Running with my past behind me

I WAS born in Redhill, Surrey where I was brought up close to my maternal grandparents who lived in Earlswood.   At the age of 18 I had had enough of the place and moved to Brighton but slowly began to drift back.   I got all the way to Haywards Heath in West Sussex and settled down.

Redhill is a big part of me.  As I child I was always on the commons from dawn to dusk coming home covered in dirt and filth.   I knew all of the footpaths and hidey holes around the area and loved it.   A chance to have a run around the area is a must as it brings back so many memories.   It's difficult to think of your pace because I have to stop for a moment and just look; it was my home and a big influence on my life.

Going to visit my Dad I knew he would be shopping so I dumped my car on his drive and set off for a run down the road and into the town centre.   When I was little Brighton Road was the main road through Redhill and if you drove at 40 miles an hour and blink, you have missed it.   Now it has a small shopping centre and the whole of the centre itself is pedestrianised, they even have a weekly market.   It's a totally different place to the one I left so many years ago.

The cinema, opposite the railway station, shut down many years ago.   When I was young both my Mum and her best friend worked there and would sneak me in to see films.   Her friend's eyesight was never very good and as I turned up to see a film once she said, "You again?   I have already let you in three times!"   So three kids had an unexpected treat and got in for nothing due to a case of mistaken identity!

Opposite used to be the offices of the Surrey Mirror which stood proud in the middle of three car parks.   When I left school I did a four year apprenticeship in printing there having to go to college first at Reigate Technical College before it shut down and then at Brighton Polytechnic.

Turning left up Station Road I headed towards Raffles Bridge.   Home of the Red Lion pub where you can get your fix of live music. Many a time I have seen "The Muttz Nutz" there.   There is also a great fish and chip shop.   From there I headed for Shaws Corner where the war memorial is situated opposite The Hatch pub.   As I travel around I am amazed at the amount of pubs that have closed down, but not due to Covid-19 as they were already closed before it took off.   All those places from a misspent youth, with so many memories, all gone.   After a good night out, with plenty of beer, I could do a pretty mean Kate Bush impersonation on the way home!

Down into Reigate, an old Market Town and home of the cinema that I frequented when Redhill was shut down.   I saw classics such as Star Wars when it first came out.   The first film I ever saw here was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  I was small at the time and my mum took me to see it.   Before the film started a man appeared out of the floor playing the keyboard; a trend that stopped a few years later but to a small boy it was magical.

Cutting round to The Priory where I did a lap of the park and lake taking one of the footpaths which was shady and cooler.   The Priory was redeveloped a few years ago with footpaths put in place around the lake and trees repositioned with money from The National Lottery.   It is the start and finish point for Run Series event RunReigate which I try to do every year and Reigate Parkrun which I have done a couple of times.

I headed out of the park and right towards Meadvale and The Angel pub.   Another one that has shut down but they are doing a lot of work on it at the moment.   It looks like it will have a new lease of life as flats.   At the time the father of my friend from next door, who had a strange addiction to "sav and chips", was the landlord of the pub.

Turning left I headed for Earlswood where my maternal grandmother used to live.   Taking the footpath to the rear of the village school, where my grandmother was one of the school dinner ladies, I headed for "top common".   This was one of the places that I once loved the most.   Running around, making camps in all the thick bracken and kicking a ball around.   We used to get as much money as we could and buy bottles of cream soda.

Opposite the turning behind the school is the site where Redhill General Hospital used to be.   This is where I was born a long time ago which made me a Redhillian.   The amount of times I have been there for broken bones and stitches - once being knocked over by a car on a crossing opposite the old cinema aged nine.   The site is now a housing development with a new hospital having been built between Earlswood and Salfords.

Looking over the view you can see aircraft taking off and landing at Gatwick and St. Johns church where my parents were married and where I was christened.   You can just make out "The Ring" where the local cricket club play.   There are so many memories that I stopped and smiled.   A few years ago I found a letter written by my grandfather to my grandmother and mother when she was little.   She had been evacuated during the war to Warminster, he talks about barrage balloons being put up on the common which is amazing to think of.   One evening my grandfather went out to the toilet (they were outside then) and he got blown through his toilet door by a doodle bug that came down on Earlswood Common.   He was shaken but uninjured.

Running down from the top and middle common I took the main road through (that separated the middle and bottom common) and went right down Mill Hill.   This is a steep hill with the main Brighton Road at the bottom of it where my Mum scared the life out of us when she was learning to drive.   We were little at the time and cowered on the floor thinking we were all going to die, we didn't have seat belts in those days!   I ran down the hill going past the bottom common and The Garibaldi pub.

The Garibaldi closed down some time ago and was due to be redeveloped.   But a group of locals got together and managed to get it designated as a community public house.   The redevelopment didn't happen and it's now run by the community for the community which is a great thing.   From here I am very close to my Dad's house.

Garmin is great training for your next event, but every now and then you just need to take some time out and look around you.   Just do a run for yourself and enjoy it for what it is.   Don't worry the world will not end and you may remember why you run in the first place and rediscover yourself in the process.   Just do it and enjoy it.