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 201 - 250 of 2029 in total
On the left of this photo you can see the famous blue lamp! Which one could see outside the local Police Stations, and made even more famous by the film, The Blue Lamp and also the TV series, Dixon Of Dock Green. Now right opposite the Police Station was a short wide pathway leading to the Church Hall, where on a Wednesday nights my friends and I would go 'rocking and rolling' and buy a Coke for one ...see more
I began my life's journey at Ty Gwyn farm in 1951 just before my 2nd birthday. I even remember climbing.the stairs at 1year 10 months. I would walk down Penywern Road to the Wern school. I remember standing on a chair in the infants at 5 years old and singing 'how much is the doggy in the window?', every time I slowed down the teacher would shake a bag of sweets at the rear of the room and I would ...see more
The Army
My call up papers came with a railway warrant for Gloucester, where I and another group of lucky lads, were picked up by army lorry and taken to the barracks of the Gloucester Regiment for our six weeks basic training. Unloaded at the barrack square, we were marched (shambled) to our huts, then to the QM stores for uniform and kit.
The Army does not give you your kit, it is yours “for the use of” during your ...see more
With big hugs from waiting family on one of the many platforms that was Central Station, we hurried though the noise and clouds of steam towards the station exit and into the sunlight...my eyes gazing in wonderment at all the the grand buildings, trams and bright yellow trolly buses, we had nothing like it in our Hampshire town, our railway station had but two platforms and ...see more
My childhood memories of Edmundbyers have been with me all my life really. My mum & dad, aunty, uncle and cousin used to holiday in a tiny caravan on farmer Edon Sanderson's field. This was before the Derwent Reservoir was built. Our dad's used to use our 6 weeks summer holiday to take us up to the caravan and we would spend an idyllic few weeks there. Our sunny days (they actually were very sunny days then) ...see more
Hi, I lived at No 4 John St from 1948 to about 1960 before moving to Ann Field St and then up the Hilltown to Ann St (Carnegie Tower). The town council must have found out that I had moved down to the West Midlands, for when I looked on google maps a few weeks ago all the houses that I lived at have been knocked down, or in the case of Carnegie Tower it was blown down. Mind you, Ann Field St wasn't too good back ...see more
My parents, Fred and Marjorie Reeks bought the shop and Post Office from Mrs Britton in 1947 and they owned the business till about 1985. In the mid sixties Fred got about 100,000 daffodil bulbs from a market garden in Darlington and spent many hours getting a single furrow dug around the perimeter of each of the pieces of the green and creating the words "Cross Keys" in front of the pub and "Post Office ...see more
I remember, during the war, two flying fortresses crashed in Hordon. One came down near the Half Way House, the other one in a field in Chiderditch behind the pub. They were returning from a bombing raid on Germany. There was about fifty of them when all of a sudden these two collided - the wing of one chopped the tail section off the one next to it. I think all crew members lost their lives. ...see more
My Uncle Charles and my father James Scott were born at Nether Hall in the early 1900's. The family was in service to Sir Henry Longman. The main family residence was Shendish House in Apsley,Hertfordshire where my grandfather,William Scott was coachman and head of the stables. All the horses owned by the Longmans were given a name beginning with L. My own grandaughter has a wooden rocking horse, named Larkspur, after my father's favourite mare.
