Saxmundham memories
Here are memories of Saxmundham and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Saxmundham or a Saxmundham photo.
Parham House
Does anyone have any information about Parham House. I believe that it was a residential school in the 60's - 70's run by a Mrs Russell. I wonder if there are any records surviving from this period?
Regards
Hilary Player
Family of 14 And Still Take in Lodgers!
John and Charlotte Freeman lived in the white houses by the motor bike. ( I'm sure I have photos of groups outside the house with this bike!). My great grandfather was a blacksmith with his smithy in Church Road. He made many of the fences that protected trees on the Hurts Farm estate. They had 12 children. 8 boys (Thomas, George, Sam, Fredrick, Sidney, Percy, John and Bill)and 4 girls (Elsie, Rose, Honor and Kate - Percy and Kate were twins). Thomas was a Lance Corporal with the 4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and died in 1916 aged 20 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Percy used to cut gents' hair in a shed in the garden in Albion Street where he lived. His brother Sam lived next door. Rose (Hulme) had a laundry the other side of the railway line in Chantry Road and used to have whist drives for the soldiers there. (I think it was later a motor bike shop.) She later lived in Albion Street as... Read more
Blacksmiths
Apparently my Gr Grandfather John Freeman owned a blacksmith shop that was situated just on the left hand side of the road here at the beginning of the 20th century. He also made the 'fences' that protected the bases of many of the trees on the Hurts Hall estate. I've never been able to find any written infromation about him or the 'smithy' though.
THE WOOD AND CHURCH HILL
LIKE JOHN FISHER SAID WE PLAYED IN THE WOODS AND EXPLORED ALL THE SURROUNDING FARMLAND, SCARED OF BEING CAUGHT BY SQUIRE LONG AND LATER MISS ALDOUS. AS FOR THE OLD WELL UP CHURCH HILL, I CAN REMEMBER DROPPING ROCKS DOWN IT WHEN THERE WAS A LOUD BANG AND A FLASH WHICH MADE US DISAPPEAR QUICKLY FROM THE SCENE. I ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT HAD BEEN. CERTAINLY TAKES YOU BACK READING THESE MEMORIES.
We Played in The Woods
The woods behind South Entrance were our playground. I lived at 5 South Entrance and knew every nook and cranny, and in the spring I knew where every nest was.
Names that come to mind are our neighbours Julian and Christopher Chilvers,
Doreen, Christine Mattinson (or Matteson) then David Nettleingham, Cookie, Richard Green, Colin Thomas. Our biggest secret was the old well, through the far end of the woods, and up Church HIll. It had been covered with a concrete cap, but we chipped away and made a hole, lighting paper and throwing it down to get a good look. It contained dumped wartime explosives, probably incendiaries, which we threw bricks at. I got my eyebrows badly singed when something went off and a wall of fire shot up. Its been filled in now...but did they fill in the explosives too? I suspect so, which means there are houses very nearby. Oops!
I recall vividly making bows and arrows, carrying an air-rifle, dodging Squire Long's wife in her Morris... Read more
Street Farm Road
We used to live in both houses as my father was the caretaker to the buildings which would have been built to the rear of the photos.
Ethel & Tommy Downes, Normanhurst, Rendham Road
My grandparents were Ethel and Tommy Downes who lived at Normanhurst, Rendham Road, Sax from the early 1900s until their deaths in the late 1960s. They had four children, Gladys (1913), my mum Phyllis (1914), Norman (1920) and Arthur (1921). Grandad Tommy bore a great resemblance to Field Marshal Montgomery and even wore a beret like him. He worked for the Post Office as a telegragh engineer and was a keen member of the British Legion. My gran's maiden name was Gildersleeves. I have fond memories of this house and spending many hours with my cousins, Rita, Judy and Kevin Downes, Shirley and Graham King from Framlingham, and taking out grandad's dog Nell and feeding his chickens! A family called Maplestone lived next door, and their daughter was called Glynis. If anyone knew the Downes family please get in touch on reevelynn@hotmail.com Thank you. Lynn Reeve (nee Creasey)
International Stores
A previous shared memory recalling International Stores reminds me that my father worked there, as a roundsman. He would cycle every day from Leiston, then do the equivalent all over again in Saxmundham, several times a day as he delivered groceries.
