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:
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Displaying Memories 101 - 150 of 2029 in total
These were my local shops. We used to live in the flats adjacent to these shops called 'Morden House', then there was the 'White Bridge' which went over the railway lines to the underground sheds. The first shop on the corner I remember very well indeed. It was my favourite shop. It was a camping/fishing tackle shop where I bought all my camping and fishing equipment. Can't remember the name of the shop now (does ...see more
My grandfather was a dentist in Stourbridge from before WW1 until 1961. He had his surgery and dental workshop in a large house in Worcester Street. In fact the house had two addresses: 64 Worcester Street and 1 Pargeter Street. My father and his three brothers and three sisters all grew up here and with breaks for war service, they mostly spent their lives in this area. The boys all went to King Edward VI ...see more
I have very fond memories of Salford. I first lived in Franklin St, Ordsall, until I was about 4 or 5 years old. I recall the pub on the corner and the church at the other end. I lived on the landings facing the resevoirs. I recall going to see the famiy doctor Yonace. who was a lovely man.
From there we moved to Vere St, one house up from the dock gates. My dad was a docker. The CWS was also just off our ...see more
My family was bombed out of their home in Sholing, Southampton, and we were evacuated to Calmore Road which was then 'out in the country'. We were offered a corrugated hut to live in by Mr Harrison who owned the Nursery, and there we lived until 1946. All my memories as a child are happy ones, but I suspect it was difficult for my parents who had lost everything. The hut was never meant for habitation, ...see more
My father Dennis Stephens, used to manage the tennis courts and bowling green on Mill Hill Road. My aunt Effie Wheildon, took over the pet shop after Grace Shatwell ended her tenure and moved from her bungalow (opposite our house at 59 Mill Hill) further down the road to another house that was once a market garden, where she opened a little shop. Grace and her son William emigrated to New Zealand, and I met her in ...see more
One of my first memories was hiding underneath the sideboard in the dining room with silver ornaments on our heads; my sisters Judy, baby Michele and myself, Deirdre, listening to the bombs falling quite close to us. We wanted to go and see the 'fireworks', my Mother must have been petrified for our safety. Luckily they fell on the golf course across the road. ...see more
My family lived in Dulverton in the 1950s. Both parents were hairdressers and we sold sweets and tobacco as well as drapery and ice cream from our shop on the High Street. We had the first chewing gum machine and you used an old penny to get chewing gum and every fourth coin got a double pack. My sister Pam and I went to the school up on the hill and my brother Barrie went to Minehead Grammar School. I used to ...see more
I used to attend Sunday school here in the early 1950's. We usually met in the hall across the car park but once or twice a month we would be in the church. Later in 1967 I was married here. I was in the Army at the time and during a leave visit to my father and some school friends I met a girl. It was Christmas 1965. I came back in 1967 and we were married. Our daughter was christened here in 1969. She was ...see more
I grew up in and around London as a young girl. When my parents divorced it was the hardest thing for me to get over. But I had the best nan in the world who lived in 6 Acre Cottages. This house and the surrounding area was a haven for any child. She worked in the school and used to work at the big house on the hill, when I stayed with my gran, it was lovely to go the big house to see Mrs Lemet. She was so ...see more
Salisbury in the 1960's was a good place to be if you wanted to meet interesting people.The place to go was the Cadena Cafe - sandwiched between Style and Gerrish, and the Chough. One now (sort of) famous person who frequented the dark reaches of that cafe is the writer and food critic Jonathan Meades. The Bus Station was the match.com of its day and between 3.45 and 4.45 pm girls and boys from the local schools ...see more
I have many fond memories of Bodiam and the Castle, from when I was 1 year old in 1943, until I was 15. Along with dear Mum and my two sisters, our whole extended family on my mum's side consisting of several families would move to Bodiam, to our tin huts to go hop picking.
We used to pile into a number of open backed lorries for the journey which used to go through the Blackwall tunnel and along the A21 to East Sussex ...see more
I was born and brought up in Thingwall Drive, right on the boundary of Irby and opposite the entrance to the golf course. I went to Irby CP School, Coombe Road, and then onto Calday Grange Grammar School. My Granny lived just past the Anchor Inn, and stopping by to Miss Ellis shop for a treat after walking the dogs on the common was a regular indulgence.
