Progress Resdients’ Association member Keith Billinghurst has published a book about the Estate and its place in the history
of housing.
The writing of and research for the book was supported by Greenwich Council through the ward budget scheme as Eltham North Ward Councillors allocated funds to support Keith’s research.
The book looks at the social changes leading up to the building of the Progress Estate, explains the Estate’s non-symmetrical outline and includes sketches of the people remembered in its road names. It chronicles the arrival of the motor car and the gradual change from gas to electric lighting. The transition from baths in the scullery and outside WCs to the internal facilities taken for granted today is described, as is the shift from tenanted to leasehold and then freehold housing.
The book also chronicles the considerable damage wrought to the Estate in aerial attacks during the Second World War and the process by which houses were repaired or rebuilt in their original style.
Buying a copy of the book
The cover price of £13.95 includes free delivery by second-class mail to addresses in the UK. However, each household on the Estate may buy one copy for £10 and people living elsewhere in SE9 may do so for £12. To order, either send an email to keith.billinghurst@btinternet.com stating your name, address and phone number or call or text 07962 877389 to provide the same information.