Recent 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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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 2161 - 2240 of 36915 in total
My brothers and I would cycle from Borth to Ynyslas sand dunes from where we could see the village of Aber Dovey nestled on the other side of the estuary. We were told that on a clear day if you listened carefully you would hear church bells ringing beneath the waves. Due to the fast moving tidal flow around the estuary we were always careful not wander out too far onto the sand banks. The dunes were a peaceful haven for rabbits and wildlife.
I was born in Wrexham and spent the first 10 years of my life living in Bryn Estyn Rd, Rhosnesni. I attended Covent School, Gerald Street, then Borras Park Junior. I then went to Bromfield School where my dad was a teacher. A lot of my friends went to St Davids and I remember missing them so much. But it seems spending those years in same school as my Dad was meant to be as he died when I was 21.
When i was 10 we ...see more
I first attended the Infant junior house from 1965 I was just over 2 nearly 3 when I went there. My Mother couldnt get a place for me in the Nursery in Wrexham which I think was Holt Rd. I remember quite a bit, I am sure I stayed there till 1971 and it was going to close. I then went to the New School in Borras Park.
I spent a few years in Sister E's class but my memories of her are not great. I ...see more
In the early seventies, I was a student at Sarum St Michael College of Education in the Cathedral Close.
The weekends were incredibly boring, with nothing to do and nowhere to have fun.
Until, a friend asked me if I would like to work as a "Serving Wench",at Medieval Banquets hosted at the Bay Tree Restaurant in Salisbury.
Suddenly, my weekends changed , and every weekend was pure ...see more
I am writing a history of my father and he was born in Battersea (Cologne Road) in 1916 and lived there until he joined the army in 1939. He attended Plough Road School And he was a member of the 4th Battersea Scout Troop. I am interested in connecting with anyone who knew that area in 1920{s and 1930’s and I am particularly interested in finding out the history of the houses in the Cologne Road area.
i am 62 years old and the memories of this place never goes away every single day i have thought about this horrible place for 55 years it still haunts me , i was in primary school when the nurse asked me if i would like to go a lovely little holiday i lived in Bridgeton at the time i was so excited about i couldn't wait to go , i was meant to go for 2 weeks but because i did not put on any ...see more
The previous writer mentionedTilly Biggins who was my uncles stepmother. I stayed with her many times when I was very young. She was born in Victorian times and still dressed in lace up boots, long skirts and big hats. No running water in the cottage just a pump in the back garden where she grew her own vegetables. Earth lavatory outside and all the cooking done on a fireside oven and irons in the living room. The ...see more
On the corner of Oaklands Road and Boston Road was Platts store. All grocery items could be purchased and at the back was a post office. Hanwell had two post offices the other being in the Broadway.
My name is Andrew Jones was at Bassaleg from 1961-1967. A vivid memory was running the forge lane dash which was supposed to be exactly 1 mile. Some of the slower guys used to hitch a lift back and were dropoped off from the back of a lorry! I have the memory of Mr Richards the woodwork teacher, as i took up a split sscissors rack with the ...see more
Does anyone remember the Sunderland Forge in Pilgrim street.
I was sent to the convent after my Father died in 1953. My Uncle had been educated there many years previously. I can confirm the recollections that have been put here of the vicious way in which some of the Nuns treated us. I suffered from the effects of whooping cough and regularly put into a separate room to recuperate. I vividly remember one of the Nuns telling me that I was wicked because I had been ...see more
I wrote the 11 plus exam in Woodhurst in about 1949 and passed! Miracles will never cease!
The school bus didn't come into Woodhurst so we rode our bicycles to Oldhurst, parked them in the garage there (6d a week I think we paid to park there). I remember the bus was overcrowded and I had a pretty girl sit on my knee a few times for the ride.
The old Abbey building didn't seem to ...see more
This church was over the railway which ran along the back of Borth. The track that leads to it was at the end of the platform on the street side. The church is on a small hill which on the other side was a WW2 lookout. There was a wedding there one summer - we would go blackberry picking in the nearby lane.
