Featured Memories

We were raised in a pit house on Springfield (sometimes 'Avenue') near the far end of Ings Lane, in the fifties. It was a small street, only 6 houses. 2 or 3 keys would open both front and back doors (and the coal-house) of the whole street; but you hardly ever locked the door anyway. Often our small 'gang' walked over the lane towards Broomhill where there was a small wood. We would pinch ...see more

I was raised in Mountsorrel in the Soar valley near Leicester. It was a Norman village that lay alongside the river Soar under Castle Hill. The hill got its name from the mote and bailey type 12c castle built by the Beaumonts – Earls of Leicester who were given land by William the Conqueror. It is first mentioned in 1150 when its strategic position for a castle was first noticed. Some say the name of the ...see more

I was born in 1938 and my maternal grandparents lived in a tiny shop on Havant Road, Cosham. I remember I used to write to them occasionally which is how I remember the address. I can't ,though, recall the number. Their name was Owen. I know that when my mother and I travelled on the No. 31 bus from Fishbourne to visit them my mother always gave the destination as "The Red Lion" and I do recall that the ...see more

I think it must have been 1952 or 3 when I went to live on Kingwood Common with my parents in the old nissen huts left by the German POWs, and afterwards by Polish refugees. We knew the place as Kingdom Camp, or just 'The Camp'. There were a good few families living there that I remember and they formed a friendly community of people that were waiting for council houses in some of the nearby villages. ...see more

We moved in to our new house in Rosemary Avenue in 1938. We had a Triumph car and my father built a garage of timber and asbestos sheets and laid concrete runways for it (they're still there). I started school in 1939 at the infant school in Down Street. One of our neighbours had a daughter Shirley, the same age as me and we went to school together. When the Blitz first started in 1940 we couldn't ...see more

When I was around 11 years old in the early '60s we used to go to Chapel every year and stayed in Standish Bungalow. It was owned by my mother's employer who allowed us to go there as a reward for her devoted service. Lovely bungalow and so full of character and very secluded. I recall one year my father found a large box kite in the bungalow and suggested that we fly it on the beach, ...see more

I was five years old in 1953 and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the first vivid memory I have of my childhood. We lived at Midway, Cold Ash Hill, the major road through the village. Dressed as a pirate with silver buckles on my shoes, an eye patch and a wooden cutlass painted silver, with my childhood friend, Keith Stroud, we joined the throng of people making their way up the hill to the recreation ...see more

Just thought many might remember waking up on Boxing Day 1963 and seeing snow on the ground which looked lovely. However, most of us will remember that said snow was around until about March 1964 and we had a live Christmas Tree in its tub in the dining room until April 1964 when it finally became warm enough for my mother to replant it in the garden where it probably still is today. Happy New Year -- Tony Joseph

When I lived in Wokingham in the 1950s, I remember a double fronted cycle shop on Denmark Street (next door to the entrance to some sort of meeting hall?) - you can just see part of the hanging sign for the shop in picture number W123016. To me then the shop seemed quite large and was certainly stuffed full of bikes and accessories that I coveted. I can still remember the wood flooring and smell of ...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

I moved from Blyth to Seaton Sluice into a newly built house in Cresswell Avenue in 1957. Life as a child in the village was exciting; most days we would either play on the beach and harbour or the new building development behind Parkfield in Easedale. We made camps in the former garden of the demolished Jacobean house at Seaton Lodge and used Starlight Castle in the dene as our ...see more

My parents often told me this story. My Great Grandfather was John Roberts. His son, my father, Thomas Glyndwr Roberts and my mother Myra Roberts (Evans) as young children were playing on the swings in Blaen Park. My father was pushing Myra on the swings and she asked him to stop as he was pushing her too high. He said I'll only stop if you say you'll marry me. She finally agreed ...see more

I was fascinated when I saw the new development of Garndiffaith photo. This photo is of Lasgarn View, Varteg, which is just above the Garn. I was born in Primrose Cottage in 1951 with my brother as we were twins. My name was Marilyn Jenkins, my twin was Mervyn. We had so much fun in those days, when we moved to Lasgarn View. Wow, the back of the house lead onto Lasgarn Wood an imaginary world of climbing trees, ...see more

