Aglionby, Cumbria

Early Childhood

After retiring from the RAF, my father was with Air Ministry Constabulary and we moved to Stanwix in 1938 when my father was posted to 4 MU. We lived in Knowe Park Avenue and I attended Stanwix School. My sister attended the Margaret Sewell School for Girls. I was five years old when we moved to Stanwix and... [more]

"Snowed In"

If my memory is correct it was the winter of 1940/41 when I was a teenager, working for a long distance transport company from the midlands. We had left Carlisle on our way south via Shap Fell when we were caught in a blizzard and the roads were impassable. Our lorries had to be left on Shap and somehow we got... [more]

Barclays and Taylors of Tarraby Farm

My mother Gladys Taylor (nee Barclay) and father James Taylor married and lived at Tarraby Farm, Carlisle in 1927. My mother's parents were Alexander and Isabella Barclay, who lived and worked on the the farm. My grandfather was originally from Nigg, Aberdeenshire, where he was headmaster of Cove Bay public school, till approx 1918. My father was from Great Strickland, his... [more]

LADY PUBLICAN

In the UK Census of 1881 it shows the publican of the Bridge End Inn to be a Jane Rayson aged 68 years old. She lived with her sister Margaret aged 52 and her nieces Emma aged 15 and Fanny aged 32. Fanny's occupation is shown as "invalid".
Also shown as residing in the property was Jane Ashburner whose occupation is... [more]

That was home

My grandmother, Margaret Flint, was landlady of the Greyhound from sometime during WW2 until 1954. I lived there from 1944 until she retired. Being a publican meant grandmother was entitled to more than the normal rations in the immediate post war era since she was required to provide food to any traveller. Travellers were few and far between... [more]

Mossband and Gretna High School

I lived in Mossband in the 1950s, I left there 1958. I went to school in Gretna and remember Miss Davidson the English teacher and Mr Glasspool the science teacher and his wife too, Pop Liddle was the headmaster. We lived on the green at Mossband, my dad was a war department policeman and we used to go in a truck... [more]

Mossband Camp

My father was a serving soldier, serving at the RAOC camp until 1948. We lived in the YMCA building in the camp itself and it had a large functions hall attached where one of our officers once entertained the children at Christmas with a magic show. I remember the huge and long-lasting snowfall that stayed around for months into 1948 and... [more]

Roadside Cottage Ainstable

To the lady who lived in the white cottage on the roadside central to the picture of the village of Ainstable: My grandfather lived in that cottage with his grandmother, Ann Dixon, his mother, Mary Dixon and his aunt, Bessy Dixon. His name was Tom Dixon and he was born 5/1897, went to the school in the village, died 8/1966 and... [more]