Nostalgic memories of Retford's local history
Share your own memories of Retford 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 all 9 Memories
I was at Sir Freds until about 1953,'Rocky' Lane was the art teacher,later renamed Frankie I think,he was an ex circus strongman even though he wasn't very tall,at the school concert he would bend an iron railing into a U shape and drive a 6' nail through a block of wood.He told us in the circus he'd lift circus ponies on a steel girder using shoulder strength only.Needless to say we didn't play up in his class
During my time at the National school , a couple of children in my class said they had stomach ache , so the teacher told thenm to sit outside on a chair till home time, my friends and I thought that sounds good as it was a lovely summer day. So we put our hands up and complained that we too had stomach ache . So we joined several others sitting outside in the sun till Home time. That ...see more
My memory of Sir Freds, was in the 50s with Boss Green as head master, Gunner Meadows, Messers, Rodgerson, Birket, Conniff, Dier, Firth, and Franky Lane among others. I remember that playground fights, where taken to the Crush Hall and sorted out properly, with boxing gloves on and a ref, with prefects as seconds.
Hello Old Fogies! [you must be an old fogie like me if you remember Retford at that time..Hehe.]
I first came to Retford at the age of about 7 months. My mom and dad got a letter from Birmingham saying not to come back as the bombing had started. We eventually ended up living at 57 Stawberry Road until Mar 31 1954, ending up back in B/Ham on April Fool's Day 1954.
Our granddad lived at 55 ...see more
My family the Williamses lived at 57 Strawberry Road, Newtown, Retford from 1942 until we moved to Birmingham in 1956. Naturally I have great memories of the games we young children played in the street together, like marbles in the gutter, grass sod raids, bows and arrow fights, bowling hoops etc, and while I remember all these and more games we played I can't recall the names of the children we played them with ...see more
I was one of so many 10 year olds that arrived in East Retford Sept 1939. I was so lucky to have been cared for by caring loving families in Retford for five years. The most happiest childhood memories of my life. I have cherished those memories for the the last 69 years. God Bless East Retford.
It was in the mid 50s that I went with my Grandmother to the Remembrance Day services held at the War Memorial. There were a group of WW1 veterans in a line and as a young child it was a surprise to me that they were crying. When I grew up and learnt what had been the horror of that war I understood. My Grandmother had several cousins who died and whose names were on there. She pointed them out to me, but I do not ...see more
It was in the mid 50s that I went with my Grandmother to the Remembrance Day services held at the War Memorial. There were a group of WW1 veterans in a line and as a young child it was a surprise to me that they were crying. When I grew up and learnt what had been the horror of that war I understood. My Grandmother had several cousins who died and whose names were on there. She pointed them out to me, but I do not ...see more
The teachers were `Zorra` Hardy,`Percy` Noble, `Gunner` Meadows, `Musha`Pitt and Harry Firth. The Headmaster was Mr Hewitt. Ken Barkworth used to come home on leave from the army and take us for PT in the hall and I used to box him. My class mates were Donald Backhouse, Donald Levick ,Frank Taylor, Gordon Blake, Bert Mellors and Frank Wilson. I played football for the school in goal. The ...see more