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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  • How the location features in your personal history?
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  • 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!

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Displaying Memories 30721 - 30800 of 36892 in total

My family owned the house that can be seen on the right hand side of the photo. You can just see the building on the side which was the shop from which the family butchers, Howes & Son, was run. I'm not sure how many generations of the Howes family lived in the house but  I know that both my grandfather who ran the business until the mid/late 1960s, his father and my own father, Joe, were all born ...see more
I lived in the Prince of Wales as Mum & Dad were the managers and we had a corgi named Sandy and two boxers, Maxie and Susie who enjoyed the big garden at the back. This was the last years of school and I think we were there until the early 70's maybe 71 or 72. There was a large dancehall at the back with 'dances' on a Friday and Sunday night with a live band and then this room changed to being The Bandwagon disco. Happy memories.
I lived in the George & Dragon when I was a small, I dont know maybe the late 1950s/early 1960s. Mum and Dad were the managers and I remember it being on an open road, almost countryfied, and it was a fabulous size for a child to play in! Hard to imagine it now pulled down, however so many of the pubs I once lived in have now gone and been replaced by flats, or McDonalds.   
I, along with my three brothers and two sisters was brought up in Combe Fishacre House from 1965 to about 1988. My father lived there with his Aunt and Uncle (Neville and Anne Parry) who bought the house in the 1930's. The house was given to my parents in 1965 when we all moved in. We remained there until we sold it to the Longs in the late 1980's. Much of our childhood was ...see more
My aunt Joyce Blacker (nee Watson), and uncle Earnest used to live here, along with my cousins, Christine, Pauline and Magaret. I think it was next to a garage with a cafe or something. They had sheep and pigs on the farm, and there was an old well in the garden that was said to be haunted by a girl that had fallen in and drowned. My cousins and I used, when my parents brought us up to Yorkshire to ...see more
police Constable Hall
I worked in this cinema in 1960, just tearing tickets. There was a woman who worked in the confectionery kiosk who had been there since it opened; her first job had been as pianist during the silent era. She went on to work until the cinema was closed and pulled down. (Sorry I do not know her name). It was during my sojourn there that the film "Psycho" was distributed and I recall that during the week it as ...see more
During the fifties my friends and I spent many an hour in the woods and playing around the castle, during our school holidays we would be up there from dawn till dusk a few sandwiches and a bottle of water, those were the days. Many of the old photos bring back memories. My sister and I had to go to Henbury church for Sunday School, the photo of Hallen Road shows the old police station, I can't remember it as a ...see more
I was evacuated to Evenlode as a small child, I lived with a family in a small cottage opposite the school, I would be interested to make contact with anyone with a similar history or of knowledge of the area at that time. I am not sure of the year, I was quite young. Frank Piner
I have visited the church many times, I was christened there in 1943. My parents rented a weekend cottage situated down a lane opposite the Crown Inn. They rented it prior to the war and during. After they gave the cottage up we used to stay at the Fox Inn, which was then owned by the Ralphs family. I had some wonderful times there. I wondered if anyone else remembers Rushton round about that time.
I was so pleased to find these photos of the gardens, as there don't seem to be very many around. My grandfather Trevor Dimond was the head gardener there. He started just after the war and was there for 30 years and boy, did he and his men work hard, starting at 6.00am and finishing at 10.00pm to maintain the standards. I lived with him and my grandmother in The Gardens House, a large house tucked away in the museum, now ...see more
School doubled as the church on a Sunday and I sat next to the altar rail often gazing at the pedals and knobs and levers of the organ instead of listening. I remember sitting at bench-type tables for lunch, stirring the Christmas pudding and hoping for the sixpence. We had two classrooms - little ones with Mrs Fidler - bigger ones in the main room with Mr Nixton, who constantly sucked Polo Mints to cover up ...see more
When I went to the school we had our dinners in a room downstairs and heaven help you if you cheeked the dinner ladies. The Headmaster's son at the time, Michael Roe, did and he got a real telling off and probably the cane too! I also vividly remember standing at assembly waiting to hear the result of the 11+ exam. White envelopes meant failure, buff a pass but some of us lived in villages and the post did ...see more
We were stationed at Upper Heyford, England, my wife and I and our children. We lived in Bodicote, on Chapel Lane. Our children went to Bishop Loveday School. We liked it there. I hope someone reads this and sends us a memory note. Thanks Rodger and Joann Duvall
Myself and my school mates from Helmshore Primary School spent hours of time at the baths in Haslingden, my friend Christopher Row was one in particular. I also would like to know if anyone knows a Carol Ashton or Lynn Ashton, OR June Peddie or Dave Peddie. We all went to primary school in Helmshore. I moved to America in May 1965. Peter Chadderton
The Fox was demolished in the 1990s and  replaced by a modern pub a bit further back from the main road, now called The Snooty Fox I think.