He had his own band - he played piano - and met my mother, Joan Spatchet, at a dance in the Market Hall. They married in 1937, my sister Ann was born a year later and I arrived on February 23rd 1944 - just a few weeks after my father was killed on a bombing raid over Germany on January 1/2nd, when his plane was attacked by a night fighter. Two years ago we travelled to Germany from our home on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border, and with the help of a local journalist, the Mayor of Weyhausen, and the townsfolk, we found the crash site of his plane. It was in a forest and has been left undisturbed, with the Mayor pledging to place flowers on the site every... Read more
Memories of Suffolk
The Eight Bells
I have very happy memories of Hazel and I looking after the Eight Bells for Jack and Sylvia when they went on holiday. This was for a few years in the late 60's and early 70's. Most sadly, my lovely wife Hazel, 'nee' Cook, died very suddenly just a year ago today, 26 March. My family came together with me last Sunday, 25 March 2012, and the new Vicar, Andy Wolton, said a few prayers for us after the service, at the graveside. So Hazel has come home. We all agreed what a lovely welcoming vicar Andy is. Every parish needs a vicar like Andy. We were talking about what a lively village Kelsale was in the 60's compared to today. The Bells was busy most of the time. Sid Law's grocery shop; slip a list in before you went to work and the box of groceries was on your doorstep when you got home - and no £5 charge. Mind you, I remember any loose items were always 'just... Read more
Swinging 60s
Memories of dances at Leiston/Aldeburgh to the music of local band, The Rebels, with mates Steve Mew and Keith Tomblin. I worked at G.A. Hubbards as an aerial erector before moving to London, where I still live with my wife and 3 children. I remember the 8 Bells pub whose landlords were Jack & Sylvia Ford. My aunt & uncle Dot & George Scopes still live at Beaumont Cottages, my dad's name is Matt (Paddy) Mckenna.
When I Was 5
I grew up on Church Lane. I had an auntie and uncle living on each side. We had a well for about 10 cottages. I know that the Lane has a different name now. My sisters and I used to play at the big white house at the top of the hill and in the churchyard. We went to the school in the Guild Hall until my sisters had to take a bus to Framlingham. I have some lovely memories of my childhood there. I remember when Queen Elixabeth II was crowned, we all stood on the road to Saxmundham and cheered as the cars went b. My dad took me to the school to get my mug with an orange inside it to commemorate the crowning of the new queen.
Kelsale Eight Bells:
I was born and grew up in Kelsale and have known all the under named people at
some stage. I am retired now and like Ann I am back living in Kelsale and have so
many good (and not so good) memories I could relate about the village people and
village life in the fifties. I agree with Ann that things have changed so much now as
is the case with the majority of villages, mainly due to the closure of the local pubs,
shops and post offices which has removed much of the community spirit of bygone
years, and the influx of 'home in the country' townies who would really prefer to be
living in a town with everything just round the corner, or who 'love living in the
country' with secret aspirations of becoming 'Lord of the Manor' overnight.
The villagers Ann mentions were just a few of the 'real characters' of Kelsale each
in their own right worthy of a chapter in the book of Kelsale Village... Read more
The Yanks Who Lived in Kelsale For A Bit
I don't know if anyone remembers us. My father was stationed at Bentwaters and he, my Mom, my two brothers and I lived in Kelsale for three years from 1967 through 1970. They were three of the best years of our lives. We loved living in Kelsale. Everyone was so nice and welcoming.
I was nine years old, my brothers were six and three. We lived in The Old Post Office on The Street. I am sure the street name has changed by now. I remember playing in the conger field and in the churchyard. My brother broke his arm on the playground across from the guild hall.
We played with Ivan Ludbrook, Wayne and Tanya Watson and many others.
We attended the Methodist Chapel and we still hear from Vera Mann and her family every year.
I remember a Mrs. Rowe played the organ at the chapel and she rode her bicycle to and from the village to do her shopping.
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