Nostalgic memories of Dereham's local history

Share your own memories of Dereham and read what others have said

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.

Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.

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Displaying all 9 Memories

I remember taking a short cut thru the church cemertary to get to sandy lane ..I never was afriad at night, I ran mostly tho lol..Anybody elses shortcut??
I stayed there in 1972-73 and then went to Sandy Lane childrens home while going to Northgate High school..Was anybody around then that we share stories :)
I live a short walk from this lovely building. This year is the 50th anniversary of Bishop Bonner's Cottage being turned into a museum 1963 - 2013. There will be a free admission day to the museum on its birthday of 11th May 2-4.30pm, you can find out more about the cottage on www.derehamhistory.com.
This is the first photograph I've seen of an early glimpse of the school, I wish I could find more and information on it.
My maiden name was Marion Grange, I am now known as Marion Yallop. I used to go to Crown Road, Dereham school, where I finished my school days from there in 1968. I am trying to trace school class friends from when I was there; especially one which stands out the most I believe her name was Deborah, but cannot for the life of me remember her surname. ...see more
I can remember when I was 10 years old, walking down this road with another boy of the same age, his name was Arthur Bean and we were from the children's home on the Norwich road, the home was called Garfield House. I believe it is still there. We were both very happy on this particular Sunday afternoon, as we were allowed to be out by ourselves for the first time. After leaving Sunday School it took us what seemed ...see more
I can remember an amusing incident when I was about 4 years old. We lived in the heart of the country, there was no such thing as TV, radio or telephone, not much at all in the way of communication with the outside world, so unlike children of today, I was pretty naive. But I had heard someone mention something about putting money in the bank. Why such a subject had been raised in our house I have no idea, as we ...see more
First school London Road Infants, a short time in Scotland and then the Church Infants, each school day walking from Theatre Street (two doors up from 'The Cherry Tree') through the market place and down Church Street. I moved on to the primary at the top of Theatre Street and eventually Crown Road. While at Theatre Street I would occasionally return to the bottom of Church Street to the 'rag and bone' yard with ...see more
I was born in 1928 at Woodhill, Gressenhall and moved to Dereham at the age of 6yrs and left when I married some 20 years later. It was a happy childhood in spite of the war years, in fact it added to the excitement of those years, dashing out to crashed planes, collecting shrapnel, army badges etc and of course the generous handouts from the American troops of chocolate, gum, cigs plus the grub when we went on to the ...see more