Recent Memories
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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.
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Displaying Memories 36881 - 36960 of 36961 in total
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
Date of this photograph is c1874/75 as the railway viaduct is complete.
The building on the left is a carriage shed, used for holding spare passenger vehicles under cover. It is from the North Devon Railway in the 1850s and still appears to have broad gauge track (7ft gauge - not removed until 1877) laid into it. Access was by means of a small turntable just off the picture to the left. The Ilfracombe Railway is being built - the low embankment can just be seen with what appears to be ...see more
This is a photograph of me as a young man operating my passenger carrying narrow boat 'Bellatrix', trading as Midland Navigation Packet Boat Service. 'Bellatrix' is a traditional narrow boat built in 1935 at Yarwoods of Northwich.
I was born in Hythe and spent all my childhood there. My brother, sister and I used to walk home from school along the canal bank. In the holidays we would take jam jars and catch tadpoles. In the winter, we would slide on the frozen water.
The property on the left of the photograph marked 'Printing Office' is where I grew up and lived until my student days. My parents operated a bakers and confectionery business from the premises. In 1890, when a printing works, it was owned by the Brookes family as can be seen from the sign over the door. Their ownership continued until about 1918, at which time two sisters opened a cafe (Fells Cafe) ...see more
My father Mr Jim Rush is at the far right of this photo in a light shirt, looking rather windswept. At this time he was the proprietor of the Pavilion Hotel and also for a short time the owner of the Alexander Hall which he ran as a dance hall.
The furniture van to the left will have been carried to Barnstaple by rail. There were special low 'road vehicle trucks' onto which these vans could be loaded and moved long distances around the country. and it is standing next to the end loading docks at this end of the station.
My father and grandfather both served with Henry Blogg on the 'Louisa Hartwell' and my dad was one of the pallbearers when Henry Blogg died.
My great grandfather worked as a lock keeper at Tyrley at the time of my grandmother's birth in 1883. My great grandfather named William Nixon married an Elizabeth Timmis whose father and brothers also worked as lock keepers at Tyrley and lived there. My grandmother Eva Nixon married Henry Thacker and he too lived near Tyrley and worked as a 'lengthsman' on the canal.
The house on the far right of the terrace was no 9 which together with no 8 formed the premises of Brighton Teacher Training College, which I attended in 1956-58. The road on the left hand side of the picture (just visible) is Paston Place. This eastern area of Brighton is known as Kemp Town.
In my early teens I spent the war years living in this hotel, when my grandfather was the licensee. I believe he held the licence from 1874 to 1943 - a time record I suspect but I cannot confirm this. He was well known in his time for being an alderman for, I gather, some 40 years. He died still Chairman of the Council's Finance Committee. But he was never mayor as he believed that a licensed victualler ...see more
This was my grandfathers favourite inn at the time the photograph was taken. He was coachman at the Manor House at Long Wittenham a short walk along the 'Maddy' (a road from the inn to Long Wittenham following the river and very prone to flooding). Its a family story that he would often spend too long here and Granny would have to prepare the horse and coach and dress up in his clothes to fetch the ...see more
The elderly man on left is my grandfather Mr James Bishop. He had probably popped in to the Post Office to get tobacco for his pipe. He was born in Worcester in 1883, his father was a master builder and from an early age he used to help carry bricks. He then delivered meat on horseback and went on to manage Redditch Meat Company butcher's shop on Church Green. Then he worked at 'Terry Springs' in the warehouse ...see more
As a former resident of Bath I recall that this building was not particularly liked. In 1959 the hotel was demolished and a block of 33 flats at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor level with shops at the ground floor was built. The quality of building work and the amenities of the building was exceptional and included electric underfloor heating beneath parquet floors in the main living room and an air extractor system to ...see more
The couple on the right pavement are my grandparents George Gray and his wife Elizabeth (nee Phippen) of Thornford. The photo would have been taken on a Thursday because after his retirement they always travelled to Sherborne on the once a week bus and would have been walking back to Digby Road just before midday for the bus home. Date about right as born 1887. He retired 1954/5.
My mother ran Burraton Post Office from 1950 to about 1990 and sold Frith postcards. The cows are being driven by Mrs Cook, a farmer's wife, whose farm was about 300 yards behind the photographer in Liskeard Road, Burraton. The farm was called 'The Elms'. The farmhouse is still there, but is now an old peoples' home called The Elms. The farmland has been built on.
