Mannington, Dorset

Gaunts Common

My sister remembers cycling to Gaunts Common just after my great-grandfather died, my great-grandmother stayed at a house there, there was an old railway carraige in the garden which was used as a caravan, and my grandmother stayed there for a while. The owners were probably Steele-Bartlett-Sweatland or Chalk, all family names. Also there was a photo of my great-great-grandfather Edward... [more]

Sister Enid Butler's Orphanage.

I was a child that lived at the 'Sister Butler's orphanage' in the early I960s.  This message is to anyone that was also at the orphanage at that time, particularly Alison Burbidge, as I have read her account stating that Alison would have been at the orphanage at the same time as me. I have a lot of memories of... [more]

Hinton Martell

There was also another lady, sadly deceased, called Mrs Sturney that would have adopted me but was sadly considered "too old". Any information on these people gladly welcomed. Mrs Sturney's first name was Gwendoline as far as I can remember

Orphanage

I was looked after by a lovely lady called Sister (Enid) Butler who took in unwanted children until they were re- homed either by fostering or adoption (this was me).
There was a young lad there called Peter who allegedly set fire to the original building with a cigarette end. I was adopted in about 1962 by a family who lived... [more]

Ferndown Zoo

I don't remember the year but I think it was in the 1950s. Where exactly was the Ferndown Zoo? I have a photo of one of my cousins taken with a goat. I really don't remember much about it, I just know I went at least three times. Please help.

Visiting Ferndown

(Not just 1955, probably most of the 1950s.)

When my mother was a little girl, she was looked after by a nanny, who in her later years lived at Fairways, a bungalow at the end of Carroll Avenue.  In the 1950s when I was very young, we used to visit what seemed a large bungalow in a very large garden... [more]

Crown Hotel Wimborne

Ingram Richards was my grandfather. My father (John) was the only child of Ingram to emigrate (in 1927) to Australia. Dad died in 1978. I am a former Australian regular army officer and visited Wimborne on a couple of occasions in the 1970s while on exchange in Germany with the British Army and later when on a secondment to the School... [more]

Hobbs, Haywards and Quarterjack Toys

My parents bought the shop and house in the foreground in 1980. You could just see a 'Hobbs' sign painted on the front of the building and Mr L E Hayward had a toy and pram shop there which he had run since just after the war, I think. You can still see his shop in the model town in Wimborne.... [more]