The far shop on the left was the post office, then coming ...see more
I was born in Coedybrain Rd in 1948 and my family moved to School St. I remember going to the school until I was 6, when we moved away to a new housing estate. The school had a stuffed squirrel in a glass case. I was in the nursery class where we had a nap every afternoon wrapped in blankets. School milk was lined up on the hot pipes in winter, and I hated it! I always missed my grandparents and was never happier than ...see more
I was born in Merthyr Tydfil but my grandparents lived in Rees Terrace. My grandfather, Hugh Price Watkins, was the St John Ambulance driver for the pits. I lived and went to school in Llanbradach for about three months while my mother was in hospital. Whenever there was an accident in the mines, the phone would ring in grandad's house and I would be told the location of the accident and would run as fast ...see more
During the Second World War the Buckle family lived in Embankment Road with Aunt Laura Ellicot when the bombing got too dangerous for us to stay in the city of Plymouth. So we went with Aunt Laura and her grandchildren and 2 of her daughters to Lucan Villa. We lived in the lovely house, that had an amazing staircase at the front, and a concrete staircase at the back from the pantry. My sister Mary, ...see more
I have vivid memories of the shops shown in the photograph. The shop on its own, on the right of the picture was Galley's Newsagents run by brothers Roy and Dennis Galley. Having said that Dennis' wife used to serve in the shop and was my favourite person as (I was 9 in 1960) if you smiled at her and ordered 2oz of sweets you could guarantee she would give you 4oz at no extra charge! ...see more
I worked for Kango Electric Hammers from 1979-1981. Actually I worked for a firm in Coventry (UK) called Rutter Templair tools and it was took over by Kango, I was an inspector. We had a dispute with the company so we voted on strike action. I proposed an amendment of a 'work to rule' and an overtime ban which was carried, and defeated the original proposal. I was then elected as a shop steward. We, the ...see more
"The Providence", as it was commonly known, stood at the corner of Laundry Yard and The Lynch. Built in 1795 with a later facade it was a gem of late georgian "chapel" architecture. You entered through a small burial ground. There was an entrance on each side of the front, one for the ground floor and one for the gallery, each entrance approached by a flight of stone steps. Inside, the ...see more
Uxbridge was blessed with 3 cinemas; The Odeon, the Regal and the Savoy (the oldest of the three it stood on the corner of Vine St and the High St). The Odeon, I think, had the biggest productions as it had a wider screen. It also ran Saturday morning pictures for kids, admission three (old) pence. The programme often opened with a sing-along; the words projected on the screen with the white ball ...see more
I had forgotten Suiters 'quirky' cash system but I do remember another store called Manettas which was to the right of Uxbridge station. In 1966 it caused an uproar in town as it displayed a topless dress, which was the latest fashion trend? it did not sell any. In the picture of old Windsor Street you can see some black railings on the left, this was the original police station. If you looked below ground ...see more
My family came to live in Ottershaw in 1952 when I was 5 years old. My father, Charles Coulson, had moved us from the North of England owing to lack of work since his de-mob from the RAF. He was employed as a chauffeur/gardener by Mr W King of 'Tudor Cottage', Coach Road. We lived in 'Oak Cottage', Coach Road, owned by Mr King. That came with the job. As a young boy having just moved from the side of the ...see more
I was brought up in the white cottage mid-left, by the roadside, by my grandparents.
The Crown Inn at the middle of the picture in the distance was run by Jim and Winnie Tuer, and I was friends with their daughter Ruth. The white cottage on the right was the shop, and later also became the post office. The original one was in the white cottage to the left and was run by Mrs Rowlands until her death.
