Steve Gray, from 1953

STYEVE GRAY born 1953

Halling, my story

On 26th August 1953 at 2 Vicarage close, Halling in the front bedroom…I was born. Being
the youngest of six and weighing 10 Ib 3 ozs, my mother told the midwife to throw me out of
the window, what would it matter…one less child on the estate!!!! The Mitchells had 7
children, The Taylors 4 (all boys), and the Crowhursts 8 (all girls!!!), and of course the
Kingslows another 8 (5 boys and 3 girls), all their Christian names beginning with the letters
B or R!!!!!! The Todds came later with another 6 as did the Streatfields .
Going to school was never a problem …..Staying there was the problem for me, as I often
went missing! I don’t know why I so often played truant, when school was made even better
with the building of a swimming pool, where I learnt to swim, and before I left I gained a
certificate for one length. Snodland school was a great school but the village of Halling was
one big playground. The woods (North downs), the fields, Old chalk quarries, the Medway
river with its marsh lands and the demolished old factories. I did have a civilised side to my
youth with church on Sunday mornings, and being a member of the boys
brigade….organised fun, not as good as disorganised fun though!
But good things have to come to an end, and make way for better fun and it was not long
before I discovered Halling Pubs and girls!!!!! To top it off the pubs had football teams, and I
joined the Rose and Crown team with our arch rivals being Halling Institute which was just
across the road from the pub! The Rose and Crown team was managed by Judy Taylor, a
mother with 4 sons mentioned earlier, and they all played for the team. Destiny would finally
have its way when we met Halling Institute in the semi-final one year, I still think we were the
closest rivals…50 yards apart and playing on the same pitch! Hundreds turned out that
Sunday afternoon and we (The Rose and Crown), were odds on favourites to win! We lost 1-
0, I still can’t live it down as 3 of the Institute side still live in Halling, including the goal
scorer!!! It was a great battle between the Halling boys! The kind of fighting spirit we would
need in a few years’ time.
Like many boys from the village, I worked for Rugby Portland Cement, and while there I
became a safety icon for the company! Here is my untold story.
ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), ran a campaign encouraging
workers to wear safety glasses, posters were everywhere, and everyone was issued with
their own personal safety glasses at the Rugby factory. After a while the lenses on mine
became scratched and smudged, making it hard to see; so I went to the stores to ask for a
new pair, the store keepers were a mean bunch; you would think that they personally paid
for everything they issued.
“I am not allowed to issue a new pair unless the old ones are broken!” was the Store man’s
reply to my request.
I left with a plan in mind!
An hour later, I took off my safety glasses, and tapped them with a hammer, thus shattering
the lens, I then returned to the stores. “I need a new pair of safety glasses, these are broken”
I said.
Regarding me suspiciously, the store keeper asked
“How did they break?”

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“I was banging away with a hammer, and a piece of metal flew up, and shattered the lens!” I
replied.
He knew I was lying, but grudgingly issued a new pair! I left with a smirk on my face,
knowing that I had got one over the stingy store keeper! This should have been the end of
the story, but, it was only the beginning!!!
Later that day, the foreman approached me.
“Steve, I hear your sight was saved through wearing safety glasses! What happened?”
I was banging away with the hammer, and a piece of metal flew up and shattered the lens!” I
replied.
“Well done for wearing your safety glasses!” said the foreman.
The following day, the supervisor came to see me, and asked the same question, I gave the
same reply!
The following week, I was called up to see the manager. Had my cunning plan been
uncovered? Was I to be reprimanded…or worse still….given the sack!
“Come in Steve” Said the Manager “sit down. I hear an accident was prevented because you
were wearing your safety glasses, what happened?”
“I was banging away with the hammer, and a piece of metal flew up and shattered the lens!”
I replied.
“Steve, you are a shining example to the rest of the workforce for wearing your safety
equipment; I intend to send a full report of this to ROSPA.”
Two weeks later I was called up to see the manager again.
“Come in Steve, I have had a reply from the report that I sent to ROSPA, they wish to
present you with an award this Friday lunchtime in the canteen.”
This was a bit of an inconvenience as I usually went to the Rose and Crown with a few
mates on Friday lunchtimes!
The canteen was packed that Friday, even my pub mates were present! The manager and
the representative from ROSPA were on the stage, each made a short speech on the
importance of wearing safety equipment, especially glasses! They went on to tell how my
sight had been saved because I was wearing safety glasses, when a piece of metal flew up
whilst I was banging away with the hammer! I was summoned to the stage, amongst
cheering and jeering from my work colleagues, some of whom knew the truth!!! I was then
presented with a ROSPA tie and badge, and a certificate making me a lifetime member of
‘the Golden Eye Club’!
When the next ROSPA monthly magazine came out, there was a photo of me receiving the
coveted award, and an article on the importance of wearing safety equipment, telling how my
sight had been saved by wearing safety glasses. This safety award stood me in good stead
for my next two jobs working for ‘Tarmac’ on phase 1 and ‘Keirs’ on phase 2, where I
became a safety rep!!!!! I was the only employee working for all 3 companies whilst a new
cement factory was built. I started as a dump truck driver, and finished as a carpenter!
A group of lads from Halling plus a few extras from Cuxton and Snodland became a force to
be reckoned with using the Rose and Crown as a meeting place! We travelled all over Kent