Our family moved to Friars Road in the summer of 66, from a damp house in Boothen Green, which looked over toward the Michelin Factory. I was 5 years old. My father Graham was a former art student at Burslem College of Art under the painter, poet and playwrite Arthur Berry, and by the 70’s became a tv engineer. Mother Kathleen was a Nurse. I remember the World Cup was on at the time of the move. Our back garden ...see more

I was 17 years old and lived at no 7 Tivoli Road, and when Father Christmas arrived at the front door with 4 cwt of coal my mum put newspaper down the hall and throughout the house so that the coal man could dump the coal in the shed. So Christmas Day we all sat around the fire to keep warm - and cold at our backs. We cooked chestnuts on a shovel and played cards, and my dad played the piano and we all sang carols. ...see more

I remember when The Beatles came to The Wood in 1963 to record the Morecambe & Wise show at the ATV Studios off Eldon Avenue. Me & a couple of mates from school (Holmshill) played truant to wait at the back of Studio Gates off Shenley Road to try and catch a glimpse. After waiting a few hours it got to lunch time so we wandered up to Shenley Road for a bite, and there was John & Paul just walking along ...see more

I lived as a child at number 110 henwood lane Catherine de barnes or better known as catney.The house we lived in was the lodge to the hospital. I lived with mother and father,4 sisters and 3 brothers. We spent 3 years there from 1962 untill1965.in 1962 I remember my dad and I going into the woods and looking for some where to dig an hole I was only 5 at the time and did not understand what was going on, ...see more

Memories are funny, they come and go and during this time of lockdown I've thought quite a lot about my childhood. We lived in Amberley Road, very close to the Raglan School entrance in Raglan Road. The school gates were never locked and the girls' toilets were at the end of the corridor and led outside, which meant that any member of the public could access them! I remember one of ...see more

I am Jeannette McNicol (nee Elliott). My brother John and I moved there with my parents ,when I was 13 years old and he was 12. I had found the house when we were having a picnic by the Webbern with friends. I had gone skipping off down the lane, and seen the house around the corner, and run back to my parents saying "Mum! Dad ! There's a fairy house around the ...see more

I grew up in Southall in the 1940s and 50s. We lived in Gordon Road in a terraced house that backed onto The Tube. We had an outside toilet, no bathroom and, until I was about 6, no electricity. At the age of 5 I could change a gas mantle. My mother continued to live there until she passed on in 1989. Two doors away was Mrs Ridgewell's grocery shop and on the corner there was a greengrocer's. I recall ...see more

We moved from New Cross, Deptford just before the war to The Heights Northolt. As a child then, memories are now somewhat fragmented but that reflects the conditions that parents faced. As a child there seemed much freedom, school was intermittent, lots of time, putting pennies onto the rails of the trains (I still go over those rails on way to Bucks), building a camp near the arch way into the ...see more

My grandfather, A J Hurd, was, for a time, Rudyard Kipling's head gardener at Batemans. He, my grandmother and my mother (now Joyce Richardson) and her sister (now Barbara Wainwright) lived in one of the cottages (which still exists) near the mill adjacent to Batemans. In addition to his responsibilities in the gardens, Grandpa also worked with the private hydro-electric turbine generator (which also still ...see more

I was born in Moorland Crescent in the 1950’s. This council housing estate was built a few decades earlier and has a variety of different style good quality houses. Most people had nice gardens with flowers etc and we had vegetables and fruit bushes in the back garden. On summer nights it was not uncommon for the streets to be full of kids playing as most people had big families. Also there was ...see more

I lived in Medway Road from 1934-1956. I also remember the doodle bugs (as did Gordon Savage, I remember him), the dockyard heavy guns, and school. I was due to start school on the day war started and finally went to Richmond Road Infants two years later. All the teachers were evacuated with the local area evacuees so there was no one to teach us. I went for 1 hour, then 2 hours, an afternoon, and ...see more

This goes back a long way, I think around 1950. I was a pupil at King's School in Rochester and used to live just off Brompton Farm Road. My parents used to allow me to sleep in the garden (an adventure ?), I digress, I used to go around on my bike, and one day cycling down Crutches Lane, I noticed some tents being erected in the fields of Gads Hill School. They were all girls trying to put the ...see more

No stranger to Friday bath night (did we really only bathe once a week?), where the tin bath was hauled into the kitchen in summer & in front of the fire in winter & filled by kettle. As I got older my dad would take me down to the public wash baths where I could luxuriate in a 'real bath' in a real bathroom. My dad actually knew the man that ran the baths for the council & instead of the fixed amount of ...see more

