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Saltfleet memories

Here are memories of Saltfleet and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Saltfleet or a Saltfleet photo.

Glorious Days in Saltfleet

Following on from my cousin Mick Packwood's memories of Saltfleet in the 1970s, I would like to add mine. Life there was pretty simple as I guess most places were during that period. Fishing was the main pastime during the day with the usual catch being eels. We did used to eat them once you managed to actually hold them and skin them. Grandad used to stew them in milk, but to be honest the only way I could get them down was with plenty of salt and vinegar. Another local delicacy was cockles and I remember walking what seemed miles across the salt flats with bucket and spade in hand to get to the cockle beds. We then used to dig our toes into the sand so we could actually feel the shells. We always had a full bucket so along with the eels and samphire grass we never went hungry. Entertainment was limited so while Nan and Grandad were in the best room of the Crown, Mick and... Read more

Saltfleet Fishing in The 1970s

Through the 1970s my grandad, Sam Stokes, had a caravan on Sea Lane on Sandyfields Site. I think the owner at the time was a Mrs. Shidell. I usually went with my cousin Nigel and we spent the days fishing for eels around Saltfleet. In the evenings we would go to the Crown Inn and my grandad would play dominoes with some of the locals. The amusement arcade was also popular at the top of Sea Lane, as was the Chippy on Sandyfields. As we got old enough to drink (legally!) we would go to the New Inn where I remember playing, over and over again, 'Baker Street' on the juke box. Usually, the first day of our stay would involve a trip to Mablethorpe to get our fishing licences, then to a nearby farm for a dozen broken eggs and to the butchers for some Lincolnshire sausage. When my grandad's caravan was considered too 'old' for the site a kind local who I believe was called Maurice offered him... Read more

Is This The Watch Tower

View From Tobys Hill c1955
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I wonder if anyone can tell me if the tall black object in the distance in this photo is the coastguard watch tower which was at the top of Sea Lane throught the war and into the sixties or seventies. My grandfather was an auxiliary coastguard at Saltfleet during the war before moving to Donna Nook. My sister and I spent many holidays with my grandparents in South Somercotes and for some reason the coastguard tower remains an abiding image for us but we have no pictures of it. When I returned to Saltfleet a few years ago after an abscence of nearly 30 years I was struck by how the once sandy beach has changed totally and is now green!

Home Farm

I am writing this on behalf of my Dad, Harold Holmes nicknamed Tiny who is still alive at the age of 91, the oldest male born in Saltfleet. He was born in Saltfleet in 1919 son of the local baker Alfred & Elizabeth Holmes. Educated at the Saltlfeet School on the main road & eventually continuing the small holding from his dad at Home Farm. He played football for Saltfleet as the goal keeper winning division 2 & runners up in a Lincolnshire cup in 1951. Photo's to follow.
My Grandad relayed stories to my Dad of barges bringing coal & other goods down the river Creek at the bottom of Pump Lane & being off loaded & stored in what was known as "Teddy's Barn", now a residential accomodation.
Pump Lane used to be the main road in Saltlfeet containing a storage warehouse, a bakery, a carpenter' shop with the local post box, a blacksmiths shop, a slaughter house, a police house, a pub called rThe Rodney, & then... Read more

Happy Days

my husband and i were tenants of the old hewitts brewery at the crown inn ror about two years in the sixties we had some marvellous characters as regulars the appleby brothers what jokers, herman the butcher len the baker jim the estate agent strum the plumber whacker from the garage and lots of caravanners from sheffield and nottingham mainly in the summer when business was really brisk salt fleetwas the terminus for applebys buses and the drivers would usually have a break at the crown before returning to grimsby i remember gerry derek arnold ted and tom all good fun fellas! we had some hectic times withe the darts team very good losers usually ! i loved the walks on the beach when the pub was closed we had dogs and they thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of there runs and when the sea lavender was out it was like a littlle bit if heaven. I,ve been back a few times and it seems just as... Read more

