Recent 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 36881 - 36926 of 36926 in total
The roof of the Town Hall was set alight by incendiary bombs in the heavy air-raids on Manchester and surrouding areas in late December 1940. I remember seeing it, being a young boy at the time. Sale is about six miles from Manchester centre.
St John's Hospital is home to 35 elderly people. 24 live in the older part. There are 6 houses each holding 4 flats. House six can be seen in the photo, it stands alongside the hospital chapel. The chapel is used twice a week by the residents. Beyond the chapel and graveyard are two more modern buildings, St John's House is about 40 years old and comprises of 2 flats, one of which is occupied by the ...see more
This view shows the junction line which linked the GWR Victoria station with the Junction station - running from left to right and opened in 1887. It must have been almost new when the photo was taken and the earthworks are still bare.
This photograph shows a Wednesday afternoon, early closing day, hence the low volume of traffic and few shoppers. The year is definitely 1951. On the left is myself and my apprentice electrician seen manhandling the long ladder outside William Timpson's shoe shop. The other people are just members of the public stopping for a chat. I worked for a company who for many years had the job of ...see more
I am certain the steamer is 'Sabrina' built in 1870 and was the steam inspection launch of the Directors and Engineer of the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal, Gloucester. In 1912 'Sabrina' was owned by the Dock Company and did not leave their service until 1942. 'Sabrina' is still in regular use now on the River Thames and still in steam.
I understand my great grandfather worked in this forge. He was born Charles Holness around 1830 and married Ann Marsh in the 1850s. My father's mother Agnes Annie Holness was one of their children. She had an older sister Alice, brothers Fred and Bert and William Henry who died of smallpox in May 1902. He worked on boats at Fordwich. My father's father was Charles Albert Tucker who was a blacksmith in ...see more
My grandfather bought Smiths Car Showroom after the war when it was the Green Dolphin Cafe. I can remember going to the cafe in the 1950s when I was small. I think it is now a windows showroom.
My father was a greengrocer and his shop appears in this photograph on the left side going into the Rex Cinema arcade, a butchers shop was on the right side. During the war years and into the very early 1950s, he was the largest greengrocer in Bridgwater, having the Eastover shop and one in Taunton Road, my parents looking after one each. They also had a third shop which my sister ran for several years. That ...see more
I started my career in January 1959 as a young bobby at West End Central Police Station Savile Row. The trestles positioned to the east of 'Eros' which cordon off the road suggest the photograph was taken when the Piccadilly one-way system was being introduced. I remember the elegant stonework of the County Fire Office benefited from the recently enacted 'Clean Air Act'. Much of the ...see more
My parents ran the Central Stores from 1951 to 1955, their names were Tony and Eunice Jeanes. The date of c1955 is about right as this was the year that my father and mother sold the business to Mr Dean, whose sign appears in the photograph. I was two years old when my parents took over the business and my earliest childhood memories are of life in this Dorset village. It was from these premises that at ...see more
As a boy of 11 or 12, I left school everyday at 3.30pm. I then drove the cows to Mr Goodings Mill about 30 or 40 yards away from Mr Shepherd's shop. After being milked I drove them back again. In wintertime I'd grind up mangolds. I was paid 1/6 for this. Then I worked at Mr Shepherd's shop running errands and did odd jobs etc. I remember very well he had fowl houses under the Bridge road but the Council ...see more
I was amazed and delighted to see a photograph of my mother and grandmother. Nearest the camera is my grandmother, Mrs Archie Turner (1892-1974) who lived in Whitford Road, Birkenhead. Next to her is her eldest daughter, my mother, Mrs Clifford Bolt (1916-2003) who lived in Arthur Street, Birkenhead. They would both have been tickled pink to see themselves in print and famous!
My grandfather, William Simpson Bruchshaw, is the man coming out of the greenhouse with the plant in his hand. He was head gardener to Mr Munro Walker until Mr Walker died. My grandfather's youngest brother, Henry, was farm manager on the estate. While at Pell Wall, my grandfather experimented in growing tomatoes on potatoes in about 1908 I think. We still have the photos in the family. After he left Pell Wall my grandfather lived in Little Drayton. He died aged 91 in 1952.
The house shown immediately in front of the church was a private school run by Miss Margaret and Miss Cecil Cawse. Both my father and I attended this school.