Does anyone know of this cottage on the green where some of my relatives lived around the second world war time. Family name was Phillips and Wallace. I understand that they now rest in St. Mary the Virgin Church.
Does this cottage or the family names ring a bell with anyone, please?
John Wilkin
I lived with my grandparents for a few years in the 40's at 2 College Road, Hextable. My grandma was a teacher at Crockenhill School, Mrs Avery and grandad worked at the nursery. I think the neighbours were called Twelvetrees.
Unfortunately my mother was very ill in the Brompton Hospital, London and actually came home to Hextable and passed away there. She is buried at St Pauls, Old Swanley. I remember going to ...see more
I wrote this piece for a writing group exercise in April/May 2019, near my home in NE Scotland. LIttle did I know then that some of the memories would form part of my Mum's Eulogy just three months later. The day after her funeral, I took my husband, eldest son and his wife for a walk from Sudbury Town to Wembey High Street, Ealing Road, One Tree Hill and Horsenden. There may be a few ...see more
As I have a terminal illness my children had asked me to write some short stories of my life.
Some of the most enjoyable and memorable ones were when living in Tulse Hill.
I looked on the internet for Centre 70 Tulse Hill and found it albeit in a different place.
Around 1970 I set up the Centre 70 One Parent Family Association with the Rev Ralph Blow - the Methodist Minister of the ...see more
My grandfather remembers going to a pub on Stretford Road with my grandmother and their friends. He can't remember the name of the pub as they all called it "Winnies" after the landlady Winifred who had a husband called Tom and a son also called Tom. If anyone remembers this pub or my grandparents Faye Ellis or Dave Hayes please get in touch. :)
i hated morden when i was a child, sunday was a dead day, no shops open, i couldn't wait to get away, now 72 years later & living in the north east of england, happily married for 51 years i still have feelings for the the place, my parents are buried there, i visit very rarely, but i cant wait to get back to the north east, but i still miss morden
We moved to Ealing when I was 5 and at 11 I went to NHEHS and we bought the school uniform at Abernethies on the corner of Uxbridge Rd. I loved that area. Next to the taxi rank there was a Polish deli...oh the baked sultana cheesecake. In Uxbridge Rd towards Sanders there was Fullers cake shop, walnut cake there!
The Caprice coffee bar was out of bounds for me but my brother went. Opposite there was briefly a ...see more
I was born in Aberdeen in 1942 and later that year the Germans started to bomb Aberdeen so it was decided to relocate to New Pitsligo to make things easier for the family in general, My grandfather was born and brought up in Bonnykelly and he had an old school friend, Rob Chalmers, who rented a property to us attached to his at the south end of the village - 144 High Street. We lived there until ...see more
I was a pupil at Fairdene School from 1960-1965. I had lived in New York until I was 6, so being a girl with a Yankee accent in a school for young ladies was quite a challenge! The two female headmistresses, Miss Turner and Miss Delmege lived in a cottage at the end of the lane behind the main school building. They were like a good cop/bad cop duo - Miss Delmege was the strict one. I loved my ballet lessons with ...see more
Speciality was sepia tint photography
My younger brother was born at Balidon House on 29th July 1960. He is the son of John William Edward Barthorpe, who served in the Royal Navy and at the time of my brother's birth was based on the Aircraft Carrier Ark Royal as a Royal Navy Artificer specialising in weapons deployment, and Pearl Margaret Joan Barthorpe nee Chapman, a house wife who had lived her whole life in Yeovil, and whose father has worked ...see more
I was born at home in Seaforth Avenue in 1948 and had a happy childhood riding my tricycle around to the shops, walking across the fields to Green Lane Primary School, climbing the elm trees en route, going to Sunday School at Holy Cross and spending time at the library. I remember the chemist Mr Griffiths, Wisemans, Express Dairy, ironmongers, haberdashers and fish shop. Mum shopped at the co-op and received ...see more
I moved to trowbridge when i was 5 and now am 55 and living in rumney. My childhood memories are of fields and lanes now gone forever. I remember standing outside the dairy that was on greenway road just past hendre road and looking down over vast fields and flats that are now saint mellons. there were no houses , just cows and fields and trees. I also was always down the lanes that ran off trowbridge ...see more
my father was a chef at the crown Hotel in 1955.name CLARKE.