Memories of Lincolnshire

Growing up

North Somercotes played a large part in my growing up, I lived with my parents, sister and brother on the Lakeside Lido in St Annes Avenue, next to my friend Cherry Mayfield. I particularly remember when we both had chickenpox and our mothers ran a line through our bedroom windows so we could play noughts and crosses back and forth.
I went to the local primary school, and The John Birkbeck Secondry Modern School as it was called back then. Mr Aegeter was the headmaster at the time. I also remember Miss Vickers the PE teacher.
I have fond memories of our weekend bike rides through the countryside of North and South Somercotes, there would be a group of us, myself, Cherry, Jill, and Andrew Humberstone to mention a few, we would leave in the mornings with a picnic lunch and ride around untill late afternoon when it would be time to return home.
Since leaving the village and emigrating to Australia with my family I have... Read more

Wonderfl Memories of my Childhood

I was born in March 1947. I believe it was snowing heavily! My mother and father ran their butchers business in the village and my Uncle Don had a commercial painting and decorating business. My Aunty Gwen and Uncle Duncan lived opposite so I had some lovely cousins to play with, Peter, Stuart, Suzette and Pat McCaw. I have 2 brothers Gilbert and Philip and my sister Gillian who sadly died in 1997. I went to North Somercotes school and I have lasting memories of that time. I remember Miss Chappell who also taught my mum and aunts before me, she was also the church organist and our Sunday school teacher. We went to her house in Front Street (now Keeling Street) to rehearse for Sunday school anniverseries. I was a brownie and a girl guide and our Captain was Mrs Cartwright. What a great time we had - so much fun and so many experiences, from campfires to putting on annual concerts in the Church Hall (I think it... Read more

Bay Horse Inn

I was born in Singapore in 1950, my parents were in the Air Force. We moved to North Summercoates in the late 1950s/early 1960s. My father bought a pub and it was called the Bay Horse Inn, it was run by my mom and dad, sister and brother. I being so young just helped very little, but we all had a great time there. We always looked forward to opening times because we all helped doing something around the pub, I got to collect all the dirty beer glasses and sometimes I tasted beer and it was awful, well, at that age of 12 years it was. The most wonderful memories of all was being a family in a place we all loved, being there for each other and always making friends.and growing up in a pub and getting to eat and drink all you want for free, but not beer. Dad sold out the pub in the 1970s and we all moved to Doncaster and started again in a... Read more

My Village as A Child

I was born at Grainthorpe in 1945 at Chapel Hill Cottages to Jim and Ivy Holdsworth
Dad was a Geordie who came to the village in 1943 with the Royal Ulster Rifles. My mother was Ivy Loughton and was brought up by her grandparents Teddy and Margaret Hiscock. Chapel Hill Cottages were next to the main chapel in the village. We had no water in the cottage. Dad fetched it by oxes yoke everynight from a well in the field next to centre house. The cottage consisted of one living room, one double bedroom, a box room which had a single bed in and you couldn't shut the door and a kitchen which you were not able to swing a cat round. I went to Grainthorpe Primary school and was taught by Mrs Kettlewell whose husband ran the local post office. The village had a very close community. As well as the school there were two pubs, the Bricklayers Arms and the Black Horse. There were three... Read more

Nana And Grandad 1950 Onwards

My Nana and Grandad Evelyn and Tom Gordon Walton, my dad's parents, retired to Alder Cottage, Crook Bank, Theddlethorpe. As a child I lived in a cottage in the grounds until moving away. But my brothers and I spent every school holidays with them. We visited after we were married right into 1976 when alas they both died. But I took my children and now my grandchildren, I was there with them 2 weeks ago, it holds so many memories for me. All are fond memories, spending the days on the beach looking for shells hidding in the dunes, making sand castles. The only thing that kept us away was the red flag flying on top of those tall lookouts for when the RAF had their bombing practice, firing at the wooden targets out towards the sea. Fishing in the dyke for tiddlers and falling in, ending up at the other side all wet with a field full of cows, my grandad had to rescue me. A day out at... Read more

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