Oh so many memories! Where does one start? Looking at this photo I remember the milk dispensing machine outside the Express Dairy shop. I think it was 6d you'd put in, and after a lot of rumbling, out would come a small 'bottle' of ice cold milk (glass too!). Of course we all remember Saturday morning pictures at the Gaumont, where us boys would try to sit next to our favourite female; after being let in ...see more
Memories of The Mumbles by John S. Batts
Viewing on-line a collection of Frith’s old photos of The Mumbles has jogged many memories. For me the place was simply known as “Mumbles,” home to a much-treasured uncle and aunt who ran a shop for several decades in Newton Road, Oystermouth until the late 1950s. The district has many pleasant associations within the family, too, for I’ve seen small ...see more
My father worked at Cranleigh Gas Works, and had been painting the gas holder, (it was painted by hand in those days), and he'd just come home for a cup of tea at breakfast time, when the doodlebug struck the holder that he'd been painting. Evidently, according to my mother, I was in my highchair having my porridge when I, and of course the porridge was suddenly covered in soot from the chimney, from the ...see more
In the 50s/60s we would go and spend the day on the Wrekin. We would cycle from our home on Charlton Hill and leave our bikes at the Forest Glen (no need to lock them up) and make our way up the first part of the climb which was quite sharp; then we would stop at the Halfway House tea room and sit ouside with a glass of lemonade. There were it seemed, hundreds of people there all dressed up in their Sunday best. We ...see more
I lived as a child in Down Road, Alveston (at Barton Cottage - now demolished) from 1959 to 1964 and have great memories of Thornbury. Having no car in those days the family would march down the hill into Thornbury to Mass on Sunday, occasionally hitching a lift with a fellow parishioner, possibly a Mr Sheppard who drove a large Austin Cambridge car. The church in those days was part of a small house in, I ...see more
I was lucky enough to be born and brought up in East Runton. I spent many happy summers playing on the beach. We lived in Buxton Close, the Brick Lane bit, and at the beginning and end of the summer, the caravans would be moved off the clifftops to the storage at the top of our lane. I remember that nearly every week in the summer, someone would hold a jumble sale in the village hall, and we ...see more
Hi everyone, I wonder how many of you can remember the coal train, with all its trucks full of coal, breaking down on the Gilfach line behind Isfryn prefabs; it was there all night and plenty of people had full coal sheds by morning!
talk to you soon
Dave Diamond
I've been here - to this very spot, with the precious women of my life - my Mom when I was a child, and with my children when they were women. How can it be that it looks exactly the same in 1890, 1971 and 2001? I can feel the cool brick under my hand, and see the flowers over the edge. I wanted to jump down and walk there when I was a child and later with my girls. How can it be that the air and the sky is the ...see more
As a 16 year old, I was a boarder from Cartagena de Indias, Colombia at Saint Joseph's Convent, 122 Ladbroke Road. With me there were around 25 girls ranging from the ages of 4 to 17 years old and at least from 10 different countries from around the world. As far a Kenya, the Sood sisters, from Hong Kong the Leung and Ho sisters. And Jackie Lemaitre and Beatrice Velez, both from Cartagena de Indias and ...see more
Bristol's great heritage started from humble beginnings. An Anglo-Saxon settlement by the name of Brigstowe steadily grew into a thriving port. After the Norman invasion of 1066, a castle was built in what is now known as Castle Park. The port continued to flourish and Bristol became one of England's principal ports. John Cabot sailed from Bristol aboard the 'Matthew in 1497, a voyage that led to him ...see more
Yes, I remember Redhill Swimming Baths. I think it must have been during the year I was at Frenches Road School in 1951-2. I can remember standing in the water shivering while the teacher talked to us during our swimming lessons. But I did at least learn to swim. I can also remember daring myself to jump off the high diving board to impress my grandmother, who had taken us for a treat. It was a cold, ...see more
Used to go and play in the streams and the River Brent, the memories are so vivid. Tis, was, of course during the war. I and a friend, took my three and a half year years younger sister with us, I would have been six years and a bit. We paddled and played ,and crossed the stepping stones and my friend Mary piggybacked my sister, and Trix (my sister) fell in and ...see more
Down St Mary School was built in 1878 on the site of the Bell Inn by the Rev. W T A Radford. In the 1930s I was a pupil in the infants' class which was divided from the upper class by a green curtain on a pole. There were arund twelve to fifteen pupils taught by Kathleen Andrews from Zeal, her father kept the North Star pub, she cycled over each day. The top class of twenty / twenty-five pupils were ...see more
This is the place where I went to watch bands from about 1958 until they stopped in the 60's. First Saw Johnny Kidd & The Pirates here, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and later The Searchers, The Hollies, Brian Poole & The Tremoloes, Freddie & The Dreamers. Many of the local Bands used to play here as well. I lived for music then & still do, playing some Bass now and running ...see more
Before the railways (railroads) came, there was no particular reason why people in Bristol, England should keep the same time as people in London.
