At Theydon Bois, W.F. Gray continued the retreat and provided
visits for many thousands of children, old folks and many other
types of organisation. One account describes how a party from Canning
Town selected a day for their visit which was unfortunately for them
very wet and rainy and the children were all soaked before they
arrived at the retreat. Nevertheless they had an enjoyable day
punctuated only by the fact that the small boys of the party found a
number of forest frogs which they secretly concealed amongst the
salad provided for the tea, causing some alarm to the girls in the party.
The brochure issued by Grays shows that the children's tea was on
an 'ad lib' basis with bread and butter, fruit cake and lemon cake, jam
sandwich, watercress and good tea — all for the sum of 9d. A
children's dinner consisting of a plate of meat with bread, fruit salad
and custard, and a glass of still lemonade cost 101/2d. or with the
addition of potatoes or peas 1/-. Adults could obtain a cold luncheon
of roast or boiled beef, ham, salad, pickles, fruit tarts, custard and
blancmange for 2/- or with slight alterations including soup and cheese
2/6d. During the Second World War this retreat was damaged severely
by the parachute mine which fell at Riggs (Yates) retreat opposite and
once again troops stationed at the retreat were the chief victims. Later
during the same war another bomb falling directly on the retreat
completed the destruction.
Both Riggs retreat and Grays retreat were furnished with
"Galloping Horse" roundabouts, swings, cycle roundabouts, donkey
and pony rides and helter-skelter towers. It is the latter item which is of
the greatest interest for the helter-skelter was built by Mr. Gray's
brother, H. Gray, who was a competent carpenter. He also opened a
separate retreat of his own at Bricket Wood near St. Albans and here,
too, he erected a helter-skelter of his own construction. Later, when
the retreat was closed the Bricket Wood helter-skelter was purchased
by Mr. Eli Frusher who had a retreat at Hadley Wood called the
"Folly Retreat". The travels of this helter-skelter had not finished, for
when the Folly retreat was closed the erection was purchased by Charles
Stevens who was then operating another forest retreat at Chingford
and again it was dismantled and brought to the Jubilee Retreat at
Bury Road, Chingford.
The Jubilee Retreat site was originally Hawkwood Farm and at
the time the Corporation of London took over the forest they purchased
the property for £1,200 with the intention of using the site as the
official residence of the Forest Superintendent. The farmer, a Mr.
Ginn, however, had a lease which had still six years to run. In the
meantime the Superintendent had taken up residence at The Warren,
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