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.
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 801 - 880 of 36585 in total
I went to Coombe Hill House prep school from 1957 to1961 and remember being taken down Surrey Street with my mum and also Kennards arcade.I also remember Grants.Does anyone remember the name of the chain of fruit shops on East Croydon station where my dad used to buy fruits and nuts on a Friday night on his way back from London Bridge station ?
I was born in Priestfield Road and lived there until my family moved across the river to to Hoo when I was 14 years-old. I have fond memories of peers with whom I would play either in the road or we'd go to The Rookery, Strand or Darland Banks. I attended Barnsole Road Infant and Junior schools before going to Gillingham Technical High School as it was called then. I recall that a Mrs Roberts ran a shop at the top ...see more
Hello, hope you are all well. My name is Carlos Lovett Linares (then Carlitos Linares Rana). I also attended Copthorne from 1961 to 1967. I have so many happy fond memories. I visited the School back in 2001 with my dear Mother and wife. The School had closed to boarders back in 1994 but we were able to meet some of the sisters again including Sr Philomena :). I went back a year ago and ...see more
My best friend was sent here in the 1980s and the mental/physical abuse he suffered was profound. He was sent because his mother had a disability not him. He became successful but was never able to make sense of any close relationship and became a functioning alcoholic. His pain about this place was profound. He was pushed out at leaving age with no support about where he could go and when 10 years later he emailed the head ...see more
Was an accountancy student from 1969-1971. As a foreign student so far away from home (Singapore), i was able to settle down very quickly as everyone I met was so friendly. After I completed my accountancy studies, I tried to find a job as an Accountant around Birmingham or surrounding region as i had developed a fondness for this place. Unfortunately I had to leave West Bromwich for London where i managed to get a ...see more
Not a memory but a question: does anybody have a photo of the Maesteg grammar/technical school badge for the 1960s, with some Moto Tentando Superabimus?
nickdavies007@aol.com
Hi,
I would love to hear any memories of J and G Day.
I have a photo of my late grandfather, Benjamin Stevenson, alongside a sack of produce. He sadly died whilst working out in the fields and I would love to know more.
2 great characters on the teaching staff at the time, yet very different!
Mrs Fleming was an energetic and lively drama teacher whilst Miss Woolnough was an old-school lecturer. I remember dozing off during her lectures.
Does anyone have similar memories?
I REMEMBER BIRCH IN 1960'S. THE VILLAGE SHOP WAS RUN BY A JEWISH MAN CALLED MR WOLFE. WHEN YOU CROSSED THE ROAD ON TO WHITTLE LANE THERE WAS A ROW OF HOUSES THAT WERE ATTACHED TO THE WHITE HART PUB . AS YOU WALKED UP THE LANE PAST THE SMALL SAND QUARRY ON YOUR RIGHT YOU CAME TO SUNNY BANK COTTAGES ,THE LAST ONE WAS OWNED BY TERRY HURST AND THE RAG AND BONE MEN USED ITS BARN FOR SORTING THEIR RAGS. ACROSS ...see more
My family, mum, dad and 2 brothers, moved to Northfield from Whitehaven in 1964. My dad was General Secretary of the Northfield YMCA. The "club" building was still under construction at the time with it's distictive Hyperbolic Parabaloid roof.
The "hostel" as it was known then, was accomodation for 60 men plus 3 flats for overseas families. The first Christmas, we had "Happy Christmas" written in 17 ...see more
I spent many a happy year here before enlisting in the RAF (National Service) then in 1953 off to Canada and have been there ever since! Now a proud Canadian!
Michael Edwards.
Hello I'm trying to find out the name of the convent that my Mother grew up in in Southall. She was left there as an orphan as a 2 or 3 year old in 1915 and lived there being looked after by nuns until she was 14. Does anyone know the name of the convent. I think it was a school as well as an orphanage. Thank you - Derek White. Her name was Elsie Elizabeth Fountain.
