Kelsale memories
Here are memories of Kelsale and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Kelsale or a Kelsale photo.
The Church
I remember the church in the background of this photo, my mother and father and brother are all buried there now and I'll be visiting in May 2011, with my close friend Maxine. I used to remember a small bungalow there called Eastveiw in Kelsale. I also remember a gentelman named John White from the 1950s. I would like to say I'm aged 77 and loved looking at these old photos from where I grew up, it brought back many memories from the good old days. My brother named Victor Chambers remained in Kelsale all his life. I moved to Oxford and have now retiered to Bournemouth. My parents' names were Victor Fredrick Henry Chambers and Sarah Chambers, if anyone remembers any of my late family members please can you email me, I would love to hear from you. I am looking forward to re visiting Kelsale very soon.
The Yanks Who Lived in Kelsale For A Bit
I don't know if anyone remembers us. My father was stationed at Bentwaters and he, my Mom, my two brothers and I lived in Kelsale for three years from 1967 through 1970. They were three of the best years of our lives. We loved living in Kelsale. Everyone was so nice and welcoming.
I was nine years old, my brothers were six and three. We lived in The Old Post Office on The Street. I am sure the street name has changed by now. I remember playing in the conger field and in the churchyard. My brother broke his arm on the playground across from the guild hall.
We played with Ivan Ludbrook, Wayne and Tanya Watson and many others.
We attended the Methodist Chapel and we still hear from Vera Mann and her family every year.
I remember a Mrs. Rowe played the organ at the chapel and she rode her bicycle to and from the village to do her shopping.
Kelsale Eight Bells:
I was born and grew up in Kelsale and have known all the under named people at
some stage. I am retired now and like Ann I am back living in Kelsale and have so
many good (and not so good) memories I could relate about the village people and
village life in the fifties. I agree with Ann that things have changed so much now as
is the case with the majority of villages, mainly due to the closure of the local pubs,
shops and post offices which has removed much of the community spirit of bygone
years, and the influx of 'home in the country' townies who would really prefer to be
living in a town with everything just round the corner, or who 'love living in the
country' with secret aspirations of becoming 'Lord of the Manor' overnight.
The villagers Ann mentions were just a few of the 'real characters' of Kelsale each
in their own right worthy of a chapter in the book of Kelsale Village... Read more
When I Was 5
I grew up on Church Lane. I had an auntie and uncle living on each side. We had a well for about 10 cottages. I know that the Lane has a different name now. My sisters and I used to play at the big white house at the top of the hill and in the churchyard. We went to the school in the Guild Hall until my sisters had to take a bus to Framlingham. I have some lovely memories of my childhood there. I remember when Queen Elixabeth II was crowned, we all stood on the road to Saxmundham and cheered as the cars went b. My dad took me to the school to get my mug with an orange inside it to commemorate the crowning of the new queen.
Swinging 60s
Memories of dances at Leiston/Aldeburgh to the music of local band, The Rebels, with mates Steve Mew and Keith Tomblin. I worked at G.A. Hubbards as an aerial erector before moving to London, where I still live with my wife and 3 children. I remember the 8 Bells pub whose landlords were Jack & Sylvia Ford. My aunt & uncle Dot & George Scopes still live at Beaumont Cottages, my dad's name is Matt (Paddy) Mckenna.
Hill House
I moved back to Hill House, with my brothers, Adrian, Anthony & Twins Russell & Howard. Micky , John & Julian arrived a few years later. I lived there untill 1963, when I got married, and moved to a flat at Kelsale court. I still live in the village of Kelsale. I have seen a message from Kathleen, I think her sisters were Jackie and Christine, living in Denny's lane. (Church Lane) The village has changed so much now, but have very good memories. All the old people we knew have all gone. Alfie Bedall and his Pinto Pony, with his pocket full of sticky boiled sweets, complete with fluff from his pocket. Boxer Fairweather and his accordian. Penner Phillips, lived near the bridge, did a bit of wheeling and dealing, for anything that wasn't screwed down. Grandad George used to dig the graves, we still have the spade he used is in our shed. The churchyard looks very tidy these days due to the efforts of the Hollesley Bay Colony... Read more
Memories of Suffolk
Street Farm Road
We used to live in both houses as my father was the caretaker to the buildings which would have been built to the rear of the photos.
We Played in The Woods
The woods behind South Entrance were our playground. I lived at 5 South Entrance and knew every nook and cranny, and in the spring I knew where every nest was.
Names that come to mind are our neighbours Julian and Christopher Chilvers,
Doreen, Christine Mattinson (or Matteson) then David Nettleingham, Cookie, Richard Green, Colin Thomas. Our biggest secret was the old well, through the far end of the woods, and up Church HIll. It had been covered with a concrete cap, but we chipped away and made a hole, lighting paper and throwing it down to get a good look. It contained dumped wartime explosives, probably incendiaries, which we threw bricks at. I got my eyebrows badly singed when something went off and a wall of fire shot up. Its been filled in now...but did they fill in the explosives too? I suspect so, which means there are houses very nearby. Oops!
I recall vividly making bows and arrows, carrying an air-rifle, dodging Squire Long's wife in her Morris... Read more
THE WOOD AND CHURCH HILL
LIKE JOHN FISHER SAID WE PLAYED IN THE WOODS AND EXPLORED ALL THE SURROUNDING FARMLAND, SCARED OF BEING CAUGHT BY SQUIRE LONG AND LATER MISS ALDOUS. AS FOR THE OLD WELL UP CHURCH HILL, I CAN REMEMBER DROPPING ROCKS DOWN IT WHEN THERE WAS A LOUD BANG AND A FLASH WHICH MADE US DISAPPEAR QUICKLY FROM THE SCENE. I ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT HAD BEEN. CERTAINLY TAKES YOU BACK READING THESE MEMORIES.
Blacksmiths
Apparently my Gr Grandfather John Freeman owned a blacksmith shop that was situated just on the left hand side of the road here at the beginning of the 20th century. He also made the 'fences' that protected the bases of many of the trees on the Hurts Hall estate. I've never been able to find any written infromation about him or the 'smithy' though.
Family of 14 And Still Take in Lodgers!
John and Charlotte Freeman lived in the white houses by the motor bike. ( I'm sure I have photos of groups outside the house with this bike!). My great grandfather was a blacksmith with his smithy in Church Road. He made many of the fences that protected trees on the Hurts Farm estate. They had 12 children. 8 boys (Thomas, George, Sam, Fredrick, Sidney, Percy, John and Bill)and 4 girls (Elsie, Rose, Honor and Kate - Percy and Kate were twins). Thomas was a Lance Corporal with the 4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and died in 1916 aged 20 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Percy used to cut gents' hair in a shed in the garden in Albion Street where he lived. His brother Sam lived next door. Rose (Hulme) had a laundry the other side of the railway line in Chantry Road and used to have whist drives for the soldiers there. (I think it was later a motor bike shop.) She later lived in Albion Street as... Read more
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