I played in the standing corn stooks behind our house, had my first pony/horse ride at Dixon's farm where my horse went berserk in a potato field, so I was put onto and stayed on a horse lead. I flew my kites on Penn Common, I skated on frozen ponds (No skates - I couldn't afford them) in the distant fields, built snowmen on the green spaces on our estate, fished for minnows in West ...see more
School 80 kids age 4 to 11 but you knew everyone.
Boxing Day - Tug of War, men against women with one or two men dressed as women.
Riding bikes through the Ford. Also the other Ford that was unsuitable for motors.
The post office and shop which was Semi detached with the Headmaster's house.
The church and the Baptist chapel which was later sold and converted to a house. The church hall which was also the ...see more
Miss Brook head,miss coyne deputy Both down the lodge,behind lodge was field kept ponies & donkeys.
Trampoline was great! Fete of stalls & crazy wobble bikes, basement was a disco, old piano too. Smoking in shrubbery behind shed by incinerator, jumping back wall to town & my number was (32 ).
1973》76. Teresa D.
The Broadway Wimbledon was brought to a near halt in December 1952 for four days. The Gaumont cinema in the back of this photo had to close on the third day because of the smog in the auditorium. I lived in Craven Gardens and the smog was down to less of a metre in front of your face and you could not see your feet.
Want to share names etc; memories of pupils at London Rd County Primary School from 1961-1965 ??
My maiden name was margaret greenfield and I used to go to st batholomews church regularly and I was confirmed there in about 1951. I was friendly with a girl named Brenda Falcus who lived in granville drive. My sister now lives at 73 granville drive which was a council house originally but she has now bought it. Do you remember the shop that used to be along there on the corner. Before those houses were built we used to play along there and used to build dens to.play in
.
My maiden name was margaret greenfield and I used to go to st batholomews church regularly and I was confirmed there in about 1951. I was friendly with a girl named Brenda Falcus who lived in granville drive. My sister now lives at 73 granville drive which was a council house originally but she has now bought it. Do you remember the shop that used to be along there on the corner. Before those houses were built we used to play along there and used to build dens to.play in
.
St Johns was a great place ... there were many **** holes but that place was generally good. Met some great friends- Grear sports facilities- squash court I loved - Malcolm Field Hazel Hankins Jerry Raffael Mr Scott ... all great staff - Wendy the cook. Even a trip to Taize in France - must be 40 years now. Makes me smile so must have been ok
I was born at Bruntshields Farm Lochmaben in 1938 Moved to Threewell Brae at the beginning of the war after the war moved to Victoria Park in lockerbie but only foe about 2 years before we moved to Paisley.
I have many wonderful memories of my very young years in this area.
John Campbell
The boy in the photograph is my grandfather, Herbert Ward, who was born in Winchester in 1911.
In the 1950s our family company " T. Smart & Sons (Contractors) Ltd " supplied large pit props to A. E. Johnson at Gorsley Wood who had a sawmill there . The timber was cut up into coverboards that were sent on the Kent Coal Fields.
The shop on the right. 1-3 High Street was opened by my father, Arthur Tordoff in 1930. I was born at 47 Jeremy lane, in the front room, in 1947. The upstairs was a toy showroom and every Christmas we had a Grotto and Santa came.