We have now found ...see more
I have few memories of my primary school which was in a private house in Croft Close a turning off of Marsh Lane, but I do remember being very happy there. This was during the latter war years. However I had a very bad experience at the first private junior school I attended. This was St Georges in Flower Lane, Mill Hill Broadway in 1945 and my father was still in the army. The ...see more
The Lych Gate at the entrance to Headley Parish Church (seen at the end of the row of shops) was constructed by local craftsmen and dedicated in 1954. My father as chairman of the Parish Council took part in the Ceremony.
I was at the original Bordon Council School from 1937 to 1943. You can see the rooves of the old school behind the huts erected after the war when it became Weyford junior school. Mill Chase secondary Modern was later erected on the site of the old playing field across the road to the left of the picture. (Where the 5 air raid shelters were situated)
Not long after the completion of Worcester Crescent and Bedford Road, the construction of Ramillies Road I had acquired a large number of new friends, all boys. My parents had moved from Woodford Essex to 52 Worcester Crescent just before my first birthday and the outbreak of WW2 in 1939. The house was a new John Laings build. By the early 1950s my summers were taken up by playing Cricket for Mill Hill ...see more
I was born in Amersham Hospital in 1956. It should have been the Shrubbery, but it was full on the day I decided I had had enough of the womb.
Cut to the mid 60's and I'm a student at Crown House Primary in London Road opposite the Rye, a tiny private 6 class room, 11+cram school in an attractive Georgian residence.
Happy memories there and yes, I passed what was really a glorified IQ test in 1967, ...see more
I lived in Hillgarth from around 1975 to 1980 would love to hear from others that lived there then too
John vinten
I went to Brigg Grammar from 1947 until 1951. I then worked at Peacock & Binningtons until I emigrated to Canada in 1956. I have fond memories of Brigg, often fishing in the Ancholme, cycling to Cleethorpes and looking for sticklebacks
and frogspawn in swales.
Paul Brighton
Much of the Farm Management Course I studied in Devon in the early 1970s was based on work done at Rothamsted. I felt very lucky to land a job here in 1975 and gradually to meet and even work with the authors of text books I had studied. I started work on the farm where my immediate boss was Jim Bidgood, who was replaced by Mike Rogers. Later I moved to Field Experiements working for Jim McEwen and George Dyke and ...see more
We moved to Byfield in May 1952 when my dad got a job on the railway at Woodford. We had previously lived in Northampton and Byfield seemed a whole new world. There was Mrs Davies who had the sweet shop (remembered the coconut chips - a great favourite to spend pocket money on); Fat Smith the bakers where you could take your Sunday roast to be cooked; Jack Bods where you could get (almost) everything, ...see more
i remember having my broken nose attended to in the chemist by the park after my sister pushed me too high on the swing. That was 1960. My auntie worked at Bowyers and my mother was a cinema attendant. We lived near the old bus station. I was born in 1955 at Southway. Lovely memories of staying all day in the park with my sisters and of the open air pool.
Hi in the early 1960s I worked in Bullpitts Department Store. It was quite an up market family owned business with shops in Southsea and Lee on Solent. I am interested to know if anyone else can remember it. I will add North End in that era was a great shopping experience - you had Marks and Spencer, Woolworths, Will Browns, at least five shoe shops, several ladies fashion shops, a perfumery, ...see more
I am hoping to find someone who may know of the Miller family my mother Edith who is now passed on had a brother Alec who I visited in the 1970s their sister Maggie who also is no longer with us and there were brothers Tom Bob and sisters Alice who has also passed on. They were all born in Darwen and I am hoping some of the family is still around. I know they all had children so there must be some cousins. My mother ...see more
Was in robarts. For 18 months 1966/67. Under lake then Larson.hated headmaster of school barsby we used to call him ticker his shoes creaked he hated me too used to pick on me reguraly. Mr and mrs house low were ok so was sawyer ie Tom trunk big nose mr white was ok as was mr coup ie loopy and mr Holmes’s ire dalppy was ok in garden section mr walters was ok but used to hit on ...see more
Can anybody remember the name of the Baker in the High Street. I can remember him doing his weekly afternoon delivery round to our house being Wingate Cottage behind Bonningtons.
