St Ives memories
Here are memories of St Ives and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of St Ives or a St Ives photo.
Tractors
Monday market, being taken there by my Mum to do the shopping and then being indulged by the generous salesmen from Standens agricultural engineers and allowed to sit up in the (then) enormous cab and glory in watching our market hub-bub flowing past whilst imagining myself ploughing some vast Fen field. ( Genetics? My eldest son is now an agricultural equipment engineer and has always loved being around the machines.)
Grocer Of Bridge Street
My 3 x great-grandfather William Lightfoot was born in 1809 in Roxton, Bedfordshire. He was a grocer. His wife was Mary Jane Lightfoot (nee Clarke). They had 5 children, 3 of whom worked in the shop. The youngest son James (1846) was born in St Ives, he and his brother John Scott Lightfoot were painters. The family moved between 1861 and 1871 to Merryland, St Ives.
I am a descendant of William and Mary's eldest son William (1841) who became a grocer and tea dealer in Northampton.
The Rendevous Cafe
The year this picture was taken I lived in a flat above the Rendevous Cafe in the building directly behind the statue. Owned by Pat and John Harvey, this was home to a newly arrived American family, and this town has lived in the hearts of my sister and me ever since. I love to return whenever I can and am happy to feel right at home again each time!
Looking For Matthews
Hi I am researching my family tree. The name is Matthews My great great grandfather James came from St Ives, his son was Louis Matthews, they were cattle dealers and lived in Needingworth Rd from 1840 onwards. If anyone has any info it would be fantastic as I'm not making much progress. They both had a lot of children, James had 6, Louis was married twice and had 9! I must have some rellys out there! Here's hoping.
Memories of Cambridgeshire
My Parents Lived There
My sister and her husband Mr. & Mrs. E. Parkinson built a bungalow and shop on the corner of the main street and Pound Road. They kept it for many years and during that period my Mother and Father moved there and lived in Pound Road for a number of years before returning to Wales. My wife and I visited a number of times and we sometimes went out on the river in the punts that were moored at the Boat House. There was a small restaraunt in the Boat House. A very nice village on the side of the Ely river. We often walked to the adjacent village of Hemmingford Abbots, Houghton Mill and into Ely town. The Church is right adjacent to the river and during the times we visited there the Vicar had a steam propelled launch tied up alongside the Church. All so great to remember.
Victoria Terrace
I found out that my great great grandparents (Elizabeth and Henry Ablett) and family lived at 11 Victoria Terrace, Hemingford Grey duriing the 1851 census. His occupation was a shoemaker. We visited there from Canada in May of this year and the house is still standing. It was so strange to think that my ancestors lived in this little house 260 years ago! I looked around the back of the row houses and saw that many of them had been extended, but their house looked original in size. There was also a Players cigarette sign on the wall, which gave me goosebumps as my father smoked Players Plain here in Canada. Took lots of photos.
Sharon.
Needingworth
We moved to Needingworth in 1977 and bought a home 16 The Furlongs. We lived there until 1982. I worked at Silent Channel in the Industrial Engineering Office in Huntingdon and my then husband was in the RAF. I worked part time evenings at the local pub on the High Street The Queens Head then owned by Dennis and Peggy and they had two sons. I got to know a lot of the people who lived in the village. I also worked part time at St. Ives Motel then run by Mr & Mrs Cooper. My daughter was christened at Holywell Church in 1981. I was back in England in 2008 and couldn't find how to get into the village. I now live in the USA. We lived there until 1982. I would walk down to the river, pushing my daughter in her pram or walk into St Ives and back and life was good living in the village.
RAF Wyton.
I lived on the RAF Base with my then husband after we married in 1974. I got a bus to work in Huntingdon that stopped just outside of the main gate. If I missed the bus I was very late for work. We stayed there until 1977 until we bought a home in Needingworth. I enjoyed doing the 'march out' on the home as we painted all of the walls to pass the inspection. Jill and David Hertzog lived across from us and gave great parties until the early hours of the morning. My then husband liked going to the "pigs bar" with his work mates and USAF Alconbury for even later drinking hours. It was a fun place to be back then.
I Lived in Needingworth
I lived in Needingworth from 1977 to 1981, to get to the Ferry Boat Inn was within walking distance. We would sit on the grass near to the river and have our drinks on a warm summer day. If I remember correctly, this was one of the oldest pubs in the country and it was haunted. The outside of the building looks the same as I remember it, it had low ceilings and dark oak beams and a good atmosphere. The walk to it was down a two way road not that busy but the Ferry Boat always seemed crowded when we went. It was a mooring place for the boats on the river so it also picked up their trade.
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