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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Search for your favourite UK places and read memories of the local area in days gone by.
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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 2001 - 2029 of 2029 in total
In the 1950's The Old Punch Bowle became the Crawley Branch of National Provincial Bank. I worked there from 1970 - 1973, a lovely place to work. In due course, as a result of the 1970 merger with Westminster Bank, the accounts were moved to the former Westminster Bank branch in the Boulevard. About 1994 the venue reverted to being a place of hospitality as a pub owned by Greene King. The photo has to be pre-1955 (the date shown) as I think the NP Bank bought it in 1952.
I was lucky enough to be looked after by the warden of Tilgate Forest and his wife whom I referred to as Aunty and Uncle Bill. Bill Wratten was employed by Crawley Council as warden and lived in a Nissen hut with his wife Emily; known as 'Warden's Bungalow' which was situated on the opposite side of the lane where the groups of huts were and are still used today by various clubs. I was taken there by my father early ...see more
To the left of the picture just out of sight was a bungalow converted into a shop ran by a Mrs.Cooper. The slim white line you see on the right of the picture was a concrete drive over a ditch leading to a butchers, who would sell the lard for cooking and the dripping separately for putting on bread. There is a gap betwen the semi-detached bungalows showing a gable end, this was lived in by Mr. & Mrs Braithwaite, ...see more
I was 14 years old and I worked for Matthew & Sons Corn Merchants of Brentwood. My job was to go round the local villages with a horse and cart selling our produce to the local people, which mainly consisted of chocolate biscuits, plain & self raising flour & animal feedstuffs. This particular day I had a horse that had not been broken in properly and was rather skittish, he also had a sore mouth where ...see more
There is a story about a ghost that haunts St Nicholas, Laindon. The story goes that centuries ago, a young woman on leaving the church on the arm of her new husband, tripped and fell down the steps outside the church. She broke her neck and died. Legend goes that her ghost watches every wedding and she tries to trip up every bride. True or not? I don't know, but doesn't it sound good!
There used to be a museum in the park with a huge stuffed tiger, the first time I ever saw it I nearly jumped out of my skin with fright. What a great park before they removed the boundary wall. I used to go stickleback fishing with a worm on a piece of thread and catching newts, great days as a kid living in St Helens. I'm now nearly 60 this year and have lived in London since running away from home at ...see more
I well remember Banstead station in the 1950's. I used it to go to school in Wallington from 1953 to 1959 and then to go to College and then to work in London. At this time I lived in Nork and of course in those days the trains were all steam trains. My father used to go to work by train in the 1940's and always said that at 8.00am , standing on the platform waiting for the London Bridge train, you could hear ...see more
My family, the Wicketts, were the first family to move into #11 Station Road, just after it was built. I believe not long before my father, Wilfred, was born in 1916, or prehaps just after his birth(?). My cousin, Margret Coish, nee - Margret Clay and her husband Robert Coish now own #11, making it a family owned house since it was built! The first Wicketts to live there where, my Granma and ...see more
We lived in Headon's Cottage, Fairy Cross - it had been an old German doctor's cottage in the 1700s, a Doctor Wacerill who is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard, and his faded plaque was still above the front door - walls made of cob and thatched roof etc. We were just up the road from Portledge drive - my grandfather William George Harris was woodsman and forester on the Portledge Estate for the Pine-Coffin ...see more
I was born in Watford in 1934 and went to school at Callow Land and Alexandra Secondary Modern. We lived through the war years in Elm Grove. I used to work in Trewins all day Saturday then go to the market and buy mum a bunch of violets. I loved the markets hustle and bustle. My parents moved to New Zealand in 1952 because they were sick of the rationing. In 1991 my husband and I moved to Australia. My fondest ...see more
I first saw Watford play - in their old blue and white colours - at the end of the 1955-56 season. The only cover was the so called "Main Stand" and on the opposite touchline the "Shrodells Stand" named after the adjacent Shrodells Hospital (now Watford General Hospital). I would stand behind the goal on the left of this picture as the terrace was steep with plenty of barriers ...see more
As a child growing up in the mining village of Cwmtwrch in the 1940's and 50's, I enjoyed the family day trips to the cathedral town of Brecon, especially in summer. The public bus would take us from Ystradgynlais to Brecon,a distance of 20 miles passing interesting places such as Craigynos Castle (once owned by the famous opera singer Adelina Patti), the Crai Reservoir, and Sennybridge. The bus stopped somewhere ...see more
In the 50's Bertram Mills Circus used to come to town and I remember there was a great procession through the streets near the harbour, this included the elephants and the prancing horses! On Saturday mornings there were rolling-skating sessions in the Sydney Hall at the bottom of Boot Hill. The old fishermen, dressed in navy blue sweaters, spread out their nets on the pavements bordering the harbourside ...see more
Guy Fawkes Night could be quite hazardous, although I remember no one ever been seriously hurt, it was certainly a close run thing. Keith Bradley although not from farming parents had many relations whom were involved in farming and so had ready access to certain farming apparatus, binder twine and the like. One particular Bon Fire Night in the late 50's early 60's he had got hold of a long string of small ...see more
