Barnstaple, The Swimming Pool, Rock Park c.1960
Photo ref: B25081
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Photo ref: B25081
Photo of Barnstaple, The Swimming Pool, Rock Park c.1960

Memories of Barnstaple, the Swimming Pool, Rock Park c1960

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. These memories are of Barnstaple, The Swimming Pool, Rock Park c.1960

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I was an apprentice in Mr Richard's tailor's shop, Barnstable, horse in window with a man in riding gear. Mr Diamond instructed me, a nice gent. I had to go back to Bradford before my apprenticeship was completed. I have happy memories, go for holidays now. I would like to have a photo of the shop.
As my fourteenth birthday hove into view and we entered the summer of 1939 it became clear that we could soon be at war with Germany. Bushey Heath was just fifteen miles north-west of central London. My parents felt I should be out of the way of the expected bombing raids, so they sent me, not to friends but to friends of a friend, Mr and Mrs Ovey. Mr Ovey was Pastor of the Barnstaple ...see more
 My aunt was the Manager of the Imperial Hotel which once stood on the bank of a river (whose name escapes me), in the 1940s. I spent several holidays with her which were great experiences for a young boy from a relatively sheltered existence in a schoolhouse in rural Scotland.   My Aunt May (Mrs Strongman), known to the staff in the hotel as "MADAM", was my mother's older sister. I had never stayed in a ...see more
I attended the North Devon Technical School in the late 50's having passed the 13+ from Barnstaple Secondary Modern ( I've yet to meet anyone that took the 13+ in recent years) I must have been about 14 -15 when the school sent us to have swimming lessons in the Rock Park swimming Pool. I lived nereby in Newport Road and often went to the open pool that was a social centre for young people. In the summer there was a weekly 'gala' that was well attended. -Happy days. John Cole