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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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 1251 - 1300 of 2029 in total
Early memories of Buckhurst Hill.
Re. Mark Brazier's message. Yes I remember the Three Colts and the French family. The son David was a close friend so I spent a lot of time there. I remember your mother and father Audrey and Ged Brazier. I went to their wedding in the late 50s, and the reception afterwards was of course at The Three Colts. Your grandparents James (John) and Alice French.
Re. Barbara ...see more
In 1932 my father Len James was moved to Brockenhurst as the 'village bobby'. I was born in 1931 and my brother in 1929. We lived in the Police house (now a renovated private home) and eventually both us boys went to the C of E Primary School. Dad had a standard issue police bicycle, on which he would ride to Lyndhurst and submit his report to the Station Sergeant there. In 1934 we bought a 1928 Morris Minor ...see more
The photo above, of the two Lads on the lake is of my Brother Graham and I. I can`t remember it myself but apparently, Graham tells me, he was fed up because he wasn`t allowed to drive the boat as he was too small.
At the top of Queens Road in Buckhurst Hill is a small newsagents shop. It was owned by the Mr & Mrs. Silk. The shop sold papers magazines cigarettes, sweets and a few toys. Situated right across the road from where Princes Road branches off. The little shop did a roaring trade. I attended school at Taunton House about half way down Queens Road., and of course passed Silks going to and from school. My ...see more
Every year on my birthday my mother and father made June 21st. (or the closest Saturday) a very special day for me. Since I was old enough to remember I had strawberries on my birthday. However, that was not all. The day was a huge celebration at our house called "Ivy Cottage" on Epping New Road. All my aunties and uncles plus as many as fifteen childhood friends would come to my party.
Planning ...see more
My mother Kathleen Reeve used to work in Kennards and I remember that at the end of the day over the loudspeaker system they would play "Now is the Hour". In later years she always used to say how much she disliked that tune! I was only 7 but I too remember the arcade and the sights and smells and how wonderful it was for a child at Christmas time.
I was born in 1945 in my aunty's cottage in Searle Street, which ran from the corner of the Station Hotel below the railway line embankment where we would wave at steam trains as they went past. There was a small shop on the other corner. Later on we would walk aunty's dog up past the station, along the lane near Ranleigh school, collecting conkers along the way. Uncle was the ...see more
In about 1952 appeared in the scouts gang show at Civic Hall organised by Ralph Reader. In 54 attended my final year prize giving before I left Croydon Sec Tech. Still have picture of this event which appeared in the Croydon Advertiser. I also remember well the toy shop Hamleys and many Dinky toys and Meccano kits, my parents bought for me. The Sax One Shoe at the top of the hill provided me with ...see more
Hi, my name is Margaret Henderson (nee Percy). I lived in Westerham, Kent but worked in the Croydon Model Laundry. I used to travel by bus to Croydon every day from Westerham and then walked down Surrey Street markets to the laundry; you turned left at the bottom of Surrey Street (BHS was on the corner on the right), the laundry was further along on the right, near a bridge. I loved going down the markets in ...see more
Does anyone remember Davidson Road Secondary Modern School? This was late 1950's pre co-education days so although housed in the same building, girls were upstairs and boys downstairs. Seperate playgrounds and 'never the twain shall meet'. There was a girl with long wavy fair hair .Like me she was a prefect, her name was Margaret Connell and I positively worshipped her for the whole of the last year of ...see more
Hi Peter,
I remember the Thompkins was it the baker or was that the Cheneys? Joe Smith was the newsagent who used to treat the kids to a summer outing by train every summer. We used to get a new florin and a bag of goodies and had a great day out in Bognor. We lived in Old Bracknell Farm, my mum and dad were bombed out of London and dad bought the farm. I can remember before Downshire Way was ...see more
I moved to Watchfield in 1940 and left in 1950. My dad, Mr Woolman, worked for the army and had his office in Homelees Farm in the camp. What a change has taken place at Watchfield. Gone are the places we could play in safety. The brook is now overgrown and no where to paddle. The cottage at Tuck Mill has gone and the stepping stones are nearly covered in weeds. We used the pathway to Shrivenham and used the ...see more
The pub in the middle distance on the right is The Red Deer. On the triangle, which is formed by the junction of Brighton Road & Sanderstead Road, where incidentally I later lived & two of my children were born, stood a horse trough. This trough had not been cleaned or serviced in any way for a number of years. Two friends & myself came out of The Star Pub at Broad Green, which is the other ...see more
I purchased my first vehicle at Dees in 1959. I was twenty four and really wanted a car but the prices were high for used vehicles and the registration fees also. I went to Dees with my friend Graham (we met while working at Mullard in Mitcham) and one of the the employees told us they had some used vans for sale. In those days the registration fees for vans was a lot lower than a regular ...see more
I am almost certain that this photo shows my great-grandfather walking from Chelsfield village to our house. He did this every week with a sack of vegetables over his shoulder. He would never get in a car, and walked everywhere. He lived in the village and had 2 allotments behind the recreation ground where he grew everything from potatoes to soft fruits. You name it, he grew it. He died in 1953.