The photograph shows my great-aunt's tea room/restaurant. She was Mrs Matilda Howells, known in the family as Aunt Tilly. I can clearly remember visiting the tea room on many occasions as a 9/10 year old child with my mother Adelaide who was Aunt Tilly's sister. Her husband (Uncle Jack) did all his own baking in a huge wood-fired oven at the rear of the premises and meals for the tea room were cooked in an equally large wood-fired range in the kitchen adjoining.
I was the main weekday driver of the launch photographed during the student holiday periods of 1955-1958. When I drove it, the name was 'Silver Stream'. It was the largest of a set of three electric launches which carried paying passengers for trips of about 40 minutes duration from the steps on the downstream, north side of the town bridge. Typically this launch would carry about 40 passengers maximum. Silver ...see more
The gentleman laying on the ground in the front is my great grandfather John 'Teapot' West. He was a fisherman and lifeboatman but also well known for being a 'Fisherman Evangelist'. Together with William Craske and William Long he was a Methodist Preacher for over 50 years. They travelled throughout the county preaching and after visitors heard them they appeared at rallies in such places as London, ...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 wooden boats in the picture belong to the riverside restaurant, out of shot to the right. As a teenager, in 1974, it was my job on a Sunday afternoon to hire these out. We did have a few people fall out of the boats, but no one complained. A warm brew and some towels was all it took to make things right.
Have seen this view many times in my younger days, back in the late 1920s and early 30s, just after crossing the footbridge over the river, when on my way to see my dear old gran at Harnham. I can still remember the smell of the old mill.
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 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
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
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.
Known as the 'John Barley Corn' children because at the Staithe where they all used to play, there is an inlet. In the 1920s, when boats came past, the children would sing 'Old John Barley Corn if you throw us a penny we will sing you a song'. Sometimes handfuls of pennies would be thrown. The people on one boat 'Nelson' were always quite generous. It was quite a scramble to each get a couple of pennies.
The children are twin boys. Matthew Peart on the left and Robert Peart on the right. Robert was drowned at the age of twenty when he was swept overboard near St Petersburg on 19 July 1908.
I was evacuated to Chester during World War II and met Romany and his dog Raq on a number of occasions when he visited our school. He talked to us about the countryside, did beautiful simple charcoal drawings of the creatures he was discussing, told us what to wear to become 'Nature detectives' and even played tunes for us on the piano. He was a lovely man.
This is a picture of myself with my sister and brother and my sister's friend. I was 13 years old. My sister Theo is the girl with the handbag, she was 9 years old and my brother John was 3 years old. We had been to the local store Bences and are standing outside the smallest pub in the county, The Chequers Inn. Our family home was at the top of Glovers Lane. The garden with dad's apple and cherry trees can be seen in the photograph running the full length of the lane.
The bungalow in the centre of the photograph is called Donkey Halt as when the carts of pilchards were taken up the hill by donkeys they stopped there for a rest before tackling the very steep hill to the main road at the top.
On the left hand side of the photograph next to the zebra crossing is Eastwells, a greengrocers and fruiterers. My father Harold Besent who is in the window in a white coat was a partner and also the managing director from 1940 until he retired in the late 1970s. This photograph was taken before the shop was modernised, and a new door and windows fitted. The back of the premises was very large, there was a ...see more
This is the Peart family. Amelia the eldest aged 17 holds her baby brother George. Next to her on the rock is Robert Leadley Peart and at her side is Robert's twin Matthew. Next to Matthew is Jane (known as Ginny) and then Tom. Ginny was born 18th September 1884 and was six years old in this photograph. Robert (on the rock) was drowned aged 20 on 19th July 1908 after being swept overboard at St Petersburg. George ...see more
The house in the middle is where I lived from 1972. The address is 62 Main Street and the house was called Barn Croft. The house on the right was a farm and the house that the middle house was built on was part of the farmyard. When the farm closed, one of the daughters had this built c1930. She lived there until she died c1970. Her name was Olive Clarke and was one of three girls I believe. The ...see more
The house in the photograph is The Limes and has a family connection. A great uncle on my mother's side purchased this property. He was Alfred William Reynolds, who was an innkeeper in the White Hart pub opposite the house. He combined publican and greyhound coursing trainer for a period in the early 1900s. He is said to have purchased The Limes after training the winner of the Waterloo Cup in 1908. ...see more
My father Oliver Hiinwood was postmaster here from 1903 to 1961. He used to take photographs of the village and send them to Frith's to be developed and then sold the postcards in the shop. The photograph shows the garage where we kept our car and to the side of that was a bakehouse where bread was baked daily. The person walking towards the shop is the Revd Frank Walter Hyne-Davy who was vicar of Nether Wallop.
