Ham Parade (south-east) in February 2007

This section of Ham Parade includes two bakers, a supermarket, carpet shop, bank, estate agent, travel agent and tanning shop!

The shops on Ham Parade come and go and I took a similar picture five years later to capture some of these changes.

Ham Parade (north east)

The north-east corner of Ham Parade stands out from the rest as it dates from the 60s rather than the 30s.

The Denes

This used to be Craig House, an old people's home in Craig Road, but soon it will be the Denes, "a select collection of contemporary apartments and townhouses, where you can enjoy the quiet life only 10 miles from central London and within easy reach of Richmond and Kingston. "

Thomas Aquinas RC church

This is Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic church located on the south west corner of Ham Common. It once featured in a French & Saunders sketch where it was used as a school and Dawn French took her child there, on the "school run" in an army tank, crushing other cars on the way.

New Road

New Road is a narrow one-way street off the south side of Ham Common which is full of pretty little houses like this one.

Cottages on Ham Common

These cottages are on the south side of Ham Common and sit well among their grander neighbours.

The Cassel Hospital

The Cassel Hospital, based in lovely buildings in on the south side of Ham Common, is an important therapeutic community both historically and in its current form. It was the place where the late Tom Main put into practice his thinking about the therapeutic community way of working and it continues to operate a residential therapeutic community within the National Health Service operating on strongly psychoanalytic theoretical lines.

A pretty place to sit

On the junction of Upper Ham Road and Ham Common (south-east corner of the Common) is this little refuge where people sit to enjoy the garden before joining the bustle of Ham Parade. It is maintained by local volunteers belonging to the Ham Amenities Group (HAG).

Ham Parade (west) in February 2007

The shops on Ham Parade are the lively heart of the "village" (whereas Ham common is the tranquil heart). It's here that you can buy almost everything you need, eat out in the evening, get your hair cut, place your bets, recycle stuff, and bump into people you have not seen for ages.

Parkleys statue

Parkleys is an award winning development of flats on the south east corner of Ham Common. Almost hidden in the development, and very close to the shops in Ham Parade, is this statue.

Gordon House on Ham Common

Gordon House is typical of the Georgian houses that front onto Ham Common. It is nicely placed on the south-west side close to the pond and is strongly in contention for the claim to be the loveliest building on the Common.

Ham Pond

The pond in the south west corner of Ham Common is a popular place to sit and enjoy a bit of tranquility.

Double Yellow Lines

You ain't meant to park here, it's not safe; that's why they painted double yellow lines on the road!

Pavement parking

One of the themes of this blog is going to be bad parking and here we have a BMW driver who things it is ok to park on the pavement while he pops into the off license. Sadly his number plate is obscured by the flash (and he then came back to his car so I could not take another picture) but I hope to name-and-shame in future posts.