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Desford
Desford maps
Historic maps of Desford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Desford maps
Desford photos
We have no photos of Desford, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Newbold Verdon| Kirby Muxloe| Earl Shilton| Groby| Barwell| Glenfield| Market Bosworth| Newtown Linford| New Parks| Anstey| Bradgate Park| Sapcote| Ibstock| Hinckley| Cosby| Cropston| Swithland
Desford area books
Displaying 1 of 9 books about Desford and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Desford
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Leicestershire memories
Family Recollections of Kirby Muxloe - 1913 to 1969.
My memories of Kirby Muxloe date back to 1949, when I was a bridesmaid at my father’s cousin Anne’s wedding at St Bartholomew’s Church. However it is the castle that I remember most, since we had to drive past it to visit her parents, my Great Aunt Nell and Great Uncle Stan in Desford Lane. In 1969 I photographed the Castle when I took my own sons to visit Anne’s sister, Eva, who lived on at the same house after their parents’ deaths.
My father was born in 1913 and he and his parents lived next door to Stan and Nell for the first twenty or so years of his life. He had vivid recollections of the castle. He wrote in his memoirs: << . . .but above everything else in my early childhood days is the memory of the Castle. It was the anchor of all my cognitive thought. Every concept that I had started from it. My sense of locality began with it. Although I could not... Read more
My Early Years
My memory of Shilton is when I started school at the infant school in The Hollow which is now a supermarket, and then to the school in Wood Street, after that to Heathfield at Bel Vue and we used to play in Dan Asley's sand pit on the home.
After I left school I worked for a Mr Surch at Kesters Nook which is no longer there, and then he went to Australia and I went with him, here I have been for the last 54 years. But I have been back to Shilton a few times as I still have three sisters living in England and I still call it my home. But it has changed so much that I have lost all contact with all the boys I used to go to school with and I hope someone still remembers me.
We also liked to go down to Elmsthorp and watch the old steam trains go through and put pennies on the line to let the train flatten... Read more
Earl Shilton
My memories are of Earl Shilton and similar to those of Eric Johnson. I started at Earl Shilton Infant School in 1959 and the headmistress was called Mrs Cloe. When I was in her class she would read Brer Rabbit books to us at the end of each day and if the boys were naughty they had their legs slapped. It was a little school which my grandmother and mother also went to and as Eric stated is now a supermarket. I lived down Elmesthorpe Lane and my dad used to take me to see the steam trains at Elmesthorpe - although they were few and far between at that time, Dad knew when they were due. My next school was at the other end of the village which was Earl Shilton Junior School. There was a little sweet shop on the corner where we used to buy sherbet dips and jubilees. I go back to Earl Shilton perhaps once every couple of years and although the shops are different... Read more
Growing up in Earl Shilton
I have fond memories of Earl Shilton around the 1950s. My first school was in Wood Street where I lived in a little old cottage, now knocked down. I remember celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's coronation at the school, wearing a red, white and blue paper dress my mum made for me. We moved later to Weavers Road where I attended Weavers Road School. I have memories of 'Harry's' (or the flea pit) picture house which I frequented on Saturdays with my cousin, to see the old cowboy films, and cheering when the cavalry turned up. It cost 9 old pennies to get in. I also remember when the new roller skating rink opened. Fond memories too of the old station as others have remembered, taking picnics, and also watery gate, waiting for the cars to splash! Oh, and Mrs Lumley's fish and chip shop, Almeys Lane, 3 old pennies for a bag of chips!! Lots of memories.
Infant And Junior School in Earl Shilton Late 1960's to Mid 1970's
I lived on Cedar Road, my parents having bought a house (in which my mother still lives) on the new estate in 1964. I attended Wood Street Infant School from 1968 to 1971, Hill Top Junior School from 1971 to 1975, Heathfield from 1975 to 1978 and Earl Shilton COmmunity College (now William Bradford) from 1978 to 1982. At infant school, my teachers for the three years were, I think, Mrs Nicholls, Mrs Weightman and Miss White. I remember Miss White as being slim and having jet black hair and being strict but kind and having a new car, a gold Vauxhall Viva, registration WWD 624H I think, which I remember being parked to the left of the school gates near to the war memorial (I have no idea why or how I remembered that!). There was a large climbing frame in the school yard which would undoubtedly never be allowed these days and a narrow strip of grass at the back of the school beyond the playground. I... Read more
Peter Marshall 58 to 65
I'm as sure as I can be, that the little boy in the picture with the black coat is me. I would have been three to four years old (depending what time of year the picture was taken). I was the youngest at the home at that time, and left in 1965. I certainly remember the little black coat, of which I was very proud. My name then was Peter Marshall, known as 'pudding' or 'mop-head' - I still have the hair. I was adopted in 1965 and became Peter Anthony. I remember the posts and the marking-out being done for the (then) proposed new buildings. I remember the superintendant at the home at that time was Mr Padbury, a rather fearsome but kindly man, he later left and the Garbet family took over, (Mr & Mrs) probably around 1963. They had a daughter called Miriam, and she and I planned to marry (I'm still waiting). I remember helping the gardener (Ralph, I think) water the plants in the... Read more
Good Times
I was a child here and a choir boy at St Peter's and went to school at Chanwood 1958-1959.
