Hem Heath, Staffordshire

I went to that school

I went to that school. I went to the nursery and stayed there right up until the year 2000 and then moved away to Scotland. It was a great school.

My memory

I remember I was about 10 and Critchilows Corner was a derelict building at this point, probably in 2000, and we used to try get in to see what it was like inside. I moved away but do visit the area from time to time and it's a housing esate now, seems a shame.

Critchlows Corner

The building in view was a Post Office and General Stores, the area was known as "Critchlows Corner" after the name of the family that owned the shop. The post office was the only one in the area. At the age of 10 I would cycle to the Post Office to collect our familys child benefit.
The bridge in the background... [more]

George Edward Ramsden, coopers and crate-makers

I have been told that my grandfather and great-grandfather had a business at Longton as coopers and crate-makers for the potteries. This business ceased I believe in the 1950s but would have been running from the late 1800s to that date.
I cannot find any details of this business and have only been told that it was run from Longton.
Any... [more]

High Street Longton in the '40s and '50s

Barbara Johnson's memories brought back some of my own from the High Street days. Those rows of shops Barbara describes provided all the locals with everything they needed. I remember going over the road from the off-licence we ran for a meat and potato pie from 'aunt' Sarah's, going for haircuts at Billy Goodwin's barbers (right up till the middle '50s),... [more]

BELCHER'S

Running parallel at the back of this church [St James] runs High street, where I was born as generations of my family were.

The two pot banks on the right represent a fraction of the "Belcher's"
that existed in Longton in the 30s/4os, they dominated everyone who lived amongst them with their endless stream of black smoke belching six... [more]

My early years in Longton - 1870s to 1940s

I was born in Longton in 1933 at 151 High Street Post Office, Longton.
All my childhood was spent there with my grandmother Sarah Wright and my great aunt Matilda Ward (my grandmother's sister). Between them they ran the Post Office until the middle years of the Second World War.
Before it was a Post Office, my great grandfather William... [more]