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Brading

Brading photos (30 available)

Old photo of Brading

Brading maps (2 available)

Old map of Brading

Brading books (1 available)

Brading memories

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You can also read memories of nearby places in Isle Of Wight below.

Isle Of Wight memories

Summer Holidays

Sandown, the Beach c1950

Many of my childhood summer holidays were spent at Sandown.  We usually stayed at Mrs. Woodnutt's hotel in Carter Street.  Mr. Woodnutt hired out the deck chairs on Sandown Beach.  He also kept ferrets and I was allowed to go and help him look after them.  One of our family's favourite places was the miniature golf course pictured.  It was called Brown's as was the canoe lake next door.  Browns made the most delicious ice cream, very welcome after following the grown-ups around the pitch and putt course. Oh the joy when I was deemed old enough to have a putter, ball and score card of my own!
A memory of Sandown contributed by Eileen Hammond

Bembridge my home

Bembridge, High Street c1955

I was born in Seaview but my mother and grandparents lived at "erndene' Steyne rd.
I went to the Bembridge villiage school and attended the villiage church. I was free to roam the villiage aand beaches at will as the villiage was very safe for children.
I and my family would swim at Lane end and at Forelands and Howegate, We would look for winkles and crabs and also would go mushrooming on the downs. My father was a pilot so we spent time at the Bembridge airport. We lived part of the time on Toad Hall houseboat on the harbour. My mother taught me to love Bembridge and she knew it very well(as did I) She knew the names of ...read more here
A memory of Bembridge contributed by lesley phillips

MY FIRST JOB

Seaview, Pier Hotel 1918

I worked at the Pier Hotel in the summer of 1960. It was my first job. I was a commis waiter ..didn't really like it at all...but I was billeted out at a nearby village.
I had my first drunk drinking scrumpy mixed with cheap red wine with Italian waiters from the hotel in the pub in Seaview..an experience which brought me great suffering and required my taking the next day off work in order that I would not die !

I also was fortunate to meet a lovely Dutch young woman,Riet Berendsen, 4 years my senior, who was an au pair girl at the hotel. We kissed and held hands on the sea wall. We saw each other ...read more here
A memory of Seaview contributed by DYLAN RIVIS

Youthful Pranks (in Binstead)! 1958 - 1962

I am a 67 year old British citizen and have lived for over 40 years as a rock musician in Germany. I went to Ryde School in the 60s. After I left I was lonely living in London and used come back to the island most weekends - to my friends in - wait for it! of COURSE....in Binstead. I used to stay at the parents of my schoolfriend Ian Squire, Mr & Mrs Holmes-White. Ian went to Australia later. Sometimes I stayed at Major Carleton's villa where us boys used to slip out in the night and have wild parties near the beach with the Au Pair girls from the villa. My friend Brian Read from Ryde had an old ...read more here
A memory of Binstead contributed by Simon Hornsby

Extracts From Brading & Isle Of Wight books

Brading, Village 1923

Brading is one of the oldest towns on the Isle of Wight, once returning two members to Parliament. People have lived in this locality for a long time - not far away is a fine example of a Roman villa, with a pavement showing Orpheus playing a lute and surrounded by animals.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".

Brading, Old Cottages c1955

At the beginning of the 19th century Brading’s curate was Legh Richmond, whose moral tale ‘The Annals of the Poor’ and other rural stories enjoyed a large readership. Richmond worked hard for the local community, and his tales incorporated and made famous several real-life residents of the town.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".

Brading, High Street c1955

During a French attack on England in 1545, a large fleet of warships anchored off Brading harbour in the hope that the English fleet could be lured out of Portsmouth. When the English vessels failed to appear, French troops landed on the Island, burning and looting, and were resisted only by the Islanders who inflicted heavy casualties on the invaders.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".

Brading, High Street c1955

There are some fine memorials within the church, notably those of the Oglander family, who had held land nearby since the Norman Conquest. Sir John Oglander, who died in 1655, wrote an early history of the Isle of Wight.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".

Brading, the Bull Ring c1955

Brading’s Bull Ring is a legacy of the barbaric tradition of bull-baiting, where a tethered animal would be attacked by a succession of dogs. All that remains is a wide open space and the tethering ring.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".