I ...see more
My grandfather bought one of these ex-RAF officers bungalows after the Second World War so that the family could have a holiday base. In the B850004 photo, our bungalow is roughly alongside the white car you can see parked in the road - it was more or less halfway along the road. We all lived in Sheffield - in those days, a 3 hour drive away. I must have holidayed there from the age of 18 months to about ...see more
Philip Cousins has jogged my memory yet again. The butcher he spoke of, Nicholls in Rockingham Road, was our local butcher as we lived in Rockingham Parade. I remember the rabbits, pheasants, turkeys and pigs hanging by metal hooks both inside and outside the shop. The floor underneath these was covered in sawdust to soak up the blood - unheard of in these' hygiene obsessed' days. The other butcher we used was ...see more
I moved to Windsor Road in Ealing in 1962 when I was 11. I remember the Grove with fond memories. All the shops! The tailor's shop and the barbers. The sweet shop which always had a bowl of water for the dogs outside in the summer, the butchers (Mum used to send me there on a Saturday for a piece of beef costing about 3s or 3/6d (15 or 17 1/2p) The man that ran the butchers along with his 2 sons also had a cafe a ...see more
The Old Market House in the 50's was a lively and central part of the daily shopping scene. There was a butcher (Dewhursts i think), a baker, several greengrocers, a fruiterer, a flower stand, an ironmongery stand and a man who sold cheap glass and crockery. The flagstones always seemed to be wet from frequent hosing. I lived with my Grandma (at this time an energetic 50 year old). Her one luxury was ...see more
Cross Street , which connected Windsor St with Vine St, was obliterated by road development in the late 60's. The white building (front right) was originally The Catherine Wheel Inn, built in the 1500's and I believe the oldest building in Uxbridge apart from the church. In the early 50's it was an antiques shop. A reproduction of the old inn sign still hung outside, the original sign being in the museum in ...see more
This photo must have been taken early in the morning because that play area was always packed with wee yins in the 1960s. I know because I was one of them. There were lots of what I used to call swing parks in Corby in the 1960s. Corby was a very young place in 1965, not just the new town but its people as well. The expanding steelworks attracted thousands of young migrants, mainly from Scotland. I ...see more
I did not know many of the people of the village or much of the history of the village. However there were some who stay in my memory and to this day I often think about them. All too often I cannot remember their names. I know nothing of their lives. Their trials and tribulations or indeed if they were born in the village. One such person was a Mrs Baker (at least that's what I think her name was), a very ...see more
First impressions of Corby
We moved to Corby, then known as Corby New Town, in 1954, when I was 10. I hated it with a passion having been brought up in the country. Born in Suffolk, where my parents kept a pub in Elmswell, we had moved to the delightful medieval village of Barrowden in Rutland to keep The Exeter Arms, another old coaching inn. Then my dad was a forester in Fineshade Woods, still happiest ...see more
The road in the picture, St Mildred's, is where I grew up, opposite the "rec". As a young lad growing up, Minster offered all sorts of adventures; the marshes, the river Stour, Watchester Lane, the woods, fishing, catching newts & tadpoles in the local dykes and the annual flower show, is that still going? Playing in the woods around the vicarage and evading the vicar, the reverend Wagstaff! Mum ...see more
Year is approx. My uncle John and Auntie Marjorie lived at New Cross Farm with their three daughters Sally, Mary and Kathleen. Every summer holiday I would go to the farm for a few weeks and help or hinder my uncle. I used to be so excited as I loved the farm and was up at the crack of dawn getting the cows in with my Uncle. There were two dairy staff, Michael Parks and Roger ? and sometimes Michael Hawkins. ...see more
All through the lower forms at the Roan School in Blackheath, London SE3, I was aware of the existence of Braithwaite Camp. It had been started in 1930 by a former headmaster of the school, Mr Arthur Hope, on land which he had bought with his own money. But I was not keen on camping; during my time in the Cubs and Scouts I had successfully avoided spending a single night under canvas. ...see more
If you enlarge this picture you can see the letter ERS on the white building behind St Margarets. This was Suters, a family owned department store, built very much in the art deco style and the retail flagship of Uxbridge High Street. As a small boy all my clothes were purchased there. Shoes too. Purchasing shoes then was not the casual shelf-browsing do-it-yourself process that it is now. You described what ...see more
My mother, grandmother, great grandmother and g.g.grandfather, and so on were born in Rippingale. As a child in the 1950's we spent every holiday there. We had lots of relatives living there and still do have one or two. I remember going to the midnight service on Christmas Eve with my aunt. No street lights, pitch dark.. you always took a torch with you, magical but a bit scary. Earlier in the ...see more
My name is Nan Martin, I was born in the Blocks at Fallin in 1943 and lived there until I was about six or seven years old before moving to King Street. The Blocks is a place that is locked in my memory and can never be revisited as it doesn't exist anymore.
