Place Name
Bernard John Ashley (born April 2, 1935) is an award-winning author of books for children and young adults and champion for children’s television. Born in Woolwich, he attended Roan School, in Blackheath, and Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School, Rochester. Following his National Service in the RAF he trained as a teacher at Trent Park College of Education. His career has seen him teach in schools in Kent, Hertfordshire, Newham, and Greenwich, with 30 years of headships in the last three. He took up writing aged 39 with his debut novel, The Trouble with Donovan Croft, published in 1974, winning The Other Award, an alternative to the Carnegie Medal. A Kind of Wild Justice (1978), Running Scared (1986), and Little Soldier (1999) were commended runners up for the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year’s best children’s book. The site for this road was once part of the vast Johnson & Philips Factory (Victoria Works) which was built on a former chalk pit. The road was laid out and named sometime in the mid-1990s.
