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  4. Retford, Market Place c.1955

Retford, Market Place c.1955
Photo ref: R261044
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Photo ref: R261044
Photo of Retford, Market Place c.1955
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More about this scene

The railway (in the 1950s the LNER's east coast main line) brought further prosperity; this included the building of a new town hall in the 1860s, seen here with its clock tower. It looks more like an ornate bank. Indeed, the borough offices expanded into the neighbouring Old Bank in 1926, the hard red terracotta building to the right of 1887. The ancient borough was absorbed into Bassetlaw District Council in 1974.

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A Selection of Memories from Retford

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Retford

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Milner Memories.
The photograph of the front of the Sir Frederick Milner School brought back memories. I taught English there from 1963 to 1970 in the second classroom to the left of the entrance. This was my first teaching post although I knew Retford well as I had been a pupil at the King Edward VI Grammar School. One of my pupils at the Milner School was Derek Randall who went on the play cricket for England. After the amalgamation ...see more
Retford, Sir Frederick Milner School c1955
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Added 28 May 2025

Rocky Lane
I was at Sir Freds until about 1953,'Rocky' Lane was the art teacher,later renamed Frankie I think,he was an ex circus strongman even though he wasn't very tall,at the school concert he would bend an iron railing into a U shape and drive a 6' nail through a block of wood.He told us in the circus he'd lift circus ponies on a steel girder using shoulder strength only.Needless to say we didn't play up in his class
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Added 27 September 2020

National School ,Grove Street ,Retford In The 50’s
During my time at the National school , a couple of children in my class said they had stomach ache , so the teacher told thenm to sit outside on a chair till home time, my friends and I thought that sounds good as it was a lovely summer day. So we put our hands up and complained that we too had stomach ache . So we joined several others sitting outside in the sun till Home time. ...see more
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Added 11 January 2018

3, 5 Minuet Rounds (Barrie Storey)
My memory of Sir Freds, was in the 50s with Boss Green as head master, Gunner Meadows, Messers, Rodgerson, Birket, Conniff, Dier, Firth, and Franky Lane among others. I remember that playground fights, where taken to the Crush Hall and sorted out properly, with boxing gloves on and a ref, with prefects as seconds.
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Added 03 October 2017

More about Image Optimisation

All our photos are printed as optimised versions of their originals, this process can take anything from 15 minutes to several hours. This ensures that the product you get shows the true quality that Frith photos are renowned for.

Example of image retouching:

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Genealogy & Research Images

Despite over 20 years’ work on the archive, these scans have still not been individually checked and may prove to be damaged, faded, or not of sufficient quality to ever be offered in our full product range. However, if you would particularly like to buy one of these please get in touch quoting the Frith negative number,(s) the town name and size of print you would like to buy. On receipt of your enquiry our archivist will check the scan and advise you if the quality is good enough.

What is an Album?

An album is a way to save a selection of Frith photos, maps and memories that are of interest to you.

Creating an Album enables you to make short lists and then make a final selection from the album. In particular it makes ordering things like calendars much easier - simply create an Album of the 12 photos you like and then use the Album when placng your order - our order process will give you this option.

You can create as many Albums as you want, so perhaps make one for your hometown, where you live now, where your parents live now etc.