Of all the places I have lived in throughout my lifetime, the Blocks hold my strongest memory. It was like a childs adventure playground, with ...see more
Ernie Styles and I started work on my stepfather and mother's farm (Patrick and Annette Lawford) when we were both 17 (1957). There was also Reg Whittear (mechanic/tractor driver, John Spreadbury and George Langridge. Bert Tyrell did the pigs. Shep Frampton, who had known Patrick at Lichfield Farm, near Sutton Scotney, must have been in his 80s. He walked up from the village daily and was known to ...see more
I was born in Perivale Maternity Hospital in 1943. Like so many of your writers growing up then was a magical time; the freedom we had to wander the fields, play and fish in the canal (in homemade boats that always sank, and with rods that always broke), can no longer be enjoyed by any children. I lived in Wadham Gardens, went to school in Wood End Infants and Junior boys, then to finish off ...see more
I lived in Cripplegate Lane (formerly known as Bottings Hill) for about 16 years. I went to Southwater County Primary School from 1957 till 1963 when I went off to The Forest Boys School in Horsham till 1967. My father worked (as many did in those days) at the Brickworks. Before 1961 the houses down our part of the lane backed onto Wiltshers Farm. Many a morning the cows had broken through the fence and were ...see more
I was to live in Blackpool for a short while and would work on a farm; I lived with my sister and brother in law in Delphine Avenue. Lawrence my brother in law leant me his Honda fifty motorbike, I pulled into a petrol station some 15 miles away and proceeded to ask the pump attendant for a gallon of two stroke petrol. He informed me that as far as he was aware this type of bike was a four stroke engine and that ...see more
I started in the Infant School in 1949, the year my family came to Corby - I was 6 years old. I can remember the huts with the old coke stoves. Each classroom had a partition and there was a stage in the last one where we used to have concerts. I remember being in a play at one of them. The headteacher was Sister Agatha- a tiny little woman whom I adored. I made my first communion there and we had a breakfast after ...see more
Wow. The pictures bring back so many memories. I was born and bred in Woking and my family owned The Shoe Box in Knaphill. Originally my grandfather Albert Cook gifted the shop to his friend Phyl (my siblings and I affectionately called her auntie Phyl). I have memories of getting all our shoes there, although it was very old fashioned. It also serviced Brookwood Hospital until Tesco arrived! In the late 80's and early ...see more
In many parts of the world the countryside is largely unclaimed, untamed, even uninhabited; consider, say, the large swathes of Australia’s Kimberley region, Indonesia’s Kalimantan, or the interior of Baffin Island. However, farms and villages, their local characters as well as their local landscapes and histories, are very much part of the English countryside. The rural area around the hamlet of ...see more
If I remember correctly, a white climbing rose grew up one side of the arch and a red on the other. The path continued straight through the archway, and led up the garden to the two wooden sheds at the top of the garden. To the right immediately after the archway, another path led behind the rose-covered trellis, which then turned left and led up alongside a hedge, which divided my parents' property ...see more
Not long into married life we both walked into a miners strike that lasted until 1985. This was very hard having to adjust to married life and without no money because of the strike we both lost our first home. Soon after the strike started i became pregnant with my first son Graham I became pregnant with him in the strike and gave birth in the strike we struggled to buy prams and cots and other ...see more
My name is Russell Ham. I was born on May the 10th, 1962. I was adopted at about the age of six weeks, I think. The best thing that ever happened to me. I arrived at number 5, Thomas Street, in the summer of 1962, to the home of Gerald and Barbara Ham. Neither of my parents is alive now. I have the most wonderful memories of the first five years of my life, at 5, Thomas Street, Gilfach Goch. My father's father ...see more
I lived at 1 St. George's Close, off Chalk Pit Avenue from 1946 to 1954. At first, the Chalk Pit was still there, as was the Oast House, where the shops are now on the corner of Chalk Pit Avenue and Main Road. I first went to St. Paulinus Infant School, next to what was then St. Paulinus Church in Main Road and then to St. Paul's Cray Rectory Paddock Junior school, which, at the time, was old Nissan Huts. ...see more
This is a rare photo for me because I worked for about five years on the end stall on the left - third row in from the corner. I worked there on Friday mornings before going to the Grammar school, Friday evenings to pack everything up and all day on Saturdays. I was paid 2s 6d for the weekend's work. The stall was rented by Leslie Stevens - a grocer from Northampton and when I was 17 I passed my ...see more
I was born at home in Coleford Bridge Road in 1935 and grew up there, went to school in Frimley and lived in Mytchett until emigrating to Australia in 1964. In those early days life seemed very simple, only a handful of cars, making street cricket safe. Every body walked, our nearest shops were through the bridle path to the main Mytchett road, there we found Days Store, Dawes the butcher and on the other side of the ...see more
In the summer of 1952 I learnt that my parents had decided to move from our home in the Midlands to the West Country as my father wished to return to where his relatives lived. It came as no surprise therefore, when one day they announced they had purchased a shop in a place called Kingswear in South Devon. I was 14 years of age and received this news with mixed emotions as I had lived in my present home since birth. ...see more