Furze Infant school and being allowed to go in the garden to pick Lavender (still whenever I smell Lavender it takes me back). Running down 'back alley's' behind the roads around St Chads; Warren Junior School (playing netball), Saturday morning pictures (taking part in talent shows), playing over St Chads Park (playleader hut), Betty Finch Dance school, Brownies (Church Parade at St Chads). Sunday ...see more
My great grandfather, Arthur Tuffin, was the Gate Keeper at the Lodge in 1911. He was married to Emily Tuffin (nee Banvil). My grandmother, May Alexandra, was born in the Lodge along with her siblings, Milborough & Margaret. Residing with them was my great great grandmother, Milborough Banvil. Her name orignates from DeBanville, they arrived from France. I have a photo of them all outside in front of ...see more
When we all broke up for 6 weeks holidays it was all the kids jobs to go in 'the cut' and swim to fetch coal out. The boats used to carry the coal from Walsall Wood pit to Birmingham and the boater used to drop lumps of coal into the canal. Once we had been in the cut and got the coal out we had a bike frame and 2 wheels to carry the bags of coal to home. We had a local copper, 'Long Tom' we called him ...see more
About a mile or so from South Woodford toward Buckhurst Hill, on the New Road, is Woodford Wells. My friend lived in the third house from the corner diagonally across from Bancrofts School. The house next door had been destroyed by a bomb, and all the wreckage had been taken away.
Another chum, my friend and I often played football on the vacant concrete pad where the house ...see more
My family moved from Goodmayes to South Woodford in 1927 and my first memory was of my father waving welcome to 31 Lansdowne Road as we arrived in a Daimler hired car! At Churchfields School, headmaster Mr Walford, we were warned by our teacher Mrs Pettit of the arrival of the new traffic lights at Gates Corner and told just how they worked! This meant the disappearance of Constable George ...see more
I grew up in East Finchley and one of our family treats during the summer was trips to the 'outdoor pool' with my brother, sister, mother (Dad was usually at work), aunts and cousins from Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire. Usually as little ones we spent our time in the small pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Usually wearing our rubber rings we all learned to swim, and enjoyed our picnics ...see more
This photo brings back the - what seemed - endless summer days of the 50's and 60's when we would go with our togs and sandwiches (probably jam) in the care of an older friend and queue for tickets for the day. Our parents sometimes were working or didn't like to go because of the noise and excitement of the children. We were so lucky to have a such a great facility nearby - I lived in East Finchley - so there was ...see more
I have enjoyed reading the 'Memories of Knaphill' contributions, and though I have not lived there myself, my Payne family did, so thought I might share a few of their memories! In the 1890's, Captain George Payne and his wife Eliza, lived in Victoria House, 1 Victoria Terrace, near the Inkerman Barracks. George was a master grocer and baker. He later became a Lieutenant in HM Army. He was one of the ...see more
My gran Margaret Ross lived at the "Old Smiddy" in Berriedale where me, my brother Ian and sister Audrey spent every summer on holiday. It's the most beautiful place in the world and I have the most wonderful memories of so many happy times there. One morning I took a donner doon to the water and there was a man with a big net catching fish, I gave him a fright and he says " Here wee man, have ...see more
We used to live on what was called The Avenues on the Rylands estate. This was situated behind the Princess shopping parade, so called after the name of the local flea pit where all the kids went to Saturday morning pictures. It later became the Princess bowling alley. It was located on the old A13 New Rd opposite the road that led to the main entrances to Fords. The estate was originally built for ...see more
My grandma was born Eleanor ('Nellie') Roberts at Back 62 Charles Street on the 27th November 1911 to Lillian Elizabeth and Richard John Roberts, she was the second eldest of 6 girls, Lillian 1908, Florence May 1915, Sarah Ann 1917, Florrie 1920 and Lydia Doreen 1923. Grandma remembers that the cottage had 2 rooms, one up and one down, the upstairs was divided with heavy curtains instead of walls and ...see more
I well remember being 'fortunate' enough to work for contractors during the annual shutdown; when I was 15/16. It was during Fords heyday when they had circa 45,000 - many of who 'biked' to work come rain or shine. The shutdown work was wide ranging across the whole plant, from the blast furnace area to the 'new' PTA building, which fronted the A13 (and since torn down). The work was hard, and hours ...see more
