Ellenhall, Staffordshire

My life there

I remember the days when I lived on a farm that was owned by Mark Carter from Eccleshall Castle. I had so much fun living in Eccleshall that I didn't want to move when the farm was sold. I had loads of friends and good memories, I remember when all the children were given a Silver Jubilee coin at school, the... [more]

The Boat

The Boat is the name of the Inn on the left of the picture. As children we used to walk across the top of bridge wall and, as a further dare, across the pipes which ran just below the parapet, above the water.
   Once, when I was serenely paddling the canoe back from Cowley Tunnel, a loaded barge came... [more]

Norbury Junction!

This is Norbury Junction, not far from but, definitely not Gnosall.
The boys in the woodwork class at school (Gnosall) built a canoe as a project which was afterwards stored in the old Mill on the opposite side of the canal to the Navigation Inn. (The Mill was the first in the area to be steam powered, I think). The canoe... [more]

Mason''s Lawn

We moved from the hamlet of Moreton/Bromstead to Gnosall, where my Dad worked, (based at the council wharf) in 1958, and Mason's lawn wasn't built then!  We used to have our bonfires on the site and, if 1963 was the year it snowed really heavily (and I believe it was) - we were still building snowmen and rolling massive snowballs there!... [more]

Leawood Pitts, High Offley

My Great Great Grandfather was  a farmer and the owner of Leawood Pitts from around 1848 to 1892. His name was John Clemson and he farmed about 46 acres. He had a wife, Mary, and seven children. I have a photograph of the farmhouse taken sometime during that period, and also some historical information. I thought this might get the Memories... [more]

Wonderful Times

My father moved to Cold Meece in 1960 to take up his job as a prison officer at the nearby Drake Hall open prison, and we stayed there for a couple of years before we moved to live at the prison itself.

At the time I was between 9 and 11 years old and, for a child of that age,... [more]

Wonderful Times Too

I read John Grehan's contribution with great interest. I too enjoyed the air raid shelters and LMS Station at Cold Meece, though four or five years later than his own expeditions. I too attended St Joseph's and the two boys in the taxi with John were my older brothers. By the time I went to "St Joe's", the taxi service... [more]

Old house

Hi, I was born in Stafford and emigrated to Australia in 1975 and I have not revisited England since. Me and my older sister remember vividly exploring 2 old houses (Im unsure of how old they were) which were demolished in the early to mid 1970s. One was a white brick what seemed like a mansion to us at the time... [more]