Strete memories
Here are memories of Strete and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Strete or a Strete photo.
I Was Born There
I remember going to school at Strete in the Easter, up to the summer holidays, as a 4 year old in 1964. When we were due to return, we had to go to Stoke Fleming primary because Strete primary had closed. All the Rowdens, Ewings, Harises and Yabsleys blamed me for the school closing. I was totally gutted! I lived in at No 3 Severns Corner, where I was born, with my mother and four sisters. Our next door neighbours were the Skinners, the father's name was Bill. I remember one son's name was Richard, who used to scare me while wearing a WW2 gas mask. I had many wonderful memories of Strete as a child and remember many locals names. We moved from Strete to Dartmouth in 1970, where a new chapter in my life started.
Memories of Devon
Sailor Boyo!
I remember my parents swinging me between them along a fir tree'd lane to the sea, singing 'Sailor Boy-oh'. We were camping at a site run by a man called 'Roly' (Rowlandson perhaps). Imagine my parents' delight at camping under the stars after the Blitz and London. Their happy memories stayed with them always. And I remember my first experience of the smell of the pine trees - I was three!
Widdicombe Children's Home
Anyone who knows or went to Widdiecombe Home, can you get in touch, do you have some photos, or memories. I went there as a young boy 6 years old, hope to hear from someone, hoping to visit all around south Devon shortly. I remember goingto the beach, and seeing the lighthouse as it always shone in the home.
Widdecombe House
I and a few other chidren were sent from Portsmouth authorities to this school which was for malajusted children. Mr Benions was the principle and it was run on the lines of a Rudolf Steiner School. We had no schooling and were made to work scrubbing and cleaning all day. The punishments were tremendous. We tried to get letters out to tell our parents but they were all censored. When Portsmouth Authorities found out we were all removed. The next thing I knew was the headlines of a Sunday Paper stating "The School to shock Britian". If any one has a cutting of this paper could they please let me know the date. It was around 1959. I remember Norris who has posted the other memory. I remember a shed on the road from Widdicombe House to Torcross in which cattle were slaughtered and we helped. I can also remember Mr Benions taking a car load along Slapton Sands to help build a house on the top of the hill.... Read more
Warfleet
I first came to Dartmouth in 1966 as a member of the Vancouver Boys Band. We were a 39 piece military style marching/concert band. All of us in the band fell in love with Dartmouth. We were hired to play for the Carnival in June and the Regatta in August. I returned with the band in 1968 and 1970. On one of the trips, a Mr Dwyer gave Arthur Delamont, the conductor of the band, a history book on Dartmouth and he passed it on to me. It sat on my bookshelf for years, years that saw me become a band conductor and later a writer. At some point I picked the book up again and couldn't put it down, absorbing all the names and the lore from John Hawley to Francis Drake to Thomas Newcombe. I knew all the roads and high streets and low streets from my adventures in the band and made the trip up the Dart often, past Agatha Christie's house, all the way up to... Read more
Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth
I joined the College in Sep 1965 at the last moment so they were not really expecting me despite the fact MOD Navy told me to proceed. I was not a brilliant pupil, but ready to give it my all. I was not the pattern that they were hoping to mold into the standard officer material. Despite the fact that I had swum all my life, I turned out to be a 'backward' swimmer. I was also a 'backward' flasher as it applies to reading morse coded flashing light messages. I was also a 'backward' sailor when it came to passing proficiency tests on the navy's boats. and so on. I did graduate the Basic Training, but had to put considerably more effort in these tests than did the average recruit it seemed. I 'enjoyed' the rest of my five years afloat with the Survey Navy, until other things called for my attention ashore.
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Places this week
Here are some of the places you've shared memories of this week:
- Harrington, Cumbria
- St Asaph, Clwyd
- Riddings, Derbyshire
- Kitts Green, West Midlands
- Coalville, Leicestershire
- Willerby, North Humberside
- Gawber, South Yorkshire
- Mitcham, Surrey
- Glossop, Derbyshire
- Harrow Weald, Middlesex
- Royston, South Yorkshire
- Hindhead, Surrey
- Ramsey St Marys, Cambridgeshire
- Burghfield, Berkshire
- Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire
- Penrhiwceiber, Mid Glamorgan
- Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
- Chelmsford, Essex
- Rossett, Clwyd
- Lowestoft, Suffolk
- ... and lots more - Browse this week's memories now.
Your memories
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I Remember When...
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A colourful treasure trove of memories, "I Remember When" is an
irresistible mix of personal stories and recollections that affectionately reveal the detail of everyday life in Britain.