The building you can see behind the tree left of photo was the main guardroom. At the back was the offices of the RAF Police and the RAF Regt. Opposite their office entrance was a grassed area where we had a wonderful standing aircraft - a jet Provost. One day whilst sitting in the RAF Police office, I glanced out of the window and suddenly realized that some wag had adorned the beast with ...see more
The Common, which is a delightful huge stretch of open ground from Cardiff Road to the Westra, was the sporting centre for the villagers. Here the cricket club played and the rugby club also held their matches too. Just off the Common is the home of both the Bowls Club and tennis club.
My memory of playing for the cricket club was on the day of the 1966 World Cup final when England were ...see more
In the 1960's I was a ticket conductor on this train. Jack Goldstone was the driver and we took people from the gardens to the pool. Today there's no way I would be allowed to work on the railway because of health and safety concerns. We had to stand on a running board by the side of the carriages hang on with one hand and take money and issue tickets with the other while the train reached speeds of 20 - 30mph. ...see more
I can remember next to one of the swings shown close to the lake in this picture, was a flight of steps which was fenced off and at the bottom was a door. Does anyone know what this was - was it just a storeroom - or as I was once told - a passage way leading underground to the still remaining entrance of the demolished hall via the bank on the left of the Italian gardens? There was supposed to be a ...see more
Not too sure of the year; visiting my grandad and granny Haywood who lived up South Lane. As a child it was an adventure to go out in grandad's Morris Minor, it had a nodding dog in the back window. My grandparents had invited some neighbours to come out with us, a Mr and Mrs Charlesworth. I remember us taking a flask of tea, some cake, deck chairs and a car blanket - I ...see more
How well I remember arriving at Wells-next-the-Sea from Leicester as a new bride. My husband was a former high school pen-friend who was now in England serving in the U.S Air Force, having been in the country from his home in Wisconsin for a year. Now stationed at Sculthorpe. We spent our first week in Norfolk in the village of Sydestone until we could find rental accomodations in Wells. Our home ...see more
Born in Tooting in 1949, I lived only a walk to the top of my road to the common. Me and my friends used to play cowboys and hide up the trees to ambush my friend's sister who was always with us, all good harmless fun. As I got older I got interested in fishing and spent many a day with my bamboo rod catching tiddlers, there were some good-size fish in the pond but I only caught the small ...see more
I can remember the church being engulfed in sand and unloved by everyone. I have explored this church, albeit unofficially, with a friend of mine who lived in Llanfair village. His name is Emyr, whom I met when I started at Harlech secondary school, we had some good times at this church, which had also been a subject taught me at my primary school in Dyffryn. We also explored the old slate caves too, but ...see more
I was born in Collierswood Maternity Home, a very short time before it was bombed during the Second World War. The year was 1944. My family being homeless were housed in requisitioned properties in Mitcham. We were among the many poor families that seemed to have been moved from one house to another. We finally found ourselves, unknown to us, entering the last house we were ever to ...see more
I remember George's second hand shop in the village, my nan would take me and my brother there for a treat that was the highlight of the week for us. Also the pie and eel shop, with the brightly coloured tiles outside on the wall. Then there was Pondfield Park, and the rubbish tip opposite, can you believe we used to love to play over there - cowboys and indians, we must have gone home stinking. We were never ...see more
bill.haylor@btinternet.com Resident in and around Smallfield for 81 yrs. Shops and services were limited but adequate. Village hierarchy although unwritten was arranged in a manner that suited most people; the traders held most sway by the nature of their businesses, builders and farmers controlled most of the land. Starting from the centre of the village. The first shop in ...see more
Does anyone remember the mobile library that was parked near the parade of shops? I think there is a house on the land where it used to park.
