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Flitwick
Flitwick maps
Historic maps of Flitwick and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Flitwick maps
Flitwick area books
Displaying 1 of 6 books about Flitwick and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Flitwick
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Flitwick.
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Hitler Gives us Another Week's Holiday
We'd had our usual five weeks school holidays when Hitler's Luffwaffe gave us another few days off. His bombers scampering back to the continent, after presumably bombing Midlands cities, jettisoned another, on Glebe land behind the school. The school was not directly hit, but the explosion shattered a few windows. 'HOORAY', another week off school. As far as we kids were concerned, the repairs could take forever, but in reality, it took just a week. Another abiding memory of Flitwick is of the old pond and the smithy next to the school. Neither exists any more, but when horse and cart moved goods around Flitwick, the smithy was kept busy shoeing those horses and I enjoyed leaning over the half door and watching him at the anvil. There was always something to linger over and watch around the pond, and when I eventually got home, Mum would give me a walloping on my backside for being so late. In those days, the school in Dunstable Road had two playgrounds, split by... Read more
Bedfordshire memories
Butchers Shop
Browsing Ampthill, for the first time, I came across the above photo. On the left just above the logo is a shop blind that used to protect the meat in the window display from sunshine (when it appeared). That blind was the bain of my life in 1952/3/4 when I was a so called "butchers boy". It never ran correctly on it's tracks, and I caused many a car to swerve my long pole manipulations putting it up and down. Funny when I think about it. The bicycle outside (possibly me pictured) was used for deliveries. The carrier full of orders for Maulden and surrounds was a steering hazard particulary in the snow. One Saturday morning I came to grief down Maulden hill and spent an hour scraping dirt and stones from meat with my pen knife before going on my way. The complaints arrived back at Ampthill well before yours truly. Oh the humiliation and all for 2/6p a week. Humiliation was for being caught out, not for stony... Read more
Shop Names.
The shop next door to The Ampthill News was and still is Cheesman's the chemist and the shop next door to that was Underwood's an electrical appliance shop.
Grandma
The lady with the white coat and shopping basket on the right hand side of the photo is my grandmother - Clara Billington - and lovely to see her in print!
Ampthill Siren
My abiding memory of Ampthill is when I used to go to the Saturday pictures with my cousins and the fire engine would be called out. The only problem was the siren that called them out was the old wartime air-raid siren. What a noise !!! I lived in Maulden but often visited Ampthill. thanks for the memories. !!!
Vic The Postman
I feel sure the postman shown is Vic, who always whistled as he delivered the mail. He was like a favourite uncle when I was a child - sadly missed.
A Birthday Party in The Village Hall
As a child I must have attended many brthday parties for my young friends but in November 2011 I was invited to celebrate the 80th birthday of a friend!
My friend Mike (known as "Lank" - he is quite tall!) Broughton lives in nearby Sundon Park and he and his wife Mary hosted a party to celebrate his great age! He is an accomplished musician for Morris Dancers and I have played my accordian alongside him on many occasions since first meeting him in the Watford Pump House in 1980 and numerous other times at folk festivals in the Whitethorn Morris Band.
The Harlington Village Hall makes a perfect party venue and we filled the main hall with guests - mostly dancers and musicians from the Morris sides in which we have performed together over the last three decades. We squeezed a dozen Morris musicians onto the stage to make up a "scratch band" and organised an impromptu ceileidh. Mary and her daughters put together... Read more
