Tag Archives: 1969

Windlesham House and Sunningdale House

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Two of the blocks of flats at the Phipps Bridge Estate, Mitcham, that were demolished in 1996.

1974 photo by Eric Montague, reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society.

1967 OS map, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, reuse CC-BY

News Articles

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 28th March 1969

Colourised image of Sunningdale House from the newspaper cutting

Woman dies in fire at flat

A FEW hours before the postman arrived with birthday cards for a widowed Mitcham woman, she died in a smoke-filled bedroom when fire broke out at her home. Mrs. Alice Tomlinson, who would have been celebrating her 69th birthday, lived alone on the ninth floor of a 10-storey block of flats on the Phipps Bridge Estate. She died in the early hours of Tuesday.

Firemen, called by neighbours, broke down the front door to get in. The fire was confined to the mattress and bedding, but the thick smoke badly damaged the rest of the flat, which Mrs. Tomlinson had lived in for about two years.

Her budgerigar, Jimmy, given to her as a present by neighbours, also died in the fire.

Mrs. Evelyn Smith, and her husband Jack, who live next door, woke up at about 3.30 a.m. when they first smelled smoke.

“We looked around outside on the balcony and by the rubbish chute next to the lift, but couldn’t trace the smell,” Mrs. Smith said.

“At first we thought the smoke might be coming from the allotment site just opposite,” she added.

Banged on door

After her husband had gone to work at 5.40 a.m., Mrs. Smith still couldn’t trace the cause of the smoke, but when she lifted the letter-box of Mrs. Tomlinson’s flat she realised the place was on fire.

“You really could smell the smoke then, and I banged on her door to try and warn her, but she didn’t answer. I tried to undo the door but couldn’t,” she added.

Mrs. Smith then ran to the next flat, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Thompson, and they called the fire brigade.

“Mrs. Tomlinson always hated this time of the year because so many tragedies had occurred in her family around March,” Mrs. Pauline Thompson said.

“She was a very old lady and very sensible,” she added.

Evening News (London) – Tuesday 25 March 1969

Widow dies in birthday blaze. Widow Mrs. Alice Tomlinson died in a fire at her home today … her 69th birthday. She was found lying dead in bed by firemen who went to her council flat in Sunningdale House Hazlemere Avenue, Mitcham, after a neighbour saw smoke.

Note that Haslemere Avenue was mis-spelt in this article.

Charles Catt and Son Furniture in Western Australia

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From the Mitcham and Colliers Wood Gazette, 12th September, 1969, page 5.

Mitcham Family Who Went To Western Australia

Now Among Leading Furniture Manufacturers

A former Mitcham cabinet maker, who migrated to Western Australia in 1961 from Riverside Drive, Mitcham, now owns one of the leading quality furniture manufacturing businesses in the State capital, Perth.

Mr. Charles Catt, 59, his wife Grace and their son Roy, run the firm Charles Catt and Son, whose reputation for making quality furniture has been founded on the West Australian hardwood, jarrah – once thought only suitable for railway sleepers or timber construction work. However they have made it fashionable to have jarrah wood furniture in the home and now export it to other parts of Australia.

Mr. Charles Catt left his son behind in London when he went to Australia, so that he could complete his diploma course at the London Furniture College. When Roy arrived a few months later he started work for a large manufacturer, but became frustrated at the lack of opportunity to do design work. So at a family conference it was decided they
would set up in business for themselves.

FIRST FACTORY

Mr. Catt said, “Our first factory was a converted shop with about 800 square feet to work in. Our first job was to build cupboards and built-in wardrobes, and although we lost money on that job we established a reputation for quality which we have retained ever since.”

From that small start they were able to begin manufacturing Roy’s designs. He said, “We were fortunate that when we began there was a general demand for better furniture. We joined the Guild which is dedicated to raising standards and improving design.

“At the first show we were awarded first prize, and it was rather
embarrassing as we only had the small workshop and could hardly cope with the subsequent orders.”

Since then the family has had two other factories including the present one, which occupies 5,100 square feet at Willeton, an outer Perth suburb. It has showrooms,
offices, a well-ventilated workshop area and an amenities room for the staff.

As a cabinet maker, Charles converts Roy’s designs from the drawing board and makes them into working drawings for the men in the factory. Grace does the office work and the administration, a side of the business she enjoys.

Roy lives at Swanview Terrace, South Perth, which is just around the corner from his mother and father who live at Stanley Flats, Mill Pount Road, South Perth.

The whole family like Australia, and the three children – Roy, Gillian and Graham – are all married to Australians.

See also biography of Charles Catt at Design and Art Online website. According to the Western Australia Museum Welcome Wall website, Charles died in 1979 and Grace in 2002.