Church Street 1893, East Dereham
Church Street 1893, East Dereham Ref: 33303
Memories of Church Street 1893, East Dereham
My Hometown
I was born in 1928 at Woodhill, Gressenhall and moved to Dereham at the age of 6yrs and left when I married some 20 years later. It was a happy childhood in spite of the war years, in fact it added to the excitement of those years, dashing out to crashed planes, collecting shrapnel, army badges etc and of course the generous handouts from the American troops of chocolate, gum, cigs plus the grub when we went on to the bases at Shipdham and Wendling, bearing in mind that our food was rationed.
Then the Evacuees came to Dereham. I was one of the helpers that walked the children to their new homes.
This influx of children meant that the schools couldn't cope with all of us at once so we only did half days, one week of mornings and afternoons the next, we kids thought that was great as gave us more time to pursue our "war exploits".
We had two cinemas in town, I should say two in... Read more
School Days
First school London Road Infants, a short time in Scotland and then the Church Infants, each school day walking from Theatre Street (two doors up from 'The Cherry Tree') through the market place and down Church Street. I moved on to the primary at the top of Theatre Street and eventually Crown Road. While at Theatre Street I would occasionally return to the bottom of Church Street to the 'rag and bone' yard with rabbit skins to supplement my pocket money.
I remember some 10 years later when I rode my motorbike from Theatre Street to the chemists at the top end of Church Street, made my purchase then walked out thinking of other things. It was when I got back to Bell Yard I realised my bike was still parked outside the chemist's. So much for being lazy.
The Wrong Bank.
I can remember an amusing incident when I was about 4 years old. We lived in the heart of the country, there was no such thing as TV, radio or telephone, not much at all in the way of communication with the outside world, so unlike children of today, I was pretty naive. But I had heard someone mention something about putting money in the bank. Why such a subject had been raised in our house I have no idea, as we were very poor, perhaps it was just wishful thinking Anyway, having heard about this banking I decided it seemed like a good thing to do, so I emptied Mother's purse, though I am certain there would have been very little in it, toddled off along the lane to what I probably thought was the ideal spot, dug a little hole and buried all Mum's wealth in the BANK. How was I to nnow there was more than one type of bank? I cannot actually remember the outcome but I... Read more
Sunday School
I can remember when I was 10 years old, walking down this road with another boy of the same age, his name was Arthur Bean and we were from the children's home on the Norwich road, the home was called Garfield House. I believe it is still there. We were both very happy on this particular Sunday afternoon, as we were allowed to be out by ourselves for the first time. After leaving Sunday School it took us what seemed like for ever to get home, but we had a wonderful time. Oh and by the way, we were punished for being late home. David Leeder.
East Dereham & local memories
Read and share memories of East Dereham and Norfolk inspired by Frith photos.
