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.
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Search for your favourite UK places and read memories of the local area in days gone by.
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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:
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Displaying Memories 1151 - 1200 of 2029 in total
I was born in my Grandparents house - "Wimbourne" - in the valley below the Mill. Many pleasant hours have I spent sitting in the kitchen with my grandmother shelling peas that granddad had grown in the garden. The Mill could be seen from the kitchen window high on the downs. When travelling through Bridge on the Canterbury Road, we would all try to see who could spot the Mill first, a sure sign that we were home again!
Mr Norman has not mentioned the surname of the two ladies who owned the pawnbrokers it was Brenning or perhaps Brennan .Their shop was full of old old china and house bits and pieces.The stock looked as if it had been there undisturbed since Victorian times; indeed I often wondered if they ever cleaned their display. Nearby was Andrews the ironmongers, Mr Andrews ran a very tidy shop with a good selection ...see more
On the left of this view is the pub sign for the "Railway Hotel" - a popular drinking venue for older members of St Anselm's Youth Club and the Hatch End Young Conservatives! Next door is a garage forecourt sign - this was the Cornwall Garage where I bought a lovely blue Triumph Spitfire two-seater in 1970. I returned there in the 1980s when they had a Fiat franchise and bought a couple of ...see more
My mum (Win) worked in Parsons the hardware shop and also the grocers. I remember helping out a couple of times with grocery deliveries by riding the big black bicycle with a large basket on the front which was stacked with cardboard boxes. Very heavy to ride! My mum used to cut bacon on their big slicer and customers asked for a special cut number for the thickness they liked. I learned to cut big drums of cheese ...see more
We lived briefly in Ferndale Crescent (nr 35). This was defined as Uxbridge then but the boundaries were never quite clear and have become even more blurred with the march of time. It must have been around '57 when we moved in and the same year I think was the Grand Opening of a petrol station on Cowley Rd, on the Uxbridge end of the crescent. It only had 2 petrol pumps. I remember the banners and flags across the ...see more
My memories of Acton Vale estate are endless, you would play out all day and the days were long. I can remember taking back the empty lemonade bottles and then buying a jublie. Going swimming at Acton swimming baths then on the way home getting a bag of chips or a portion of crackling. What about going on an outing to the seaside; the coaches would all be outside community hall in the middle of the estate. Some mums ...see more
I was born at Drive Villa, Melbury Osmond in 1938, my parents coming both from London. But my father had a music shop in Yeovil. My memories of Melbury Osmond are very happy ones, we had a school then infants and juniors, the school's still there as a house now. We had a shop and a post office and a bakery round the back. The cottages were for the farm labourers who worked for the tenant farmers as Lord ...see more
Whilst being at either Parkside ot North Bromsgrove school my poor mom came face to face with a bull. It had escaped from the slaughter house! I also remember there being a bullet lodged in the side of the church. I wonder if it is still there.
Shoebury Hall Farm was owned by Capt H R Townsend RN and his wife Margaret I think. There was also a daughter Pamela. They were like the country squire and his family. Their house was between the church and the camp site. I recall going inside the house once with Dad. He was one of the oldest campers on the site after all. Captain Townsend could often be seen riding round the camp on his bike making sure ...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 front ...see more
My first job after leaving school in 1968 was at the original Frith & Co. in Raglan Road, Reigate. The company was based in a large Victorian mansion and in many ways the working methods probably hadn't changed much since the early 1950s.