At that time there was no practical way of communicating information about time over a distance. When the telegraph made such communication possible, it became necessary for people living in one area to agree that they would not keep their own local time, but would ...see more
I was born in the house on the corner of Woodfield Avenue and New Way Road in 1944 and lived there until the end of the 1970s. My birth was in fact on Friday the 13th of October, which coincided with the dropping of a V2 bomb in Colindale which hit a lamp post on the way down for extra effect. But I survived it, perhaps a bit deafened, to enjoy Colindale in the following years when it was at its best. ...see more
This is a picture of Station Road with Snapes's hardware shop on the corner. The petrol pump was no longer in use by then but the paraffin one was. Opposite Snapes's is Oak Meadow where we used to play on our bikes and climb trees. Working back along behind the camera on the same side was the Elycian cinema. Lovely little picture house. I saw Where Eagles Dare, Carry on Camping, the Jungle Book etc there. ...see more
I remember the British School so well, especially the headmistress at the time, Miss Gilbert. She was very strict, but generally fair, and much respected by my parents. One thing that stays in my memory is the enormous rocking horse which lived in the hall; it probably wasn't as large as I remember it, and it was already quite an old horse with a real horsehair tail. I remember also Miss Gollop who I ...see more
I vividly remember the day when as an eight year old, along with my mate and neighbour, Billy Sturmey, we "borrowed" 2 shillings from my mothers purse and hired a rowboat from the Portslade foreshore and rowed around among the cargo vessels tied up on the seaward side of the "canal" as we called the harbour. We spent the whole morning enjoying what we thought was an amazing experience. The only ...see more
I lived in Elm Street and went to Parc Lewis school, Wood Road 1 year only, and Hawthorn Secondary Modern until 1957. My friends and I killed more Indians and Germans than anyone else on the mountain behind Bown's House up Dynea Lane. My particular friends over those years were Gordon Lewis, Malcolm Thomas, Billy Bowditch, Brian Coombs, Gerald Murphy, Brian Pike to name a few. I hope ...see more
As a young lad born in Shelldale Avenue, and having lived all my young life in Portslade, I used to spend many hours down by, and on the canal at Portslade. I loved seeing the ships, mainly coal-boats moored at the gas works and the old power station. There were timber boats, and various other vessels too, but I just loved the atmosphere and the smells of the then bustling harbour! I used to be ...see more
'Mum, did you catch fish in the pond at the Bridge' asked my son when Googling for ponds to fish. 0f course we did, with our home made nets of a piece of material attached to a stick, carrying home the sticklbacks and frogs spawn in a jam jar with its handle of string.
Reading the memories days later. Names were familiar, but as most where dated awhile ago, I didn't like to make contact ...see more
I lived in Lucien Road for sixty five years until two years ago. My memories start when I was about five with my dear old dad taking me out on his barrow to sell firewood - I thought it was great fun. Also, my mum taking me to haylocks at the bottom of Church Lane - I think it's a curry house now. I used to play out in the street all the time and my friends were Helen Little, Anne O'Connor, Brian Curtis, Terry Sheehan ...see more
When we first moved into The Croft, as the house was called, access to the front door was gained by walking up a narrow slopping path up and along the grassy bank towards the wooden gate. The property along with others along Hullbrook Lane had been built back from the roadside on a raised bank. In time, my father decided this was not ideal and set about the enormous task of digging out a ...see more
I was only thinking about my early education recently, then one evening I stumbled across this photo of my old school. I was only a baby when my family, along with thousands over the years, moved to the commuter (only it wasn't called that then) village of Garforth. I remember my first morning at this school, it must have been in 1967 when I would have been four going on five. I went for the morning, ...see more
I was born in Reading in May 1945, came to 'middle' Derinton Road in Tooting as a baby (mum had been evacuated) to live with her, my dad, nan, grandad and my aunty Joyce until we moved to Streatham in, I think in 1956. But my nan, Polly Harris, remained in Tooting until about 1963 when she came to live with us. We had many friends and neighbours in Derinton Road, and relations of my grandad (George) in Coteford or ...see more
This photo brings back many fond memories for me as my grandfather Arthur Stanley Walker, was the foreman on Cymmer station right up to the time it closed in the early years of the 1970's. My uncle, Thomas John Walker was the local shunter. I couldn't wait until the school holidays came around as I always spent them with my grand parents who lived in 6 Coronation Avenue where I was born. My first port of call was ...see more
My first memories relate to living opposite the Church of St Peter and St Paul. Cubs up Charterhouse Rd with Miss Alden and later with Mr Keen or Kean (who worked for Gochers) as Scout Master. Then, the choir at the age of seven. The Rev'd Oldham was the Vicar. WWL Baker the Organist. My introduction to Church music and appreciation of it, which has lasted ever since. The 'Bell School', Mr Heptinstall the ...see more
