Nostalgic memories of Basingstoke's local history

Share your own memories of Basingstoke 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 Memories 1 - 10 of 15 in total

I started at Fairfield's Infant School as a 5 year old in 1958. I think my teacher was a Mrs Spicer, and I was always thankful it wasn't Miss Mole, who was a 'terror'. My name than was Janice Catherine Brown, and my Mum June Brown was a dinner lady at the school. Mr Thomas I seem to remember was the Headmaster of both Infant and junior schools, strict but fair! I later attended the junior ...see more
Further to my previous memory of Basingstoke,and a reader mentioning Odys groceries shop, I too remember it well, also Yerburys hairdressers in Winton Sq and Giffords store.As well as that there was a tea shop on London Rd, The Good Hostess and on Hackwood Rd I remember Nancy Noyes bookshop. My grandparents had their golden wedding at the Venture in 1961.I also have fond memories of mapledurwell where a friend of ...see more
My parents lived at 233 Winchester Rd but moved to Wilmslow in 1948. My grandparents (Herbert and Mabel Higgs) lived at 4 Fairfields Rd (now a private hotel) having previously lived at Red Gables,Crossborough Hill. I have many happy memories of the old town,Wote St (griffins Butchers shop) Nutts news agency and the old Wilts and Dorset busdepot where I used to look at the buses parked there. Richard Higgs,Brisbane, Australia
I was born in Basingstoke in 1942 at 17 Mortimer Lane, pulled down during the town redevelopment. I remember playing on the bomb site opposite St Michaels Church, now a remembrance garden. We also used to go into the meadow at the back of Mortimer Lane at mid-day on Sunday, sit in a tin bath in the stream and wait for the torrent of water from Thornycrofts swimming pool to propel us down ...see more
Pretty sure that Butler's was the "approved" dealer for local school uniforms - certainly I got fitted out there for my Queen Mary's Grammar School uniform in 1959. Barry Howard
I was born in Basingstoke and was Baptised in this lovely church 63yrs ago. As was most of my family.
I remember the Town Hall from the late 1950's - 1960's. My father, the late Dr Frank Foden MBE, used to be a lecturer at what was then Basinstoke Technical College. He used to write a pantomime each year for staff and students to perform at Basingstoke Town Hall. Some of early planning rehearsals used to take place in a coffee bar just round the corner from the Town Hall. I think it was called The ...see more
I use to spend some of my summer holidays with my lovely nan. She lived in a house called Swimbrook, it was up Kempshot Lane. It was pulled down years ago. She used to take me to Woolworths to buy a scrapbook and glue - we would catch the bus. I can remember going up some steps in Woolworth and the floors were wooden. She had the biggest garden, and my uncle used to push me round in a wheelbarrow. Such happy times for a girl from the East End of London.
I went to Fairfields Infants in the years 1951-53, and can remember hearing of the death of King George VI in February 1952. My sister (a year older) was there too. We each received the book "Elizabeth Our Queen" soon after the Coronation in 1953. I remember the teachers well - Mrs Griffiths, Mrs Norsworthy, Mrs Croft, Mrs Webb and two terms under Miss Hole. In contrast to another posting here, I did not ...see more
I attended Fairfields "school", and I use that term loosely, in the early 1960s. I have nothing but bad memories that have haunted me for 50 years! The only pleasurable memory I have of the school is hearing a new singing band being played in the schoolyard on a portable record player by a few girls, it was 1964 and it was the Beatles. The girls were immediately taken to the headmasters office and their record player confiscated! Fond memories indeed.