Normandy in Surrey

A car at the petrol pumps (showing the sign of Cleveland Petrol)

outside the shop of William J Henry about 1920

In the 1920s and 30s cars were still few and far between but just following the Second World War, the use of private cars became more popular, and by the end of the century over half of households had two cars. This probably had one of the biggest effects on the village, over the last 50 years. The effects of this were closure of shops with the increase in traffic turning some parts of the village into dormitory areas with no local services.

The RAC was founded in 1897 as the Royal Automobile Club and a group of motoring enthusiasts form the Automobile Association (AA) on 29 June 1905 at the Trocadero restaurant in London's West End, from the late 1920's a number of books on "how to drive a car" were published and in 1930 the Minister of Transport, Herbert Morrison, proposed the passing of a Bill, which became the Road Traffic Act 1930 and came in to effect, April 1931, the first edition of the Highway Code was also published in this year.

Here are two covers from a book published in association with "The Motor" (a magazine of the time)   "How to Drive a Car" 14th Edition published about 1935 at a cost of 2/6 (140 page Hardback) "How to Drive a Car" 18th Edition published 1950 at a cost of 5/- (160 page Hardback)

In the 1950's, Normandy had three garages (Westwood Lane, The Anchor Garage and The Normandy Garage), but by the end of the century they had all stopped selling petrol.

Here are the documents you would have received if applying for a driver's licence in 1947.

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Driving Licence

Driving Test Hints

'L' Plate, Regulations

Application for Driving Test Click on photos for more information

You would have also needed to get a copy of the Highway Code from a local newsagent at the cost of 1d, the one in use at this time was the third edition from 1946, but remember at this time there were still many horse and carts on the road making deliveries and police officers still carried out point duty.

The Highway Code third edition from 1946 Click on book to see a black and white PDF copy of the full book (824kb)

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Road Safety Normandy with its two main roads had problems with road safety particularly with children, but in the 1950s and 60s, through very simple films, books and stories by "RoSPA" (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), Tufty persuaded pre-school children that the road could be a dangerous place. This was done through the medium of burst footballs and dropped ice-creams, rather than something which young eyes might find too upsetting, such as squashed squirrels. Tufty (full name Tufty Fluffytail) had his origins in 1953, created by the late Elsie Miles. In 1961, the Tufty Club was set up as a network of local groups - which at its peak had nearly 25,000 branches throughout the country. Parents would join the Tufty Club on their children's behalf, and children would proudly wear badges showing that they were members. Click on form to see an enlargement

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Downloads

Highway Code (1946) (824kb) (PDF format)

Driving Test Hints (111kb) (PDF format)

'L' Plate, Regulations (144kb) (JPG format)

Application for Driving Test (174kb) (PDF format)

The Tufty Club - Application Form (167kb) (JPG format)

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