West Ilsley memories
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Memories of Berkshire
My Dad The Police Officer
I was born in the 1980s and my father was Alan Prior. He used to work with Jim(or James ) Heath. We lived in the 'police' house with my mother Dawn. I remember being snowed in at one point and a lovely lady in the village let a whole coach full of us (we were supposed to go to school) invade her house and gave us cups of tea. I also remember my mum used to be a horse judge, I think, and we used to go to the stables a lot, and my mother ran the village shop at one point. My dad also was very close to the late 'Mr Chips' who also lived in the village, I cannot remember his real name, and we used to visit him a lot too and I used to play in his huge sheds with my brother. If anyone has any information on any of the names mentioned please contact me on
t-sister@hotmail.co.uk as I would love to find out... Read more
Childhood
After leaving Wield, Hampshire, my mother was the headmistress of St. Andrew's primary school. She raised 4 children alone. My brother Peter G.W. Keen is a highly respected businessman (look him up on the internet). He went to school at Reading and Balliol college Oxford. My elder sister is also a well respected eductator. My twin sister and I both reside in Texas. All my growing years my address was "school house". Always had a house with the job. The house was usually next to the school. Whenever we needed something extra for the kitchen she would send one of us, my 2 sisters lived there too, to the school kitchen to get it. The house had a shed for coal and it was attached to the house. The roof was outside my bedroom window. When the sun shone we could crawl out the window and lay a blanket and catch some sun. When the new... Read more
I Lived in Hampstead Norris From 1945 to 1962
I lived in Hampstead Norris as it was known in those days from 1945 to 1962 when I departed for greener pastures(I thought). I have had this longing for a while now to get in touch with people I went to school with in the village and at Compton. If you know my history you may or may not want to contact me. I would really like to hear from anyone who lived in the village at those times. I remember John Smith, Michael Wheeler, Chris Cannings, Angela Jefferys, Frank Ballard, the Simmons family, the Painter family, John, Reg, Roy and Anne Wheeler, Violet Marshall, I think the list is endless when I think about those days and of course my own family the Streets and Horners. Getting old you tend to look back on all the younger part of your life and wonder what happened. I left school in 1960 at the age of 15. I have lived in Adelaide, South Australia for the past 40 years and would... Read more
My Uncle Aunt And Cousins Lived Here
My uncle and aunt lived here from roughly 1948 to 1958. We lived on Oare Common and visited them at the Castle regularly.
In the living room was a large hook and apparently someone in the past was hung from the hook and has haunted the castle ever since. Another aunt lived at the top of the Castle, she was deaf and dumb. I remember lots of adders around the grounds.
A Visit to my Birthplace
Delighted to find this photo. I was born in Grimsbury Castle in 1946. I came to America at age three and know very little about the history of the Castle and surrounding area. I did visit the Castle in 1971. The appearance was much the same as it is in your 1955 photo. There were in fact adders close by even then. At the time I thought it would be lovely to see the inside of the structure. So I knocked on a thick wooden door. As I stood there I noticed that the door was heavily laced in cobwebs. But, a bottle of milk was next to the threshold. So, I knocked again. Just as I was convinced that no one would answer, a toothless cleaning lady with soot on her face pulled opened the door and said "Wa du ya want?" in an incredibly gruff voice. I asked if I might have a word with the owmer. She said "Not here" and closed the door. I couldn't leave... Read more
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Places this week
Here are some of the places you've shared memories of this week:
- Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
- Hadlow, Kent
- Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
- Plymouth, Devon
- Farnham Common, Berkshire
- Northfleet, Kent
- Hawthorn, Wiltshire
- Streatham, Greater London
- Burghfield, Berkshire
- Twechar, Lanarkshire
- Newhaven, East Sussex
- Ilfracombe, Devon
- Cefn Fforest, Gwent
- Redhill, Surrey
- Berwick, East Sussex
- Ryhill, West Yorkshire
- Margam, West Glamorgan
- Hill Of Beath, Fife
- Lewisham, Greater London
- West Dean, West Sussex
- ... and lots more - Browse this week's memories now.
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