Lion House Youth Hostel c1955, Mitcheldean
Lion House Youth Hostel c1955, Mitcheldean Ref: M246003
Memories of Lion House Youth Hostel c1955, Mitcheldean
Lion House Youth Hostel 1957
I stayed one night at this hostel in early April 1957. A friend and I had set out from our home town of Reading on a 5 night circular cycle trip - our first such trip. Mitcheldean was our second night's stop, the first being at the then Inglesham hostel north of Swindon. We then went on to hostels at Clifton-on-Teme near Worcester, Broome, Warwickshire and Charlbury, Oxfordshire before returning to Reading. We were only 14 at the time. I can remember little of the hostel at Mitcheldean but the pictures on this site strike a chord. I remember the yard and in the part of the building where we slept the two-tier bunk beds and the sheet sleeping bags we had to take to go between the blankets that were provided - the standard deal at the time. At the time of writing I have just revisited Mitcheldean for the first time since 1957. I could not recall the exact location of the... Read more
Mitcheldean & local memories
Read and share memories of Mitcheldean and Gloucestershire inspired by Frith photos.
My Time in Mitcheldean in The 60s
I met my first wife - she was from Mitcheldesn - she also worked for Ranks in the office, her name was June Cowmeadow. Her Father was a polisher at the same factory - Bert Cowmeadow - during the early 60s. I have such a lot of happy memories of the area trips to Cinderford and all through the Forest of Dean. I was living in Pontshill at the time and rode my Lambretta scooter to see my girlfriend. We both are now remarried and live in Perth, Western Australia.
Working at Rank Xerox.
As a 16-year-old, I started work in the wages office of Rank Xerox. There were 6 of us in the office, the boss being Fred Pearce. The other colleagues were Roger Dymond, Mary Evans, Connie Waits, Jean Short and myself. The company used to make cine cameras and projectors and was just begininig to make photocopiers. We used the Kalamazoo system for the doing the wages (no computors in those days), everything was done by hand. We spent the week working out what bonuses the workers had made and transfering the data onto their clock cards. The day I liked the best was a Friday when the cash was delivered, the door locked, then we spent the morning making up the wage packets. In the afternoon I would have to go around to all the departments and hand out the wages. There was a small shoe shop in the village of Mitcheldean and I would love to go there and choose shoes. The owner was good enough to... Read more
