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.
Search for Local Memories
Search for your favourite UK places and read memories of the local area in days gone by.
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
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.
Subscribe
Join the thousands who receive our regular doses of warming nostalgia! Have our latest blog posts and archive news delivered directly to your inbox. Absolutely free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Displaying Memories 1101 - 1150 of 2029 in total
I was born in Abridge in 1964, the last of 9 kids. We lived in The Mead which is no longer there. Abridge was a great place to grow up, we would play outside in the woods or over the shallows all day and only come home when we were hungry. In the summer we would walk to Grange Farm open air swimming pool and then after walk onto Loughton to the Chariot for fish and chips. Lots of the old time Abridge ...see more
I lived in the Red Bull from age 6 to 23. I have so many good memories, from playing in the surrounding countryside - the chalk pits, the clayhole reservoir, the woods, the ruined cement works etc. The village infants school down Eccles Row ('Ticklebelly road' - there's a story to that), and I think it was called Sears, a shop on the corner of Eccles Row. The pub used to have a small third bar ...see more
My name is Denise, I lived at 14 Churnet St (bottom end) near Collyhurst Rd from 1955 until 1967 when we had to move in the clearance. We were 4 doors down from Woolams clog works, Mr Woolam used to let us in and let us watch him make the clogs, it was great kept us quiet for a while. I went to the Tin school, then on to Albert Memorial, does Anyone remember the club on Friday nights in the cellar at the ...see more
I was born at 19 Church St, St Peters, where my grandfather owned the butchers shop. My first memory is of playing on the lino floor just inside the front door. My father, who served in the RAF during the war; worked as a carpenter in the area building many of the house that are around the Westover Road area. In 1950 we moved to Westover Gardens where my parents still live to this day. From ...see more
I lived in one of the cottages at Woodhorn, my dad worked on the farm. I remember a big windmill behind the houses. We had no indoor toilet, had to go cross the back lane, and no bathroom, had a tin tub, we had hot water from the boiler behind the fireplace, it was only a one bedroom cottage, I had to sleep in the same room as mam and dad. I remember the blacksmiths shop in the village and used to go there and ...see more
I lived in Spindle Cottage (now, I see, simply 'Spindles') with my mother from mid-1940 till the end of the Second World War, from the age of five till ten; my father, who was a codes and ciphers officer in the RAF, was captured in Crete in 1941 and spent most of his time in Stalag Luft 3, where he forged documents for various escapes, as he was a commercial artist in civilan life. We rented the ...see more
Coincidentally Colin (Hayes) I lived near by you in St. George's Avenue! And around the same time I used to regularly cycle over to Southend Airport with a friend. Here we used to plane spot - do you remember the 'sea' of Auster planes parked up in the middle of the field? Also like you we used to sneak in under the fence at the far side of the field and crawl Indian style along to the ...see more
We originally lived in Camberwell and were bombed out in the blitz of 1940. After sleeping on the platform of the Elephant & Castle underground train station for a few weeks, my dad found us a house to rent on Toorack Road, which was the border of Wealdstone and Harrow Weald. We were on the Harrow Weald side. I went to Whitefriars Elementary School, which was across the street from Windsor ...see more
Hello, my name is John Ryan and I was resident at Grays during the fifties - I was in partnership with a long-standing schoolfriend of mine (Billy Watts). We ran the Reliance Taxis for a few years, which was situated in a lane just off Orsett Road near the War Memorium and Police Station. I remember there was a photographer who had the corner shop where we used to park the cars for fares - his name Was Jack? Does ...see more
I have mainly unhappy memories of Marsh Court. During the Second World War it was used as a convalescent home for children and in 1944 I was sent there after being knocked down by a car in Tettenhall where I was housed as an evacuee from London. I was also suffering war trauma and I was just four. I remember a long tree-lined drive leading up to a big house with a wooden door and,on ...see more
I was born at Low Westwood, a small mining village in the North East of England in 1955 – well, when I say I was born there, that’s not entirely true. Unlike today, children were born at home not in hospital and I was actually born in my Gran’s spare bedroom in the nearby market town of Consett at 2.00 one October Wednesday afternoon. The only “medical” intervention was ...see more