I have never tasted bread as good as his ever again.
Whilst on the subject of locally sourced food product :- what about E.T.Hall & Sons, the Butcher in the High ...see more
My parents, Edward (Jack) and Mavis Byard and myself and German Shepherd Dog Julie, moved from Poole, in Dorset, to live in a de-commissioned British Power Boat Motor Torpedo Boat, 451, in November 1947. My father worked for the company's No 2 yard during the war repairing action damaged MTBs and MGBs and at the war's end these Coastal Craft were rapidly de-commissioned and my parents purchased one. ...see more
As a fully paid up member of the 'Baby Boomer' generation, born in 1947, I've been reading all the stories posted on this lovely website (which - like many others, I suspect - I came across purely by chance). I was born in Perivale Maternity Hospital and lived in Sudbury (and later in North Greenford) until I left the area in 1966, so my memories are very much of Wembley as it was in the mid-50s to mid-60s, when I ...see more
I lived in Tudor Gardens West Acton, having been evacuated during the war.
I attended West Acton infants school, then John Perrin Junior school followed by John Perrin Secondary ModernSenior School.
I Started Senior School in 1952. It was "dreadful" The reason was being bullied nearly every day. I could not wait to leave. I remember many of the people that attended with me. To name a few:- Les Allum, Brian Ratcliffe, Keith ...see more
born in 1948 in a place called Cappenfield near Bilston, just off Dudley street, just four houses in a row surrounded by fields,, the canal, or cut, as we all called it ran alongside, and it narrowed down to what we called the stop,it was where the barges pulled up to wait to get into the basin so they could load up and start their journey back, i remember the railway branch line that ran past the bottom of the garden,,very ...see more
I was born at 28 Newlyn Drive in 1944. We lived with my grandparents. Moved to Romiley in 1948. Sadly my parents moved us all to London in 1951 the worst time of my life. The only time I was happy was during the long summer holidays when I went back to the old home.
I lived in Hillier Road Battersea from 1952 - 1964 and went to Honeywell primary school. As a 15y.o in 1962 the highlight of my week was going to the Balham Hill flats with my mates to a club run by Mrs Boyland. I had several friends including Lionel Challis and big Eddie. I was mesmerised by two of the prettiest girls I ever saw, Christine Appleton and Janet Rayner who used to dance so well. If I remember rightly ...see more
I remember the triangle of shops at the top of Whetstone Hey in(1962), when I was about 7 years old.
If you came up Whetstone Hey, from Valley Drive, on your left was Wartons Newsagents (what we called The Paper Shop). It was run by Mr Warton and I think his wife and one or two other assistants. Mr Warton was a small slightly tubby man, slightly balding. Outside were two Chocolate Machines. One sold Milky ...see more
My name is Derek Price, and I was born in Central Middlesex Hospital and lived in Court Way, North Acton, until moving to Birkbeck Avenue when I was married in 1965.
I attended West Acton Primary, Acton Wells Junior, John Perryn and finally Faraday school Bromyard Avenue until I left in December 1957.
North Acton playing fields was our main playground together with the back alleys of the local houses as well as exploring ...see more
My 6 x great-grandparents, Thomas Pell and Isabell Emery, were married at the Parish Church on 13/4/1732. Their children were born in the village, and Thomas, Isabell and some of their children were buried in Great Houghton. It would be interesting to know whether any of their family remained in the village. Their son Richard (my 5 x great-grandfather) moved to Kingsthorpe, then to Coventry. We recently visited Great Houghton, it is a lovely village.