My Great Uncle Bill looked after me occasionally and used to take me to a shop in the high street where I watched a train go round for a penny. My Grandparents lived just opposite us in Old Devonshire Road. This is my only memory of Balham as we moved soon after.
I remember doing my 6 weeks basic training at 7 Training Battalion REME Barton Stacey. It was rough, I was only 18 and never been away from home before, and the discipline came as a bit of a shock to us all. Some of the NCO's were particularly cruel to some of the soldiers, especially the ones who didn't respond quick enough to an order. They could be quite degrading at times. I never got to go ...see more
Hi, I was born and raised in Crewe until I was 18 when I joined the WRAF. My school was Brierely St. Secondary Modern School and my maiden name was Chesworth. I have many fond memories of my time there and would love to hear from anyone that was a school mate of mine from 1953-57. Now I am retired in the South of France, after having lived and travelled abroad for most of my life. However Crewe is where I was born and I ...see more
Does anybody remember going to Saint Saviour's School? If so, do you remember carrying your little chair up to the church hall in The Grove every week for a church service? I think it was on a Wednesday, as our church had been bombed in the war. I remember this because I found a little chair in a junk shop and it brought it all back to me. My grandparents lived as caretakers of the Welsh chapel on Ealing ...see more
I remember moving to Bovingdon in 1965, we lived in Austin's Mead (they were the houses for the R.A.F. families). My name was Andrea Jackson then, I was about 7 yrs old. The local doctor was Dr. Anderson. At the bottom of Austin's Mead there was an old forge.
Later to become part of the old St Mary's hospital, Dunstable Road. Luton. I was born there in 1948.
There was a Police Box (Tardis type) at the bottom of the Corn Exchange, later replaced by a Police telephone post. On the left was the entrance to the Old Indoor Market and The Plough public house.
Every Sunday the Salvation Army Citadel Band would play hymns etc, before marching back to the citadel in Park St.
I lived in Longley Road 1956 to 74. I remember playing football in Charlemont Road with my friends Richard and Johnjoe every evening till it got dark, no cars, no people, great times. I also remember seeing the Beatles in Trevelyan Road before they went to the Tooting Granada to perform (who would believe that happened?). We had a lot of freedom in those days. I stiil visit Tooting for work now and again, it has sadly changed a lot.
This I remember so well when Silver Spring's was in Foord Road and only a small company. I worked there as a clerk from 1957 to 1960. George (now my husband) used to come by on his bike on his way to work at the Gas Company and we used to have a chat, it was something I looked forward to.  I married in 1959 and only stayed there for a short time afterwards but it holds a lot of memories for me seeing as ...see more
My memory of Shilton is when I started school at the infant school in The Hollow which is now a supermarket, and then to the school in Wood Street, after that to Heathfield at Bel Vue and we used to play in Dan Asley's sand pit on the home. After I left school I worked for a Mr Surch at Kesters Nook which is no longer there, and then he went to Australia and I went with him, here I have been for the last 54 ...see more
I was stationed at the Burtonwood army depot near Warrington in 1967 through to 1969. I remember taking pictures of the Queen's vehicle as they drove past me. I have four wonderful pictures of the vehicle the Queen was riding in and of the people on the street watching as the Queen drove by. You can see the advertisements on the bill boards ... a tea advertisment. I currently live in Florence, Kentucky in the USA.