We caught the Rhyl A1 Crosville bus from Broughton Factory, Broughton, Chester. It seemed such a long journey in 1965. We alighted at Station Road, Talacre. I remember a small shop by the bus stop that sold Calor Gas. Then followed that long treck up Station Road to our caravan! Dad bought his first caravan from a Mr Banks from Warrrington for £75. The Willerby caravan was sited on Thomson's site, ...see more
As a child who was born in 1924 I lived with my family (name of Rogers) just down stream of the bridge I attended the "Blue School"and St.Lukes Church as did all my Brothers and Sisters climbing the 100 or more steps past the chuch to go to school twice a day belting home at midday down the steps three at a time home for something to eat. I would say that we had a happy childhood although we were very poor I ...see more
During the 40's and 50's my life revolved around Bedford Road and surrounding area..roads like; Harnage Rd, George Rd, Pottery Rd, North Rd, Distillery Rd ,Netley Rd and Greet Rd. All these are sadly gone along with the Gas Works where on Saturday mornings I used to take a pram to get sacks of coke before going to the Morning Pictures at the ABC Forum at Ealing. Another place on a Saturday was ...see more
My people were tinkers of the road. Power, Riley, Macarthur, O'Connor, Macallister and a few I have no knowledge of. Generations had mended tin, woven baskets, bunched broom and heather, one to sweep the floor the other to scour pots. In 1847 some left Ireland during the famine, with a vast knowledge of forestry and horses. They met and married with Perthshire and Argyllshire tinkers. Black Spout woods ...see more
I lived with my parents in a Drapers shop in Royal Hill. I became a junior shipmate of the Cutty Sark when it was brought to Greenwich. I played in Greenwich Park, visited the Maritime Musuem lots of times, played by the waters edge of the Thames, went on the boats in the boating lake, played on the bomb site in Royal Hill/ Burney Street and walked through the tunnel to the Isle of Dogs. I still have a photo of my late mother standing outside her shop at 18 Royal Hill. Happy Memories
I was born in Nottingham and came to live in Gateshead when I was 4 years old. My mother was in the W.R.A.C and met my father when she was stationed down there. He was a Waiter in the Crown Hotel in Bawtry and was originally from Derbyshire. They were married in 1942 had me and my brother and decided to move to Gateshead. My mother was homesick for her family.
I remember as though it were yesterday...my ...see more
I was born at Cothill Farm in 1947, about 4 miles from Duns. I attended Duns Primary School and Berwickshire High School. My father (James) retired in 1965 at age 70, he and my mother located to the west coast to Tighnabruaich, Argyll. My father died in 1981 and my mother in 2009. I emigrated to Canada in 1965 and have lived here since. I have returned many times to Scotland and I always make ...see more
It was 1947 and I had just started school at Newburn infants, I was only four and a half, I can still remember me Ma crying when she left me, she should have been clapping her hands. There I was in a lovely knitted jumper - me Ma was a great knitter and my job was sitting in front of the coal fire holding a hank of wool, arms in rhythm with me Ma winding it into a ball. Bah, some of them hanks went on for ever. We also ...see more
I lived in Kingskerswell as a young child and emigrated to Australia in 1986. I was 10yrs. I missed it dearly and have fond memories although I forget the names of streets etc. I went to the local Primary school both old and new. I played conkers with my friends where the trees were opposite the church on bonfire night. We had days off school when it snowed heavily and tobogganed down my street (Park Rd) on my ...see more
When I was young in the 1950s I would spend some weeks of my summer vacation at my grandparents' house at 11 Newington Terrace, Elizabeth and Albert Torr. I remember swimming in the river, we would go to the weir and remove some of the planks and let the water spray over us and cool us down. I would travel each year from Belfast in Northern Ireland by boat to Liverpool and then by train to Craven Arms. My ...see more
I was my parents' first child, born at a nursing home in Broxbourne Road, Orpington, in 1936. We lived in Woodhurst Avenue and my earliest recollections are of going shopping with my mother. I remember Queensway with its shops owned/run by local people - William Swift the butcher, Clare the grocer, Copeland the chemist, Marlborough(?) bakers are some that I remember. Also there was the Embassy ...see more
I have such fond memories of Woolwich, I was born in 1962 in Erith Maternity Hospital in Barnehurst. I lived for a while with grandparents at General Gordan Place before my parents got their own place at 17b Glendale Road, Erith. I remember both my grandparents houses and loved visiting. The house on General Gordan Place was a army home opposite Woolwich Common and had 4 floors. Everyone that visited entered through ...see more
It was about 1953 when we discovered pluffers and ca caws. The pluffer was a device we used for a pea-shooter. This was a straight stem from a weed and it was about an inch or so in diameter, hollow through the centre and collected from Millfield tip where they grew in abundance. We would cut a length measuring about a foot and load our mouths up with the ammo, i.e. the ca caws. These were the berries from the ...see more
I was born in Woodbine House at the bottom of your 1907 Market Square picture on the left-hand side, just in front of the post office/newsagent as it became.You have a picture of a window cleaner also in 1907 and that is the shop I am talking about. My grandfather owned both premises and had moved some wives of his sons to Devon during the war, when the boys (my uncles) had all joined the RAF. My family ...see more
The Bishops family were in charge and they were a lovely family. The Elizabethan nights were great fun for the guests. If anyone remembers this I have some photos of the time I worked there of the family and all the staff. Also a photo of the little 3 wheeler my friend and I bought - "bubbles" we called it. We had to leave it at the manor though due to no licence and no insurance but it was great fun at the time, getting us all up and down that hill.
