williams, Harry Clark & Sid Argent.
He's never heard of Wally Quincy.
Hope this info is useful.

Hello Lyn, Thank you for the information. Does your father have any memorabilia from his playing days- badges or programmes? I would like to send your Dad a programme signed by the team from this season for him to have. I would like to include items from any of the ones he may still have in a future match day programme. Kind regards to you & your father. Happy New Year! Bob

Is it Wally Chesney at right half (as the position would have been called then)?

This picture is on Carole Banstead's (recently deceased) facebook page, if that helps?

Hello Debster, Thank you for that. Do you know how I can contact Carole's family?. I don't want to upset anyone. Would be grateful to find out if they know a name? (I don't do 'facebook)!!

www.facebook.com/banjo.banstead I dont think they would be upset, she was a very popular lady.

NOTE FROM WEBMASTER: Hi Debster thanks for the link which has enabled me to replace our very grainy photo. Do you know any more about this lady? Was Carole Banstead her real name or was she known as that because of her support for the local club? At the Banstead History Centre and the Banstead History Research Group we are embarking on a new project to write about Banstead people, and Carole sounds like an ideal candidate. Perhaps our members were never football fans as we seem to know nothing at all about Carole.

On Carole's facebook page it says that she married a David S Jones. There is a marriage entry for a Carole Banstead to a David S Jones in June 1997 registered at Torbay Devon.

I recall watching Banstead Athletic playing at the recreation ground in Tattenham Way before their move to Merland Rise, and remember several of the players you mention. Harry Clark who was a prolific goalscorer, Peter Giffen the goalkeeper, who I played in a boys team with. Denny Wall was the middle one of three footballing brothers from Kingswood. The eldest boy (whose name I cannot recall) played professionally in Malta and was a short while with Chelsea. The youngest David was my age and appears in the picture of the Picquets Way School team 1948/49.

Debster, Sorry I haven't been in touch. Wonder if you would email me an email address for the late Carol Banstead family if you know one.

Derek, Sorry it's been a bit hectic. Do you have an email address I can contact you on? mine is lockyerastar@aol.com Thanks

Hi I came across your picture recently and as said in an earlier comment Harry Clark is on the jumper. Unfortunalty Dad is no longer with us but we still talk fondly with my Mum about the good old days. We are still in possession of a silver cup and tray presented to Dad after his career.

Regards Gary Clark

Hello Gary,
Thank you for getting in touch. Just picked up your message. Wonderful news. Would like to talk to you more if you wouldn't mind. Do hope you and your mum are keeping well. Would you mind phoning the football club and leaving you phone number. I can then get in touch. The club's number is 01737 350982. Don't want you to put your number here for security reasons. Thank you again. Another piece of the jigsaw could be falling into place. Best regards Bob Lockyer.(Banstead Athletic FC)

I wonder why they were called Banstead Athletic when the ground is in Tadworth?

Hello David,
Thank you for getting in touch. I will try and answer your question.
One of the original player's who I managed to get to our football club told me that a local Police Constable Fred Partridge based at Banstead police station had seen some young lads playing football for Kingswood Football Club on a local ground that was owned by the council. Before starting to play their matches the lads had to cut the grass with a 10" lawn mower and mark out the pitch because the council wouldn't do it for them. PC Partridge approached the lads and asked them if anyone they knew in Kingswood would be interested in forming a football team in Banstead. The lads thought it would be a better way of playing football without the problems they had encountered trying to form their own team and getting the pitch white lined and ready for matches, so most of the lads went for trials in Banstead. Fred outlined the intentions of the club, said they would play in an Old gold and black kit and be known as Banstead Juniors FC. They would be playing in the Epsom & Ewell League. In 1944/1945 season starting out as Banstead Juniors they changed the name of the club to Banstead Athletic FC. They played on the recreation ground until the council agreed for them to move to Merland Rise where they are today. Hope that answers your question. Regards Bob Lockyer (Website/ Programme Editor Banstead Athletic FC.

Just as a point of interest, in the late 1940s there were several football pitches on the Tattenham Way Recreation Ground and in addition to Banstead Athletic there was another team named Banstead Wanderers. When one was playing away I watched the other.

Just been doing a bit more research and looking at Carole's old Facebook page I see that the man grinning behind her was a Mr Buckingham. Can anyone tell us more about him?

There is one other puzzle I would like to solve. I have found a photo of Carole on her wedding day, and the write-up clearly says she is the only daughter of Mrs Jean Bacon. So far I have been unable to establish a connection between a Banstead and a Bacon. I have found a Jean V Banstead but not a record of her marrying a Bacon.
Can anyone enlighten me?

Rob Buckingham sadly died a couple of years ago . Her husband was David Jones www.facebook.com/david.s.jones.581

Reply from LNW: thank you for the information.

