Selby memories
Here are memories of Selby and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Selby or a Selby photo.
The Whit Walk
Does anyone remember the Whitsun walk (known as the Whit walk)? We all dressed up in our finest clothes and paraded through town. I think the Selby Times has some old photos of my two sisters on that walk. Also, do you remember the Sunday School on Millgate, run by the Salvation Army? - I believe. Every Sunday we attended, we got a little stamp in a book, and when you had enough stamps, you got a prize. I was awarded a King James illustrated Bible.
The Bridge
Living on the Barlby side of "the bridge" it seemed to dominate your life. If you had to catch a train, you set off a good deal earlier than normal in case you were "Bridged" ie in case it had to open for river traffic. I was born the year this photo was taken and my grandmother had a pram built for me at Silver Cross in Bradford, which was shipped to Selby by rail, and it is said it was so big they had to widen the pedestrian walkway on the bridge to accomodate me being pushed to and from Selby.
Teachers
Some more teachers that I remember are Miss Cooper, Mr Nicholson, Mr Downs, Mrs Irish, Mr Stevens (I think he went York to start his and his wife's own buisness), Mr Howarth the garden teacher, and Mr Thorpe the woodwork teacher. Some of these teachers moved to the new school that opened down Abbotts Road in August/September of 1963, I was 12.
Flaxley Road
My mum Barbara Cappleman lived at 29a from when it was built in the 1930s until 1960. My grandma Doris Cappleman lived there until 1984. I remember Mrs Cumiskys general store and Mrs Wrights lovely bakery. Also Whiteleys drapers shop and the Dews sweet shop round the corner. Reynolds had the chippy and there was also Roy's hairdressers and The Mutual which became the Co-Op. The Halls had the Post Office. Everyone knew everyone else and it was a very friendly community.
Allotments
I remember the allotments. My brother and I would have been 3 or 4 years old and we used to go walk round them with my Gran. We loved to run along the paths and turn on the taps ! I remember being taken to see a man called Paercy feed his pigs on bakery left-overs. I remember some piggies happily chomping their way through old Fruit Pies!
Fear And Joy at Flaxley Road School
I experienced the scary Miss Reid but none, in my opinion, was worse than Mr Perry and his cane. I was hauled in front of the class for being an exhibitionist which I swear thwarted any confidence I had for many years. Others fared worse. To counterbalance these experiences though, I had fantastic teachers following this such as Mrs Stafford, Miss Robinson and the wonderful Miss Hutchinson who instilled a love for travelling into many of us with her tales of travel to Africa.
Miss Reid
I too remember the isolated classroom at the front of the school on the right hand side of the main infants entrance. The class belonged to Miss Reid and I have to admit that although she read us that incredible story of 'The Little Grey Men', she scared me stiff. This wasn't helped by the fact that she once took delivery of some brand new school desks and she asked us not to mark them or write on them. Unfortunately I spilled a whole bottle of blue Stephens Ink all over the top of the desk I was sitting at. Only ex-Miss Reid pupils can imagine what happened then! Just to add insult to injury, it was FRIDAY the 13th.
Childhood Early Years
I spent my first years growing up in Kitchener Street. My grandmother years before worked behind the counter in the post office and was a member of the WRVS. I remember the area well even though I was only young. I can still remember some of the shops, Furniss the butchers, there were two fish and chip shops close to each other. Peckovers sweet shop which was sweet heaven, a hairdressers and Dews sweet shop opposite the Ritz cinema. On bonfire night there was always a bonfire on the grass area where the Gypsy Moth pub now stands.
Selby Girls High School
Does anyone have any memories of the former girls high school in Leeds Road, particular to the year when it became a mixed school 1967/8? I was one of the boys who left Drax Grammar School and became the first males to attend the school. Are there any original former pupils of that era out there?
Selby 1940's
During 1943 we were evacuated to Kelfield after being bombed out in London and Manchester, being an RC our nearest RC school was St.Mary's in Selby. My sister (older by 2 years) I was 5 used to walk from Kelfield to Selby every day to school, we were able to get a bus back at 3.30 pm every school day (the last bus). On the way to the bus terminus in the square we used to stop of at the "Maypole" grocery store to buy three pennyworth of broken biscuits, money was short then, Dad was away in the Merchant Navy on North Atlantic convoys. The girls in the Maypole in later years 1948-1951 era used to put whole cream custard biscuits in our bags. My sister and myself must have consumed large quantities of biscuits but never got fat, it must have been all that walking to school. I cannot recall any of the teachers names, who were mostly Nuns armed with big heavy black rulers that were brought... Read more
Confirmation
I also was confirmed here by Donald Coggan, and also attended Flaxley Road primary school. I still remember getting the slipper from Miss Reid around 30 times in one term, plus the cane from the head twice - I left the school in 1969 I think and went on to the Grammar School. We had a great footy team and also a great dancing team (rmember country dancing in the square in Selby. I left Selby in 1970/71 and have visited only once since.
