Maidenhead memories
Here are memories of Maidenhead and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Maidenhead or a Maidenhead photo.
My Grandfather
My Grandfather Joesph Thomas Brooks, was a Thames Conservancy employee/ferryman etc.. and on retirement worked as a boatman at The Hungaria. I remember him proudly showing me a guinea on his watchchain, given to him by King Edward VII. Roy Hole.
Born And Bred
I was born in Maidenhead in 1939 and as soon as I could read I pestered my mum to take me to the library. I can't imagine how many books I would have read from the shelves of this lovely old building. At first I was not impressed with the new library but soon realised the advantages of more light and space. I have many happy memories of the great service I received as a child and adult.
I moved away 13 years ago. Now when I return there seems hardly antying left of the old town, which I loved. It's almost like going to another planet!
HENRY WILDER AND SON {BOATHOUSE]
I am the great-granddaughter of Henry Wilder. I think in this photo the boats are in front of the boathouse which belonged to my family. Henry died about 1910 so it passed on to the childrem, Henry, Charlotte and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was my grandmother.
Decanter Set
I own a four decanter set, enclosed in a 10.5 " high by 8" square box, of Amboyna wood, with brass handles and edging, possibly Georgian. Also, held by a brass clip in the top of box, is a 3.5 " glass with the name "Skindles" above a large "S" with a line drawn diagonally through it. Thanks to the internet, and your web-site, I now know, at least, where the glass came from.
I have bought many of your photos over the years, thank you for the pleasure they have given me, and my friends.
Happy Memories
My mum Lois and I used to catch the blue bus from Dorney Reach and we would go to Maidenhead to visit the doctor or the dentist and then pop into the library where I would always pick a library book about animals.
Watching The Boats in The Lock
Summer Sunday afternoons were often spent at Boulters Lock when I was a child. We would have a walk along the river and end up at the lock to sit and watch the boats go in and out.
There would be the people who thought they were the bee's knees in their blazers and straw boaters but who usually managed to make a mess of getting in and out of the lock. And the dogs that would jump off the boats into the lock causing pandemonium, fortunately they all seemed to get rescued OK either by their owners or by someone from the crowd that was always there sitting on the side of the lock.
James Moores Complete Gentlemen's Outfitters
Where: 10 High Street, Maidenhead, beside the Bear Hotel on the High Street. Who: Owned by Alfred Walter Bennett [1875-1968]of 3 St Ives Road [The Rosary], Maidenhead. What: Tailors, also supplied School Uniforms When: throughout 20 Century until the 1960s Family Stanley born 1898,Kenneth born 1900, Lillian born 1903. Alfred was a very good snooker player and belonged to a gymnastic athletic club in Maidenhead.
Twenty Years
We moved to Maidenhead in 1961, when I was 10. I didn't particularly want to but my parents said I could go and see "Village of the Damned" at the ABC cinema on the day we moved and that swung it for me - I was easily pleased. My parents bought their first house here - a maisonette - for about 2000. Times have changed. Those early years are remembered so well - walking to Courthouse Primary, across the park, lessons with Mrs Palmer. Then on to Gordon Road secondary, initially to the annexe on Castle Hill, then the main school, always down Belmont Vale, by my friends house. Those were the days of Mr Addison (kipper), our head - a strict task master - pity there are not so many now. So here's to you all, those that were there from 1962 to 1966, and Messrs Severn, Bristow, Lacey and the rest of the teachers I've forgotten, if you're still around. Then off to work at the old Police Station, just... Read more
Memories of Berkshire
Special Treats
My friend Jean and I lived at Dorney Reach and we used to go for walks by the river Thames with my dog. On Sunday afternoons we would then cross over the walkway which was on top of the lock gates and buy ice-creams from the
lock-keepers shop. You could hear the roar from the weir. The children from Dorney Reach would love to help open and shut the lock gates which was done manually.
Thames House
On the 1891 Census, my grandmother - Daisy Matilda Lamb - is recorded as being a 'visitor' at the home of Thomas 'Baker' Marks and his family. It appears she was born in Salisbury (tho' I have not, as yet, found a birth certificate for her) and none of the Marks family of Thames House - the large property on the left - seem to have survived in Bray. By 1901, she was working for a Frances Harrison in Holyport - tho' whether she was there in the intervening years I don't know.
We still visit and I photograph Thames House every time!!
Bray Court
My late father Cyril Cook was a Nurse and sometime during the Second World War was posted to Bray Court, which I believe was a Naval Training School. If any one has any information about Bray Court during the Second World War, I would be most interested. Ken Cook
Little Tudor 1900's to Present
Little Tudor was the cottage that my grandmother resided in when she was a young girl. It is located on The Green in Holyport, Maidenhead. She and her brothers and sisters grew up here in the 1900s. I visited it last summer for the first time ... it looked the same as pictures my grandmother had of it when she returned for a visit in the 1960s. I would love to find out of the history of this lovely old cottage. It used to house three families, now it has been converted to a single family home. Just lovely! Wish I knew the date it was built and the history of it.
My Childhood
I was born in Cookham in 1952. I attended Holy Trinity Primary School and sang in the church choir. One Remembrance Sunday I was given the honour of carrying the cross at the head of the procession from the church to the war memorial. I was extremely lucky to spend my childhood in such idyllic surroundings. My brothers and I, along with many of the other local children spent many hours swimming in the river at Odney or playing on Cockmarsh. In the winter when we had snow, we used a sheet of corrugated iron as a sledge to whiz down the steep slopes before being launched into the air by the track at the bottom, like a giant ski ramp. We would spend whole days playing in nearby Quarry Woods before the onset of the evening darkness forced us to return home. My gran lived in Station Road and on my way home from her house I would stay and watch the steam trains coming through the station. My... Read more
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