Yet another mystery to solve.
According to records I have found, this photo was taken in March 1955 and the lady is shown as Marion Bryan. Any suggestions? I will get in touch with David S Jones as above.
Thanks

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything. Just wanted to check something. Is the lady wearing the jumper known as Marion Bryan? I thought she was Carole Banstead?. Appreciate you getting in touch with David Jones..Lewis. I am still doing the website/programme for the club. If anyone is interested it is under the title as www.bansteadathleticfc
I still enjoy editing it and giving the info to the club's supporters.

Reply from LNW: We all did, so I am trying to unravel the truth behind this and will post the answer when I find out exactly who Marion Bryan was.

With the help of another Banstead History member, Janice, we have made some progress but we are nowhere near solving the mystery of who this lady was. This is what we know:

- Back in 2012 Debster found this image on Carole Banstead's Facebook page. This page still exists and shows that Carole was married to a David S Jones.

- a newspaper search finds a report, and indeed a photo, of this marriage. There is a resemblance between the picture in the paper and the image above but it is hard to be sure.

- a message sent to Carole says "That IS Mr Buckingham grinning at you from the front row, is it not?" Carole replies "So it is."
At this stage we have no reason to believe that this lady is anyone other than Carole Banstead UNTIL . . .

- a search for the source of the image reveals new information. It was taken on 19 March 1955 by Arlow and the source was The Houlton Archive. This is all fine EXCEPT that the lady is recorded as one Marion Bryan.

- We obtain the marriage certificate for Carole Banstead. It shows that she did indeed marry David S Jones in 1997 but more importantly it shows that Carole was aged 41 at the time of her marriage. That means she was born within a year or so of the date of the photo above so there seems to be no possibility that the two are one and the same.

- Carole Banstead's maiden name is shown as Bacon, which matches the newspaper report.

- This leaves us with the mysterious Marion Bryan who we will attempt to trace.

UPDATE: We now know that Carole was the daughter of Jean and Charles Frederick Bacon. She was born on 15 Sept 1955 in Bromley.

Her marriage cert shows that both she and her new husband were living at Gander Green Lane in 1997, and for both, it was their second marriage. We have identified another marriage in 1977 – Carole G Banstead to a Leslie A Cooper in Bromley and we will follow that up.

Despite the comments on her Facebook page, we cannot see how the lady in the image could possibly be Carole Banstead but so far we have been unable to identify a likely Marion Bryan – there are several individuals by that name.

I am trying the contact people who knew Carole. One tells me she was a lovely lady but they we only friends on Facebook and never met.

I will add further updates as and when we make some progress.

We now know that the person pictured above was not Carole Banstead, but Marian A Bryan who lived in Oatlands Road Burgh Heath.

She was born in 1935, and had three brothers Roland, Arthur and Bernard. She married Alan Howarth in 1956. After their marriage they lived with his parents in Wimbledon.

The Howarth family then moved to New Zealand on masse taking Sally their daughter with them; she worked as a shop assistant in Auckland in 1978.

Marian worked as an Ent Opr and died in 2014.

We are still waiting for Carole Banstead's second wedding certificate and feedback on other avenues we are following.

Janice and Lewis, very well done on such detailed and thorough research. The story becomes more and more interesting, doesn't it?

Janice & Lewis I do appreciate all you're doing for me to try and find out about 'Carol'. It's a puzzle indeed, but the pieces are slowly falling into place. Thank you.

We now believe that the image on Carole Banstead's Facebook page was a complete Red Herring and she, or maybe even someone else, added it simply because of her name and the uncanny resemblance. Unfortunately it was reinforced by the fact that she appeared to confirm that the man behind her in the photo was Rob Buckingham however we now believe it was his resemblance to Rob, so the whole thing was a joke.
We are still chasing down leads in New Zealand and Florida. The conclusion has to be that Carole did not like her surname (Bacon) and changed it to Banstead, but there is no record on deed poll registers so we are trying find anyone who knew her.

Latest update 20 Nov 2023

We now have Carole's marriage certificate from 1977 when she married Leslie A Cooper in Bromley. Carole is shown as a spinster confirming that Banstead was her surname when she was single.

We know she was born in 1955 and a person cannot change their surname until the age of 16 meaning that Carole must have changed from Bacon to Banstead between the age of 16 and 21, probably earlier rather than later as we assume that you would not bother changing your surname if you are due to be married.

Unfortunately a deed poll need not be registered and trying to find such a document would be almost impossible but we are now satisfied that the lady in the picture is not, and has never been, Carole Banstead. The image is on Carole's Facebook page as she bore a close resemblance to the lady in the image and had also chosen Banstead as her new surname.

Carole has long since passed away and although we have contacted quite a few of her friends on Facebook, no one, so far, has been able to confirm the story.

The lady in the image is Marian Bryan and we are still investigating who she was.

We now have the definitive answer from Carole's husband, David Jones, and it confirms our previous conclusion:

Hi Lewis

Carole chose to change her name to Banstead. There were no Bansteads in the London telephone book, and she was living not far from there.
Someone found that photo, and sent it to her.
Carole was born in 1955.
Hope that clears things up.

David

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