The nostalgia market was in its infancy in 1968 and the company had no idea about the potential value of the historic collection held in its negative library. The ...see more
First Day of School
Arriving at Egham Hythe Infants School, aged 5, and being placed in the care of Mrs. Spenser. There I remained for one entire term. Most of the faces in the classroom were new. Some of the names heard for the first time. Rex Aldwinkle, Richard Howard, Christine Addison, Jennifer Shore, Christine Vass. I am amazed that I remember these names as we were only in the same class one term. Mrs. ...see more
Just turned eighteen I was to get employment at Woolley Colliery but had to do my training at Grimthorpe Colliery. We had to do underground training and were to spend many hours looking at safety films on what, and what not to do. Once we had got through the safety drills we were to be issued with pit clothes which included boots, gloves, belt and a water bottle. We were to get our pit lamps from the lamp-room ...see more
I first came to Whitstable by steam train in 1952 with my mother and grandparents, and we stayed in a boarding house in Cromwell Road, I think. After that we came to Whitstable every year for two weeks in September, staying at the Blue Anchor caravan site at Seasalter until about 1961. At that time, at the edge of the caravan site by the sea was a little wooden café, now no longer there, like the Alberta ...see more
Dancing at the Sale Locarno; Bobby Charleton and David Pegg would be there with other Manchester United football players (Busby Babes), all of us girsl would be waiting for them to ask us to dance. Before, we would go to the Bulls Head to have a baby Seal or Baby Champaine. In those days they had a men's room and we would look over the counter to see who would be going to the Locarno, what wonderful memories of Sale. I was born there on Hope Road and left for California USA in 1960.
During the Second World War my mother lived in a flat opposite the Town Hall, above Partington's. She had been suffering with a very bad cold and had been recommended a cure that involved consuming rather more alcohol than she was accustomed to. Apparently she used to look out of the window each morning at the Town Hall clock, to check the time. The morning after the night before, she ...see more
I remember the fish shop/butchers in the High Street, it was called Gurrs and they used to smoke the fish out the back of the shop. It was situated between Boots and Rossis. Before the swimming pool was built, the land was full of trees and bushes where we played as kids. We always went over there after coming out of the Saturday morning pictures at the State Cinema, 6d downstairs, 9d upstairs. I used to ...see more
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
I came upon the website by accident and although I don't live far away now I started to remember my childhood days there. Born and brought up in Goldthorpe by my parents who both went to the Salvation Army I have many happy memories of playing on the market stalls. They could be anything in our imaginations, house, bus, pirate ship, whatever we wanted tham to be. We never thought of damaging them or ...see more
My father was the caretaker for the Linquists` Club in Holland St from 1959 to the early 70`s, when the building (Niddry Lodge) was demolished to make way for the new Kensington town hall. We lived in The Cottage next to the lodge and the old stable was below my bedroom. The club was a school of English during the day and a social club in the evening. For 10 years, from the age of 9, I met people ...see more
I remember going to this school. l was in Mrs Lynn's class, she used to drive a light blue/grey Wolseley Nornet car, l was also in Mrs Kills class. l remember she wanted to see my mum after school one day, l was worried because l knew l hadn't been naughty in class. She walked me home (we lived next door to the school before the new houses were built) only to be given a bag of lovely clothes from Mrs ...see more
I was born in 1951 in Lutterworth Road, Northampton just a 5 minutes' walk from one of the most beautiful parks in the country - Abington Park. Originally part of the Wantage family estate, it boasted a museum (formerly the Manor House), a church, three lakes, aviaries, and a bandstand. It was a truly magical place for a young boy in the 1950s.
During the annual summer school holidays, I ...see more
It was 1958 and I had just left school at Walbottle Secondary. Me and my best pal Wes Coulthard (who I'm sad to say has since passed away) went on our first holiday together before starting down the Pit. We went with his parents Jimmy and Polly to Middleton Towers in Morecambe, it was just like a Butlins camp and bye, did we have some fun. Then, that over with, it was the pit. We started doing training at Wheatslade ...see more
Rediffusion: about 1958 and onwards. This bombshell hit us like nought else, it meant no interference on our wireless. No more tuning in every ten minutes or so. It was A. B. C. D. E. F.
You knew Radio Luxembourg was the station for pop, but it was hell to get on a normal set, we would sit with our hand on the knob and ear to the speaker resetting the dial. But with good old Rediffusion it was crisp and clear. And ...see more
Willesley Close was the centre of the universe for the first twelve years of my life from 1959. The garden enclosed twenty yards of the old railway embankment and featured a natural spring, the source of much entertainment in summer, as well as fresh watercress. The house we lived in was on the edge of development so the afternoon ritual of milking the cows was part of my everyday. The farmer from Valley ...see more
This is were I grew up in Craigentinny in Edinburgh. I went to Christmas parties here when I was really young, I also went to big picnics from here because my Mum went to the guild here or went to play dominos and they held dances and& concerts.
