Many thanks for running last week’s story (A 21st century perspective, May 1) in the Surrey Comet, online and in print.

As planned, Rose Hyams, the owner of Worcester Park’s longest-running independent high street store for 49 years, opened the free exhibition on Saturday.

As the doors opened, I had no idea how many visitors to expect, but the response on the day was astonishing.

The Royal British Legion allocated a large space for the exhibition, but within half an hour of the opening, this proved to be insufficient.

With a large and ever increasing number of guests rubbing shoulders within the dwindling space, the scene appeared rather like passengers moving through a packed Tube train in the middle of rush hour.

It was impossible to keep track of how many people visited, but it would have to have been in the region of the high hundreds.

Feedback was extremely positive, with many memories being jogged by the sight of old shop fronts.

Meanwhile, Victorian views of a very different Worcester Park high street, with horse-drawn transport and residential properties with mature gardens in place of today’s shopping parades, proved especially popular – the locations often only recognisable with the aid of an accompanying contemporary photo.

The only criticism we received was that it was too successful, in that being a one-off event, it was very busy and crowded, making it difficult to see the actual exhibition.

Happily, we received an invitation to put on the exhibition again at Maple House, which should give everyone a second chance to see the images next month.

RICHARD JOHNSON
Worcester Park