Jubilee Grove Memories

A Memory of Sleaford.

I have very fond memories of staying with my grandparents Norman and Ivy Ralphs in 15 Jubilee Grove in the late 1970s and 1980s.

My mother, my older sister and myself would visit in the school holidays and because we used to stay for a few days at a time, it was like a second home.

Number 15 was on a corner and had a very large garden which included a fish pond and terrapin enclosure! Tommy the terrapin lived to be about fifty, I should think. Grandad had a workshop where he used to make clock cases, furniture and all sorts of thing with wood. Sadly, this was burned down in the late 1980s or early 1990s by arsonists. The house was very cold in the winter and we often used to admire the frost patterns on the window panes! I remember the Duthy (?) family who lived next door. They had a son, Walter about my age and whenever we were there he used to ask my sister and I if we wanted to go round and play but I was always too shy and I used to say no! Sorry, Walter, this has made me feel guilty all these years!

We had a great-aunt, Mary Renshaw, down Mareham Lane (who made lovely tea!) and a great-uncle Joseph Colby (always known as Titch) who lived in Albert Terrace with his wife Madge. I am quite sad when I visit Sleaford these days as all these people can now only be found in the cemetery.

I miss Mr. Hix's shop, all those sweets! And what has happened to the lovely Art Deco cinema?

Grandad died several years ago, in the 1990s and Gran deveolped dementia and eventually went into a nursing home. She died in 2001, I think.