I was born and brought up in Barbaraville, spending the first 27 years of my life there before moving to Inverness. I will always remember it as an idyllic place to grow up in.. Many a happy hour was spent excavating the little sandbank just down from Sutor View in search of 'buried treasure' and fishing for sticklebacks in the burn at Delny.      I remember the Jackdaw Hotel, with its own ...see more
I remember paddling in the stream and enjoying lazy days of peace and quiet. The hatches were then grazing land with cattle. You then could see the abbey and grounds in the distance, we then watched them dug out and they made way for gravel pits. A little lad drowned in the lakes.
As a boy during the Second World War I served as a Sea Cadet at Newlyn where on numerous occasions we made use of the facilities at the Sailors Mission. I loved to listen to the old sailors talking about past memories and often shared in a mug of steaming hot tea. Every so often my mother would ask me to visit the harbour where I would find the fishermen returning with their catch. Sometimes if they were in a ...see more
As a boy I must have walked up and down Market Jew Street hundreds of times. In particular I along with friends would visit the local Woolworth's where we liked to partake of various flavoured "Milk Shakes" Later during our teens a special treat was to go upstairs at Liptons where we would indulge in a cup of tea (we felt very grown up) then look down on local girls passing by. Despite the war we were a happy band and made the most of the circumstances at that time.
I have such happy memories of my early years when as a schoolboy I along with many of my friends walked up and down the Promenade at Penzance of a Sunday evening in pursuit of girls. Even in the blackout during the Second World War we still put in an appearance. At the time I was a choirboy at St John's Church, Penzance and attended both morning and evening services. During the summer months a Sunday afternoon ...see more
I swam for Kingsbury swimming club for a number of years, representing them at national level at the ASA championships. I too, swam at the old Finchley Road pool then we moved to Swiss Cottage. I swam for a young England team in front of the Queen at the opening ceremony, I think around 1962 or 1964. I held a number of records at the club. Some of the records were made by swimmers from the Hungarian water ...see more
Nice to see this site. I was born in Coronation Street, and lived from 1947 till 1964 in the Plies, until my marriage. I have the fondest memories of growing up in Fairford, an absoutely idyllic life for a child in those days. The freedom we had as children was great, with none of the fears associated with modern living. I am one of those who wanted to find a 'better' life elsewhere, and have lived in Canada for 40 ...see more
My great-great-great grandfather Rev.J.K.Miller was the vicar at this church until 1855 for quite sometime. It was so good to visit the church for the first time in 2008 Summer and to meet the vicar. The village doesn't seem to have changed much. I was touched to see the plaque mentioning the picture window installed in memory of my ancestor.The few people I met were wonderful and I would be visiting again soon.
When my father joined us from London after the war he went to work in the Hotel and I have a photo of him looking smart in his uniform. The Hotel was altered eventually and became the Sunshine home for the Blind for a while I think.
I feel that the house on the right was called 'The Ferns'. My family and I were evacuated to Southerndown in 1944 and after staying in one big building near the Three Golden Cups, were moved to the upstairs of ;The Ferns'. At that time there were two other families there also but eventually the ground floor was occupied by a family called Keeble and we (Langrish) were upstairs. My father painted Walt ...see more
I was born in August 1939, my brother was born in 1936, we lived at 5 The Crescent, Boscombe and my brother and I used to walk down Old Christchurch Road  to the lake in Boscombe gardens quite frequently.  We used to try and get the bamboo leaves that came from the island in the lake.  If we got one we would push the stalk bit through the leaf and sail them as boats, how innocent and safe it was then even ...see more
In 1956 I was an apprenticed grocer with a very poor wage.  My passion was fishing and if I went to see the river bailiff, a Bob Olley, after work to pay for a license, he would often say 'Go and do your fishing and don't worry about the license'.  Bob felt that to make me pay for a half day ticket just for 3 or 4 hours wasn't worth it.  When I caught a 23-pound Pike one Sunday morning, Bob was on hand to ...see more
I have a photo of my class of 1956 when I was about 7. I am keen to contact others in my class at that time. If you remember please contact me.