I noticed with some surprise a photo of myself aged about 12 years. I am the girl on the left with the ponytail the year being about 1960. I don't recall the boys name but it looks as if we are standing by the machine that used to print letters of the alphabet. I think it cost one old penny for 20/25 letters. There was a metal dial with a brass pointer like the hour hand on a clock and when it was pointing ...see more
This is a view of the top of West Street with the Post Office on the left. The Postmaster then was Mr Herbert Winn. Opposite is Tetts Farm with the milk churns awaiting collection outside. The farmer was Henry Best. The lady coming along the pavement is Mrs Louisa Stoodley. She was widowed in the First World War and herself lost an arm while working at nearby Lopen factory.
I was married in this church 40 years ago. It was where the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, worshipped. the buildings on the right have been demolished. There used to be a bank, I think it was Barclays, and a small motor repairers called Davies Bros.
The photograph shows a shop and house which my grandmother ran between 1931 and 1952. It was then run by my uncle until it was sold as a house in 1979. My grandmother's name was Colville and she ran the shop as a general stores. Before the building was a shop it was a public house called the Axe and Compass and part of the building was a cobblers shop. The building itself goes back to 1599.
The van on the left of the photograph was owned by my great-grandfather Wilfred Redman who had the butcher's shop at 41 The Triangle, Westport from the early 1900's until 1945. He died in that year and his son took over the family business. Wilfred Redman came to Malmesbury in the early 1900s from Nailsworth, Glos where his mother had a stationery shop. The van was registered to Wilfred on 30 June 1936.
A fine cricket ground was included within the walls where Bracknell CC played each year. There was a concert party formed from among the inmates that used to give performances in the villages around Crowthorne: the party travelled with a strong force of warders. Just after WWII there was an occasion when a notorious murderer managed to escape and the alarm was sounded. It was powerful enough to ...see more
I moved into these cottages with my family in 1935 and my parents were there until 1959. Originally it was a barn hence the name 'Barn Row' and was converted into cottages in 1836 as marked in the brickwork on the other side of the cottages. All the time my parents lived there, there was no sewerage and only a stand tap in the middle yard to serve all four cottages. But times have changed and the village has been renovated and one or two new houses have been built.
Mr and Mrs Raines ran an efficient postal service from this humble shed at the bottom of their garden in 1908. There was surely hardly room to swing a mail sack. The slot through which villagers poked their letters is at the left hand corner. The village was of course much smaller then: there were only four large families and no more than a dozen cottages. In the late 1940s the post office moved to a building ...see more
The little girl is my grandmother Jane Peart born 18 September 1884. Her nickname was Ginny. Her daughter, my late Auntie was called Jennie. Beside her is my great uncle, Robert Leadley Peart who drowned at St Petersburg on 19 July 1908 aged 20 years.
This cottage is in Bedford Lane. I lived in the house called Connemara which is still in Bedford Lane. My father Samuel Frederick Richardson and his brother George were both bricklayers. Both were demolishing the cottage and they were burning the thatch. My brother John was playing dare. He walked through the outer edge of the white ash and dared me to walk through the middle. Unfortunately I did ...see more
My late husband was the professional at Royal St Davids for many years and the only golfer so far to have been both Welsh Amateur Champion and Welsh Professional Champion twice. We lived at 'Plas Owain' which is the house just above the Golf Links on the curve of the road up the hill. It was built in 1907.
Here we are looking down West Street with the village school visible at the end. On the left is Tetts Farm with the milk churns, while next is Manor Farm, farmed by Reg Newick. The thatched building before the school is Old Farm, farmed by Rhesa Warry, with a little sweet shop next door. All these farms are now private houses. Behind the village cross can be seen the shop window of the Post ...see more
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
The gentleman with the scythe over his shoulder was my grandfather. His name was Joseph Jackson, born in 1849 at Bootle in Cumberland. He spent most of his life as a tenant farmer, first at Canleton Farm near Egremont also in Cumberland. He then moved to Lane Ends Farm at Haverthwaite in what was then Lancashire owing to subsidence of the land due to iron ore mining from the nearby Florence Mine. He retired from farming in 1919 to Penny Bridge where he spent the rest of his life.
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
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
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!
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 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, 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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
