Favourite Memories
Reconnecting with our shared local history.
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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Search for your favourite UK places and read memories of the local area in days gone by.
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Tips & Ideas
Not sure what to write? It's easy - just think of a place that brings back a memory for you and write about:
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How the location features in your personal history?
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The memories this place inspires for you?
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Stories about the community, its history and people?
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People who were particularly kind or influenced your time in the community.
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Has it changed over the years?
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How does it feel, seeing these places again, as they used to look?
This week's Places
Here are some of the places people are talking about in our Share Your Memories community this week:
...and hundreds more!
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Displaying Memories 301 - 350 of 2029 in total
I clearly remember these Land Rover "Tunnel Patrol" vehicles although I was only 7 in 1965. I thought that they were real Police vehicles (were they labelled "Tunnel Police" I wonder?) and I remember being puzzled by the cream colour as ordinary Police vehicles were either all white or sky-blue with white doors. My family used to visit my grandmother (who lived in Tranmere) virtually every week and my dad ...see more
I Lived in Bulford Camp from 1942 - 1958 and attended Wing School. The street the school was on was Bond St. A street of terraced corrigated iron houses, inhabited by civillian workers. My family and I returned in 1989 to see the street but it had been cleared, as had the blocks of houses A-E. The thing I remember most about Wing School is that I received the cane each Friday morning due to my ...see more
I lived in Halfway House, Common Road, Great Wakering (near Potton Island), from 1957 to 1963. I lived there with my parents, two sisters and three bothers, all older than me. The primary school was a small red brick building in the middle of the village and the County Secondary school was where the current primary school is now (near the post office). As we had no lights or brakes on our cycles (not legal) ...see more
A Personal Recollection of growing up during the last days of the pedestrian era in rural England by Tom Thornton
A Yokel's Tale
My earliest recollection of my Thornton grandparents, Alice and Tom, dates back to my pre-school years, when my Mum and Dad occasionally visited them at May Cottages, Longwood Dean. They lived at the south end of a group of four tied Mock Tudor cottages which had steep brick steps ...see more
In the early 80's my dad was walking our dog in the park when he came across an eagle. Turned out it had been stolen from Colwyn Bay Zoo. He captured it with the dog's lead, ended up in the national press and got £100 reward. My dad died last year but he will ever be remembered in print as the eagle catcher.
After the Second World War and during the austere period of rationing, among the items that were in short supply was coal. People would burn anything in order to keep warm, and many were the trips that I made to Flint Woods for wood. My dad had a big saw and it was my job to cut these tree trunks into small logs. Also, in addition, we would burn coke. This was obtained from the Gas Works on ...see more
The Cambridge Military Hospital was apparently founded as part of the initiative begun by Florence Nightingale after the Crimean War to improve medical facilities for the Army. It was built on a grand, traditionally solid Victorian scale, and as I remember, had very long corridors, which seemed to be about a quarter of a mile long! At least, it seemed, standing at one end, the roof and floor met at the other. ...see more
I was born to Michael and Mary Murray (nee Williamson) at 79 Reather Street - a long terrace street running between Rochdale Road and Oldham Road about a mile and a half from the city centre. I remember going to Osborne Street public baths and washhouse with my mother on a Saturday morning and the corner shop on Reather Street., where my mother used to get groceries 'on tick' each week. I remember going to ...see more
I was born in Kibblesworth in 1945 but my parents and I moved back to our flat in the Redheugh Area of Gateshead when I was about two or three. But mam put me on the bus every Sunday morning to travel to the primative Methodist Church Sunday school. Peggy Balmer would meet the bus and take me to sunday school. Afterwards I would climb the bank up to Short Row to Gran Wards for ...see more
I lived next door to the Church for 17 years and during that time, I climbed to the top of the spire just once. In 1962 when I was 10, some neighbours were having their house decorated. Being an outgoing (some would say nosey) child, it didn't take me long to befriend the two men who were doing the work. One day, during the summer holidays, they told me that they had got permission from the vicar to go to the ...see more
I lived on the border of Belvedere and Erith, just off Parsonage Manor Way and used to travel to Erith by bus. I remember as a child of about 8-10 taking the 122a into Erith to go to the Odeon, Saturday Morning Pictures. I seem to remember it was 6d downstairs and 9d upstairs. I cannot recall what I saw now, but this was an important time for me as it began an interest in cinema which has lasted all ...see more
My name is Roland Mitchell. I worked at Walton colliery as a haulage hand. I worked alongside Percy Heckles, Alan Jennings, Phillip Casgoin and Phillip Redmond and a young lad by the name of George Bernard Shaw. We would take supplies up the tailgate of Berkwood. The tailgate was uneven and also had a very low roof where one would crouch down and walk for fifty yards. The haulage engine driver ...see more
This is not so much a memory, but the man in the photo is my great, great, great grandfather, and his boat behind. I think the lady is Fanny Matthews who I believe is also a relative - but not sure how.
