I don't for one moment expect any of the current AditNow members to be able to help with this, but by posting it up I like to think that one day somebody doing an internet search might pick it up and get in touch. I frequently get links to my own stuff on AditNow when doing my own research, so you never know.

It would be great to get some family history on the trade, which seems to have been almost entirely forgotten in the area. Photos would be the cream on the cake!

I would like to think that out there somewhere there are people whose recent ancestors had connections with growing mushrooms underground at Godstone. It started in about 1900 and finished in the mid 1930s, with a brief revival about 1950.

The industry employed a significant number of French people, along with at least one Italian family and it is claimed some Portuguese.

The 1901 census includes the mushroom growers :

Charles Gerring
Alexander Bondoux (lodging with Gerring)
Frederick Bolton
Joseph Chevet (lodging with Bolton)
Louis Debois (lodging with Bolton)
Frank Laurence
Alfred J Chaplin

The 1911 census includes the following relevant names:

Angelo Brega (Italian)
James Carr
Alexandre Dumonk (French)
Pierre Farrowill (French)
Alfred Friday
Frank Lawrence
Loprice Frances Marie (French)
Andre Prudhomme (French)
Francis Seal (manager)

There are also plenty of graffiti on the walls, including A De Graef, Antonio Reis, and others whose names elude me at the moment.

If anybody finds this and knows something, you can contact me either here or via the enquiries link on www.wcms.org.uk

Thanks.