Great Haywood

Read and share memories of Great Haywood and Staffordshire inspired by Frith photos

Summer Holidays

I was born in Brewery Yard, Great Haywood. After the war my mum moved to Notting Hill, London, so in the summer holidays my sister and I would stay at Nan & Grandads in the village. Mum {Eileen Bailey} played the piano in the Fox & Hounds, Stubbs's were the local butchers. I spent a few months at the local school, during the Notting Hill riots. We would come on our own by train, { it was safe in the 50s} then a bus to Shugborough Park, and would walk across the park lugging a rather large suitcase, which my dad had put handles on each end to make it easier for us. I remember going to the pictures in the ...read more here
Contributed by Christine Pitcher

A 1950s childhood memory

I have very fond memories of Great Haywood during the 50s as my sister and I went to stay with our grandmother during the school holidays. We lived near to the centre of Manchester and so to visit this village in the 50s was like entering another world.
Grandma lived on the outskirts of the village in Tolldish Lane and she was quite a reclusive lady. Her husband had died in 1952 and because her cottage was not in the village as such, she kept herself to herself.
The photo, I believe, is of the post office in the village which was kept by a Miss Yelland. My sister and I, and of course grandma, would walk down to the ...read more here
Contributed by Anne Forster

Bailey Bridge Pontoon - Canal Cruisers.

I built the boat shown on the right hand side of the photograph.   Bailey Bridge pontoon MKVI N0.19053 was manufactured by Gee Walker & Slater Ltd, Uttoxeter Road, Derby and sent to Engineers Stores, US Army Depot, Newbury, Berkshire on 29/9/1944.  At post-war WD surplus sales, a considerable number of these Bailey Bridge pontoons were bought by Levesley's International and stored at their depot at Alrewas near Burton on Trent. John Dobson, a local boat builder at Burton, began putting cabins on to these pontoons for sale as canal cruisers.  I bought the pontoon hull for £18.00, built the cabin to a Dobson design, fitted out the interior and named it 'Agenor'.  In August 1950, powered by a British Anzani 4HP outboard ...read more here
Contributed by Alwyn Davies

The Clifford Arms

Ahh, The Drinking Hole!
Contributed by Simon Allen BMus. (Hons)