MY STREET CHALLENGE - VICTORIA ROAD

It seems to be cloudy most mornings when I go out to take photographs for my Street Challenge and today was no exception, but if I don’t go out to do this early in the morning, then there would be too much traffic about!
 
Victoria Road is a very busy road that connects the Old Town area of Swindon to the New Town area, down the hill.  Originally it only went from Bath Road to Prospect Place, a very short distance, and was known then as Victoria Street but it was agreed to extend the road so that Old and New towns could be accessed easily so the new road was constructed in 1875 and descended through gardens and orchards.  At this time, it was just known as New Road and was later renamed Victoria Street North, as it extended north down the hill.  However, in 1903 both sections were renamed Victoria Road and commemorates Queen Victoria, with Albert Street, running parallel.
 
At the top of the hill was a terrace of three storey houses in a vaguely Italianate style, and although from first floor level they remain the same, most of them have now become shops; the best example of one of these terraces is now an office for the Swindon Advertiser, the local newspaper, shown in the collage at the top left, which is still in existence today.  Interestingly, Richard Jefferies – from my Jefferies Avenue Blip, contributed to the Swindon Advertiser as a journalist and lived nearby – and I never knew there was a plaque until today. 
 
In the 1850s these houses were owned by some of the town’s most prosperous and prominent businessmen and in about 1849, William Morris, who was a bookseller and stationer, moved into Victoria Street where five years later, in 1854, the first edition for this four page tabloid monthly, the Swindon Advertiser, were printed on stiff paper, using a hand press. When stamp duty on newspapers was repealed the following year, the newspaper became a weekly and in 1861 it began to be printed by steam power, using a boiler and engine built in the Swindon works of the Great Western Railway when it had a circulation of 5,000.  It has been published daily since 1898.
 
There are several public houses in Victoria Road, the oldest of which is known as The Vic, and on the other corner is Longs Bar (I do wish they would get their act together as it just says ‘Ongs Bar), and also the Regent, but Mr. HCB and I have never been in any of them!
 
In 1891 William Clarke moved from a house near the Railway Works to Oxford House at number 57 Victoria Road, where he worked as an accountant and debt collector and his three daughters also worked in the financial business quite something in those days.  Today, despite numerous planning applications, Oxford House is boarded up and is derelict – at the bottom right of the collage.  It looks as if it could be a beautiful house, but who knows what will happen to it in the future. 
 
The former Technical School, almost at the bottom end of Victoria Road, has been closed for some years, and is now in the process of being renovated into apartments – shown at the middle left of the collage.  The large, gabled three storey brick building was built in 1895, in Flemish-Baroque style and dominated Victoria Road.  It was a purpose-built technical school, classes for which had previously been run by the Mechanics’ Institution.  It was opened in 1896 and until 1952 the Technical Institute in Swindon was also a day Secondary School for boys.  After 1897 it also admitted girls and scholarships were granted so that children who lived outside Swindon could also attend.  Over the years, several additions were made and in 1961 the new part of the college opened, which was in Regent Circus, but this was demolished in 2006.  A First World War memorial window in the college was moved to Swindon College which is located in North Star Avenue on the other side of the town.
 
My “claim to fame” as far as The College is concerned is that I did a Secretarial Course there in the early 1960s.  I wanted to be a teacher, but sadly my parents would not allow me to go to Teacher Training College, so I had to do a Secretarial Course.  We learned shorthand, which I can still write, although no longer at 120 wpm, and our teacher was Miss Church – you can read more about her in my Blip of 8 March 2015.  
 
Another thing I remember well, and it still makes me laugh whenever I heard the William Tell Overture, is that our typing teacher, Miss Jerram, used to get us to type to this piece of music when we were first learning to type – we would put our fingers on the “home” keys and then type a,s,d,f  then ;,l,k,j in time to the music and when we had mastered those, we progressed to the other keys.   This may sound rather bizarre, but try it, it works and I am so pleased that I persevered because now I can still type very fast and never need to look at any of the keys.  Guess it’s much like riding a bike, once you can do it, you always remember how to do it!
 