I think this was the year. I was sick with chest problems, I loved it there. Getting all the new people's hair washed in little basin and watching all the fleas fall out. Having naps after lunch, sometimes in the dormitory, sometimes in the field. Listening to teddy bears picnic at Sunday tea time. Going down the clift steps to the beach. My name at that time was Frances Smith, I was only little at the ...see more
I was born in a small maisonette off Alandale Drive and my mum still lived there until she passed away aged 95 in 2014. The border between Hillingdon/Harrow runs across the back garden. I attended Pinner Wood Primary, although it was/is in Harrow, but went to Northwood Secondary Modern as it was then. Northwood Hills through my school time was a flourishing shopping centre, with a Sainsbury's ...see more
I lived at the Post Office/shop and went to the school which is now the village hall. Opposite us lived two Sicillian families both surnames were Parisi. I was friends with Giovanna, and it was the happiest time of my life; long days and evenings during the summer holidays roaming the village and fields especially by the lake which considering I was only about 8 years old at the time doesn't bear thinking about, you ...see more
I remember when I was about ten or eleven, we used to camp out in the back field behind the flats in Rockford Avenue, four or five of us in a two-man tent. After a rough nights sleep we would get up early in the morning and send one of my younger cousins and his mates to pinch some milk, eggs, and bread from the doorsteps after the milkman and the bread man had delivered them. Then we would cook a big ...see more
I went to work at Litton Mill when I was seventeen. Worked in the Sizing, Charlie Mellor was the supervisor. I met many lovely people and a great lot of characters. The sizing was machines with huge rollers set in a bed of sticky substance, the cotton yarn went through it and was wound into cones. The operatives had to watch for the yarn breaking and knot it up again. As with all millwork in those days the ...see more
A section of this photograph was used by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate for one of the opening sequences in the programme Bagpuss. This was confirmed in 1978 when a Horrabridge resident wrote to the Bagpuss programme and received a reply from Mrs Joan Firmin giving an account of how the picture used came from an old postacrd album which now belonged to her.
The wheelwrights yard is shown on the left and the view is ...see more
I was born in the schoolhouse in 1943 and lived there until 1957. My early memories go back to the firing of a huge gun in the field opposite by the Army, with the shells aimed to reach Plynlimon near Abersystwyth! Then in 1947 there was the prolonged snow which paralysed transport and bread was brought from Garth by my uncle via his Fordson tractor following its delivery by train. I remember a large branch of a tree ...see more
Both my parents were nurses at Claybury during the 1950s. My dad worked days and my mum worked nights. I can remember her telling me that when she did 'the rounds' during the night she used to ride her bike through the dark corridors crunching over cockroaches! Dad was umpire for the Clabury cricket team and my brother and I spent many a warm sunny Sunday playing in the grounds of the hospital while Mum sat ...see more
This photo brings back lots of memories for me as it shows High Road, Woodford Bridge which is where the old-fashioned ironmongers that my family owned was situated. There had been one on the site since the beginning of the 20th Century, but we owned it from 1973 until my Father retired in 1987. Originally it was High Road, Woodford Bridge, but it was renamed Chigwell Road. I particularly remember 1974 as ...see more
Looking at this picture brings back memories of the Bridge Mission. You went down a alleyway, I think beside a tie factory and a shop called Grants. Because I had very small feet, the kind Mr Grant got my shoes in specially. They were always very small, tight and pointed, and were very painful to walk in; but because he went to so much trouble, I never said a word. The Mission, I was in the Girls ...see more
I lived at Hawkhurst Court a few miles from Wisborough Green. I was at school in Wisborough Green in 1939 till my family moved in 1946. My younger sisters and brother also attended the same school. I remember names such as Rosalind Woods, Alice Avis, Joan Luckford, Michael Puttock and several others. I also remember dancing round the maypole on the green, attending church and having ...see more
1942/1976 - I am the son of Alex Stewart, brother to D.C. Stewart. I spent my early years at Arnage during and after the war. I was at all the Arnage gatherings and met many stars of stage and screen. Many the time the Rolls Royce would collect me and my sister at school to take us out to the castle for weekends. There were 6 brothers; Charlie, Bill, Alex, Frank, Davy and Donald. Both my father and mother ...see more
I lived in the cottages on Sanderstead Hill (opposite Purley Downs Road), they were built in 1895 and my mother lived there for most of her life. I lived there from 1943 (my birth) till 1965 when I emigrated to New Zealand. I now live in Queensland, Australia after 40 years in NZ.