Though the summers were often cold and the on-shore wind very cold, it was great fun working as a lifeguard in the late 60s and early 70s at the Rhos on Sea Swimming Pool. In the mornings after sweeping the terraces and pool and emptying the litter drums, it was off to Sheard's deli in the village for milk loaves, filled with salad coleslaw and salami for breakfast and lunch.
Crowds ...see more
We were sent as children occasionally, from Child's Hill to Sainsbury's on Golders Green Road. Ladies in uniforms, behind glass fronted counters, cut cheese and sliced ham to order. Everything else also behind counter and had to be requested - no self service then (and this was probably early 70's). Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Ionic, every day during one particularly special ...see more
Hi, Herbert here. As a very small boy, locked away in my head, I suddenly remember street lights; they were funny street lights with arms. Well, every night a man used to light them when it were going dark -in those day electric was unheard of. In the morning he would come along and put the flame out. On the street lamp, just above the arms, were windows and a door to open so the man could light it. ...see more
I am Jean Dunn, nee Livingston, and my Dad was the village policeman from 1953 to 1958. We lived in the police house at 'Sandymount' on Whitchurch Road. We left there when Matthew Lowe and his family moved into the new police house in Peckforton Hall Lane, which I remember being built. I have a brother called David and we both went to Spurstow CP School, in fact I started school there and left after five ...see more
Bryant's Post Office with Mrs Robson, a Queen Motherish figure always dressed in a black two piece, dishing out pensions, stamps and postal orders from the aloof position behind her cage. Duggie Bain's cobblers, the warm oily smell, my first football boots were bought there for 13/6d. The proprietor ever smiling, with his gold rimmed glasses, shiny bald head, gammy leg and leather apron, he could have been ...see more
As local village children we used to walk from Fairy Cross meeting other children from the council houses along the way and wind our way through the narrow lane, sometimes picking wild strawberries in summer - moving out of the way of cars that needed to pass us - usually on their way to church also - untill we arrived at St. Andrews, Alwington. We always sat up in the choir stalls with Mrs. Elston (who ...see more
We lived in Headon's Cottage, Fairy Cross - it had been an old German doctor's cottage in the 1700s, a Doctor Wacerill who is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard, and his faded plaque was still above the front door - walls made of cob and thatched roof etc. We were just up the road from Portledge drive - my grandfather William George Harris was woodsman and forester on the Portledge Estate for the ...see more
My gran used to be the nurse at the first aid post at Peter pans pool, next to the first aid post was a hut that stored surplus and waiting to be fixed rides ie, hobby horse, rocket or a car or life size figures of Cinderella and I remember a cowboy and an Indian, my imagination went wild in there. I used to dress up as a nurse and pretend to be a nurse like my gran. Lost children found their way to ...see more
Conclusion
On my last visit it was hard to see where the village was. The small triangular field is now a park but it looks so small. The place I remember seemed so much larger than Small Park that is now there.
Having been raised in a small village throughout the 40's and into the 50's we may not have had many possessions, but what little we did have was appreciated. Above all though, we valued our family, our ...see more
I hated hop picking. We started in 1938 to help pay for my sister's uniforms when she went to Ashford County School. At first my mother was slightly ashamed but soon entered ino the spirit and competition as to who could pick the most bushells. We had a half bin with the Worsleys having the other half. Mrs Worsley's father had been a police inspector in Tunbridge. The Worsleys were Scottish from ...see more
Hello there David. "Old" Stonejar Morgan from Woodville road was a mining instructor in No. 2 Pit in the Blackvein seam at the Marine Colliery. Between them the team of 8 instructors taught all aspects of coalmining, albeit very old fashioned methods. For instance, one of the instructors was Dai " Ponty" Davies who favoured a cloth cap whilst working, but when he was actually hewing coal he hung his cap complete with ...see more
I grew up in Woodhouse Eaves and my siblings and I went to the school in this picture. This is of St Paul's junior school and if my memory is correct it had four classrooms, and the headmaster's office was in the building closest in view. We had to go into his office to get our school supplies as he had them stored in a great big cupboard! The metal barrier outside each entrance was a favourite for doing ...see more
Ivy Myers.