I noticed a memory about Violet Fryer and Herbert Morgan. I often stayed with my grandparents, Artie and Floss Messenger, and they used to know people of that name. Our house was called Floral Gardens. It was their livelihood - selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, milk, wreath-making, flowers,etc. At times they kept pigs, chickens, geese, sheep , cows and bees. There were orchards also.
I’d love to ...see more
I was born in the new police house in 1959 on Garfield Avenue.
My father was Constable Hind,the sergeant next door was called Dethick.
I have memories of the street and playing in it.My brother and father made a swing for me in the garden.
I remember going to Sunday School, having to face the back kneeling on our little chairs.
My father received many commendations, which I have.
There was a family ...see more
We moved to 52 Worcester Crescent, Mill Hill early in 1939 not long before the outbreak of the war. I am now 83 but I can clearly remember the bomb crater at the bottom of Ramillies Road. If you come from Bedford Road the crater was on the right not very far up, about where numbers 6,8 and 10 Ramillies now stand. This filled with water naturally and I remember Mum and Dad having a ...see more
Dolly's (Essoldo Cinema) in distance
Thats Everitts Corner in front, Co-op store on left (mum got a weekly order from here, I had to taste everything, washing soda tastes horrible!), Langleys toy store on right, also chip shop and barbers
From footbridge used by girls going to High School, looking towards Three Tuns & Slough, later unsafe and demolished?
Surely this is Aspro's bowling green? along Bath Rd., houses must be Westgate Cres or Ivy Cres. Pals dad was gardener to Aspros. was it built beside Aspros cricket pitch?
off Bower Way (handy for me!) Think my wife lived down here for a while, she was nanny to 2 kids whose parents worked at US base at Ruislip moved to Denham before we married
Started out as isolation hospital for scarlet fever(?) Used as nurses hostel for nurses from Cliveden, they were taken by coach, was at the back of site, backed onto Aspros( later Sara Lee?) factory, they built Westgate School on e side
Pic is taken from gravel pit, we used to spy on nurses, hoping to see them undressing! Typical small rooms with French windows like TB hospital. it could also be reached by steps from pit, boilerman used to throw ash down into pit!
I am looking for some historical images from my house on Chope Road. It is currently called Sundene and was built in 1920 as one large house, now separated into two. My understanding is that the house owned a lot of land, which is now Tudor close. There are significant land marks of a number of Copper Beech trees which must be as old, if not older than the house.
Born in December 1957 my maiden name was Kemp I must have started in Mrs Padgets class St Joseph's circa 1962. i remember the alphabet in pictures around the wall A is for apple B is for ball, C is for cat & D is for dog etc…I can still work my way through the images for every letter. There was also a Wendy house corner that I loved playing in. We lived on Crag Mount Halfpenny Lane and ...see more
The Semi detach house in the middle of the photo, is my first home purchase, Moved in two months ago.
I used to be at Acworth House before the Second World War. We used to play cricket and football at the Top Field.
Our school was called Temporary School but we called it "Tin School"!
After each meal to avoid a crush, each House was called in order to exit the huge dining hall. I remember clearly the first few called which were
"Kings, Brittania, Natal, Acworth, Empire, ........
I wonder if there are any other old Acworth boys around?
John Hing, No: 17
At the age of 13 I suffered a nervous breakdown due to problems at home. It was decided by my doctor to send me away from home to give me a break.
My mother took me to a mainline station in London where I was handed over to a lady who was to escort me to the home.
On arrival at the Andrew Duncan home, I along with other new boys were introduced to the staff by the matron.
My bed was one of four ...see more
My father Douglas Bolton was at Harold Woods in Heckmondwike as a personal & safety training officer. Can any one remember him he was there in the late Sixties
Does anyone remember vatric controll systems in Garth road lower Morden. I worked there in the mid 1960s
David Huggett
I recall visiting sugwas Court when I was a child in the mid 1960s, my grand father had been the rector at Kenchester. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to upload any photos.
It would be good to hear from anyone else with memories around that time.