My mother, Joyce Clark (formerly Smith) born in 1924, recognises this photograph of Quarry Hill. Her father William Smith was the sawyer for Mabledon Estate (on the right) and was responsible for felling the trees on the right of the photograph. Mabledon Estate (the gates are just off the photograph) was owned by the Deacon family who were London bankers. Mum's Uncle Charlie (Charles Eastwood) was the bailiff ...see more
This is the Paardeburg Memorial (the Green Howards). Due to the amalgamation of the East and West Yorkshire Regt. our name is now what the regiment has always called itself. The Green Howards Regt Association carry out the service of remembrance on the Saturday before the national day in the area of the Paardeburg Memorial and lay their wreath there.
I attended the local Pelham County Secondary Boys School which was close by. A number of my friends who attended came from outlying districts such as Carshalton, Chessington, Tolworth and Walton on Thames, travelling by Southern Railway services to the main line station further up the Broadway. The photograph must have been taken around 4pm as some of the pedestrians are in school uniform walking towards the ...see more
The lady standing on the bridge is my great grandmother Hannah Elton nee Churchill and the small boy her grandson, Cecil Henry Stickland, my uncle. He became the verger at Christchurch Priory. Hannah lived with her husband Henry, a carpenter, in the cottage to the left of the photograph just out of shot. Hannah was the local midwife and at the time the photograph was taken her daughter Louisa Eliza had returned to her parents home for the birth of my mother, Ivy Emma Stickland.
I lived with my family in St Athan village from the time of my first birthday in 1946 to my marriage in 1970. My wife and I were married at the church shown in the photograph. The church is dedicated to an Irish saint by the name of Tathan. The village was once known as Llandathan, then Saint Tathen and finally St Athan(s). At this church I was a choirboy, Sunday School teacher and bellringer too. There are six ...see more
The building on the left became an amusement arcade in the early 1950s and then a dental surgery. Later it was demolished and replaced by a new building of flats and a new HQ related to Cowes week which was opened by Prince Philip in 2005.
In the early 1940s the bay window on the first floor over the front door of Rotherham Grammar School was that of my second form classroom. On a rainy day we were 'attacked' by one of the other second forms as a result of which I was pushed through one of the windows. Fortunately the wartime shatterproof gauze in place prevented me and the window from falling to the ground. Several of us received six of the best for that lunchtime episode!
This building was known to us as Hammett's Farm, properly West Orchard Farm, in the Higher End area of St Athan. Arthur Hammett and his wife ran the farm and I occasionally helped to deliver milk from the farm around the village from a horse and cart. Arthur, who lived to the great age of 92, and continued farming to the last, would bottle his own milk in a tiny parlour. He was a lovely chap and always gave us a ...see more
Ormerod House passed out of the Ormerod family when the male line died out and the three daughters of the last Ormerod married. Their husbands were John Hargreaves, a local coal mine owner, the Rev William Thursby who became vicar of the local church and General Scarlett who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade to retake the field after the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava. The family ...see more
The photograph was probably taken from the top of the Odeon cinema which was demolished in about 1983. On the skyline can be seen the Lyceum Theatre, the Corn Exchange (now demolished), the Market Hall clock tower, the Town Hall and the Mechanics Institute with Library and Ballroom below (now demolished). Traffic is still running in both directions along Market Street, which became 'one way' in 1963 in the week I took ...see more
The lady on the left by the railings of King's College is my older sister then aged 22. We lived in Cambridge until 1922 and I was a pupil at Cambridge High School during the First World War. I am now 93.
The children in the boat are Leslie (boy), Harry (his brother), Noel (his sister) Wren. His other sister Millie Wren is sitting on the riverbank. The other child is a neighbour. For many years Millie Wren was a teacher at Lightburn School, Ulverston.
I built the boat shown on the right hand side of the photograph.
Bailey Bridge pontoon MKVI N0.19053 was manufactured by Gee Walker & Slater Ltd, Uttoxeter Road, Derby and sent to Engineers Stores, US Army Depot, Newbury, Berkshire on 29/9/1944. At post-war WD surplus sales, a considerable number of these Bailey Bridge pontoons were bought by Levesley's International and stored at ...see more
I was born and lived the early years of my life in South Molton. My father had his own building firm there. In 1958 we moved to Croyde Bay my father having bought this large house on the cliffs above the bay for £1800. This photo shows it before it became a motel. He put a new roof on the property in tiles rather than the slates which were normally used at that time. He then converted the top floor into our ...see more
The boat in the photograph was completed in 1949 by my father George Watson. We lived in Palmers Green, London N13. I am up forward then aged 11. I think the picture was taken in 1949 as I can remember the occasion well.
The cottage used to be called Whitlands Cottages. In 1881 my great grandparents Mr & Mrs French lived at no 3, next door to Mrs Gapper.