My father believes the man in the carpenter's apron in photographs 60995 and 60995x may be Francis New. The carpentry business he is standing in front of was eventually taken over my grandfather, John Bray, and his brother William. In the directories they were listed as wheelwrights but they undertook a much larger range of buiding work some of which is still on view today, e.g. the ...see more

A large wooden hall was built on land behind Mr and Mrs Chrime's house in Milton Road and we had a street party for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. I remember seeing bits of the ceremony on someone's TV (we didn't own one) and it being very grainy, and all the 'old' women (probably in their 20s!) ooing and ahing! I would have been 10 years old and I got 2nd prize in the fancy ...see more

The building in this view with the clock was, in the 1960's, a bank, I don't recall which one but maybe Barclays. I do recall on entering it, the main service counter ran parallel to the High Street and behind it under the windows facing the Whitgift alms houses on the opposite corner was another counter about 20ft [6m] long and 2ft 6" [0,75m] wide completely covered in bundles of notes. 5 Pound, 1 Pound and 10/- notes. ...see more

Rod Swift remarked (in a previous memory) about falling in the pond - well I was one of these. Rod must be my cousin's son, as my aunt and uncle lived in the house referred to. Around 1953 on an icy cold day in winter, a crowd of us were going home after school. On passing the pond we knew there was thick ice so decided to skate on the ice. We did not take into account that it was beginning to thaw and ...see more

I lived in the valley until the very early 60's and can remember Christmas very well. As a treat I was taken to Lewises in Manchester to meet Father Christmas. I can recall queuing up some stairs to visit his Grotto. Christmas parties at Hareholme Methodist Church. Making decorations at school for the class room. Nagging your parents for the toys you wanted and the excitement of Christmas eve and not ...see more

I left Ireland with my Family in 1953 and left part of my heart there. My Grandparents lived in Portavogie right by the seaside, they had a farm and a General store. Granny always had a pot of soup on her stove in the winter, and many people would have a bowl of soup to warm them. She always said, "always put an extra potato in the pot for the man from over the hill" I always wondered who the man from over the hill was. ...see more

I was born in Battersea in 1938. We lived at 28 Forthbridge Rd near Clapham Common. With my mum and sister, I went to the Granada cinema loads of times on a Saturday night. Often you had to line up to get in and they had these men dressed up in uniforms, even with 3 stripes or 2 on their arms, who used to bawl at you as if you were on a parade ground. We could only afford the 1/6 pence seats but kids ...see more

I lived in Wood End Lane (no. 9), from 1941 from the age of six months, until 1948 when I moved to the new council houses at Newnham Close, locally known as Tintown, because it had steel framed walls on the upper storey. No. 9 was a ground- floor flat with two bedrooms and my sister Joyce and I shared the back bedroom. After the war we used to play in the Wireless Field, as it was called by the locals. We went ...see more

As a boy of thirteen, with my family, after the war, I spent all my school holidays in Cornwall. Six weeks with my Uncle Arthur and Aunt Mabel in a tied cottage on Lower Tregantle Farm near Torpoint. The very air was different; how many times since those days has a certain fresh breeze and smell conjured up the Torpoint Ferry and once again I am leaning out over the side watching the bow wave and ...see more

In the late 1950’s and as a young boy around 8 or 9 living in the west end of Newcastle, I used to visit my Auntie Bella and Uncle Ted regularly. They lived at Number 3 Picktree Cottages, a short row of picturesque cottages now demolished and replaced with the bungalows on Picktree Lane situated almost opposite the entrance to the present Ash Meadows. Uncle Ted worked for a Mr Walton who had a butchers ...see more

In a previous memory of mine I mentioned that the village of Upper Boddington was without mains water in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s . I lived in the School House with my parents, Pat and George Bishop. My mother became Headmistress in November 1949 and the lack of water on tap was just one of several problems that we had to adjust to. I was 14 years old at the time, fit and strong and the ...see more

I went to Gatley Primary these years. Happy memories, completely changed now. I am an aviation buff and saw the first BOAC b747 land at Manchester Airport from my classroom window. My teacher was a Mr Elliott, not sure of his whereabouts now but I shouted "IT'S A JUMBO" out loud - he replied "quiet, I dont care if its a pink elephant."!!!!!!!!

