Honingham, Norfolk

A bungalow called Lynwood, at Costessey

My father bought this bungalow around 1926 - it was the place I was born. He was forced to sell it in 1929 when the place he worked at -J arrolds Publishing - went on strike and he lost his job. With my mother and two other children we had to leave and return to Kidderminster, to the home of my... [more]

Occupations in Great Witchingham

I have found out that my great, great, great grandfather, William Brigham was a baker at Great Witchingham (1841 census). My other GGG grandfather, James Smith, was a miller.
James Smith's son, Frederick, was the grocer/draper/flower seller (1871 census).
William's grandson, Frederick, became the rate collector, coal and oil merchant by 1896.
Would love to find any pictures of the area.... [more]

The Bawdeswell Plane Crash, The Willows and The Rectory.

Although I was just a little lad I can remember seeing the smoking debris of All Saints Church after the Mosquito crashed on it.

I was staying in "The Willows" which is opposite the church with my mum, my sisters, my cousins and my aunts, who were all evacuees from London.  It was a miracle that the plane never hit... [more]

school days

First school London Road Infants, a short time in Scotland and then the Church Infants, each school day walking from Theatre Street (two doors up from 'The Cherry Tree') through the market place and down Church Street. I moved on to the primary at the top of Theatre Street and eventually Crown Road. While at Theatre Street... [more]

My hometown

I was born in 1928 at Woodhill, Gressenhall and moved to Dereham at the age of 6yrs and left when I married some 20 years later. It was a happy childhood in spite of the war years, in fact it added to the excitement of those years, dashing out to crashed planes, collecting shrapnel, army badges etc and of course the... [more]

Nursery School

Looking at the picture I think you turned left and my nursery school was on the right hand side, was it St Christopher's? I can remember seeing the fighters at St Faiths, must have been swifts, hawks, hunters, this must have been about the 1950s.

Early Years

Too much to say, so in brief: lived on Wolfe Road, played on Mousehold, fireworks night great and sledged on cardboard in the summer and sledge in the snow; watched the soldiers in Brittania Barracks and them lowering the flag just outside the main gates in a railed enclosure long gone; horses at Nelson Barracks at the bottom of Ketts Hill;... [more]