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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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 1401 - 1450 of 2029 in total
I lived in Wealdstone but went to the Wembley Majestic every Saturday evening to dance to the Roy Kimber band. It was a great place to meet girls, but there was no liquor sold there and we had to go out to the pub down the High Street to get a pint! If we met someone we liked, the first thing was to find out where she lived. If it was in the other direction than Wealdstone we couldn't afford to take her home and ...see more
I arrived in Weaverham in one of its transition periods. ICI had built many houses to house its workers in all the surrounding villages including Weaverham. So Weaverham had already transformed in a way when I got there, but of course for me coming from a city like Liverpool it was a quaint, peaceful village, there just happened to be the old Weaverham and the new!
Several farms still survived and I was ...see more
After our family home in Trafalgar Avenue, Peckham was damaged by the 'blitz' for the 3rd time, my mother decided enough is enough. She got in touch with her sister who lived in the country (South Norwood) to try and get us accomodation near her - this she did. We moved from Peckham to a nice upstairs flat at 34 Whitworth Road. Both of these houses although suffering a pummerling (minor damage ...see more
My very first job was in Chiswick. Although I lived in Brentford, when I left school I went to work in the grounds of St Mary's and St Josephs Convent in Burlington Lane, opposite the Cherry Blossom factory..this was in 1955 and I worked there for nearly 3 years. Chiswick had always played an important part of my life. My Mum's aunt lived in Seymour Road and we often went there on a visit. Then of course there was the ...see more
My grandfather bought Hendersons in c1911 and it was the principal drapers and furnishers in the town until my Dad sold the business c1961. It then became a John Blundells and is now I believe the Waitrose in the Old High Street.
In the just post-war days, apart from the normal shops like Woolworths and Boots, Stevenage was possibly best known for its innumerable pubs. From the Marquis of Granby on the Great ...see more
We sometimes stayed in a caravan at Anderby Creek. Every day we took a picnic and stayed all day at Huttoft Bank. We bought flags and buckets and spades at the shop on the bad corner in Sandilands. My father used to blow up the inner tubes from the lorry to float on, and my mother always tied it to a washing line so you didn't get blown out to sea. On the way home we used to go to The Rose Bowl. I remember the ...see more
Does anybody remember the radio shop which also sold records and record players? They used to play the modern hits over a loudspeaker in the doorway and it wasn't long before pupils from Lyndhurst school (me amongst them), used to gather at lunchtime on the pavement outside the shop to bop the hour away - much to the annoyance of Mr Fennell, the headmaster. It became quite a daily feature until ...see more
Every year we set off from York for a two week holiday at Thornwick Bay. We used to travel by bus, and I well remember the bus always used to breakdown at the top of Garrowby Hill. Everyone had to get off the bus and then stood around whilst the engine cooled down. Then back on board, before getting off at Bridlington, and then getting onto the North Landing bus. We then had what seemed to be a long ...see more
I attended Braintree County High School from 1944 to 1950. Nihil Nisi Optima I recall as the school motto, and the school song started with the words “With hearts close knit in comradeship …” When sung at morning Assembly, I remember some joker had changed the words to the last two lines of the first verse to “And, welcome him with half a brick; Who talks of school and arithmetic”. Giggling during ...see more
1948 and onwards; I have always lived in Leadgate - born in Ponthead or 'Shanghi' as it was known then (sorry to one of your readers who said Shanghi was the bungalows). I remember we had a sweet shop called Wintrels, it was nothing more than a little hut, but the best sweets ever. In the front street we had Co-op chemist on the corner. Then there was a little greengrocers, can't remember the name, then Squeeky Turnballs ...see more
I remember as a child in the early to mid 1960's taking many family holidays here in these wonderful bungalows. We spent many a day when it was raining playing Dominoes or Ludo as a family. My elder brother used to catch eels in the dyke that ran alongside of this place. I was very squeamish when he returned with them, thankfully they were never served up for tea. I have happy memories of going on holiday ...see more
I joined the Norwich Post Office in 1948 as a telegram messenger boy.The entrance at that time was in King Street for us .I remember going into the loft above the counter from where the officials used to watch the counter staff.There were about 26 of us boys then aged between 15 and 18 when we were called-up for National Service. Hail, rain, sleet and snow were not taken as an excuse for non-delivery - we always had to get ...see more
