The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

Heybridge memories

Here are memories of Heybridge and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Heybridge or a Heybridge photo.

Sailing With my Dad

The best memories of sailing with my dad most weekends and baleing water out of the dingy.  It leaked.

Memories of Essex

Happy Childhood Days

Many happy childhood weekends were spent on the River Blackwater at the Mill Beach Camp Site with my parents and brother. We often visited Maldon for provisions and I can remember a large "cake shop" on the corner by the bus station? As we came up the hill (what a hill!) a lady on the left always had a different flower arrangement in her window. Needless to say I went on to become a keen flower arranger. I visited Maldon a few years back and I am happy to say that the town hadn't changed much at all. We even walked along the sea wall to the plot where my parents had their last caravan before my father died in 1976. Lovely memories. Lovely place - would like to retire in Maldon if only I could afford it!

Happy Times in Maldon

My family and I moved from London in 1955 to Maldon, following a visit the year before with our Sunday School outing, and we moved near to the Prom. We had such happy times living there and as children my friends and I used to roam the Prom, the nearby sea-wall, fields, woods, and country lanes, in fact everywhere, in safety. What freedom we had then. We spent many hours in the cinema watching the latest films. In August a large fair would come to the Prom for two weeks, ending with a spectacular carnival on the last Saturday followed in the evening by a brilliant firework display around the marine lake. On Boxing Day we would walk up the High Street to the Blue Boar to watch the hunt leave and what a great sight it was. My family and I moved from Maldon in 1966 but I was allowed to get married the following year in All Saints Church. I haven't been back... Read more

The Gables

i was sent to The Gables from Boyles Court in Brentwood because I was a bit of a naughty boy. I liked it there, I loved Maldon, it has great memories for me as well as bad ones from the headmaster Mr Gosling becasue he was a one-legged bully, he used the cane very hard and very often, I hated him. I had a friend there called Roger Shilton. I was a member of the Boys Brigade, l liked that as well, but unfortunately I was taken from The Gables to another school in Langham.

Freddie Holmes' Garage

I attended the primary school, just down the Maldon Road from the garage in the photo, which was run by Mr Holmes.  The sweet-shop behind the pumps was popular with us kids!  Headmaster of the primary school was Mr Herbert Lewis, a Welshman known to us as "Pop".  He maintained discipline - and our attention! - with a bundle of rulers held together with elastic-bands; when applied to the backside they made you sit up in both ways!  But he was a good teacher, joined in with our games and was liked and respected.  His wife, Hilda, a formidable lady from Yorkshire, was his deputy.
Then, Arthur Green ran the village post-office from the front room of his house on Staplers Heath, and he delivered on an old, smoky motor-bike.  Great Totham Hall farm was owned by Tom Martin, a shrewd man if ever there was one.  We actually lived in Great Totham north, in Mountains Cottage, Mountains Road, next to Lt Mountains farm which is still in the ownership... Read more

A Real English Village

My parents moved to Wickham Bishops in 1948 to help friends run the village Post Office Stores which sold everything - stamps, paraffin (you brought your own can and it was filled from a barrel at the back), vinegar (as for the parafin, it came from a barrel out back), cheese portions cut from huge cheeses wrapped in linen, and loose flour and pulses which even as a five year old I was allowed to put into blue sugar-paper bags to be weighed. Sweets where still rationed and broken biscuits were popular. My mother and her friend went once a year to order skirts, blouses, frocks and underwear from the London warehouses. Toys that came in for Christmas were not in plastic so I got the first go with them! There was a village pantomime every year in which all the local characters took part, glamorous in fish-net tights as Dandini or hideous in wigs and false chests as the ugly sisters. There was also a Christmas party for everyone... Read more

Memorybank total

We're very pleased and excited by your response so far to our "Share your Memories" community.

You've shared 28,870 memories of 5,950 towns & villages across the UK - keep them coming!

Browse memories button

Find Memories

Simply search for your favourite places to read others' memories and share your own.

Start by searching for your favourite places

Tips & Ideas

Not sure what to write?
It's easy - just think of an important place in your life and ask yourself:

How does it feature in your personal history?

What are your best memories of this place?

How has it changed over the years?

How does it feel, seeing these old photos of your favourite place?

Do you remember stories about the local community, its history and people?

Start now!

It's easy to add your own memories and reconnect with your shared local history. Search for your favourite places and look for the orange "Add your Memory" icon to begin.

Your memories

To jump straight to the memories you have added already to the Community, click here

I Remember When...

I Remember When

This stunning compilation highlights some of the best stories selected from the thousands contributed here on the Frith website. The result is an absorbing chronicle of British life from the Second World War to the mid 1960s.

A colourful treasure trove of memories, "I Remember When" is an irresistible mix of personal stories and recollections that affectionately reveal the detail of everyday life in Britain.

Learn more button Save 25% on I Remember When when you order now!
Home > Explore your past > Heybridge > Memories of Heybridge

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.