Having been so lucky as to spend my childhood in a big house in Royal Avenue and spending many long summer evenings playing cricket on the beach with my grandad I have always wanted to return to Scarborough.  In particular the Zoo & Marineland hold many memories - unfortunatley there isn't a lot of info about this special place. I remember the laughing clown on the north bay that my cousin was terrified of (as ...see more
I was a pupil at St Catherine's School between 1954 and 1962. The school was run by Ralph and Joyce Cooper. Teachers I remember are Mr Thunder, art teacher, Mr Smith, and Miss Muriel Stottart, who taught class 3b, the juniors. At the rear of the building there was a large conservatory and a path that ran down to a long hut which served as classrooms. There was also a homemade concrete ...see more
We soon got back into the routine and before long the summer holidays came along. The last day of school was a big event. That morning we got eggs for breakfast. That was so, when we got home and our parents asked what we had for breakfast we said, we had eggs.  That was the only time in the entire term we got eggs.  I used to dream of a meal, where I had a large plate of a dozen boiled eggs. ...see more
I lived in Ilford in the 1970s, the place was magic, and it had a bus to the place. I could walk down the Broadway at night without any worry, and I was always in the Cranbrook pub. I went back last year to the Cranbrook pub and just made it in time, it closed just after. That was in 2008, and it opened in in 1970. I also had a walk in Valentine's Park, that was nice, it brought back good memories as I lived across ...see more
I live in Canada but knew that my grandfather came from King's Lynn and settled in Brantford, Ontario Canada. On a trip to the UK in 1995 I drove from London to Clenchwarton since my aunt had told me that's where he had lived. When I saw the first church I drove into the laneway and when I got out of the car I noticed a headstone that read Jesse Bartle - my great grandfather!!! What a great surprise.
CHAPTER TWO School Years - Convent of the Visitation 1939-1945 One’s school years leave an indelible impression on one for good or bad. My views over these years in this regard, have modified considerably. The older you get, the more you tend to look at your youth with rose tinted glasses. So in relating to my school years I am trying to put myself back in that time and place. My ...see more
I went to Little Ealing Junior School which was at the bottom of my road.  I remember on my first day running home to my gran, crying because they were using pencils and I had come from a school in Hounslow where we had got pens and inkwells, I thought the school was so backward. It was quite hard to integrate and I got bullied by some older girls from another school until my dad met me on the way ...see more
The passageway led from Clayhill Road all the way through the village, and came out on the Reading Road, some 2 miles away, the passageway was used by us children daily as a short cut to school, and it went by the side of most people’s fields and the odd house. Further down the passageway and at the top of a steep hill (looking down), was Mr Barker’s bungalow. My father told me once that ...see more
I grew up on Fern Lodge estate in Streathams Leigham Court Road. Every Thursday my mum and a few of her mates from the estate, Auntie Josie and Auntie Ivy, would put on thir lipstick and put a scarf on their heads and go and get the 137 bus to Streatham Hill and go to Bingo. My mum did this for about 27 years and only ever won twice. My mum and Auntie Josie used to work in the fish and chip shop down by the side of ...see more
I remember my first day at Crown Lane Primary School, Crown Point, West Norwood. My mum walked me to school and we all went in with the other children, most of whom I knew from our estate. My mum gave me threepence for my dinner money and a biscuit in a brown paper bag for our milk break. I remember her telling me to be good and that she would see me later. At about 11 o'clock the milk monitor brought us in little ...see more
Hi Bill, I saw your comments on the FrancisFrith site. I live in Earith (70 High St) and recently created a website for the village (www.earithvillage.com). I would absolutely love to get in contact with you and get copies of your photos for the website,.. would be a really valuable addition to the site. Feel free to contact me anytime kind regards Dusan
I was born in this hospital in 1973 - don't remember much about it to be honest! LOL! It's long gone now.
