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An Historical Photographic Archive of National Importance

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  2. Share Your Memories

Share Your 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.

Search for Local Memories

Search for your favourite UK places and read memories of the local area in days gone by.

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Add a Memory!

It's easy to add your own memories and reconnect with your shared local history. Search for your favourite places and look for the 'Add Your Memory' buttons to begin

You can also Browse By County

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:

  • How the location features in your personal history?
  • The memories this place inspires for you?
  • Stories about the community, its history and people?
  • People who were particularly kind or influenced your time in the community.
  • Has it changed over the years?
  • 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!

Enjoy browsing more recent contributions now.

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Here are a few of our favourites

Visitors to this website have so far contributed 66,031 memories inspired by the Frith photographs. Join in, and take a moment to remember the places that have been important in your life. Where your family comes from, where you were born, went to school and got married; the towns and villages where you've lived and worked since. Recapture and rekindle those precious memories with this special part of our website.

Displaying all 8 Memories

Christmas In 1945
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. No ...see more
Hornsey, the Town Hall c1965
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Added 26 December 2015

I Join The Railway.
I Join the Railway In the summer of 1953, my Aunt and Uncle were staying with us for their holiday. It must have been my Uncle who first spotted the advertisement in the Dartmouth Chronicle for a Junior Booking Clerk at Kingswear Station. Everyone knew I was not fond of school, so it seemed natural that I should apply for the job. With some help from my Uncle, I sent off ...see more
Read Comment 1
Added 25 October 2016

The Old Lamp Lighter Sanny Dillon.
The gas lamps in Station Road, Kilbirnie, were the responsibility of staff on duty at the High Station. This line went right through to Glasgow Central Station and of course it was the age of steam. Sanny Dillon was the lamp lighter and being small he carried with him a large pole with a hook on it. The idea was to hook onto a chain and pull it down, thus lighting the gas lamps that were on either ...see more
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Added 25 January 2013

Tyn Y By The Sea
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
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Added 18 June 2020

A Very Happy Childhood At Westbury
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 (nee ...see more
A Memory Of Westbury Village 2
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Added 02 March 2021

Christmas 1950's
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
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Added 15 December 2015

Ccefn Fforest
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
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Added 10 May 2013

Growing Up In Southall
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 being ...see more
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Added 24 November 2009