Nostalgic memories of Thorne's local history

Share your own memories of Thorne and read what others have said

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.

Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.

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Displaying Memories 1 - 10 of 23 in total

Does anyone remember Four ways Cafe? I lived there with my mum and dad from 1957 to 1964
I in the canal photo that big barge was my grandads he used to deliver coal up and down the canal he was called Hubbert Barrass can anyone help me find more photos of this and also name of his barge please
Back in those days any roadroller was referred to as a steamroller, even though, as with the one seen in the picture, it was diesel powered!
The Annual Fair was always a time that the young people of Thorne waited for. Opposite the Red Bear, not far from Clarkes Pork Pie shop, there was situated a boxing booth and the young men used to try and win a prize for staying in the ring for 3 rounds. The prize was £3 (if memory serves me correctly). In the green there was roundabouts and stalls and also the start of the horse ride. You could pay a small amount of ...see more
I remember Websters very well, I was able to buy clothes by saving 1 shilling a week in their club. My cousin worked there after leaving school and before going in the ATS; she once gave me a Victorian child's apron she had found in the storeroom.
So much and so little time; Green Top Primary School, happy days before the big move up to the Grammar School or North Eastern Road Secondary Boys. Mr Morris for metal work, Mr Snow for woodwork. Mr Colin Ella for religious studies, Mr Harrison, deputy headmaster. Music with Mr Mule, was he really ex-para? Roy Clark for science, went on to write for television 'Last of the Summer Wine. Cross country trailing ...see more
The gentleman talking to the policeman in the photograph is my father Geoffrey Matthews. He told me, that he was asking the bobby what had happened? The policeman said, "a little girl had had a serious accident there". She sadly lost a leg! The girl eventually grew up, and ran a shop on Ellison Street. Her name was Joan Lawley!
Green Top School - Mrs Bell, headmistress and Mrs Downes (many a child was leathered by her) and I can still hear her screaming nearly 60 years on - bless her. Lessons out on the grass in summer, school dinners by the gate near the old club. School trip to York Railway Museum; Kenny Martin, Peter Kay, David Machin, Andrew Matchett, Peter Wright and many more. Assemblies in the main hall and dare you go down ...see more
We used to hang around the street but mostly the cafe. There was Pete Lea, Jim Peason, Dennis Buckley and some stunning girls - Jannis, Orial and a few more whos names escape me. We sat in there for hours listening to the jukebox and the songs of the period - Brenda Lea, Conny Frances, the Everly Brothers - when we weren't in the cafe we were in the Red Lion or in the Windmill, listening to blind Freddy play the piano. ...see more
It always seems a pity when someone's life ends and there is a decreasing memory of their place in the town as the years go by. Hence, if I may, I would like to share with current readers in the town the memory of one of its figures of the past. The reason I know something about Charlie is that he was my father's cousin, a refugee from the tenant farms of North Yorkshire. Charlie was a 'horse man' through and through. ...see more