Born in Felsham Road, off the High Street, in 1927, I of course have many memories of the area in this photograph. One in particular, has stuck with me for the last 75 years or so. It is of terribly wounded and maimed men, only in their 30s and 40s, none of them employable, begging for money. There would be 15 to 20 of them, some blinded and shuffling along with their hands on the shoulders of the man ...see more
I have such memories as a 17 year old of working in the 'Admins Office' in Oldchurch Hospital. I think I just walked in one day, got an interview and started on the Monday - no job centres or CVs needed then. The boss was Mr Totts and Mr Izzard and Mr Jarvis were his under colleagues. I used to have to walk across every morning to the Matron's office to collect the personal belongings of anyone who had ...see more
I had the perfect Job for me when I was 10. John (Jacky) Robinson had me working for him on the horse and cart. Fridays and Saturdays you could hear us walking the streets of Easington - our famous yell was "ANY STICKS OR LOGS MISSUS ORAYELUMBA". Sundays would be pop day "ANY POP TODAY MISSUS". I still remember the time we came back from a run down south and we were turning at the Black Diamond ...see more
I went to The Meads Infant school (Deansbrook) and then on to Woodcroft Junior School (born 1959 maiden name Bradley). Had fun times in Watling and Blundell park. Also Montrose Park when the fair was there and Silkstream. Worked at Fine Fare supermarket at the top of the Watling on a Saturday to earn a bit of cash. I remember bringing my mum home a bag of sugar when there was a sugar shortage, the Manager ...see more
As a child my annual family holiday was spent in Shaldon, first staying at The Teign Crest as a baby and small child, later at The Clipper. Two weeks of blissful freedom - shoeless and carefree. Not many cars in the village in the 1960s, so we children ran wild, only turning up at feeding times. Great family mackerel fishing jaunts, or trips up river to Coombe Cellars in the Hooks' boats. Fabulous clotted cream from ...see more
I remember going to Langold Lake, most weekends. They used to set the lake on fire, and Jack Revill used to dive off the diving board into it. He had a young girl who helped him, she used to do the same thing. I ended up living a few doors away from her, at Mansfield-Woodhouse. Used to go to the disco in the Langold Hotel. Can anyone remember the old man who used to have a snooker table in it, he had a sort of youth club thing. It was in a Langold.
Alma Allen was born at home in Asylum Road, Arlesey, now called Hospital Road. They later moved in with Herbert's dad, Big Jim, who lived in the Gothic Farm House that was at the bottom of the yet to be built Lynton Avenue.
One day her little brother George got out and was found cuddling the huge shire horse's leg. This obviously frightened them, but she said the horse stood dead still and never moved a muscle, ...see more
My father, John, was a doctor at his surgery/house, Corporation Road and I and my brother John plus mother and father were in the shelter when the mine was dropped. I remember a discussion later about loss of panel patients (Lysaghts and Mannesment) in that street - mother kept the books! I well remember the troops camping on the rugby pitch prior to D-day. I went out one morning and all the troops were gone. It took me ...see more
We were the first family to move into the newly built Padnell Avenue Council Estate, moving there in around 1947, our house was one of a pair on the corner of Winscombe Avenue. Where the Council flats are now situated was prefabs and I can name most of the occupants who lived there at that time. I lived there until I married my wife Maureen at St Wilfred's Church, Padnell Road in 1971. I have many fond memories ...see more
In 1955 I was 11 years old, I lived in New York with my parents and my brother. My mother was from Scotland, she and my father had met when he was in medical school there. 1954 was my mother's first trip back to see her family since she had left them in July 1943. My brother and I fell in love with Britain and everything about it. That summer we stayed in Scotland. We returned in 1955 and spent about 2 weeks in Tintagel ...see more
I have the fondest memories of Caister on Sea. We used to have a week there every year and my sister and I were the only kids in our street that had a holiday every year. Like most people in the East End of London, we had very little money, but my dad worked on the railway and got travel concessions as part of his employment package. This enabled us to travel by train to Yarmouth Vauxhall and then ...see more
Though I have some recall of the 1940s - eg starting school in 1948 at the age of three and a half and being reluctant to get off a rocking horse on the first day, it was the 1950s that really kicked in - to the accompaniment of songs like 'McNamamara's Band', 'Open the Door, Richard', and 'Lovely Bunch of Coconuts'. We were still on rations, and it was common for my sister and I to share a divided egg, we had very little ...see more