Swan Inn
My grandparents used to run this pub - Joseph and Elsie Wall, although I am not sure of the time they were there but I think it was around the 1940s.
My Primary School
This was my primary school and junior school, when we had finished in the infant side we just moved next door to the junior side.
Teachers And Class Mates at School
My name is Mary Bradley and I attended this school with Linda Thonpson and Nicolette Martindale. I remember Mr Crossland I don't know the other teacher's name but she came to the school with a lovely dog. I attended that school from 1962. Who remembers Miss Newsome in the reception class? My classmates were Gary Mattinson, Steven Horseman, David Barnet.
Clock Cafe
I remember the Clock Cafe. It was a favourite. Mum used to take me there as a child. The fireplaces were huge and had oodles of brasses hanging everywhere. The tables were large and had big chairs around them. The waitresses wore little black dresses and white aprons over the top. Sometimes when I think back at it I can smell the interior in my mind. It would be a fantastic place to go these days. What a pity it has gone.
Flaxley Road
This photograph brings back so many memories. As a child I lived in Buller Street until 1972.
I spent many happy Saturdays at the Ritz cinema, seen here in the right background.
How civilised this looks. I recently went back to look at my "roots", Flaxley Road is now a traffic nightmare and the whole area is in decline. The only street which retains its charm is White Street.
Memories
I was a pupil here from 1960 to 68.
Who can add to the following list of teachers?
Mr Crossland (headmaster)
Mr Taylor
Mr Perry
Miss Atkinson
Miss Read (everyone was affraid of her)
Miss Booth (she was not a teacher, but was loved by everyone)
Miss Wormold
Buses
I had forgotten that the buses used to use the area in front of the abbey as a terminus.
I lived in Selby from my birth in 1954 until 1972. I frequently caught a bus from the corner of Buller Street & Flaxley Road to school on Abbotts Road.
Most of the buses in Selby were green, but the East Yorkshire buses were a regal shade of dark blue with a cream stripe.
Memory
I was 11 when this photograph was taken and lived in Buller Street.
The land where the Gypsy Moth was built had previously been a green space where a bonfire was held every November.
What A Change!!
I remember the big orchard on the right hand side of this photo... great fruit trees and fruit bushes. A great place to hide in. Pity it is a car park now... it should have been left alone!
Greenwoods
My father was manager of Greenwoods for a lot of years. Many Selby people will remember him. We lived around the corner at 1 Audus Street from 1955 onwards and the bedroom above the shop was mine!!!
School.
I went to Flaxley Road Primary School until 1969. There was a single classroom to the front of the school run by Miss Reid, my grandmother's friend, I was scared stiff of her.
The Swan
My Grandfather Joseph Wall owned this pub in the 40s I think. Him and his wife Elsie, and my dad James, eventually moved to Ebor Street.
Christenings And Confirmations...
me and my two sisters Christine and Beverley were christened in this church, I was also confirmed here by Dr Donald Coggan who went on to be Archbishop of Canterbury
Childhood
I lived in Kitchener Street as a child which is just around the corner of Flaxley Road to the left of the picture. There was a bakery next door for a while. I have great memories of the shops along Flaxley Road, such as the butchers which two old women seemed to run, the big grocery shop with its great smells, the women's fashion shop run by Mrs Whitely and the sweet shop. Mum used to clean for many of the shopkeepers and I remember being very impressed by Mrs Whitley's flocked swan wallpaper. Dad used to have allotments in Flaxley Road and had pigs so he used to get left-overs from the bakery. The sweet shop was fantastic with yummies such as lucky bags, pineapple lumps, acid drops, traffic light lollies, palma violets and that strange stuff like wood which you chewed on.
Shopping in Selby
The two girls in the lower left corner of this photograph are myself and my sister Elizabeth. We were probably out shopping with my mum, who is not visible on the photograph. I originally saw this photo in the Frith collection "Selby -a photographic history of your town" (W.H.Smiths) which I bought on one of my visits home. I went to the Council School on Flaxley Road and Selby Girls High School. I would like to see any other photos of Selby not in this collection, if anyone knows of any. I would particularly like to see one of the old Clock Cafe which was in the centre of Gowthorpe. I remember walking round the Abbey after we had been swimming at the baths, the Queen visiting to distribute Maundy money, Brownies and Girl Guides in the Hawden Institute, going to the 'pictures' at the Ritz on Scott Road on Saturday, ballet dancing classes with Vanda Dykes, going on picnics down Peppermint Lane (off Flaxley Road), cycling over the canal... Read more
Burials at St Mary's
My maternal grandmother was born in Selby. Annie McMenamin ( McManum or various spellings depending on who wrote the name down !) She lived in Hutchinsons Yard, Selby with her mother Catherine, father Michael, sisters Mary, Winifred, Ellen and brother John in the 1881 census.