As a native of St Blazey, I would like to write about the businesses there at the time. The first shop on the church side " The International Stores", a fine shop managed by Mr Vincent, who also owned the newsagents in Station Road. Next to "Star" (the name used by locals for the International, because it was originally the Star Tea Company) was Barlow's cycle shop. Next the shop of the Best brothers, plumbers, ...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 Grammar) ...see more
I am not sure which grandfather it was (how many greats do you want?) but the old part of my family, the Strevens, have lived in Broadstairs for the last five hundred years, and have the honour of having erected the post in the middle of the bay. This was one of five snubbing posts that allowed the barges to warp right up to the pier where they loaded tar and coke from the gas works at the top ...see more
While still at Helston Grammar School, I worked at the Headland Hotel during one summer. Pickles was the manager, he was a tyrant but I seemed to get the better of him. I wrecked the lawn-mower running over a rock while pushing it up and down those front lawns in the picture, he tried to make me pay for it out of my £4 10/- a week pay! I refused. I fell in love with Margaret from Quinton who was ...see more
I attended this school from about 1956 till 1959. We left Stapleford when I was ten years old. I don't remember much about the school, but I remember a lot about one particular teacher, her name may have been Mrs Swan. She was an older lady who must have grown up during the Edwardian era and in the years before the First World War. She taught us about the Phoenicians. She ...see more
Oh, my goodness, the memories come flooding back when I started to read some of the stories. Yes, mine was very much the same as most of yours was. I was taken to Victoria Station and put on the train with a nun. I remember sleeping in the dorm and wetting the bed. Eating dry boiled potatoes that made me gag. Walking one direction along the sea with the wind blowing so hard they made my cheeks red raw and on ...see more
In October 1958 I was sent to Yarrow for two weeks to recover from a complicated operation. I have a sense of dread about my time there; my arrival into the panelled and imposing hall as my dad disappeared down the long drive, still haunts me and none of the staff helped me to feel any better - they were unfriendly and at times very unkind. The atmosphere was heavy with lots of silence and I never ...see more
My name was Beverley Anne Davies and I went to Port Regis for about 18 months in 1952. We lived in East Ham E6 and I had asthma. I remember the nuns were strict and at times cruel. I have a memory of one very young girl being sick and the Sister shaking her. I was in a play whilst there, my memory is hazy except I was dressed in a satin dress as an angel. The nuns names I remember are Sr Mary ...see more
I attended St Anne's from age six to eleven; we had moved to Croydon so this was my second primary school. My memories are not good, on the first day I was told I had a 'heathen name' and it was all down hill from then. Some friends were made but lost when I moved on, Miss Williams was very frightening, the stuff of nightmares. We wore flat hats, indoor shoes and outdoor shoes, got sashes for ...see more
I was thrilled to see your photo of the market including Cross House Stores (the building on the far right of the picture). We lived there in 1955 for about 2 years. The front was a wine and spirits store that my father managed. I recall that the cellar of that house was over a thousand years old and had a secret passage that led to a monastry down the street that a carriage which could be driven through ...see more
My friend and I would await the arrival of American ships on their way to Manchester. We would shout "got any gum chum?!" to the crews. We would occasionally be rewarded by a packet of sweets being thrown from the ship. Far tastier than the English equivalent!
