Corby Love It Or Hate It?
A Memory of Corby.
First impressions of Corby
We moved to Corby, then known as Corby New Town, in 1954, when I was 10. I hated it with a passion having been brought up in the country. Born in Suffolk, where my parents kept a pub in Elmswell, we had moved to the delightful medieval village of Barrowden in Rutland to keep The Exeter Arms, another old coaching inn. Then my dad was a forester in Fineshade Woods, still happiest memories of roaming the forest with my boxer dog, Georgie. Imagine my distress when we moved to the concrete jungle of the steel town of Corby. Even though my older sister lived on the other side of Bideford Square, with her husband & 2 daughters, I still felt disenchanted until we discovered a treasure on the other side of the railway line - a secret copse of trees & bushes where the 3 of us could build dens, pretend we were adventurers in the jungle or hunt out tiny wild strawberries to feast on. My dad worked for Lancashire & Corby Steel, driving a lorry, until he was in his 70s. My brother & brother in law worked for Stewart & Lloyds & the picture of the steel works looking down the railway line towards the furnaces is one of my first memories of Corby, like looking into the mouth of Hell when they opened the furnace to pour the molten steel. I eventually went to the Grammar School & sang in the choir, especially at Christmas when we led the service of Nine Lessons & Carols. One year I had the honour of singing the first verse of Once in Royal David's City in the candlelit parish church - scary but great. I never grew to really love Corby, still being a country girl at heart, but I would love to hear from any old grammar school pupils who might remember Vivienne Blaker as I was then. Happy days! I did meet Mr. Dennis Bott, my former Latin master at a village fete in Great Easton & he was still in touch with Mr Holmes, my favourite English master who was an inspirational teacher. He managed to instil a love of Dickens, Shakespeare & good English into teenagers whose minds were on other things. We were so lucky to have a wonderful group of dedicated & powerful teachers including Neville Dilkes, music master extraordinaire. We had a main school choir, 4 house choirs, and a 4 part Madrigal choir & many talented young musicians & Neville was the driving force behind it all. We did concerts, music competitions, Gilbert &Sullivan operettas, Shakespeare plays as well as Scottish dancing, Roman evenings & many other events. A brilliant school & I still consider myself so fortunate to have attended it.
Corby is very different now but driving through it brings back many memories of "little Scotland" as it was called.
Add your comment
You must be signed-in to your Frith account to post a comment.
Add to Album
You must be signed in to save to an album
Sign inSparked a Memory for you?
If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?
Comments & Feedback