Steve Roberts
Dazzercat@gmail.com
I was born in Steyning in 1954. My father was a police constable and at only 2/3 months old we moved to the 'police station' in Whiterock Place in Southwick. The station consisted of 2 large semidetached houses with large back gardens and a dog yard with a kennel for any strays. The gardens backed virtually up to the railway embankment and the front of the house looked straight down Colebrooke Road to ...see more
I remember well taking the bus up from Westcott with my grandmother on a Sunday afternoon in the 1940's to have tea and cakes at Grimm's Kitchen right opposite the famous clock in Abinger Hammer .
I moved to Westergate around 1951 (aged 7) from London. My parents bought the local village shop & Off licence in the main road, opposite the Alpha Garage. I can honestly say I had a wonderful childhood living in Westergate. We were free to wander all day, care free over the fields etc., no problems what so ever. ( I don’t know how we knew it was time for dinner etc., we had no watches) Our shop sold ...see more
I went to the Court with friends between 1966 and 1970.
We would meet up in the Two Brothers opposite.
I met my wife there at a Halloween Party night, October 1969.
The manager was Derek White, with his wife Jill.
As the business was expanding , Jill managed a branch adjoining the Granada Cinema, in Maidstone.
With my friends, over this period we also visited other branches at Tunbridge Wells and Welling. Happy days.
Iv been trying for years to find something out about the camp . I was born there in 1948 when my farther Mr Arthur Blowes was sent to North Korea when he back from the Second World War
I remember my first day at the Royal Kent School – 8th November 1948 – as recorded at entry no. 1450 in the school's original Admissions Register. It was a few weeks into the Autumn term, as in September that year I had been in hospital having my tonsils out. All my friends had started at the beginning of term so after being kept away I was really looking forward to joining them. But ...see more
My dad opened his first shop in Ferry Approach, a cafe, it was situated directly outside the woolwich foot tunnel with plenty of dock workers and factory workers passing by every day and a constant stream of traffic queuing for the ferry.
My brother and I used to go to the shop after school to help out, washing up and sweeping up.
Dad went on to own the fag and paper shop next to the cafe also a greetings card ...see more
in 1944 we were taken to St Agnes, me, my two sisters and my mum. I was only 5 years old. They put us in the hotel Driftwood Spars, St Agnes. I went to school there, I can't remember the name of it. My mum worked in the pub in the village, as my dad was fighting the war. Loved every day we were there - came home from school then down to the beach. My sister Margaret was 9 years older than me and my sister ...see more
I remember staying at the hospital and going to Heswall beach and playing on the aeroplane in the back garden at the hospital,it was about 1965
Early C20 formal gardens and parkland designed and landscaped by Thomas Mawson and implemented by Robert Mawson of the Lakeland Nurseries, Windermere, surrounding a house designed by Dan Gibson with a ground plan by Thomas Mawson.
Historically, Wood was a substantial Devon farm centred on a late C16 or early C17 house, lying some distance from the village of South Tawton. The early C19 Tithe map (c 1840) shows a group ...see more
What is now 1 Taw Green Cottages was once the Smithy I am told.
TAW GREEN is a hamlet in South Tawton in Okehampton, Devon, UK
My Grandfather William Lawson died at a place described on his death certificate as The Hostel, High Street, Bentham. Grandfather was from Liverpool this was 7th May 1941 can anyone tell me what was the hostel, was it a pub ? or a place to stay.
my dad and uncle worked as building contractors for bb evans and the cinemas in kilburn high st my dad also drive a van with billboards advertising would love to hear if anyone has memories of this or worked at night in the cinemas
My parents had a caravan at The Old Coastguards close to Seasalter Sailing Club from 50s to 70s. It had only 3 caravans on it. I regularly got up early as a child to accompany the site owner, a super guy, while he followed the tide out to put out fishing lines. The next morning going out early morning to get the days catch.