I was brought up in 82 Bonny Downs Road from the age of 7 in 1949 through to circa 1960 when my family moved to 11 Pickering Avenue to facilitate the demolition and redevelopment of the properties in that area. I have some great memories. But my one regret in life is letting a very beautiful young woman walk out of my life when I was in East Ham Grammar School in 1958/59. Her name was Mary ...see more
These cottages are still there. My wife came close to buying one of them many years ago. More recently, I was walking from Llangoed to Beaumaris when I noticed laminate sheets with a red poppy tied onto the gates of 2 or 3 of them. This would have been during the 100 years anniversary of WW1. The sheets told the story of men who had joined up from the houses & died in France. Must have had a devastating effect on such a small, close knit community.
A sobering thought.
My parents lived at 3 Bradgate cottages, my brother would have gone to Slater street school mid to late 50's. My mum worked at the factory on the corner which is derelict. The garden backed on to the river.
I think it must have been 1952 or 3 when I went to live on Kingwood Common with my parents in the old nissen huts left by the German POWs, and afterwards by Polish refugees. We knew the place as Kingdom Camp, or just 'The Camp'. There were a good few families living there that I remember and they formed a friendly community of people that were waiting for council houses in some of the nearby villages. ...see more
Many memories of my childhood days in Tolworth , lived on sunray estate in Firdene virtually from birth , went to Knollmead primary then Hollyfeild , remember going down path at side of Knollmead school and railway track to the rec where we played in the trees and on the witches hat and swings , we also climed over fence to play football in Decca sports feild , remember swimming pool at Knollmead , great fun in the ...see more
The first time I went to Old Wives Lees and that would have been in the Summer of 1957. Some friends in the road where I lived made this journey every year, it was their and their families only opportunity of a holiday because we were all drawn from working class stock. They spent from mid June until early September in the hop fields of this area of Kent, which even now is in quite a desolate spot - ...see more
It would have been roundabout the mid ‘70’s when I first went to Glen Etive & Glencoe. A group of us went up in a 1966 BMC/Commer mini bus. As the owner said, it was coloured cream, maroon, & rust. I learnt a lot about mechanics working on the bus with Bob at weekends, can remember us hitch hiking to local scrap yards in Somerset for parts. Bob White & his wife, Hilary, were leaders of the local ...see more
I was born at Green Hedges Westmeston in February 1944. My father who was in the navy had been sent back to sea so my mother was alone except for my brother of 2 . He developed whooping cough so the person she was staying with didn’t want them there anymore. (She obviously didn’t want whooping cough either). I understand the local doctor helped her to find somewhere to stay (she took my brother up to ...see more
In 2000 a friend of mine who is a builder was extending his house and erecting a new double garage at his house in Lower Cippenham Lane, I was there to do the brickwork. Chatting away he told me that when he was digging the trenches for the footings he came across a metal object dug it out and thought it looked like a bomb, he said he leant it against a wall and thought no more about it until his small daughter ...see more
Can anyone help my memory has gone of the name of the Record Shop that was next to Tooting Broadway Station number 2 Mitcham Rd , I bought many singles and albums there in the 60's and 70's someone suggested Goodness Records but that doesnt ring a bell can anyone remember?
My parents had a holiday cabin (hut) on Bogany Farm when Archie Kirkwood was the farmer. Most of my summer holidays from birth until the mid-70s was spent there
Many days were spent fishing for perch and pike at Loch Ascog. Mentored by Archie and Danny; brothers who were skilful anglers. The evenings were spent at campfires with singing, storytelling and shaping our identity.
I recall ...see more
It was amazing to look back at some of these photos..remembering them well. We as a family lived at 35 stratford road which was then a council house owned by the fire brigade, father worked in the fire station which was then in cainscross road. Mother worked at the lido in Stratford park in the basket room, where us siblings use to get into the lido free on a daily basis exciting times. Our ...see more
I lived on Wellis Avenue from December 20th, 1971 when I arrived from Jamaica as a 13 year old boy until 5th September 1974 when I left.
Bad memories-The very first week I arrived from Jamaica, I met with extreme racism from five people in particular, one of whom called me a Nigger even though like her, I was mixed race.