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from Folkestone to Purley, Tunbridge Wells to the Medway towns, and Maidstone to Camber
Sands. The landlord at the time was a chap called Jim Marsh, a proper wheeler dealer who
served inferior ale, due not in the least to his pipes not getting the attention they needed or
deserved. When complaints were made about the bits floating about in the glass, the usual
retort was “we had a steam roller go through the village today and it’s disturbed all the
barrels!” What a time we had, but one by one we settled down to married life and families,
some staying local and others moving away. The classrooms that I had occupied as a child
now had my children sitting at their desks!
Time was ticking away, then one day it was announced ‘High speed rail link through Kent’
and THROUGH HALLING!!!! Yes, the trains would exit a tunnel by Linghams Farm on the
North Downs, passing through the southern part of the village and crossing the River
Medway into Burham! British Rail decided to send a representative to tell the villagers what
they intended to do. Sleepy hamlets throughout Kent and South East London started to form
committees’ to fight British Rail’s kitchen table proposals. There were three proposed routes,
two were discarded after a few months leaving the one through Halling as the final choice.
Halling Rail action group as we were now called had become a formidable force, having a
wonderful chairman, members of the Parish Council, a chap who had contacts in the media,
a jack the lad who could acquire most things, but most of all we had an engineer who had
built railways on foreign soil, something British Rail hadn’t done for one hundred and fifty
years! As a group we split ourselves into four sections, one for the legal side and the
everyday running of the group, a technical side with our engineer, a media side and a fund
raising side that would keep the whole thing in the public eye, and we must not forget the
Halling Vicar, Roger Knight who provided divine help! I was made leader of the fundraising
group and we had to keep the village informed and interested, we had boot fairs, jumble
sales, darts and five a side football tournaments, car rallies, stalls at the school and village
fetes, a balloon race that entailed letting go of one hundred and fifty balloons at a protest
rally in Maidstone. But we needed something bigger, more grand…….A Charity walk!!!!!
Where could it start? At the mouth of the channel tunnel or as near as I could get…where
could it finish? Kings Cross station as this was where the rail link was firstly intended to
finish! One hundred miles, four days at 25 miles a day, walking as close as possible to
British Rails proposed route. As the plan came together, we had obstacles to overcome,
none bigger than the River Medway at Halling! The old ferry man who had been retired for
many years still came into the Plough public house, so I asked him one day if he could still
row across the river? “Yes!” was his reply. I asked him when would be the best time to cross
the river, “one hour before high tide! That is when it (the river), is at it’s calmest!”
I needed to find out when time, tide and ferryman could all come together….30th September
was the day when it all came together at 12 noon, and it was my wedding anniversary too!!!!
We spread the word to other action groups along the proposed route and the momentum
spiralled as the date approached, then it was time to contact the media. The story had
current news ( the rail link), it had old news (retired ferryman), it had romance (it was my
wedding anniversary)…BINGO just what local media companies were looking for! So on 30 th
September 1989 at midday, I was rowed across the river by Ron Stevens carrying a bunch
of roses for my wife. After a swift half in the Five Bells, me and about 20 walkers set off on
our journey as far as Swanley, and from there to Kings Cross the following day. Within a
month British Rail scrapped its final choice of route for the rail link, and took a big step
back!!! We had Won!!!!!!