During the Second World War, as youngsters we would look forward to the Saturday mornig matinee at the Odeon cinema (4th building on the left of photo). Entrance was thruppence (three pennies). With our pocket money we would lash out on a penny peashooter with a packet of peas, the matinee used to start with a sing-along followed by a cartoon, then two half-hour films, the last being a western serial. One ...see more
My wife Ann lived at 134 Preston Road, sadly no longer a 4 bedroom house. She moved there in 1962 and we both lived with her parents when we married in 1966; before we moved to our own home in 67. I remember that sometimes, before we married, if I missed a bus or train I would have to walk home to Camrose Avenue, Queensbury, it took about an hour. In the picture shown was a sweet shop on the right side just before the ...see more
My first recollection of Dersingham was as a seven year old boy in 1941. My mother, sister and I were evacuated from the East End of London during the blitz and arrived, after a long train journey, at the Station Hotel one late afternoon which was owned then by a Mr and Mrs Parminter. After some tea and sandwiches we were billeted on a retired ...see more
All buses going to Pinner in the 1950's had the destination "Pinner Red Lion" as there was an old pub of that name on the corner of Love Lane and Bridge Street. The bus in this photo has continued its journey having passed The Red Lion and is lumbering up Bridge Street towards The Langham Cinema at the top of the hill (the photographer is probably standing on the pavement in front of either the cinema or ...see more
We used to go as a family to the Tea Room which, if memory serves, was called 'Cornerways' for Sunday lunch, as a special treat in the fifties. My father took me to a wine tasting held in the cellar at the Queen's Head in the sixties. A combination of youth and too much 'tasting' - my first hangover! Memories of the annual fair; the roundabout in front of, I think, Woolworths ...see more
My family were the last people to occupy Glebe Farm House, Glebe Ave, Ickenham. The area is now called Cloverlly Close. It was built in the 17th Century as a rectory. We lived there from 1933 to 1936, then moved up the road to 3 The Parade Glebe Ave. The only lighting in the farm was one gas jet in the kitchen, now at 85 years of age I still shudder when I remember my journeys at night, through the house to reach my upstairs bedroom, all I had was this one pitiful candle. Eric Hazell.
I lived on Woodcote Valley Road from 1967 to 1989. The pictures from the 1960's is how I remember Purley - I don't recognise the place when I go back there now.
The shops were great - Morgans where you could buy individual farm animals, and I seem to remember one of the shops had a pulley system to take the money to the cash office at the back which sent your change back.
I loved the library - the speed ...see more
At the age of 7 I was told by my parents we all had to go to Wellesly Road to be fitted with a gas mask. I have a clear memory of this horrifying experience. It was one thing then another, upsetting my childhood world. First in 1939 I was no longer allowed to fly my kite in the rec at Thornton Heath, then there was all the blackout palava; now I had to have this horrible mask whose window quickly got steamed up and I ...see more
My family lived in Reigate Way, Wallington, Surrey. My twin brother and I used to stand outside our house to listen for the aproaching buzz bombs. On this particular day, one glided in and fell on the playing field and allotment killing a Mr Hunter, our local DIY shop owner.It also nearly destoyed our house, a terriblble time, we were only 13 at the time. My father managed to get us in to the Anderson shelter in ...see more
I was baptised by the Rev. Brenn in 1945 and was sent to Sunday School from the age of about 4. I remember being scared to death by the head, the formidable Miss Hoof, who would give a loud blast on her whistle if anyone dared to mess about. My favourite day was the Tuesday after Whitsun when we all went to Bognor Regis for the day. We had to attend a 'short' service, which seemed to last ...see more
I went to Wallington County (no, we weren't 'Wally Boys' as people say these days), from 1957 to 1964. When our son followed me some 40 years later, I found the school very lttle changed from my day, apart from a new science block. They even still referred to the old science block as the 'New Block', and the new science block was therefore the 'New New Block'. Whilst I usually coped with academic lessons okay, ...see more
I lived just behind the Duke's Head from 1945 till the late 60's, and I believe this was where my parents met before World War II. My dad was working as a part time barman and my mother was sent by my grandmother to inform my grandfather, that it was time for him to drink up and get himself home for his tea! Mr Parker, the pub landlord in the 50's used to keep a dog called Duke. He was a friendly dog, ...see more
Having left Australia on an open-ended working holiday to England in January, 1974 with my girlfriend, it was hard to imagine that within six weeks of arriving in London we'd be living on a leaky old narrow boat in Braunston near Rugby, and that six months later - still living on the boat - we'd be calling Leighton Buzzard home for nearly two years.
