“Anerley is one of the few spots where you can still buy a house for £200,000, live close to an illustrious park (Crystal Palace) and not have to commute for 23 hours,” wrote Tom Dyckhoff for the Guardian in 2010. Prices have gone up a bit since then, but Anerley, SE20, tucked just inside the Bromley border, is still a place that goes unnoticed, overshadowed even by the underrated Penge.
But Anerley has its history and the film footage below reveals some diverting pieces of it. Local man Cyril Rickert was behind the camera to capture street party celebrations of VE Day and then VJ Day, the 70th anniversary of which is being marked in London this weekend. There’s no sound, but the pictures tell a vivid story of suburban life in 1945.
The film was posted on YouTube by London Screen Archives, whose many treasures can be sampled here.