My name is Alan Moore and I was born at No.7 Church Street on the 18th December 1944. Apart from 12 years I spent down Bolton on Dearne, I have lived all my life in Thurnscoe, and that I am proud of. I was a Co-op milkman for twelve years in Thurnscoe and Goldthorpe, and then the Co-op Insurance Agent for Goldthorpe and " The bottom end" of Thurnscoe for the next 25 years. I dealt with some of the nicest ...see more

A pleasant comment on my last memory, made by Mr Steve Flora, whom I’ve never met, has prompted me to tell some more stories about Upper Boddington. On November 25th, 1944, a Wellington Bomber; no. LN242, took off from Chipping Warden airfield. Unfortunately it developed engine problems. I am sure that the pilot did all he could to control the aircraft but, with fields all around, the plane hit the ...see more

Having moved to Stourton from Glasgow in March of 1961 at the age of 12, it was really exciting to find that, about a hundred yards from our new house, was a big pub with its own outdoor swimming pool. The Stewpony Pub meant little to me at the time, but the adjacent Lido was eye-opening for an adolescent youth in lots of ways! During the Summers of '62 and '63, I worked part-time after school (Brierly Hill ...see more

At the ripe old age of 89 years I well remember my years at what I have always regarded as "Home.". In 1931 I first entered the world, living in Wembley, but in 1935 I recall my father meeting Harry Peachey of Belton Estates and arranging to purchase a yet-to-be built semi-detached house in Northwood Hills. The road at that time was unnamed and in discussion with Harry Peachey ...see more

My memories of Cefn Fforest were of Whitson marches in your new clothes and having sore feet where your new sandles rubbed your feet raw. Along with 'Thomas The Milk' was Pughs Farm who had a horse and cart delivering the milk - my parents would send me out to collect the milk in a jug - this was before the milk bottles came into being. Also the police station where Sgt Church and 'Brace the Bobby' put the ...see more

My Name is William Speirs, in the 1940's we moved from Bellshill Lanarkshire to live in Fishcross, Alloa, Clackmananshire, Scotland. This is a short story about when we were kids in Fishcross from about 1946 till I left in 1959. The people I played with, my schools, Fishcross, Sauchie, then Fore brae’s at the top of Sunnyside, the characters of that time and the things we used to do. The Early Years ...see more

The Cabin in Graham Road was a school boy's (and girl's) dream! At the front of the shop, behind the counter, was an array of jars of sweets, sold by the quarter (lb) and every other piece of confectionary or chocolate you could name: Black Jacks, Fruit Salad, Shrimps, Flying Saucers, Sherbert Fountains, Palm Toffee (banana flavour the best), Flags of the World bubble gum, liquorice sticks, etc. In the summer, the ...see more

In the post war years, as families rebuilt their lives again, Sundays really were special leisure days and those who were able, bought a small car and enjoyed their afternoon going for rides on quiet country roads. My father was a self employed carpenter and joiner and needed transport but, as having two vehicles was out of the question, he used his skills to re-construct a farm wagon, ...see more

My earliest memories are of Aldringham. I was born in the Police Station on Mill Hill in 1937, the youngest of three children. My father was the local policeman, P.C. James McGuire. I often wonder now how my mother managed, with three children under five. There was no water electricity, gas or sewage. Water had to be carried from a well 100 yards down the road. When my father had the audacity to request that ...see more

First stayed there in 1951. My dad rented the chalet opposite the green corrugated Chapel aside of the sandy path which lead to the beach. Apart from the shop and chippy there was a Welcoast ice cream kiosk on the corner that closed a couple of years later.'(Often licked never beaten' was the slogan) The shop was run as I recall by two elderly ladies; it was then taken over by Mr. Bill and Mrs Mavis Jones. I ...see more

I was born at 7, Nightingale Row, in the box room which was originally shared by my mother Mavis Warren and her sister Glennis Byard as they were to become. The daughters of George and Martha (Dot) Edwards. The house was rented from a relative who lived in number 8, whose name was Bexley. The two daughters married RAF service men. My father William (Bill) was a Londoner, who was stationed in Newport for training ...see more

My name is Andy Pike, getting on a bit now but lovely to read other folks memories of Westbury. Here are a few reminiscences of my childhood in Westbury on Trym in the 50's and 60's. Maybe this will ring a few bells for ex, or present, residents of Westbury that are of my generation. I was born at the end of December 1947. My father, Douglas, was born at 8 Stoke Lane and my mother, Gwen ...see more