Banstead Village

I do remember it in the 50s and 60 it as it stood out like a sore thumb. To me it was always a sign we were nearly home.

(My Doctor was Dr Watts who had his surgery in upstairs rooms in the Woolworth block in the High Street.

This really is an eyesore of the first order. I can't help wondering what influences were brought to bear on Banstead Council's Planning Committee to approve such an out-of-place design in a long road of largely conventional semi-detached properties.

An eyesore in its old age, but in my chldhood it was gleaming white and easy to pick out amongst all the other houses when I cycled there on my own to see Dr Gerrard. His was a household name with us and liked by all the family.

Yes, l remember this Doctor's surgery very well. l was 5 when my family moved into No. 74 Winkworth Road in 1963.

The waiting room was front right, and the surgery was front left. I’m almost sure that when I went to see Dr. Gerrard, he had a cigarette burning in an ashtray, unheard of today.

That brings back a memory.
I remember delivering newspapers here in the 1960's on my rounds from Barlow's Newsagents.
My memory of it is the façade didn't appear anything like as harsh as this. I vaguely recall the brickwork as being of an off white or yellowish hint back then ? I thought it looked quite nice & modern then, but I was a teenager!

Intrigued now comparing this with the house sitting on 82 Winkworth Road today, which looks so much narrower ? Or do two houses now occupy this plot ?

Reply from LNW: David, you are correct. The space is now occupied by nos. 82 and 82a Winkworth Road.

How fascinating. Historically this encapsulates the urban modernist movements reaching into suburban Banstead, still lingering on the mock-Tudor Arts and Crafts and the consequent clash of styles. To label it as ‘Art Deco’ would be a mistake. Its resolutely rectangular form is brutally functionalist, in comparison to the curvature of ‘Streamline Moderne’. Instead I would draw influence from Walter Gropius at Bauhaus (observe examples of Gropius’ ‘Master Houses’ in Dessau). Functionalist architecture such as this, a precursor to the later brutalism and Denys Lasdun of “car-park-style” fame always proves to be divisive but interesting to consider culturally nonetheless.

Memories of Dr Gerrard

Dr Gerrard was my grandmother’s, mother’s and my family’s GP. When we first married, we lived immediately opposite the big White House in Winkworth Road.

In those days, surgery was scheduled between 9am and 10am, with no appointment necessary. The receptionist cum nurse was Miss Marjorie Armstrong who was the epitome of the dragon and was fiercely protective of Dr Gerrard. You would be shown into the waiting room which had bench seats all around the walls and ‘punch magazines’ to peruse while waiting your turn. Sometimes the frosted pane windows would open a crack, and you could glimpse the most beautiful flowered garden.

Dr Gerrard was always smartly dressed and all that you would expect from a genuine gentleman who was there to help you with your ailment.
Eventually, he would have locums in his practice, which included Dr John Maynard and Dr Lawrence Nathan. If I remember rightly, when the practice closed, Dr Gerrard moved to The Longcroft Clinic, and when he retired, Dr N Stoy took over his patients.

When my brother fell off his bike we (tearfully) called in there on spec and got some first aid. When my wife recently got bitten by a dog in Paddock Wood she called at a surgery there but was refused treatment.

I remember visiting Dr. Gerrard from 1955 on. His desk had many books on it and two small shelves which had a pair of dinky cars used to amuse children while discussing with mother.
He had a tray with surgical implements which could be sterilised in a boiling water tray beneath.
He also assisted with anaesthetic at our dentist when I needed 6 teeth removed for an overcrowded jaw.

This building looked like a Pillbox!

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