Spring 2008 issue

In Praise of Suburbia

The Islington intellectuals look down on it as an arid zone of mediocrity, the planners deplore it as sprawling and anonymous, Sunday newspaper writers describe the rustic and Aga-filled joys of life in the country - will nobody sing the praises of suburbia?

Peaceful Weston Green - from the Jubilee Quilt made by residents

It is neither town nor country but perhaps the best of both, when, as in our corner of Surrey, we have green spaces, we have the commons and the Thames on our doorstep, we have the glories of Claremont, Bushy Park and Painshill. Ah, but you can walk in the real country also, we hear, but have you ever tried to go for a walk in, say, Essex, where you are confined to the roads because there are hardly any walks across the fields? In having so many green areas we are lucky compared with many other parts of the London sprawl, but we share with them many of the features that make living in the suburbs so attractive to the refugees from London.

Chief among these is the sense of community which comes from the myriad local activities on offer – for the young there are the Cubs and Scouts, the Brownies and Guides, Ajax Sea Scouts, junior tennis at the Tennis Club, junior cricket at Giggs Hill Green and rowing at the Dittons Skiff and Punt Club. At the Vera Fletcher Hall children are introduced to live theatre in the splendid professional children’s shows that are put on there. For the young at heart but older in years and less active in sport we have the Ember Centre with its range of activities - Tai Chi, darts, bridge, outings, lunches etc where volunteers support the Council’s staff and older people can get out and socialise.

For all age groups music and theatre at the Vera Fletcher Hall provide entertainment at a level which matches anything they could see in a large town - and on our doorstep. We have had many of the most famous names in theatre and opera performing at the Hall. It may not be the largest venue but it lacks nothing in the quality of its performances.

Life in the suburbs is quieter than in towns and those who commute each day to work in London welcome the moment when they get off the train at Thames Ditton or Esher station and hear the birds sing and see the trees on Weston Green Common or in the Dell and walk home past the gardens of Church Walk or Ember Lane. Children can walk to school and if you go past Thames Ditton Infants School in the morning you will see over a hundred scooters and bikes in the racks.

They have gardens to play in, to have a football goal, a badminton net or cricket stumps, or to dig a hole through to Australia-or failing that to their next door neighbour’s garden - as our own children did. Children can have friends in the same road, because they can play with them outside and not be confined to blocks of flats, and mothers spend less time ferrying them around. They can go to Mrs. Patel’s in Summer Road for their pocket money sweets, they can cycle to friends and let off steam on the commons or the recreation ground.

Sociologists note how often those who are the loudest in singing the praises of living in towns and of their vibrant street and night life suddenly change their view when children come along. The commuting may be longer- but very much less than if you lived in the country and had to go into town each day - but the quality of life can be better if you measure this by the special character, sense of place and community.

We know there are pressures through over-development, the concreting of front gardens, the inappropriate extensions and building in back gardens, and we are told we may all be flooded in the next ten years, but even with all of these we still live in a pleasant area, we do not have the city’s crowded and noisy streets and Thames Ditton and Weston Green still have their own particular identity which made us want to come to live here and to stay here and an active Residents’ Association which fights to keep it attractive.

Throughout history, from the citizens of Rome, who moved from the crowded metropolis out to the cooler hills of “suburbium,” to the present day we have sought a better quality of life and found it on the edges of the big cities.

Long live suburbia !

Ruth Lyon