About
History of this website
There was little, if any, information about Coley Park on the Internet in 1999, so I
collected as much information and images as I could and by 2002 there was a basic one page website on the Internet, titled Memories of Coley Park. This name changed slightly in 2004 as the website grew, to Memories of Coley Park and Beyond.
In January 2006 the site was completely revamped with the current green theme and became Coley Park and Beyond. In March 2007 a separate sub-section was introduced to provide the growing coverage of the older Coley district.
The Visitor Counter
In February 2007 the website had its 1000 visitor (it took 2½ years since the counter was started at an average of 7.7 visits per week). But with more exposure on the internet from sites like Wikipedia, Answers.com and the Reading Forum, this should certainly start to increase a little quicker. As you are reading this - thanks for your interest!
The counter clicked over 2000 in April 2008 - that's averaging 17.8 visitors a week.
The website is updated regularly as new material is located or gratefully received through reader contributions.
Coley House 'The Mansion' built in c1805
About the Author
I was born in Tilehurst, Reading in 1956. My family first lived in a caravan at 2 Bridle Path, Tilehurst. We
moved to Coley Park when the housing estate and myself were in their infancy (I was around 2½ years old). My parents and I moved into a new council-built house in Lesford Road in
early 1958.
I went to Coley Primary School on Wolseley Street and attended Sunday School at Carey Baptist Church in Carey Street, and later at the new Coley Baptist Church. Later I joined the 58th Reading Boy Scouts located at St. Saviours Hall in Coley. I then attended Alfred Sutton Boy's School on the Wokingham Road in September 1967. I now live near Perth in Western Australia.
I think you always have a close affinity with the place you grew up in as a child. It's a time when almost everything was either challenging, interesting, new or just plain fun. A time when there seemed to be no worries in the world and the days and years definitely lasted a lot longer.
I found some of old black and white photographs that my late father had taken of
Coley Park around early 1960 including the construction of the Coley Flats. This was my inspiration to learn about making a website so I could display the photos to others. So it was around 1999 that I struggled with Microsoft Frontpage to learn about HTML at the age of 43 (never too late). I have since progressed to Adobe Dreamweaver.
Most of my personal memories of Coley Park come from the 1960's, when I lived there. My memories are as clear and vivid as yesterday, and I suppose that is useful for a history website. I did however, return for flying visits in May 1982 and June 1991, just to see how the place was changing. Contributions to the website have enabled the site to expand and improve, which has helped to make this the best Coley Park website on the net.
Contributions
If you have any photos (historical or recent) that you would like included on this website, please send to the email address below and I will include all suitable images on the next update. Also any facts or articles that could be used to improve the website would be greatly appreciated, and of course, any lasting memories.
Regards
Kevin
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