We moved in to number 13 after we got married. Our first visitor was unfortunately a policeman with a warrant for the previous owners arrest. I'm sure we were not alone in the house. We often used to hear an over the door type bell and were later told it used to be a sweetie shop. Something used to flit past the kitchen door which you would see out the corner of your eye, but never for long enough to say what it ...see more
Mr Atlee, or as he was when I knew him, Old Mr Atlee, lived on the corner of Cowper and Garfield Roads. Garfield Road was a long road starting at the balloon factory, passing the primary school and the Rec and ending at the Carton factory. Running along its length shooting off at right angles were 5 roads named after poets, starting with Cowper followed by Milton, Dryden, Tennyson and ending with Caxton. ...see more
My sisters, Anne and Mary, and I lived at the Vicarage, 175 Linacre Lane on the corner of Monfa Road. The church was along Monfa Road. We had a Cable Works opposite and during the war there was no canteen but workers were invited to the vicarage garden back lawn for a cuppa at lunch time, served from our summer house for one penny (old penny!) Ladies of the church served it. For our Saturday pennies ...see more
Hi Lorna and Carole, I may have been at St. Mary's at the same time as you but my memories are not as good as yours. I remember my mother telling me, when I got home, how scared of the nun's I was and if I saw one in the street I would pass wind! (She thought it was very funny). She was also impressed that I could write my own name. I was born in September 1944, hadn't started school ...see more
I was born at number 7, Village Road, Finchley in 1932 and lived there until October 1939 when my dad's businesses in London were requisitioned. Lots of memories. Milk was delivered by United Dairies and the horse would always spend a penny right outside our house leaving a horrid green puddle. 'Old Fishy' delivered his wares every Friday walking from house to house with a big wicker basket, followed by ...see more
I'm reading a book. Came upon the name Christopher Wren (astronomer around 1683). Suddenly it slipped into my mind the combination Wrens Warren Camp and via google came upon this site.
I'm Dutch, survived the winter of 1944/1945 in that part of the Netherlands still occupied by the nazi's. Almost no food and cutting trees to get some firewood in order to burn the stove in freezing winter. The city of ...see more
When we moved from Wales I lived at the fairly extensive Sayes Court Farm caravan park off Liberty Hall Lane, before we settled in Addlestone Park Ave (defined by the statues of knights at the top). At 15, I went to work at Vickers Armstrong - now BAE. After attending their secretarial school I was placed in the sub-contracts dept. I loved to see all the logos of the Airlines of the World being ...see more
Just to the southeast of St Thomas a Becket church there are some lovely watermeadows reaching almost to the sea shore. A small beck, or stream, runs N-S down one side. One summer's day in 1942 or 43, I went on a picnic there with the Shoesmith family of North Streey, Havant. The sun shone, the larks sang high in the cloudless sky. It was one of those unforgettable magic days of childhood, when ...see more
I remember the H-G fire well. I was sixteen at the time and was on my way home from evening classes at the South West Essex Tech, as it was called in those days, in Longbridge Road Barking. As soon as I left the college on my bike I noticed the glow in the sky and knew it was somewhere near where we were living at the time in Sunnyside Rd. I always rode down Dawlish Drive and by the time I reached South Park ...see more
My parents moved into a prefab in Foxglove Crescent when I was 2. They were still assembling them and German prisoners of war were building the foundations. Compared to my nan's house they had everything, including an electric fridge which was unheard of then. The only problem was that in the winter everything froze solid inside, windows, wardrobe doors etc because they were all metal. We used to go to the ...see more
As a youngster living in Great Easton along the Welland valley, my school holidays in the early 1960s were largely spent at Seaton Junction station in Rutland. My friend Colin and I would cycle there with a bottle of orange squash and a bag of sandwiches and spend our days watching the trains on the Rugby to Peterborough line and also the Kettering to Nottingham trains over the viaduct nearby.
We were ...see more
This is taken from where Penfolds boathouse was later built. I used to help out at weekends and school holidays. Sid Penfold would slip me a pound or two for helping hire out the punts and skiffs.
I was educated at Madingley Church of England School, our Principal and teacher was Gwen Ruddell M.B.E. a remarkable teacher. Educated at Cambridge University she was the school teacher and principal for the 28 local children aged 4 to 11, from approximately 1950 till 1980. My brother Lawrence, sister Helen and I (Martin Newell), all attended the school and at Christmas we used to have a party ...see more
My brother Christopher and I first went down to school at Visitation Convent, Bridport in September 1957. We lived in Ascot as our father had been an officer in the Royal Horse Guards and had been based at Windsor. We took a train to Reading and then a GWR express running from Paddington to Newton Abbot.
Travelling to boarding school on a steam train was a complete Harry Potter experience. I can still recall ...see more
Our school, Park Modern Secondary, was situated in Barking Essex just outside of the east end of London. Each year, we had school camp at Sweets farm on the top of Dundry Hill, where we would camp for two weeks. We were told repeatedly by our teachers that we were over 600 feet above sea level (why, I'll never know but it seemed important to them) and we soon found out how high that was because we walked everywhere and ...see more