I remember as a five year old (1953) visiting my great aunts Mary and Ellen in Selby. They had hens in the back yard of the house and my sister and I always got a fresh boiled egg for tea. Great aunt Mary died in her 90s I believe and is buried in St Marys as is great aunt Ellen. Perhaps my great grandfather Michael and great grandma Catherine are also buried there. I have no idea.
Family stories tell of how great aunt Mary and Ellen were spinsters and they used to hide when the rent man came to call.
Used to Live Here
My mum and dad ran this pub before we moved to Canada. I have lots of great memories.
The Ritz
My sister and I spent many an evening at the Ritz. I remember that sometimes we would be the only people in the cinema sometimes. You could buy a ticket and if you liked the movie you could just stay in the cinema and see it again for no extra cost. I also remember the special PG Tips shows when you could see the movies for the cost of a packet of PG Tips.
Ritz Cinema
Does anybody remember the Ritz cinema on Scott Road? I used to enjoy the Saturday afternoon pictures. In those days you had to stand up for the National Anthem. If it happened to be your birthday you got a free bag of sweets and an ice cream when going to the cinema.
Memories of North Yorkshire
Childhood
I have happy memories of childhood days living in Cawood and I still live here. I remember the bank and Wethralls' shop although I was very young but they are still very fresh in my mind, also the butchers' shop on the left which was Kettlewoods, then Baileys, then Summersgills. My uncle had a van like what is parked up in the photograph. We all used to get in and go to the east coast for day trips, 7 altogether, that included 4 adults and 3 kids, passing time but happy days.
CHILDHOOD DAYS
I was born in Ryther in 1956 in the house that my parents still live in on Mill Lane.
I have lots of happy memories of my school days at the primary school which has now been converted into a house.
We had lots of adventures especially in the floods which happened every year then. The milkman used to come in a boat to bring us milk.
My father now 81 years and mother 89 years are the oldest residents in the village and have been there since 1954.
My father has lots of pictures of Ryther and lots of stories.
Marriage of William Tasker And Margaret Webster
William Tasker and Margaret Webster were married November 24, 1846 in the Parish Church, Stillingfleet, York. William and Margaret are my Great Great Grandparents. They emmigrated to Tilbury, East Ontario, Canada. They are both buried in Victoria Cemetary on Tasker Road in Baddertown, Ontario Canada.
Escrick Park Gardens - Market Gardens - 1950 - 1966
My aunt and uncle - Mr and Mrs George Pratt - used to manage the market gardens in Escrick. We had many happy holidays there, and I remember the peaches and apricots growing up the wall, rows and rows of runner beans, greenhouses full of tomatoes and cucumbers etc. They lived in the large house (it could have been a tied or rented house with the job) with 7 of my cousins, who used to work for their father.
My earliest memory is going up on the train and alighting at a small level crossing 'somewhere' (it may have been Saltmarsh) and my grandmother (the only time I remember seeing her) meeting us with other family members. At that time they all lived and worked at Saltmarsh. I still have relatives in the area around York and Wheldrake etc. My grandmother Hannah Richardson nee Gamwell is buried in St Helen's Churchyard, Escrick.
My surname before marriage was Richardson, I can trace my family tree back to 1605 and Mathew Brunyee,... Read more
Roadhouse Family Pre 1840
I have never had the pleasure of visiting Monk Fryston but my eldest son Brett did while he was in school here in Canada. He was part of the Harrogate Music Festival in the 80's. Dear friends, Pam & Harry Roebuck of LumbyHill looked after Brett while he visited the town. Pam died on a few years ago but before she did we built up a very special relationship. She sent us many photographs which she and her family took for us, she also sent us two excellent maps of Monk Fryston. My ancestors came to Canada in 1820 and settled north of Toronto, Ontario. Letters were written back and forth about the family in Canada and what they had left in Monk Fryston. One of the sons wrote extensively of his life here and at home in England. He wrote of the joy of the the end of the Napoeonic War and described the glee of the soldiers returning to Selby.He and another brother, "James," also wrote of... Read more
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