The Boulevard used to be Station Road and was the local monkey run on Sat and Sunday nights, where young teenagers male and female used to walk up and down
My name is Margret Russell. My maiden name was Margret Lewis. I live in Australia. My father Wilfred Charles Lewis was born in Taunton Somerset. His maternal grandparents were Martha (nee Harris) and Samuel Critchard who were from Kingston St Mary where they raised a family of eight daughters and one son. Martha and Samuel operated the Norton Fitzwarren Post Office for many years. When the ...see more
In 1953, I moved here at the age of 2 with my parents from London's Old Kent Road. We rented the large flat directly above Kiddie's Store (seen on the left of this picture of the High Street). My father worked at a local bakery. I remember the police coming one day after there'd been a big burglary into Kiddie's Store, the thieves having got through from the skylight at the back of our flat. Another day I remember ...see more
I was born in Templecombe Hospital in April 1943. My mother was Lilian Game (nee Atkins) and was staying with my grandfather, Ernest Atkins at 13 Silver Street, opposite the church (sadly now the site of a garage). My mother was married there in 1939 and was able to walk to the church because it was so close by. I was christened in St. Peter & Paul in May 1943. I have many happy memories of Wincanton, having ...see more
I was born in Templecombe Hospital on 13 April 1943, my mother was Lilian Game (nee Atkins) and was staying with her widowed father, Ernest Atkins of Silver Street, Wincanton, after leaving London because of the bombing during the war. My brother was also born there in September 1944.
I had the pleasure of working in Ticehurst, for a couple of years, back in the seventies. They were wonderful days for me. I shall never forget some of the village 'characters' such as Tom the Baker, Wally Palmer and Doctor Childs...wonder whatever happened to them? Take care of this precious village...I for one just love it.
My earliest memory of Hatch End is when I started at Grimsdyke School at the age of four and a half in 1948. My brother Michael used to walk me to school from Hillview Road. I went to 2nd Hatch End Brownies which was held in the Vestry behind St Anslems Church. After leaving Grimsdyke School, I went to Rosary Priory at Bushey Heath. I used to catch the train from Hatch End Railway Station to ...see more
At the far end of photo number H183005a - on the right - is a white wall. Mr and Mrs Barker lived in a one room plus a tiny kitchen downstairs, two tiny rooms up, from the 1930s until my great-grandmother died in the 1950s at the age of 93 - buried in the local graveyard. I have never been able to visit her tombstone - MARY BARKER - since I have lived overseas for 40 odd years. My memories are: I was the ...see more
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s my father, Patrick Scullion, known to many of his customers as Jock, was the family butcher at 8 Bishopric. I was his butcher's boy around 1960 delivering orders on the trade bike on Saturday mornings and Tuesday after school. I also helped to make sausages which were second to none! I well remember Milledges to the right of our shop which sold newspapers and toys and the little ...see more
Things are a little hazy, but, I think the year is about right, providing that this is the church on the Church Road before the gardens going towards Brighton. I used to sing in the choir under the direction of the Organist and Choir master Mr. Clifford Roberts, who also tried to teach me to play piano from reading music, but gave up when he realised that I was playing by ear. Have many memories of my Home Town and the ...see more
The Ashbury School photograph was indeed taken circa 1926. I know this because my father, aged three or four years old, is standing by the school gate and he was born in 1923. His brothers and sisters are also on the photograph. The girl stood apart from the crowd against the wall was his sister Kit, and his brother Fred is sitting on the wall with an odd looking hat on. We lived in Kings Close, Ashbury, just around the corner behind the photographer.
