HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
A special welcome to Purley Probus Members and to wives, partners and guests
Club News
Chairman, Roger Gourd, welcomed 18 members to our November lunch plus guest speaker Christian Wolmar. £36 was collected for the Chairman’s charity and the raffle raised £19. Peter Mills is unwell with shingles.
Please notify lunch changes by 10.30am the prior Tuesday for Thursday 5th Jan. meeting to chris@moniz.co.uk T: 020 8660 6063. Please notify Member News to Secretary, Ian Payne T: 01737 554449. Please email vincent@fosdike.comwith articles/news for the Newsletter.
Merger with Purley: Lunches will be joint from now on each first Thursday and a joint AGM will be held on 2ndMarch 2023 to elect the new Committee which will take office on 1st April. To welcome the new Coulsdon & Purley Probus Club, the annual fee will be waived for 2023/24.
Today’s Speaker: Reverend Malcolm Newman: ‘Christmas Theme’
5th Jan: Jim Mulvey: ‘Postcard images of Croydon & Purley early 20th C.’
November Speaker: Christian Wolmar — The Crossrail Story
Ken Livingstone, John Prescott and Boris Johnson all backed what was once called CROSSRAIL. Yes, wake up at the back there, it has changed its name to THE ELIZABETH LINE. Running from Reading to Shenfield incorporating Heathrow with a spur to Abbey Wood south of the Thames, it is engineered to main line specifications rather than the tube with much longer platforms and a mixture of over and underground lines. It was conceived to meet the unserved east to west transport need. Up until now the Thames has proved too great a geographical competitor for the route but the line incorporates massive new engineering works and technology and investment estimated at £7 billion in 2000 now about £18.8 billion and although still awaiting final “join ups” to allow an uninterrupted end to end journey has effectively achieved its objective.
Boring the tunnels has to overcome obstructions in the form of medieval burial grounds, plague pits (25,000 bodies), sewerage pipes, and different geology needing two types of tunnel boring equipment. The tunnel boring equipment was so massive that it could not be reversed as the tunnels “shrank” behind them when the lining was fitted in their wake. They were ungratefully abandoned when their task was done and remain entombed to the side of the track forever. Powerful ventilation fans had to be fitted due to the higher capacity of the trains requiring more cool fresh air particularly at the tube interchange points.
Turning trains round at the end of the route is achieved by the driver walking back to the other end of the train whilst it drives itself in a shunt manoeuvre. He activates the programme and walks amongst the passengers who probably think there is still someone in control. The train is so long that a very significant amount of time is saved.
Three signalling systems had to be integrated as the trains pass from the various track domains which use pre-existing equipment, and the driver must ensure switchover has been effected to avoid an automatic emergency stop.
There is no third emergency escape tunnel as in the Channel Tunnel, but good old Shanks Pony can be employed along the specially built footway beside the train. As a footnote we learnt that each of the 10 new stations were built by a separate contractor only one of which had to be sacked!Our thanks to Christian for a thoroughly engaging talk.
Lionel Downton 1931–2022
Taken from eulogy by Matt Downton (nephew)
Lionel (Uncle Lionel, Great Uncle Lionel and friend to everyone he met) was born in Croydon. He was the first of four brothers – Bubs, Tony and Peter and attended Chipstead Valley school just down the road. In due course Lionel became uncle to Sue, Christine, Ray, Julie, Beverley, Matthew and Paul and later great uncle to George, Adam and Katie. They are grateful for the time he spent with them.
After school Lionel became a trainee plumber from 1945 until 1949 when he joined the Royal Engineers for his two years of National Service at Aldershot and travelled to Gibraltar, Milan and Trieste. It must have been here that a young Lionel became attracted to Italy and its sense of fashion. After completing his training, Lionel became a qualified plumber in 1953. This was also the year that his father died so he then became the main earner for the house.
Lionel spoke fondly of his time working for Tube Lines and on the London Underground where he was involved with making the escalators much safer. He lived in Chipstead Valley Road for many years with a short time in Kingswood between moving flats. Lionel liked his cars and driving fast.
He had a fantastic blue Ford Zephyr that didn’t come out of the garage much but was a beautiful and stylish car. Lionel was an active member of the Victoria Club where he was Secretary of the golf society for many years. He was an active and talented sportsman, playing football for Coulsdon Athletic, cricket for Nimrods, running, golf and darts. He has many trophies and medals for all these sports.
Lionel joined Coulsdon Probus in March 2007. He enjoyed helping others and was a Probus driver taking ‘old people’ to a day centre for their lunch. He referred to them as ‘old people’, but he was actually older than them! Lionel was Chairman of the local Royal British Legion for 30 consecutive years, putting much effort into making the annual poppy appeal a success.
Despite always being active, Lionel found time for holidays and spent many enjoyable trips with Tony or Roger and their families in Sicily (many times!), Sorento and Malta. A keen photographer, Lionel amassed a vast collection of prints from these countries along with shots of Coulsdon and the London Underground. He said he had 20,000 but that should be pre-fixed with ‘at least’.
One of Lionel’s pleasures was to pick a few horses out each day. He often picked out horses with names linked to family members or that were just very long! It was a successful strategy, as on at least two occasions he won a few thousand pounds. Lionel was very good at maths and how to work out his winnings to the penny often correcting the betting shop staff.The family would like to express their immense gratitude and thanks to neighbours and close friends who supported Lionel during Covid and more recently with shopping and general assistance. We are all the better for having Lionel, Uncle Lionel and Great Uncle Lionel in our lives and, along with his many friends and of course Coulsdon, will remember him fondly.