Good memory which I'll never forget- January 1972 the first week I started at Nicholls Ardwick ...see more
All the family stayed there from 1949 to 1955, best time of our lives
We moved from 76 Princes Road in 1957 to the other end of Teddington, to 143 High Street, opposite Kingston Lane. My parents bought the house for about £1400 (yes fourteen hundred) as a refurb project. It still had gas lighting, which had to be stripped out to install electricity. There were servants bells too. In the 1960s anything Victorian was just considered old-fashioned and grim. My father ...see more
My mother was in the land Army in 1944 on a farm her name was Margaret Shemeld from Dunsfold West Sussex, She was at the Dance hall in Woking where she met my father To be, I have a picture of the land Army girls and the farmer who and were are thay , mother is 6 from the left
Our Lady's R.C. Primary School, King Edward Ave, Dartford, opposite West Hill Hospital. Does anyone remember attending this school particularly in the 1970's. Mr. Rapley was the Headmaster at the time and later Mr. Pimento. I joined the school in 1977 when we moved to Crayford from Temple Hill and went on to secondary in 1980. I would dearly like to connect with anyone whom attended and can share memories ...see more
I used to visit the Swiss Coffee House after rowing on the aquadrome or reading in the library. Always looked forward to it. Good coffee, nice food. Really good days, somehow I knew they were good days at the time, and I would look back on them with great fondness.
I well remember living on Sandford Hill very close to Whites farm,which is now taken up by the estate known as Saxonfields.Myself and friends regularly played football and cricket where the Old Sal pub is now built.
How well I remember the coal tricks travelling to the wharf at Foley laden with coal,and returning empty for refill.Whites horse drawn milk wagon trundled along the farm lanes and onto the ...see more
I also lived in Leybourne, no8 Grange Close which were the staff houses for the local asylum Leybourne Grange. We moved there in the 1950s when the house were first built for the staff. My father was Jack Wincott and we lived next door to the Leggetts. Sylvia was my best friend. The close was a great safe community to live in as everyone knew each other and all worked at the hospital. As ...see more
Hi Chris, How wonderful to hear from you after all these years, I had a lot of happy memories of Stubbington, but not so much of Hurn Court which I couldn't leave fast enough, there was a lot of bullying at that school, but it was a magnificent building nevertheless. I went to work in Hardy Bros in Pall Mall which sold extremely expensive fishing tackle to the great and the good, and then moved down to E Sussex ...see more
My third great grandmother, Hannah Massey, was publican of the Bull's Head in the 1800's, so it's great to see a photo of it!
Looking at all the photo's of Ruislip it makes you want to go back in time. If only for a day or two. Simpler times, less people, less traffic and less gadgets. Going to Ruislip with mum. To Williams Brothers where there were no loyalty cards, just bonus tin money, which you collected to get money off goods. Watch the blacksmith, feed the ducks. Then have to walk home because you couldn't get on the bus ...see more
I remember as a child my parents going out to the Kettlethorpe Working Mens Club to see Shirley Bassey. Some are sceptical that my memory isn't serving me well but I am going back 60 odd years and have always understood that Shirley Bassey did appear there. It would be good if someone else could confirm this
Peggy Leggy Steps! I remember my mother used to talk of these steps, over the railway line in the East End. When she was a kid, she was told not to have anything to do with the boys from over the Peggy Leggy Steps as that was, apparently, the wrong side of town! Needless to say, she married a sailor from the wrong side of town and had 4 kids!
If you walk North along the beach from Beaumaris to Llangoed you pass both the old lifeboat station & you will see some large buildings to the left, (on the right in this photo, just after the road junction) on the other side of the coast road, & the remains of a slipway at low tide.
