Bordon memories
Here are memories of Bordon and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bordon or a Bordon photo.
The Mill
As a boy myself and my friends would gather our fishing rods and tackle and bike to the mill for a day’s fishing, I caught my first trout standing on the big outlet pipe from the mill, another time we were there and one of my friend fell in off the big pipe, I can see him now bobbing across until he reached the ford.
The mill was also the place my sister and I would sneak off to on a Sunday so we didn’t have to go to Sunday school, we would take some bread and feed the ducks.
Living at The Mill
My father got a job in the mill in about 1950 and we moved into Mill House which is actually a part of the mill itself, on the right as you stand facing the building. I don't know what Bordon is like now, but in my day it had its share of the dregs, but so did everywhere. It was all very local and everybody seemed to know everybody else, apart from Army people. We moved to Lindford after a year or so, which was then a nice little place where nothing seemed to happen. In those days Robert and Peter Ellis ran the mill and it always seemed to be busy, as did Bordon itself. I recall the greengrocers and the chippy on the corner, ad Frisby's shoe shop on the opposite corner. Along the main street was a jewellers, a newsagent a photographer plus sundry others. In the 1940s there was a tea shop which subsequently disappeared, but later I recall listeniong to the juke box in the... Read more
Bordon
This was a lovely quiet village when I first came here. Unfortunately, it is becoming run down and untidy. Pity, really. We seem to be having all the throw outs from other places. When the army goes (if they go), this will be a dumping ground for all types of undesireables.
The Mill
My mum used to take us all (seven of us) to the mill to paddle. It was always freezing, some would even be brave enough to swim. There was always a strong smell of pond weed, but we had great fun. When it was warm enough we used to pack a picnic and walk to Frensham pond which was a great treat. That was about 40 years ago now but I remember it like it was yesterday.
Weyford Junior School
This photo is of the temporary classrooms and main building of Weyford Junior School where I was a pupil from 1964 to 1969.
Bordon County Junior School Orchestra
I lived in what was then Kildare Close when my dad was stationed there from 1972 to 1975 and I was lucky enough to be one of the founder members of the school orchestra, which was funded, if I remember correctly, by collecting waste paper and milk bottle tops. I was one of the cello players and I remember the Head, Kenneth A Woodward, with his boundless enthusiasm for music waving, his baton getting us to do things we thought impossible. I also got a deep love for Stravinsky's 'The Firebird' which was always played at assembly if a school team had won a match. I was a 'Pilgrim' and remember the place with great affection.
If anyone knows what happened to the orchestra post-1974 after I went to Mill Chase and particularly anything about the Headmaster I would appreciate it enormously.
Memories of Hampshire
Cross Road Stores
The store on the cross roads in Lindford was named Cross Road Stores. My parents bought Cross Road Stores in I think 1962-63 and ran the stores for about 4 years, the stores and the house were very old, I was about 7 or 8 years old when we moved to the stores. The house was 3 floors high, there was an extension built on the back of the house for a garage and a store room, and the garden at the rear which at that time went right up to the next house, which was owned by the milkman Mr Souter. In the rear garden there was an old green house and an apple orchard, some years later my father sold off most of the rear garden and a house was built on the ground. I have cine film my father took during our time in Lindford showing the 1963 snow and cars being pushed, and other times spent there. Happy times.
Cross Road Stores
I lived at 49 "The Triangle" in the prefabs, just up the road from the stores past the Royal Exchange Pub, from about 1958 -1965. When I first moved there the store was owned by Mr Pears and we called it Pears's Stores. I was friends with Alan Jones whose parents owned the shop down the road to the right in the picture. I went to Mill Chase and 2 other schools in the area (I can't remember the names) from 1955 until I left school in 1960. Reading other comments from the area, I too remember the Butchers Shop, The Mill (I used to swim there) and the Fish & Chip shop where every Saturday we would have Fish & Chips and scratchings. They were little pieces of the batter etc. and they were free. Please get in touch if you remember me.
TEACHERS
The picture is exactly how I remember the school. The headmaster was Mr Lee, we use to call him Jimpy. Then there was Mrs Waller, who we were all scared of, she was really strict. Mr Wiltshire was a favourite, he used to arrive at school on his little motor bike. Also Mrs Watkins and Miss Hussey, they looked after the tiny children. I loved my time at The Holme School.
Memory Lane
Oh my .... my old school, I remember the lane at the side of the school, and remember one day my sister and I decided to walk home (WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD). Our mom was waiting for the bus at other end and you can imagine how worried she was, well you can imagine the reception we got when we arrived in tow with a policeman, what a memory.
Kingsley School Hampshire
I went to Kingsley School as an infant in 1978 and left before it closed, at some time in the 1980s. I remember the headmistress Mrs Morris, who became Mrs Vincent, who smoked in the classroom!, and the wicked infant teacher Mrs Caine who used to have a replica gun lighter in her draw and large knife to sharpen the pencils, she would threaten us all that she was going to shoot us or stab us! and we were only babies! The dinners were vile but we were forced to eat every last scrap even if we threw up on our plates! Even the cooks would go easy on the portions if they knew we didn't like what was on the menu. But despite the bad memories, I suppose there were some good times as well, just a shame that we weren't taught more about the school's history, and the visiting Father Eerica wasn't weird (later convicted for paedophilia!), it was a good job we all grew up ok I... Read more
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