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Goring
Goring maps
Historic maps of Goring and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Goring maps
Goring area books
Displaying 1 of 7 books about Goring and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Goring
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memories of Goring.
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Lived Here
I was sent here some time around 1944/45?, I lived in a farmhouse to the left of this picture, just after the turning left, in fact the entrance was just on the right as one turned left.
The family I think were called "Choules", or Choles", I can remember the post office on the right, and I also remember going down the lane on the right to what was then farm buildings on the left, where the cows were brought in for milking. I was not an evacuee, but these people fostered me for a while.
This is the first time since the 40s I have seen this picture, does anyone know of that family, or the whereabouts of them? They had a son who I played with, but I'm afraid I cannot remember his name.
I was adopted a few years later, please, any news on this family.
Don Lucas.
Berkshire memories
WW2
I was evacuated to some wooden bungalows in Goring Road and lived with Percy and Renee Bonner. Renee's relations were Romany gypsies who lived in Woodcote. The photo shows The White Lion and the village shop which I believe was "Pointers Stores". Percy ran a log delivery business, and these were delivered by horse and cart to surrounding areas by Percy, and although only 10 yrs old, myself!! I can safely say that despite the war and my young ignorance, they were the happiest days of my childhood.
I remember a shed nearby in which shoe repairs and accumulators were re-charged and the proprietor suffered a pronounced limp. A nice chap he was. The shed was sited at the entrance to a drive to a large house whose owners were named Brewer or Burton or similar. I spent many hours with a son of the house called Peter, exploring surrounding areas.
The Bonners were wonderful people and treated me as a son. They did have a young daughter called Lena... Read more
Story After, my Family
Regarding the statement of Percy Bonner and his wife Rennie Bonner, written by Ken Crammer:
These people were my aunt and uncle.
Uncle Percy and Aunt Rennie went on to have 2 children, Louisa and Percy aka Penny, both married and continued to live in Crays Pond with their children and grandchildren near by.
In 1966 Uncle Percy was in a tragic accident when a tree fell on him and he was killed, Aunt Rennie died after having a heart attack in the 1970s.
Aunt Rennie was the sister of my father Joseph Smith.
The photo brings back memories of waiting outside with my coke whilst Uncle Percy and my father were inside drinking pints.
If anyone would like to contact me regarding any of the persons above then please email me johnalbiejoe@yahoo.com
Bonners
Penny went on to have 2 boys, Joe and Frankie, Frankie being the same age as me. We used to play at Rogers Yard, Penny Royal, which I think was once owned by Penny's dad. But given two Frank Rogers in the family I am not sure.
RAF Woodcote; 70MU; 1941 - 1959.
Very few people realise that there was a RAF Maintenance Camp in Woodcote during and after the Second World War years. There is a comprehensive history of this operational base with archive photos and local oral memories at :- http://www.mycetes.co.uk/b/index.html Have a look now before all the old tell tale signs are gone forever as nature reclaims the land back.
In Memory of My Grandparents
Mr Gran and Grandad had their home in North Stoke, a Mr and Mrs Sallis (Elizabeth and Arthur). They lived in Calendula Cottage, as it was called then. My mother had three sons, Ray the oldest, Tony, and me, Nick, the youngest. For some reason our mother decided to have us live there; our grandparents were in their seventies and still working. As you can imagine, it must have been traumatic for them and the worry and more hardship to cope with. From what I have gathered they couldn't have tried any more than they did and found it too much to cope with. Eventually we were taken into care; I was only two years old then, Tony was four and Ray was six.
It was only a two-bedroom cottage, leading down the stairs straight into a very small kitchen and into the front room and that's all. The toilet was at the back down the garden.
Gran and Grandad over the years never forgot us and used... Read more
Dad Evacuated to Cholsey WW2
I recently found your site and was excited to show it to Dad. He was evacuated out of central London during WW2. He was sent to live with the Bumpass Family from Cholsey. Andrew and Mary were their names and they had two children Eileen and Dennis. Dad told us lots of happy memories that he had of his time in Cholsey. He remembers the old school and Bunkers hill, tha old pavillion in the centre of the village where tramps slept. He went to Sunday School and speaks very fondly of a Mrs Kelson who ran the mission .
He never returned to visit the Bumpass family, because even though he was happy with them he had memories of a much harder time with a lady who first took him in,who lived in the same area.
I have shown the photos to Dad to jog his memory and he says it would be lovely to see his old school again .He tells me there was a brook that... Read more
