Village Centre

A Memory of Freckleton.

I moved to this village in 1967 aged 14. The main building in the centre of the picture is a bank, I think it was the National which later became the National and Westminster Bank. Beyond the bank and to the right on the corner was a Post Office. Hidden by the bank in the same row as the Post Office was a fish and chip shop, the owner used to give us free bags of "bits" from the fryers, usually bits of batter. Out of shot and to the left of the bank was Snape's Butchers. My father built his freezer room for him at the rear of the shop.
To the right of the people shown and out of shot was the C. of E. Primary School which my brothers and sisters went to, this had air-raid shelters in the grounds. This school backed onto the park area, which was paid for by the Americans to commemorate the deaths of 38 infant children, 23 civilians and 3 aircrew after a B24 Liberator bomber hit the school during WW11. The Americans were based at the RAF Warton (later to become BAe).
The picture could be taken today with very little change in scenery.