Banstead Village

This building was known as "St Cross” a former school in Walton on the Hill, near Tadworth in Surrey.

The school was built in 1911 on the site of an old Roman Villa. A stream ran down the eastern side of the grounds and the schoolboys had formal gardens to tend and a large model railway to play with. A wooden chapel catered for their religious needs. At the outbreak of the war an air-raid shelter was built in the grounds but soon the school was evacuated and the building was taken over by the Canadian Army who used it as a Convalescent Home and extended the air raid shelter to accommodate beds. By 1945, the Canadians had left and the premises were taken over by the “War Office Selection Board”.

On Wednesday 28th. October 2015 a small group of retired and serving BTP officers assembled in the roadway, now named Lucas Park Drive, leading into the grounds of what used to be the BTP Training Centre at Tadworth – or ‘Tadders’ as it was affectionately known. They were there to officially unveil the plaque commemorating the Training Centre and all who worked there, passed through there or had any connection with the place. This was an historic event as it was the first occasion that the BTP History Group had commissioned a commemorative plaque.

This link shows the opening of the school as a Police Training Centre in 1948
www.btphg.org.uk/?page_id=5210

Source:British transport Police History Group (www.btphg.org.uk/)

Many thanks to Lewis Wood for alerting us to this post.
Sadly the BTP Training Centre was closed in 2010 and demolished. It has been replaced by a housing development.
More photos are available in our gallery:
/www.btphg.org.uk/?page_id=54&wppa-album=22&wppa-cover=0&wppa-occur=1

Such a shame it is no more. My father Sergeant Frank Phillips (S34) was an Instructor there, doing three two year tours of duty. RIP Dad and RIP Tadworth BTP Training Centre.

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