I have memories of hanging my beret up on my named peg; my double-breasted dark blue rain coat two times bigger then me; the boys trying to pull me over the yellow line to the boys playground; the huge black spider webs in the outside toilets; the hopscotch on the floor of the ...see more
I started school in Smallfield in 1934. In those days there were bucket lavatories. The sewer was laid in 1938 and then most of Smallfield was able to do away with the buckets. There were 3 teachers, Miss Kempshall who came from Betchworth on a 250cc Panther, Miss Cottle who had attended the school and became a teacher (she ran the Cubs as well) and Miss Power. There were only about eighty children untill 1939 ...see more
I lived in Eastham, and I was about 10 years old when the war ended and a cruise up the Manchester Ship Canal was organised, possibly on board the "Royal Daffodil" which I see is still doing the cruises. Could it be the same ship I wonder? I think we boarded at a place called "Job's Ferry" in Eastham, and sailed along towards Manchester, and a popular song at the time was "Cruising down the river on a ...see more
This is an extract from a story I wrote after taking some Dutch students to France in 1992 it includes youthful memories especially of Eastbrook School and it's staff.
July 1962 (or there about). Vaguely do I remember my schooldays many years ago in Dagenham on the outskirts of London. Dagenham was not, and quite likely still isn't, a very inspiring place to live. Like many suburban industrial towns, which ...see more
My mum and her sisters and brother moved with my nan to Stockdale Road from the Kings Cross area. She told me that when the rent collector came round on his bike, if he saw a group of women talking by their gate, he would tell them off and say "you are not in London now", plus if he thought your garden was not tidy or your nets not straight, he would put a cross in the rent book. Three crosses and you had to go ...see more
This photo is very special to me as it has my late grandad on it. I myself grew up in Shilbottle and have many memories of the pub. I used to have sleepovers there with two girls whose parents ran the pub in the 60's/70's. It was only one small bar then and later on they pulled the old outbuildings down and stables to make way for the lounge and car park. Previous landlords kept horses in the stable so the car park ...see more
I was a farm hand at Whitley Bridge and was for that day a tractor driver. My job was to pull a trailer down a row of rhubarb roots which had been pulled out onto the surface. Mr Huddleston employed girls on his market garden farm - they'd total at least sixty girls & the majority of them were just turned sixteen. Their job was to use a pitch fork to lift the rhubarb roots onto the trailer on which ...see more
The Transport Department at Southmead Hospital when I joined them consisted of an officer, foreman, and four porter drivers, with two buses, three vans, and two cars. We were responsible for supplying the group hospitals with staff, goods, and laundry. The group was comprised of nine hospitals, Southmead itself, Almondsbury, Thornbury, Berkeley, Ham Green, Clevedon, and the Clifton ...see more
I was stationed at Bordon Fire Station and was a Corporal in the army. I have many photos taken at the station, I was in charge of the cook-house and was in charge of the bar on the station. I attended many fires - the biggest was the Honky Tonk - its army name. It burnt to the ground. We were given its wrong name, the night was very foggy, the address we were given was The Bagshot and Bordon Soiders ...see more
St Peter's Hospital was one of Bristol's finest and most historic buildings, which had been home to pirates and an alchemist as well as a mint and a workhouse among many other uses. It was destroyed in the blitz 1941.
This photograph shows St Peter's Hospital in Peter Street, where the Register Office occupied part of the ground floor. The building on the left is St Peter's Church (c1930). This ...see more
This (downstream) side of the mill was a popular site for the Canadian Army stationed at Bordon Camp during the war. Almost every day they would be there with their lorries, tanks and motorbikes, ostensibly to wash the vehicles but generally to play! With a ford on this side the game would be to drive at speed into the 9 to 12 inch deep water producing an impressive plume of spray. On one occasion a tank drove close to the ...see more
With Denmark Hill and about level with the Old Henly's garage behind you was a house within the ruins with a metal sign. It stated that during his stay here, Mendleson wrote his 'Spring Song' here. Camberwell was in the suburbs and fields were around the area filled with bird song. During my grandfather's time there were still cows in the area. Ruskin Park was one of the nicest ...see more