My parents seemed unaware of the shifting sands danger at low tide and I had several ...see more
This is the school I went to, and really enjoyed my time here. Mr. Gothard was the Headmaster. We also had a lovely Welsh teacher in the middle class, and I think Miss Yarrow took the little ones. (A very short walk through to Berristead Close where we lived.) We had to walk up to the village hall - St. Peter's - for our school lunches as there was no canteen. The school is at the bottom of Carpond ...see more
Has not changed much over time - apart from the loss of the old oak tree.
This is the other side of the road from the Post Office, with a very old car parked in front of Hazel's shop, which sold all sorts of things including penny chews and sweets. You can see the old tree, and the bus stop and the end of the Blacksmith's cottage. The works would have been behind the tree. Towards the end of the road is the old Victorian School, and School Lane where my father lived when he was growing up in the 1920s -1930s.
Post Office and shop on the left. Mrs. Cornwall was the Postmistress. On the right is a lovely tree next to the Blacksmith's cottage, which was cut down for a new house later on. Lovely empty street here. Wonder who the child is?
This looks like the Manor School. Back in the 1950s/1960s the Headmaster's youngest son was a friend, and we used to play in the grounds.
This is called 'The Piece'. In the 1950s it was a place to play, and go on the swings, and there was a village sports day here. It is still there, though the pavilion developed. Known today for the Fireworks night and Beer Festival.
The Oak Tree was amazing, and big enough to hide behind as a small child. It was a key feature throughout childhood. It was a shame when it was cut down. It is near the Berristead, the Elizabethan manor house, and was allegedly planted by a Tudor, though not sure who.
This is where I grew up. In the summer we played on the green with other children, and when the trees were a little bigger than this enjoyed climbing them. Happy Memories. The trees are a little bigger now and the green has been chopped into for parking, and there is also a children's playpark there. The houses do not look much different.
I am trying to find out about my Tickner ancestors who lived in Dorking in the 1700s. In the 1970s a cousin remembers seeing a plaque on a building in the high street that read , 'Thomas Ticker coachbuilder ' and there was a date in the 1700's he can't remember what it was exactly. This plaque referred to my ancestor.
Where has this plaque gone? Does anyone ...see more
I was born on the Anchor in 1941. The houses were set back from the road with rough patch of ground in front of them where Pat Collin's fair used to set up every year in the summer. From the canal bridge on the left was the pub, The Anchor (Arthur Baines), attached to a row of terraced houses (Silla and her sister, the Weberleys, Richard’s, Littlehales), then the big entry. The other side of the entry was the big house ...see more
I was born in Sandiway but during my primary and secondary school days we would go to Northwich which I remember from the late fifties and when all the old shops, such as Joe Allman's cottage and Eachus etc were all doing a good trade, Northwich has many happy memories for me. I remember the Bull Ring when the shops were all wooden fronted and the Talbot Hotel and the Methodist Chapel next door where the current ...see more
Having lived the first 25 years of my life in Widnes ,I have many happy memories of my school days there. Born in Dundalk Lane in 1940, from 1943 until 1945, I attended the Nursery,situated next to Ditton County Infants’ School, and then moved on to the Infants’ School itself, (often referred to as The Little School or Chestnut Lodge School), where I spent the next three years . The Headmistress at ...see more
Over 70 years ago, when I was about three or four years old, my parents and I would travel from Luton to see my maternal grandmother, Kate Whymark, who was the widow of Ernest Whymark. I never met Ernest, as he fell off a ladder at Burnt House Farm and was killed in 1931, Nan ( Kate Whymark )lived at Little Hitches, in Upper Road, Little Conard. I remember there was a man called Vince who lived next ...see more
My father was the Vicar of Cradley Heath from 1961 for about 15 years and we moved there when I was about 6 months old. The vicarage is now pulled down and the church is now (or about to be demolished.) One poignant memories is the smog in the early '60s which meant I had to overnight at the nursery school on a few occasions as any sort of travel was impossible. I loved it. My mum didn't! Another is ...see more