I wonder how many people from Chalfont remember the "Rose and Crown", a Benskins pub. My father owned it from 1946 until 1950. There was also the “Kings Head” which was on the corner of Joiners Lane. Of course if you look for them now you won't find them, the area is covered by the dual carriage-way and round-a-bout. At this time the village had hardly any cars going through it. My ...see more
My parents, younger brother and I moved to Tidworth in 1938 when I was 3 and my brother 1 year old. I was born in Collingbourne Ducis and we spent a very short time in Ludgershall but, as I understand it, the new council houses were too damp so my father was allocated one of the new War Department houses in Nepaul Road, then known as Zouch Cottages. Owing to his pre-war military experience, my dad was soon ...see more
Scouting Life during the Forties
I was born in January 1936 in a large village, Lemington in Northumberland, England. Lemington bordered on the limit of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was a working class area and the houses ranged from coal miners houses with no indoor bathrooms to new ones that were build by the council around the time I was born. My family moved in to the house, I was ...see more
I used to work in Thomas's arcade and I lived at old Hunstanton, so I would walk to work. I would always walk along the cliffs to go home, and it was on my way home one night at about 11pm that I noticed that the bell in the gardens had gone; it was there when I went to work that morning. Strange really after all the years it was there, someone waited until the sixties to pinch it. It was a wonder that myself or ...see more
When I used to come down to Shelsley I used to stay with my Nan at New Mill Bridge until she sold the shop and moved to Birmingham where she stayed with her eldest daughter May Bennet and her family. Later, she came to stay with my mom and dad,
After she left Shelsley I used to cycle down and stay with my cousin Marjorie Anderson [She was Auntie May Bennet's eldest child}. Whilst the City school holidays ...see more
My mother, Queenie Grounds, was the headmistress of Lynfield House School from 1946 until 1953, when we moved from Lynfield to The Homestead at the top of Sandringham Road, where it met Lynn Road. When we first moved to Hunst'on we lived in a tiny summer cottage at the bottom of Seagate Road while my parents searched for a house where they could have a school. Next door lived two ...see more
I lived in number 9 Tunnel Road which is still there today. It's the road running from the side of the flyover at the bottom of Chester Street to access the tunnel. Me and my brother and sisters played every day on the top (as we called it), this is where the gardens were situated right at the mouth of the tunnel. We would use white pavement chalk to draw a house on the ground and pick sods from the grass ...see more
I lived in Whitfield Place one street down from The Queens Hall picture house later called The Queens Dance Hall; also danced in The Kingsland, The Legion beside the Park Mikes, Byrne Ave and many others. I remember the club over Burton's - it was called The Craftsmans. Those days in Birkenhead were such happy days, I knew almost everyone in that area and most of the people in St Andrews Square ...see more
I remember well pushing my police bicycle around Kempston, covering Spring Road across to St Johns Avenue and over to the chantry factory estate. I was the last of the resident beat officers living and working my patch from my police house in Chantry Road, then moved to Ash Walk. Great times giving talks to pre school children at the hall near the fire station and visiting Springfield and ...see more
I have spent many happy holidays in Chapel. My Dad had two weeks holiday from the Prudential and he and Mum and I would head off on hols. I specifically remember fossil hunting on Chapel Point beach, there I also learned to swim. I remember too the esplanade, there was a walk through with an amusement arcade and the best fish and chip shop in the world, I can smell it now. Remeber when the first ...see more
This excerpt is taken from the memoirs of my late mother, Jessie Gorton. I am currently busy typing these out from notes I made as she reminisced about the early days in Worcestershire.
Jessie joined Bentley Pauncefoot C of E School in the 1920s. She loved it! The teacher was managing three groups of children in the one room.
There was a big round stove in the room, with an iron ...see more
Moved into Sandholme Road in 1954 from Howden. Father and grandfather bought The Cottages at auction and I lived there until going to college in 1970. My parents stayed there until 1983 when they moved into Laburnum Walk, where my mother still lives. Typical of many villages of the type, walk through it once and you have seen it twice. Living as I do now in Bedlington, Northumberland it is quite a ...see more
Laundry Yard was the narrowest and quaintest of the Yards in Uxbridge. Located between Windsor Street and Lawn Road it ran from the High St to The Lynch. There was still a laundry there when I was a boy (The Sunlight Laundry, I think it was called ), which belched steam from an extraordinary number of small pipes and chimneys. After dark it was the scariest place ever. The entrance from the High St was a narrow dark ...see more
This picture is of me and my brothers in Brearley Park. I am on the see-saw with my brother John and my mum is holding my youngest brother, Paul. We always used to go to the park as often as possible and catch sticklebacks in the stream. When I was older I used to meet my friends there and also take my dog who used to go up the slide and go down the other end. It was a long time ago that will always be remembered, especially going to the park.