I will never forget one picnic we went to. I was 5 years old and I got some money for running a race. I put it in my mouth at the same time as I was eating a ...see more
I was born in 1953 and my Grandfather was already dead. His name was William Bowe and he was the last mill keeper at Hall Mill, although his son John, my uncle, ran a joinery business for a few years from there. Billy Bowe was the last official mill keeper. It was purely a saw mill, powered entirely by water. How green was that. Pre 1945 it was pretty self sufficient down there. There was a couple of pigs, a cow for ...see more
I first arrived in Llanegryn at the latter end of 1939 along with my younger sister and a lot of other kids from my school (St Johns)in Birkenhead. I was eight years old at the time and my sister was six. We were all put into the village hall where people of the neighbourhood came and took us to different addresses. A lady from the next street to me in my home town was with us as she had two girls about 5 and 6 and ...see more
I was brought up in Una Rd in the 1960's and 70's. My mother still lives in the same house after more than 50 years. One thing that always strikes me now when I visit are the number of cars. I can still name the people who owned a car and the type of car it was in Una Rd when I was a child. Probably only seven cars maximum! Two Morris Minors, an Austin A35 van, Wolseley 1500, Reliant Regal van ( 3 wheeler), Ford Anglia, ...see more
I worked as a Saturday girl at the hairdressers opposite the church in Banstead High Street when I was 15 in 1969. It was called Nicolette then and I worked for Margaret and her mother Mrs Anscombe. Margaret was a lovely boss, she taught me many things. The salon seemed huge to me in those days, but on a recent visit I was surprised at how tiny it is now. When I worked there we had ...see more
One of my memories of Bournemouth in the 60's was its ice-skating rink where we used to go from school on Saturday afternoons. Bournemouth was a very smart place with good quality individual shops. It was always a treat to go shopping there from Weymouth and later Dorchester with my mother. We used to park in the multi-storey car park in a back street near the centre and buy our school uniform from Daniel Neales and ...see more
My uncle, Ernie Crump, grew up in Eardisley. He was orphanned in 1901 aged 5 and sent from London, to be brought up by a lady he referred to as 'Auntie'. Presumably he attended a local school, the 1911 Census records him as a 'page' in a big house in Tintagel, Cornwall. He served in the Royal Field Artillery in WWI, receiving severe injuries resulting in the amputation of his right arm. He returned to Eardisley ...see more
I remember living in Downs Road, Newcastle at about 3 years old (1944). We lived in a house opposite a green and the sea beyond. When my younger sister was only a few months old, for some reason the night before, my mother put her in a different place in the bedroom. It's a good thing she did because that night the ceiling fell in and a huge lump of plaster was in the cot where her head would have been, I ...see more
A memory and what a memory it was! There were eleven of us lads who had booked a fishing trip on one of the boats that went out from the harbour in Berwick. It was early in the day when we went out for a five hour trip; we went out as far as five miles where the skipper, having a fish finder radar, began to pick up a large shoal of fish. Of course we all got baited up on our hooks and laid a small bet ...see more
Queen Elizabeth I granted housewives the right to dry their washing on Bristol's Brandon Hill.
Bristol's most prominent land mark, the Cabot Tower, was 100 years old in 1998. But the official opening was marked by a disastrous fire, a confidence trick and some rather clever council penny pinching. The foundation stone of the Cabot Tower was laid on Brandon Hill in 1897, the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's ...see more
My maternal grandma, Mrs Rowe, lived at school house as caretaker for about 40 years until she died in 1978. My mum Edith was brought up here, as were her sisters, Irene, Dorothy and Marjorie and her brother Alfred better known as" Sonny". We all, i.e. aunties, uncles and cousins, used to stop at Nanna Rowes for a few weeks in the summer holidays and I have nothing but happy memories of all the lovely people and places. ...see more
We remember the excitement of seeing this postcard at Wallasey post office and realising that the black car was Dad's old Daimler. We could make out the number with a magnifying glass at the time. We recently returned from Scotland on a trip to revisit some old haunts and see how things had changed. Some were good and some were disappointing. These photos remind us of how things were when we grew up in Wallasey.
