Foxhall, Suffolk

Buying a new drum for the Whitethorn Morris Band in Chelmondiston

In 2002 I had already been the band leader for the Whitethorn Band for more than twenty years and ithe musicians decided we needed a new drum. By chance we discovered Barry Askew in Chelmondiston who used his woodworking skills to hand make perfect drums suitable for morris musicians.

We commisioned a new drum and one fine Autumn... [more]

Books

I loved going in the Ancient House as a child. Lots of stationary and books. I remember the floors squeaked.Shame it is no longer a book store.

I worked here

I worked at Bowhill Elliot and White shoe store at the top of The Walk in 1960  Every morning I walked through here to go to work. I still e-mail a friend who worked at Turners Photography also in The Walk.  We were like a family in The Walk, greeting each other every day, and going to lunch.

Shoe shop

The shoe shop at number 44 was Thomas Alderton and Son, shown on the 1871 census as the family living there, presumably above the shop, it was still there in 1985 with the original street frontage, is it there now?

St. Lawrence Street 1960s

Back in the 1960s there was a beautiful Magnolia tree oposite the church in front of a solicitor's office in St. Lawrence Street.
Forty years have passed and I live the other side of the world.
I wonder if that tree is still there.

The model shop in The Walk

Yes Tami, I remember The Walk very well. In 1959 there was a model shop just to the right of the photo. They had wonderful little steam engines and I saved up pennies and shillings from my paper round until I could buy one.
Some years later as a young man we would drink Cob Toppers at the local pubs... [more]

Crisswell / Hall family

I would like to ask whether anyone might be able to help me piece together a mystery. Five weeks ago, whilst walking through the local Derby countryside, my wife and I discovered a briefcase dumped in a brook. There were various items, including photographs, maps, documents etc, scattered all around. Curious, I collected as much as I could and took it... [more]

Bakery entrance

From the early 1900s to the mid 1960s my family, the Coopers, owned Thompsons Bakers, Confectioners and Restaurant at 34-36 Tavern Street.  If you turned left into St Lawrence churchyard - just where the person on the left of the photo is - and walked along the path beside the church, you would get to the stairs down to the bakehouse.... [more]