We also had to learn more English language and simple maths, and I left with decent qualifications, although I never lost my yearning to be a teacher.  I have taught in various Sunday Schools, and in my last few years at work, I was teaching younger colleagues how to use the computer, then after I retired, I helped in a local school as a volunteer, helping children with writing and hearing them read, so I got there eventually.
 
The large and imposing Trinity Presbyterian Church was built at the junction of Victoria Road and Groundwell Road in 1898 – at the bottom left of the collage.  I don’t know anything about the history of this particular church in Swindon, but the name “Presbyterian” applies to a group of churches that adhere to the teachings of John Calvin and John Knox and they practise a presbyterian form of church government led by representative elders or presbyters.  The Presbyterian church was first organised in Scotland by the Reformer, John Knox and I do remember that quite a number of Scottish people attended this church.  The Cub Group that Mr. HCB helped to run in the 1970s was attached to this church and a regular Parade Service was held at the church, so we often attended.  I do remember that the pews were very uncomfortable!  The Church joined with the Church of Christ, Broad Street, Methodist Central Hall, the Baptist Tabernacle and Sanford Street United Reformed Church to form Central Church Swindon in 1978. The Trinity building was used by the Central Church until the opening of the Pilgrim Centre in Regent Circus. Trinity Church is now a private nursery and school.
 
Something that many people in Swindon would know about Victoria Road, or Vic Hill as it was commonly known, is that it was the scene of a serious tram accident in June 1906.  As the tram was going down the hill, the brakes failed and it went out of control before crashing at the bottom of the hill, possibly just about where I stood and took the photograph shown at the top right.  Four people were killed and many more were injured.  Apparently, Ruth White, who may well have been the last survivor, was interviewed in 1979 by the local paper, Swindon Advertiser.  She said she was 16 years old at the time and going to meet her mother who was waiting for her at the bottom of the hill at the Queen’s Theatre (later to become the Empire Theatre).  The tram was packed with people who had been to the Bath and West Southern Counties Show at Broome Manor Farm, which had brought many people to the town.
 
As the tram was so full, and there is speculation that there were far too many passengers, Ruth and two others could only get on to the bottom step and as the tram picked up speed near what is known as The Brow, the driver shouted that it was out of control so people rushed to get off.  Ruth and the other two girls were pushed off into the road and Ruth, with her face and legs bleeding, ran down the hill to where she knew her mother would be waiting.  I can’t imagine how her mother must have felt seeing the accident happen in front of her, knowing her daughter was on the tram.  The tram continued its descent down the hill and on reaching the sharp curve into Regent Circus, it ran on to the up line, rocked heavily, bit a horse-drawn cab then fell over on its side with great force.  However, it seems that many of those on the tram were saved from serious injury because they were so tightly packed in that they weren’t thrown about. 
 
Having worked for solicitors most of my life, and for many of those years in the Personal Injury Department, when compensation was sought for personal injury sustained in accidenets, it was interesting for me to read an account of the accident in the Western Gazette on the 8th June 1906 when it was quoted “The trams belong to the Corporation of Swindon, and there is no doubt that the matter of compensation will have to be faced by the town authorities.” 
 
Victoria Road would not be complete without a view of the outside of the public lavatories!  These are at the top of the hill and shown at the middle right of the collage – I met Kate, from out opticians just as she was crossing the road – she said that when she saw a lady with a camera she wondered if it was me and then when she saw the “blue” on my glasses knew it was!  As I was taking a photograph of the outside of the building, I asked if she had ever been inside – she grimaced and said “No” – so I encouraged her to have a look inside, as it is like a time warp – with heavy wooden doors and shiny sinks all in a row, with the only “nod” to the 21st century being the plastic waste pipe!
 
Our other claim to fame, as a family, is that in 1972, we decided to give our parents a photograph as a Christmas present of us and our older son, who at the time was our only son, so we went to the studio of Beatrice Bollard, who was a professional photographer of weddings and portraits, this was in Victoria Road, so I have put the photograph that she took in the middle of the collage.
 
“I take a picture,
     but it's not about
          who is in the picture
               or the background of it.
It's about the memories
     and meanings
          it holds.” 
Kayla Davis