I was born in Axmouth and most Sundays we would have to walk out to Landslip Cottage. We all knew it as Anne's Cottage because the lady who lived there was called Annie Gapper. She would give my late Mum and Dad a cup of tea. I was one of nine in the family.
The gentleman fishing in the foreground is the late Mr Eric Sewell. He was a very keen fisherman and lived with his sister in a mansion flat in Twickenham Road overlooking Tough's boatyard. He was a very nice quiet man who always, when he was out of doors, wore a trilby hat and a light fawn coat whatever he was doing. I knew him for a long time and in the later years of his life he lost most of his ...see more
By this time Seeboard have taken over the Uptons building but Caffyns still have their garage premises which finally became a furniture salesroom in about 1982. the one way system has still not been created (see H252069), the restaurant is still 'Haywards' and the bank is the National Provincial.
This neat little Standard 8 Tourer (DNJ 785 - an East Sussex registration from 1947) could then get down nearly to the pavilion.
This is taken from outside the Star and shows (as does H252583) the system that prevailed before the Star became not just a pub but a roundabout eg things could turn right down the Broadway and Muster Green North was still a through road. The 36 bus is going to East Grinstead (although the 30 only went to Chelwood Common to connect with another bus).
This is the Broadway as I knew it. Both the Middlesex registered Driving School Morris 1000 and the East Sussex registered Morris 1000 truck MPN556 date this to after 1958. On the right beyond Eastman's the cleaners were WF Measor (haberdashers), JD Neal (who took over the business of F Butcher, jewellers), James Langridge (the Sussex Cricketer) who ran a toy shop, and beyond that was Ballards the ...see more
It could be an AEC double decker that is running into the bus station in this picture. I think it could be a little later than 1950 because of the 'embryo' roundabout, but not much because of the single decker leyland on the station forecourt. 'The Burrell Arms' (centre left), revamped in the 1930s, was once run by the father of cricketer Maurice Tate.
I cannot recall this single-decker Leyland bus on the 29 Route from Lewes. It is worth noting that up to the 1950s most of the local bus routes were serviced by single and double decker laylands (with even a few pre-war 'Gilfords') but the Haywards Heath circular route (no 84) was always serviced by 'utility' GUY double deckers.
'The Hayward' sign was outside 'Haywards Cafe & Restaurant' which flourished until the 1960s when it successively became 'Delmontes', 'Pieros', 'La Ferola' and now 'The Blue India'. Going down the right hand side of the Broadway facing north, one had immediately The National Provincial Bank (with flats over; Mr Bill Lowings was the last manager to live 'over the shop' in the 1950s), then Evans (electrical) and ...see more
The men on the wall are (looking from left to right): Charles Matthews, William Matthews and Sydney Matthews (Charles's son who died quite young). The little girl in the background was a Miss Jones who lived at No 1 West End.
Before George Hilton and Sons took over the buildings on the right as a furniture store (now Robert Dyas) it was Dinnages Toy Shop (a subsidiary of the garage company) where I bought my "Dinky" toys in the 1940's. The shop on this side was J Norton - bespoke outfitters.
It is possible that amongst the spectators of cricket on the lower tier maybe boys from "Sharrow School" in Heath Road, which I attended from 1945-50 because we played cricket there (see also H252587). If so, it is also possible that the lady standing in the foreground could be Miss Irwin (later Mrs Singer) a mistress at the school.
As can be seen (also in 252002 & 252006), the 1930's "Psuedo Tudor" block on the corner then contained "Dewhursts" the multiple butchers, 2 (later 3) frontages for "Edward Hodges" an independent tailor and outfitter, then "Sussex Stationers" (manager Bruce Gillett?), The "Copper Kettle Cafe" (owned and run by Mr and Mrs Hyslop) and "Scilla" (hairdresser). The offices of "Vincent Penfold" estate agent, ...see more
I suspect this is a little earlier than 1960 (but after 1956) the first building on the right was the offices of "Waugh Brummell and Barron" later Waugh & Co Solicitors and still going strong. The original Waughs were prominent in the C19 not only as solicitors but clerks to the Local Board, Magistrates and the newly formed Council. Further down on the right, up to the 1960's were "Jacksons Ironmongers", "Hoadley and ...see more
I was a fairly regular customer at "The Serg" from about 1955 to 1967. Mr Turner was the first landlord I knew and he was succeeded by Stan and Betty Allen who came from "The Charter" at Epsom.
The "Park" - known to us as "The Rec". I walked across this daily to and from my prep school 1945-50 and our scout troup did it's woodcraft here!
