Gurney Slade memories
Here are memories of Gurney Slade and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Gurney Slade or a Gurney Slade photo.
FAMILY FROM GURNEY SLADE
My father's family was from Gurney Slade. His father was Alfred and his mother was Helen. Alfred was a gardener at a 'big house' - so I was told - before he moved to South Wales for work in the mining industry. My father, Reginald James, was born in Wales within a very short time of their removal there in November 1908. My father took us on holiday to the west country sometimes, and I remember calling at the post office in Gurney Slade in the mid-50s. My dad asked a postman if anyone in the village was called Hill, and the postman replied, 'too bloody many'!
Memories of Avon
Fun!!
I worked in Chewton Mendip in 1968, at Bathway Farm which was a racing stables. It was an amazing job and a wonderful place to work. Every Sunday lunchtime down to the Waldegrave Arms!! 3 of us shared a cottage on Nedge called Swallowsloft, that little house was amazing! Chewton is a beautiful place and I'll never forget my time there.
A Country Drive Around Somerset
Having retired and moved to the West Country my wife Elizabeth and I set out to explore the area. Our new home is in Tiverton, Devon, but gradually we explored further and further afield and we remember a lovely drive to Wells and going along Somerset lanes through beautiful villages like East Harptree, Rookham, Chewton Mendip and down towards Taunton on our way home.
I Lived in Hillview Cresent in The Fifties...
We moved to Farrington Gurney when I was 4 or 5... Other families I remember were the Burtons, Longs, Maggs and Chivers... I remember spending Saturday afternoons at the church... When there was a wedding we would get some old bailer twine and tie the gate shut...When the wedding party left they had to pay us to get out...Usually the best man would throw a handfull of coins and us kids would scramble for them, then untie the gate..
Me and a friend once climbed onto the church roof and got stuck... I would only have been 7 or 8 and thought I was going to die that day.... We were there for several hours both scared stiff until we finaly found a way down
A Little Girl
I was born in Coleford in Somerset. We used to get up to all sorts of things, with my sister Deborah and my brother Dennis we used to leave the house about 9am and never went home until tea. One day my mother took us up to the shops in Coleford to get me a new pair of shoes. She said to me "Now then, do not lose them", but I did lose one so I went to get my sister to help me find it, but we could not find the other shoe so we went back home and told Mum, she was not happy at all. I could tell you more but not today. Bye.
WELSH'S GROCERY SHOP
When I was a little girl, my mother, Violet Helmore, would take me into Welsh's regularly to do her shopping. Biscuits could be bought loose then as could sugar tea etc. I always thought that I was a good little girl, but apparently not, as my mother would warn me before entering the shop "Be a good girl, because Mr Ratcliffe (the manager) has a room at the back of the shop, where he keeps naughty little girls in boxes". I had this overwelming fear of Mr Ratcliff, poor innocent man that he was, amd can you imagine what would happen if one was overheard to say such things these days. But we are talking of the early 1950s, and oh the memories of the lovely shops. Mr & Mrs Matthews with her strait-laced hair, but oh the divine sweets they sold. A cornucopia of all things delightful. Then Jenkins fish & chip shop with young Nigel who was in my class at school. The Palladium was THE place to go, both for... Read more
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