The boat was called SADLERS WELLS, and in the ...see more
I recall Hides Department Store and a box of soft toy rabbits for sale. Jacksons Stores (the supermarket) and poking a bag of rice causing the whole stack to collapse to the floor accidentally as a child. The pub 'The Rose' perhaps is /was its name which had a wooden barrel outside which my father reminded me to kick each time we passed, as I had done first. Going to the cinema with my auntie Sesie, ...see more
In 1974 I left school in Durham and worked in Chigwell for 3 months, at a place I believe was called Grange Farm (?) Groups of mainly foreign young people stayed there as their base for trips into London. I worked in the kitchens and made many friends and had some great experiences there. The chef was a very fiery Welshman! I now live in South London and have often thought about revisiting old places there. So many happy memories.
I was born in 1942 and brought up in Walthamstow in NE London. We were a working class family and Dad always managed to provide us with 2 weeks' holiday somewhere. How we came to holiday in Wroxall is still a bit of a mystery. Neither Mum nor Dad had ever been to the Isle of Wight before. In August 1952 we had the first of three annual fortnights holidays on the Island.
The first year,1952, we stayed ...see more
I worked under ground at Abercynon Colliery from 1951 until 1953. I worked on the coal face in the "S" district, a five foot coal seam which was about 100 yards in length and which had a slight gradient. I also worked on the roadway in the "F" district constructing the roadway which followed up with the coal seam. My Buddy who I worked with on the road construction in the"F" district (and ...see more
I have just spent the weekend with my father, his father was the keeper at the Dreamland Zoo in the summers of the late 1920s/early 1930s. My grandparent's (and my dad's) home was a living wagon. My grandad - Leonard Robinson - upset my grandmother by taking his infant son into the lion's cage, and sitting the baby on the lion's back. My father, & grandfather survived the jaws of the lion - and my nan's wrath! No too sure about the lion though?
I remember most of these places shown in the photographs and as I look at them memories flood back! I remember learning to swim by the steps on the quay and drinking cider whilst hiding amongst the sprat boxes piled high on the quayside. Taking empty pop bottles stored behind Plattens milk bar and returning them to the counter to receive money back on the empties! Walking the 'greasy pole' at Regatta ...see more
My grandparents lived in Maescynon for many, many years. I have fond memories of going up the farm for fresh eggs. Walking with my Nana to help her at the co-op and then stopping at Mrs Bray's for sweets. My grandfather's garden was full of beautiful red roses. He worked all his life at the Tower Collery. I still can see him coming home in the mornings covered in coal... One of our most treasured pieces of ...see more
My adopted uncle Artthur and Auntie Eadie used to be the caretakers here .My sisters and myself used to spend our summer holidays here. It had a beautiful old raspberry tree and and a babbling brook - I still can never get enough of fresh raspberries. There was an old church that a path from the house went up to - we used to love going there. I believe it was owned by a judge who used to work in London during the ...see more
I was a member of the Odeon choir and it was around this time that we were taken to I think it was the Festival Hall, to compete against choirs across England and I got a bronze medal, I think it was the Star Festival. Unfortunately my medal has been mislaid over the years but I remember that we were later taken to a recording studio in London - Tothill Street - where we recorded for an early television programme. ...see more
My parents (Ken & Gwen Gardner) bought a small general store on Chapel St, when I was aged 5 in 1969. My memories are lovely and will always be with me. Our next door neighbour was Mr Jim Curtis, always remember him, a lovely man who had a Monkey Puzzle tree in his garden and used to give me rhubarb over the fence from his garden. My best friend was an old lady who lived over the road named Mrs ...see more
My grandparents lived in Ditcheat; Sarah and Hubert Burrows. They had three daughters, Elisabeth (Bessie), Gertrude (Gertie), Pamela and also a son Mettford (Mett) Burrows. My mother Pamela, like her siblings, was born in Ditcheat (she was born in 1920). She went into 'service' as a young child and when the war came she volunteered to travel to a town named Corsham in Wiltshire where she met and ...see more
I was born on the day that Osterley Station opened 25th March 1934. I grew up in Tennyson Road/Avenue, Hounslow, and moved to Gresham Road in 1944. Hitler missed me by 5 minutes with a Doodlebug while I was at Alexandra Junior School; demolishing the shelter just after I decided to go home after a 'staying in' stint! I then went to Spring Grove Grammar School. I can remember fishing the lakes before they filled ...see more
It was a long walk to Wanstead Park from where we lived as children. We lived at Stephens Road, Stratford West Ham. Weekends and school holidays Mum would pack a picnic for the six of us, usually jam sandwiches or cheese if Mum had some, and a bottle of orange squash. We also had our jam jars and nets for fishing in the ponds for sticklebacks, a bat and ball, also a football, and off we would go for the day, as most ...see more
