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Winterborne Kingston memories

Here are memories of Winterborne Kingston and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Winterborne Kingston or a Winterborne Kingston photo.

The Fabulous Fez Heads Entertain Whitethorn Morris


For very many years the dancers and musicians of Whitethorn Morris have performed in the streets at Wimborne Folk Festival each June and have been fascinated to see another team known as the "Fabulous Fez Heads" there.  

This led for the first time, in 2007, to an invitation to join the Fig and Date Fayre at The Greyhound Inn in nearby Winterborne Kingston.  A mad day of entertainment was laid on by the Fabulous Fez Heads to which the dancers and musicians from a dozen or so morris sides contributed. Whitethorn Morris were there with a full dance team plus the Whitethorn Band to join in the festivities with a colourful display of "north west morris".

The sun shone but the cold wind blew! I played my accordian with the Whitethorn Band but it was a bit of a struggle as I had missed all the weekly practices during the winter having moved from Whitethorn's home town area of Harrow to rural Devon in 2006!... Read more

Memories of Dorset

Village School

not a memory more a request for information. does anyone know the exact location and the present use of the building that was until sometime in the 1960s " Almer village school " my grand mother was the school mistress & my father & his two brothers were pupils. I have been in touch with the local inn & other local contacts but no one knew of a school in Almer. I have a photo of the school mistress at the door & an engraved teapot from the children to my grandmother.hope someone in the area can enlighten me. look forward hopefully to recieving some information.

The Village Post Office Stores

My parents bought the shop in 1952 and ran it until about 1965, it was then a very busy, thriving business, which served many of the outlying vilages.
I was just 6 when we moved down from Wolverhampton and so had many happy years of village life.
Amongst my friends were Peter & Stuart Fricker whose parents ran Frickers Bakery. I only wish I could buy their bread today. It was the best.
Sid Sweatland & his wife (can't remember her name)ran the Railway Inn, with their three daughters, Sheila, Denise & Francis.
Regards to anyone still living there that remembers those days.

The Bothy, my Perfect Home.

Not quite sure when we moved from Charminster to Dewlish, but it was magical. The Bothy was the house attached to the Dewlish House kitchen gardens. Apparently it was last occupied in the war to billet American troops. The electrics were wet and a little risky, and when we first lit a fire to try and warm the place up filled the house with smoke. The chimney had been taken over by birds and nests needed to be removed to make the place warm. Water came from a well in a little area at the back of the kitchen and needed to be pumped to a tank in the roof by hand. After some training it was possible to fill the tank in about 20 mins. The walled gardens were a jungle and it took my father and me, with additional help from my sisters and mother about a year to get it into some sort of useful shape. It was a wonderful place. There were fruit trees of every sort all around... Read more

The Old School

My memory of Lytchett Matravers is of the old school. It was a hundred years old in 1974 and everybody who attended the school at that time joined in the celebration. I was ten at the time and wrote a poem for my part in it all. Mrs Cox, the oldest woman in England at the time and resident of Lytchett Matravers recalled her memories as one of the first children to attend the school one hundred years today. I am still a resident of Lytchett Matravers to this day and recall those memories fondly. My poem: nine o' clock bell, nine o' bell, altogether at the nine o'clock bell, pushing, punching, kicking, altogether at the nine o' clock bell.

Bovington Royal Armoured Corps D&V Camp

I was stationed at Bovington 1957/59 as a National Serviceman, the posting was a happy one. My job was looking after the demo: Saladin (the 6 wheel Sarecen APC Chassis but with a small gun instead of the seats ie. A Commander and a Driver plus a radio/gunner), a recon vehicle for the tanks. I have a photo with my sarecen with L plates! Driving was at Clouds Hill demo course. Saladin/ Sarecen were built by Alvis with a Rolls Royce engine and pre-select gearbox great to drive, not like the Centurion tank with the double de-clutch gear change and crash gearbox (if you missed a gear and were stuck in neutral, the tank went straight on - quite an experience on the public roads!) even at 25 MPH but weighing 50 tons. Bovington Camp was mostly a male environment until in 1958 the top floor of the accommodation block was filled with WRACS! happily for us guys. We had to do our guard duty on a bike... Read more

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