I was married here in 1964 having lived in Moore all my life up to then. My mum and dad are both buried here as is my granny. At the very end of the church the stained glass windows show characters from Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll's father was the vicar here
This is one of my endearing images of Margate. I was born at 5 Market Place, which lies just behind the lower white buildings to the centre rear of the photo. It was 1952 and my father was a bus inspector on the East Kent Road Car Co. He loved Margate and the sea air, he was born in Tottenham and really appreciated it. We used to fish from the harbour and pier, my dad was a keen angler, and we enjoyed it too. ...see more
Who are the people in this photo? My mum and dad bought the Post Office from Mr and Mrs Evans but I can't work out yet which year that would be, sometime in the 1950s that I do know. Can't work out whether or not that's me with the dog and the other two, I think, might be Ann and Alan Ainsworth. Around the building, just underneath the black and white bit, there is some writing and I can't think for the life of ...see more
First thing that came into my head when I saw this - Mrs. Butterfield - the Headmistress. I went to this school from 1951 to 1956. Mrs. Butterfield put me in for the 11 plus exam a year early and I passed and moved on to Helsby Grammar School. Moore school was just one big room divided into infants and juniors by a partition. There was a big black stove to heat the place and we used to put our free bottles of milk on ...see more
Does anyone remember the Lochinvar Cinema? It was sixpence and a different film every night! Paul Bass (my father) now living in Wigan does, he used to stay at his auntie's house, Ina Benson Newsagents. He has great memories of the Polish boys and girls he became good friends with, namely, Bolic, Rumec, Jon Boyko and his sister Sheila, Charlie Putsini. Best wishes also from his older brothers, Tommy and John.
I grew up in Grieve Street and my gran lived in Simon Crescent (no 28). I remember as a kid going to visit her and playing in the swing park opposite her house. There was a hill nearby which was called 'Hill 60' if my memory serves me well, and there was an old bridge called the 'Coo Bridge'. We had great adventures there. I remember being sent to Cauldwell's shop, Nairn's shop, and Heinz's shop. Who ...see more
I lived in the old post office for approx. 18 years but my family lived there for about 10 years longer. When my parents bought the property they spent a lot of time and effort making it into a family home, whilst trying to keep as much of the traditional persona of the house. I have a lot of happy memories living at the Old Post Office with my mum and dad and 2 younger brothers. It was ...see more
It was a warm bright sunny day in May when my husband and I came to look at a house in Thorngrafton. What a lovely quiet atmosphere it had, apart from the mooing of the cows on the farm and the sound of the house martins singing in the background there was silence and peace. We sat on the grass lawn at the front of the house and just looked at the view - in front of us the unspoilt Tyne Valley. We could see the ...see more
My father was raised in Bowness on Solway. His father lived in the cottage in the street. My grandfather, Mr John Stafford, was one of the men who used to go 'Haafnet fishing' so it was good to visit and stroll down the same roads my ancestors trod.
By Michael Savage A reunion of the Horncastle Homes children and the staff was held at the Town Hall (Drill Hall) July 20 1989. Almost 400 people attended the event. “The atmosphere was really great - everyone was talking about the good old days, although some had painful memories to share.” Generations of children were brought up in a group of houses, known as Holmeleigh, ...see more
I have recently been doing some research into our family history. I was always told by my mother that her elder sister, Bessie Dubora, died from complications following a tonsilectomy but, having now obtained a copy of the Death Certificate, I have discovered that she died at High Wood Hospital in 1925 from TB at the age of 12 years. My family originally came from the East End of London, so I was at a lost ...see more
This view of the Town Hall brings back wonderful memories of vacations at my grandmother, Charlotte Thomas's, house. She lived on Castle Street and her house looked down this street. On Wednesday mornings we would walk to the market there and shop. My mother, Sally Wynne Thomas McGehee, emigrated to America in 1946 to marry my father. I was born in 1950 and she brought me to ...see more
Bromsgrove Teacher Training College's proper name was Shenstone Teacher Training College and was under the aegis of Birmingham University. Shenstone was originally situated on the old prisoner of war camp outside Kidderminster, in the village of Stone. It originally offered two year teacher training, but in 1960, with the change in the regulations for teacher training, the course was upgraded to three ...see more
I was born in 1948 and lived behind Wallis's undertakers in Ripple Road, where my dad was the manager. I went to St Margaret's Church of England School in Back Lane, and was married at St Margaret's Church in 1970. I also did my nursing training at Barking (Upney) Hospital, before moving to Colchester. I have memories of losing my Easter bonnet into the Town Quay one Sunday morning after church. Carol Harding (nee Leith)
Does anyone know of Sylvia Eileen Newman who lived in Great Baddow as a domestic servant in the late 1950s or 1960s? She later moved to Witham. Her surname later became Brewer.