It was the December of 1962, and my husband, two sons and I had been living in Alveston since September at the Baraset farm. This particular winter was a difficult ...
(Continued from part one)
Rock around the clock
Before the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll and its arrival in Britain, the most popular form of music amongst young people was Skiffle. Influenced ...
What was life like as a teenager 60 years ago in the mid 1950s?
We have a Technicolor image of post-war 50s, but whilst America experienced fast-rising rates of prosperity and ...
I used to play in the crater when I was a child, that must have been about the early ’50s. That crater was around the back of School Street, the ...
In the 31st July edition of the Royal Leamington Spa Courier and Warwickshire Standard there is an advertisement for Bird’s Custard:
Bird’s custard pre-war
Any Doctor will tell you that in summer, ...
I worked at Granada Bingo from 1976 for about 10 years. We moved to the site on the corner of North Street and Everuex Way after previously being in Bank ...
Ivo Eagle was the stage name of a man who spent most of his life as a travelling performer, and was also a photographer in the 1920s. When he retired, ...
There have always been memorable shows and dances to entertain the people of Southam, and some residents have had their reminiscences recorded by Southam Heritage Collection.
The Sparklets
Doreen Smith remembered that her ...
It could be argued that the high point for public dances was during the Second World War, when the boost they gave to the morale of both service personal and ...
Small beginnings can be important. A chance remark at a lecture to a well-established evening class at Warwickshire County Record Office in the autumn of 1988 was the starting point ...
From 1950 to 1955 the County Archivist, Anthony Wood, kept an office diary. He had been appointed in 1946 when the Office was re-opened after the war and he set ...
Verity Fincher wrote down reminiscences of her childhood holidays. Her recollections of the Hollands Pleasure Gardens and taking the Steamer up the river offer an insight into childhood in Bidford in the ...
Before 1798, there is often ambiguity about whether the owners or occupiers are listed as proprietors. The names can be out of date, as changes were not always updated straight ...
Land Tax was one of the innovative schemes of the British government to increase revenue. Introduced in 1692, in the reign of William III and Mary, and finally abolished in ...
Dunchurch has been ‘yarn bombed’ to celebrate 100 years of the local Women’s Institute (WI) which started in 1919. Trees, seats and historic features have been decorated in gaily-coloured knitting ...
The early museum
A museum has existed at Market Hall since 1836, when the Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society hired some rooms in the centre of Warwick. Expanding rapidly, by ...
During World War Two I lived in Yardley, Birmingham and experienced many bombing raids on the city.
Rationing
Food was very strictly rationed. One day my mother had got hold of several ...
Jonathan Cardall, Jack’s father, who lived in Oxford Street, Southam, started the dance band just after the first world war. In 1917 he had bought the delicensed Blue Pig Inn ...