I was born January 1945 and from the age of three I often went to stay with great-aunt Lizzie in Maybury Street, Tooting (possibly house number 23.) My great-aunt, was Mrs Reader, a widow, who lived downstairs in the house, while a Mr and Mrs Dobner lived upstairs. Their apartments were not self-contained, but privacy was respected despite certain practices that took place such as the one where each morning ...see more
My great-grandfather Walter Alfred BEARMAN was the 'pub manager' in 1908. He was married to Helen Mary Bearman and had been resident in Godalming for some time, the earliest I am aware of was 1899 when my grandfather's sister was born. Walter was originally the blacksmith in Godalming. There is a picture in the Frith gallery of two children standing on the streetside under the blacksmith sign. The two ...see more
I went to Wroxall County Primary school from approx 1970 to 1974. The old school which was on the junction of Appuldurcombe Road and the main road to Shanklin. When school finished it was a rush to get to the old bakery, which was next to the greengrocers shop you see pictured here! The baker saved his wasted cakes and pastries for the children, who would pass by gratefully for some of the lovely flaky pastry goods. ...see more
I was born in Dorset in 1940, my mother living there as an army wife. My name then was Gorringe. We returned to my grandmother's house in Freshwater Road at the end of the war. We visited Tooting many times during the war, and I remember the bombing, which my family made quite fun to stop me being scared. I was in Tooting the day a bomb dropped in Southcroft Road. Our house was shaken, but the only casualty was ...see more
My grandfather, Herbert Powell, owned the Korniloff Hotel after marrying his second wife, Ilse Buckingham, in the 1960's. We lived in the annexe that no longer seems to be there and I remember it as the happiest time of my life. I returned in May 2012 to find Bigbury-on-Sea little changed although there were some changes to the hotel and it is now being run as an old-age home. I will always remember the ...see more
I attended this camp about 6 times when I was at St John Fisher School, Gateshead in the early 60's. A school from Middlesboro would also have been at the camp. I have only fond memories of this place; £1 for 2 weeks all in, plus 2 week's off school, it was a no brainer. We went out on trips to the Kielder Forest, walked along the Roman wall, visited Blanchland Abbey, a tour of Hexham Abbey and we visited ...see more
Me and my brother went to this home around 1954. I would be 7 and he would be 9; we went on the train from Rochdale. I remember mother giving my older brother 2 half crowns - 5 bob for sweets to last a fortnight. I also remember watching someone peeling tats by putting them in a big drum with sharp edges and turning it like a mangle. Unfortunately, I also remember climbing the steps on the slide in the play area and ...see more
Is there anybody out there who lived at or visited the village of Glanwydden, or was a pupil of the local county council school during the period 1937 to 1945?,
I attended the local school between 1937 and 1945 where I was educated by the likes of Miss Pierce, a lovely pleasant young lady who loved to play golf if my memory serves me right, then there was Mr Williams, known as 'Bulldog', a ...see more
I was interested to read the memories of those who attended this school during the war years because the headmaster, whose name was mentioned, was my father, Bill Scott. At that time, the school was operated by Newcastle upon Tyne Education Committee. My father, arrived there with the first evacuated children in May 1940, and he remained in charge until the end of 1944, when it was closed down for an ...see more
Lived at 17 Southern Drive, went to St Oswalds. One of my memories was helping Harry the firewood lad; he used to sell firewood from his handcart. Marco real ice-cream. Harry Wilkinson in the chip shop - if you put your hands on the counter, he would put a hot pudding tin on them. Bonfire Night in the circle of the drive. A lady called, Fat Ronnie, running off with the money for our Coronation ...see more
Born in Ilford 1947 I lived just a few yards from Barking Park. I spent a lot of happy times there in the outdoor swimming pool, running around the field, riding on the little train, boating on the lake (especially the steamer), having an ice cream from the cafe and listening to the music from the bandstand. I remember the Carnival and the fair that came every September and if you got the same ride as the ...see more
My Mother, Father and I (aged 9) moved to Newport around 1952. We lived in 18 Albian Street owned by a Mr O'Connor, I believe. My best friends where Roger Roberts at number 1, and Walter James, I think at number 8. We went to a school just up the road but cannot remember the name. Opposite Albian Street was the YMCA, just down from there was a fruit and veg shop; we would carry fruit up to the hot room for an apple ...see more
I was 6 mths old when my parents moved into Magna Close, my maiden name being Stenson. 1955 I was born. Well, I have many warming memories of my childhood in Great Abington, some of which relate to the post office. Harry and Hilda Jaggard owned and ran it then, Harry seeing to the post office side of things and Hilda looking after the shop. To this day I still remember the penny arrows, the 2d bars of ...see more
