Berry Hill, Gloucestershire

perigrine falcon

1985 to 2008,fantastic times for bird watchers,lots of friends made, bill williams,frank,clive, john gerwood, the boys from bristol,all the rspb wardens over the years, anne and all the staff at the log cabin,all the forestry commision men, and all the hundreds of visitors who have looked through my telescope, and several people who are no longer with us,22 years of magic... [more]

James Cooper and Emma Baldwin

James and Emma were the parents of my maternal grandmother, Lydia Cooper, who was born in Lydbrook. If you have any information in regards to them, or my grandmother, please contact me at pjj4cjs@msn.com. Thank you

Stepping back in time

It started when my mother was dying, when we asked her about the family history, and she gave us names and dates. Her family came from France in late 1500. They were Hugenots and they were Puritans, and were chased out of France because of their beliefs. They went to live in Gloucester, where they helped to rebuild the church in... [more]

Memory of Soudley

Steam to Stratford, in the early 20's James Joiner (a contractor from Soudley) assembled his convoy of Traction Engines en Route to Stratford Upon Avon to start the new Sewer Contract which was awarded to Joiners for £57,000.
He used Forest Coal miners who were unemployed, to tunnel under the Town Streets to engineer this prestigious contract. My late father, Roy... [more]

School holidays

This picture reminds me of wonderful school trips to the west of England from a school based in Oldham called Fittonhill Secondary. This hotel was our base for the weeks holiday and we went out daily on organised trips to Chepstow, Symonds Yat, Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust, Tintern Abbey among other glorious places. Living in a built-up area like Oldham this seemed... [more]

Lion House Youth Hostel 1957

I stayed one night at this hostel in early April 1957. A friend and I had set out from our home town of Reading on a 5 night circular cycle trip - our first such trip. Mitcheldean was our second night's stop, the first being at the then Inglesham hostel north of Swindon. We then went on to hostels at... [more]

Holidays

It's just great to look at the old pictures of Blakeney's High Street, it seems almost like yesterday when I used to walk from my gran's house in the row of cottages where the railway bridge used to be. We used to go on holiday every year from our house in Haverhill, Suffolk. I remember it used to take nearly all... [more]