I am Jim Windram and I'm a Gelsgie Terrace Sparray frae Haymoothe. One could only be a sparrow from the terrace if you were born there, as I was in 1946. Chapel Terrace as it was officially known, was once owned by Peter Gibb, a fish curer for Glasgow. Glesgie Terrace was off Chapel Street, where Salt Greens nursing home is now, and I reached it by going up the side of Giacopazzis. Brick built, it was 3 ...see more
I was born in the parlour of 25 Pierson Street in 1954. My Mam's name was Margaret (Meg) and my late father was Alf (or Hank) to his mates. He worked on the tugs on the River Tees. I don't have any memories of him as he died when I was four. I remember we didn't have a lot but then neither did most of the street. Mam had me and two sisters and three brothers to look after, not an easy task with no breadwinner but ...see more
What a surprise to find a picture of Pinehurst Caravan Park, very likely the only postcard to survive! The site was in Hewarts Lane, Rose Green. My late mother and my great-aunt purchased a caravan 'Romany' on the site and rented it out from c1956 to 1961. It was a small 4-berth, very similar to that in the middle of the photo. Pinehurst was run by a Mr Youngman - an astute businessman - and we had to sell ...see more
My grandmother, widowed, lived during the 20s and 30s at 1, High Street (next to The Dolphin), and was glad of family visits to assist in her invalid-style of life. That usually meant our family, and my mother took a number of 'Busman's Holidays' each year to help her mother, my Gran. We children became familiar over the years with the village, especially the Upper Middleton part. My grandfather had been ...see more
Seeing Norman Jackson's reflections on the teachers of Hugh Bell School conjured up all sorts of wonderful memories. I agree totally with his description of the two headmasters, "Taffy" Evans, the cane toting, foot stamping disciplinarian and Charles Harmer, a gentle man but with a persuasive manner. Mr. Evans at times took us for music and he would always push "Sweet Lass on Richmond Hill" to the point ...see more
Hi. I moved into the Gamecock in 1963 with my parents Norman and Jean Bennett and my brother Bryan, I was only two years old. My parents were landlord and land lady. Bartons grocers was next door, there was no Gamecock Field as we Know it today and no Grange View. Grange View was built about 1967 and the park was developed early 1970. The Wimpy estate as we know it was built when I was seven. I can just ...see more
I lived in Arreton from birth until my marriage. My family consisted of Dad and Mum, my sister Gill, my paternal grandparents and a retired infant teacher Miss Muskett. She taught me at home before I began school at the village CE school where I remained from 1936-1942. Headmaster was Mr White known to us all as Skipper White.
At school in wartime meant carrying our gas masks everywhere, getting to the air ...see more
My story starts on the 1st of March 1950, the date of my birth at Doncaster Royal Infirmary. My parents Jack & Mary Flather lived in Old Rossington at 65 Haigh Crescent, living with relatives (Guy) until a house became available for our family to move into. We then moved to 57 Gattison Lane one of the many council houses built for mining families in this area. My father (Jack) ...see more
We moved to Park Farm Kettlethorpe when I was 7. The family at this time was reduced to Mum and Dad, Eileen, Brian, Maureen and Gillian. At first we lived in a semi detatched house at the top of the lane leading down to the Farm. Neighbours were Mr and Mrs Button with daughters Glenys and Susan and Mr and Mrs Sherbourne. Dad was promoted to Farm Forman so we moved down the the ...see more
I was born in Rettendon in 1938. My father (Ernest James Hazell) and mother ( Ellen Wiseman) were both born in the village as were my maternal grandmother and great grandmother. As a child I remember watching aircraft flying home from bombing raids in Germany with holes in and engines smoking. I remember the V2 that fell in the village and the incendiary raids on Rettendon Place farm that caused the haystacks to ...see more
I was born in and grew up in Salford. My dad had a pub "The Farriers Arms" off Bury Street, and before that my dad was caretaker of Ladywell flats. We lived in Flint House, the blocks were alphabetically named, Albion, Barry, Corby, Danby, Easton, Flint and Goole. Afacing the flats was a quarry where we used to play and a shop called Stories. When we moved to the pub in the early 50s things were so different than ...see more