During WW11 Saunders-Roe moved their modification of Catalina flying boats for UK service from the Isle of Wight to ...see more
The Lion & Swan Hotel Congleton
Story has it that The Lion & Swan in Congleton was made from ancient timbers, even today there are some solid twelve inch by twelve inch supports on display but who knows where they came from. Cheshire is renowned for its black and white buildings, however, no one has said where the timbers are from. I can’t think that it was from Delamere or surrounding ...see more
My mums family are from Kilburn. My mum Kathy Holditch went to school there she had a friend called Mitch. I would love any info on Mitch if anyone can remember my mum and him. I lived in Kilburn till i was four i have fond memories. I havent been back for years and mum and her family have all moved now. I often wonder if anyone can remember the Holditch family and especially my mum Kathy or Kathleen. She ...see more
Hi there,
My name is Paul Cockburn-Mercer ( number 55 if I recall correctly) i went to Hurn Court in 1960 but only stayed a couple of years, i remember being based at 'Heronshaw' which was the First place the juniors went to before moving to the school itself, I think it was originally the gamekeepres cottage. i do remember Mr Morris the headmaster, but not many others. there were some good times and bad, I have to say I didn't really enjoy it very much.
Learnt to dance in there Miss Walsh she married John ? I visited them many years later when they lived Leicester way. Also caught up with Betty and John Griffith (Dec) living in Weeping Cross outside Stafford. I have kept in contact with Betty over the years, another call is imminent. Left in July 1955. Now living in Australia, since 1966. Happy to make contact, also on Facebook.
I remember growing up in the area beyond the sport's centre at Coxford road was no more than a dirt track that lead down to the forestry commission.The woods before the houseing estate a were immense you could literally get lost a child's play heaven.The Lordswood Hotel then later a night club of sorts in its hay days had a riding school. Locals would learn to ride there going into the woods and ...see more
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I was born in Hayes at 3, Botwell Lane which was a big old house (now grade 2 listed) divided into three flats. As a young child it was a creepy old place and said to be haunted. I believe nuns lived there at one point and during the war the kitchen ceiling fell in due to bomb damage. I attended Dr Tripletts School which holds good memories, the head teacher then was Mr Runnicles. We had to walk through the park ...see more
My mother was born to a family named Waters in Balcombe, I only know that she had brothers, one named Norman, the family owned a store, they would date from late 1800 to early 1900. My mother was Rosina Mary Waters born in Balcombe approximately 1920, I would appreciate any help in providing any information of the family Waters. Thank you.
My schoolfriend john beeston mum worked there and we often went there together in the mid fifties
Hi i have a colour postcard of "The Valley, Brendon" it is the same as this photo, it's a used franked card dated 15th June 1945.
it has a sender address of Lana Doome Farm, Malmamead, Brendon written in pencil.
Does anyone have any memory of builders 'messrs F Milton & Sons Ltd who worked at the steam joinery works in Witley? I am trying to find if the company still exists.
I attended Kingsgate Primary School in the 1960's and left in the summer of 1970. I have only the fondest memories of my time there. I have often wondered what happened to my classmates and to our two fantastic teachers Mrs Triezman and Mr Jagger. Does anyone know if I can get any information or photos about the school from those days? I listened to Radio 2 today and the Top 20 chart from this date in 1968 was ...see more
I am trying to trace anyone who might be able to throw some light on my Father's childhood....which he spent in Outwood from roughly 1936 to 1943/44..and a bit after. His name: Walter Alfred Bennett (born 1929).
Apparently he was fostered by 3 different families during this time, but mainly by the Shergolds, who worked at the post office. Other foster mums were a Mrs Bryant and a Mrs Barden ( ...see more
I come from a military family, am what you would call an ‘Army brat’. My father had served as an officer in the Far East during WW2, where his Navy brother had died. After demobilisation & a failed career in the 50’s for the family firm (luxury cars sales/servicing in London) he rejoined the Army as a Warrant Officer in REME. In the mid 60’s we moved to Bovington Camp - I was 4 or 5 at the ...see more
Does anyone remember the walnut tree pub in willow tree lane?What was the name of the landlord who collected boxing memorabilia please let me know at stephensonnex@gmail.com,thank you.