I was born on the 24th of July 1929 above a shop next to a pub called the Rose of Denmark, in Hotwells, Bristol, very convenient for Father to wet his whistle and my head at the same time. Father was born in 1893, Mother in 1895. They were married on the 9th August 1924. My older brother John was born in 1927. Two months after I was born the New York stock market crashed, but I don’t think that was anything to do with ...see more
Me and my friend Marilyn, went to Primary school together in London. Her dad was the manager of our local swimming baths. I was devastated when he was offered promotion, it was at a pool in Wallasey, called Guinea Gap Baths. This was just the start of many happy holidays we spent in Wallasey, our parents were great friends and we came up every year for about twelve years. We got up early and went swimming, I think ...see more
I lived in Millwood Road and went to Chatsworth Infants and Juniors. I remember going to the clinic for treatment for a pidgeon chest, mum took a photo of me wearing my goggles; it was also used for asthma or chest complaints. I also had to bang a pair of cymbals a lot and remember going for vaccinations there - I used to scream the place down! The smell was enough to set me off. Then we would go to Rainbows ...see more
We used to have French students stay with us and at the end of their visit there would be a banquet at the old Town Council Centre in Treaty Road. I have happy memories of the boating lake at Inwood Park. We lived at Hounslow West and childhood life revolved around Beavers Park, the great open spaces, the games hut in summer, the dens we made in the perimeter bushes, the din of propellered aircraft overhead on ...see more
I was born in 1941 in Midsummer Avenue. I remember a little park at the top of the avenue. It had a very large air raid shelter in it which people from the avenue and surrouding area could go to during bombing raids. The children would call it a hill and we would play cricket and rounders on top of it. It seems a shame that it has gone now, as it was part of our history. Not far from the avenue was the Wellington ...see more
My goodness, in 1966 my mum used to wheel me here in my pram with my brother sat on the seat at the front. A few years later in the 1970's we had many a great picnic in front of this lovely house. A great afternoon out, giving my mum a rest on the grass for a few hours whilst my brother and I tired ourselves out playing and running around. Not like now 'No Ball Games' allowed.
North Somercotes during the 50s (1953-1960)
My mother, Gwen's side of the family were from North Somercotes. They were called Humberstone. She had 5 siblings, Donald, Percy, Gert, Did, and Winnie. She was Mrs Duncan McCaw. I was born in 1948 in Norfolk, as my father worked there. My uncle Don had a painting company and my father decided to work for him, ...see more
I was born in East Harlsey in 1958 and spent 19 years living there. The photo on this site I believe is my mum, Mrs Lorna Whittaker, stood outside our family home next to the Methodist Chapel. I loved going to the village school, the teacher then was Miss Sewell who lived in the end cottage down from my own home. We would play in the street on our bikes or over the fields as it was very safe in those days. I also ...see more
This butchers shop seen to the left was owned by my family and was next to Woolworths. We had other shops in Chadwell Heath, Ilford etc. as well as Frank's Farm in Upminster. Behind the shop was a slaughter house and a large field and, as a small child, I remember visiting the slaughter house to see pigs being killed and butchered ( I have a memory that one of these such days was a Sunday). We sold the chain of shops to Mathews Butchers in the late sixties.
I can remember my nanna and grand dad (Charlie and Winnie Davies ) writing their bets out on a piece of paper and me running from Acacia Grove in Seacombe to Alf Spearings Bookies on Wheatland Lane to put them on for them. Alf used to pay me 2d when I walked his grey hounds on The Brokey. My Grand Dad Charlie, worked for Land and Marine Dredging Co. I used to wait on ...see more
My God! I remember the baker shop fondly as it was opposite the Ealing Studios, and we used to hang outside Ealing Studios loads of times as kids, hoping to see someone famous - and we did. I've said "Hello" to Hattie Jaques, she was so lovely and warm, I remember her just walking over to my sister to say hello and ask why were we there, we explained we lived in Northolt but our nan and grandad lived in ...see more