Huntingdon memories
Here are memories of Huntingdon and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Huntingdon or a Huntingdon photo.
Loving Memories, Great People.
I grew up in Huntingdon, I remember the old town back then, Okendens, almost across from the George Hotel, and Wyles the shoe shop. It was a nice town. I remember the jumble sales held in all the churches were exciting events, and the old cinema, I miss the old town a lot, I have good memories. I remember the Cromwell Cafe which was owned by Greeks and had great food, my school mates would meet there. I have lived in SC, USA for 17 years now and it certainly does not compare to the shops in the UK. I love the UK. I enjoyed all the excitement of going down town on a Saturday, having a pastry and tea in the little cafes. I remember school, Brookside, Mr Plews in his cape lol . The outside swimming pool was great in the summer, where Tesco is now was open fields, we picnicked there, also Woolworth where a lot of my school friends worked after school. My dad Peter worked... Read more
'Gills' The Butchers.
There was a butcher's shop and the butcher was called Mr Gill. 'Gill's sausages were the very best!', so Nanna said.
About 1940
Around about 1940 I was evacuated to Huntingdon, my age was about 5 or 6 years. I remember I stayed with a little old lady and I think she had one son who came home on leave while I was there. Her house was attached to a church or chapel and she was the caretaker at the time. To the right hand side of the building there was a garden. Across the road I feel sure there was a farm gate and just a few buildings, along from there was a shoe menders. The school I attended was a kind of hut-like building and I think all the children shared the same class. My memeries are still quite vivid of it and I am hoping that someone can help to tell me if any of this still exist or anything at all about what I have just written. I do hope that someone knows something, no matter how small. Thank you for reading this.
Osman's of Huntingdon
A truly old-fashioned type of ironmonger and household ware store seen here on the immediate right of the picture. My mother, Mrs. Ruby Chandler would have been working here in 1965, as she did for many years both before and after '65. If you couldn't get it at Osman's you couldn't get it anywhere else, either. The shop premises were very old, and when it rained, there was panic up in the storage rooms above to place buckets to catch the leaks.
I remember, too Stiles, the Bakers, further up along the High Street. My grandfather and I walked into Huntingdon from Alconbury (the only way to get there) on my 9th birthday in 1941 to collect my birthday cake, supplied during rationing times.
Almost opposite Osman's was Cox the County Clothiers, who supplied my uniform for Huntingdon Grammar School a couple of years later.
Huntingdon once boasted two cinemas, The Grand, accessed through an archway beside Murkett's Garage, opposite the Market Place, and The Hippodrome further along the... Read more
A Great Coincidence
The man riding his cycle beside the car looked so familiar, and I firmly believe that it is Mr Timothy (Tim) Towler who was Art and Technical Drawing Master at Huntingdon Grammar School during the 1940s and very early `950s. Tim, as he was called by us irreverent pupils, lived in Godmanchester, and cycled from his home to the Grammar School (now demolished) on Brampton Road daily. He was much loved by all of us, and helped me personally on my career to become an engineering draughtsman both in England and later in Sweden. The coincidence is almost unbelievable, looking at this print in 2011 in Sweden, and seeing Tim from 1955.
Good Times
I loved Hinchingbrooke School growing up and the house just intrigued me. I remember my first year of sixth form in the house and my friends and I decided to look around the grounds where we came across the graves of Oliver Cromwell's dogs behind the Wendy House. This was an amazing find and the stories we were told about the history of the house was wonderful. I would very much like to see a paranormal team within the house to find out if part of the past is still there within the house as stories of ghosts sightings were heard of quite a lot when I was at school and I would love to learn more about its history and if any spirits still live within the walls and hallways of the great historic Hinchingbrooke house!
I Remember...
I remember Huntingdon's High Street in 1965. I was only a little girl then, holding on to my grandmother's hand. My grandparents were Kate and Reginald Wayman and they lived in Hartford Road opposite the River Ouse. Nanna and I would often walk to the town centre and she'd buy me a 'Pixie' comic; there were some lovely shops, I remember 'Fishers' (I think), and 'Steadmans'. I loved Huntingdon where I had many happy times as a child when I went to stay with Nanna and Grandad Wayman. Nanna was from Godmanchester (a Woods) and she'd worked at 'the mill' making lingerie until she was 29 when she married. Once she made a pair of golfing socks to be presented to the future Edward VIII. Grandad came from Offord Cluny and he worked in Brampton for 'Mr Riddiford' as a managing director. They moved to Huntingdon around 1960 and lived at number 128 Hartford Road. Wish I could visit.... perhaps I might... I send love XX XX!
The Cromwell Museum
Better known today as The Cromwell Museum!!
Memories of Cambridgeshire
I Was Eight And Fishing And You Caught Me!
Surprisingly I remember a man setting up the tripod to take this, a short time before I had seen the same process under taken for the school photos. I wondered what he was photographing. I wasn't allowed to go over the Chinese Bridge as the water was deep over there. It's shallow by the causeway but very smelly as I found out when I fell off my bike and into it, Mum made me undress in the back yard of 4c New Street before going in for a bath. Mr Thomson, a lovely old chap, had the sweet shop behind me in the picture and his wife (name ?) had the shop next door called Townsends, were they married??
St Ann's Lane / Black Bull Pub
Hi, I'm trying to find some people: Doris May Fisher born 1910 and Harry William Fisher born 1913, both born at St Ann's Lane, Godmanchester. Their parents were Harry William Fisher and Gertrude Church. Harry William senior died in 1932. Apparently the last address for Harry junior was Cambridge Villas, also someone told me Harry junior was hit by a police car after leaving the Black Bull pub and killed, does this ring any bell? Any info please get in touch.
Living in Godmanchester
Growing up in Godmanchester was a good experience. We lived in St Anne's Lane and I went to school there as well, then went to school in Park Lane. Then in 1956 I went to the Secondary Modern, starting at Brookside and moving to St Peter's when it opened, we marched through Huntingdon to the new school when it opened. The summer holidays were spent playing cricket all day over the parks with Barney Christian and Stan Binge, there was more of us some days, but Stan enjoyed knocking me and Barney out of the grounds, if we got him out he wanted to go home ha ha. Over the Rec on Sundays in the summer it was like a holiday resort, with people coming from everywhere. But it was a nice place to grow up in and we used to know everyone walking round the streets. it would be nice to see more people writing there memories. Danny.
Boyhood Memories 1940s Great Stukeley Village & Its People
My memories are in book form, title as above. My book was published in Feb. this year (2011) and is available from John Lovell, 73 West End, Brampton, Huntingdon, CAMBS. PE28 4SG. Tel: 01480 457637 "E" mail. john.lovell10@btinternet.com or Authers On line Ltd. 19, The Cinques, Gamlingay, Sandy BEDS. SG19 3NU Tel: 01767 652005. "E" mail. theeditor@authersonline.co.uk or www.authersonline.co.uk The Price is £6 95 fron John Lovell or £6.99 from Authers on line. The Full Title is. Boyhood Memories of Village Life and its People in Nineteen Forties Great Stukeley. The book is copyrighted and ISBN978 0 7552 1308 5. Also available in e-book format, details available at www.authersonline.co.uk
The 'Valet' Shop in Brampton in The 1960s
Does anyone remember the 'Valet' shop that used to be near the High Street entrance to the Village Park? It was sort of a haberdashers but the lady also used to take in dry cleaning and shoe mending. It was a portakabin type building and there was one lady who used to run it. I wish we'd taken a photo. We moved to Brampton around 1965 and I remember it being around for a while after that.
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