Donington
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Donington memories
Read and share memories of Donington and Lincolnshire inspired by Frith photos
Memories of High Street
This is a very significant picture to me although taken a good many years after we left high street for Mill Lane. My sister, Hilda and I were both born in one of the houses just beyond the white building, in our time that was the bakery, run by a Mr Wilson and family. (Hilda was born in 1918 and I in 1921.) The first house was Mr Arthur Burton's, then ours, Mr George White, after the archway was Mr Gideon Wilkinson. We moved to Mill Lane in 1936! On the opposite side of the road was the Primitive Methodist Church and the Manse. I remember Mr and Mrs Wacey when he was the Preacher then Mr Arthur and family took ...read more here
Contributed by Winnie Nowaknee White
Lincolnshire memories
Memories of High Street
This is a very significant picture to me although taken a good many years after we left high street for Mill Lane. My sister, Hilda and I were both born in one of the houses just beyond the white building, in our time that was the bakery, run by a Mr Wilson and family. (Hilda was born in 1918 and I in 1921.) The first house was Mr Arthur Burton's, then ours, Mr George White, after the archway was Mr Gideon Wilkinson. We moved to Mill Lane in 1936! On the opposite side of the road was the Primitive Methodist Church and the Manse. I remember Mr and Mrs Wacey when he was the Preacher then Mr Arthur and family took ...read more here
A memory of Donington contributed by Winnie Nowaknee White
Williamson Family
My father was John Henry Williamson known as Harry. He lived with his father John William Williamson and mother Ada Florence nee Rylatt. My mother Florence Thorpe Catton was from Yorkshire and met Dad at Metheringham Feast.
The family lived in Burton Pedwardine at the time of my parents marriage in 1933 and Harry and Florence went to live with John and Ada Williamson for the first few years. They had three children while living there. John, Mary and Joan.
My father and Grandfather were Agricultural Labourers. Dad and Mum moved to Fishtoft Boston about 1937.
I have not been able to find out anymore about their time in Burton Pedwardine so would be interested in reading any memories ...read more here
A memory of Burton Pedwardine contributed by Gillian Emerton
Jailhouse rock
I remember living in Cowbit and went to see jailhouse rock in the Odeon cinema. Never saw the end of the film because the last bus went to early!
I was in the Gleede boys school in 1960-1961 I then moved to Long sutton and the Peele school.
A memory of Spalding contributed by Brian Frisby
Extracts From Donington & Lincolnshire books
By the mid 1950s much had changed, and the front of the Angel
and Royal Hotel indicates the reason (see G43032 and G43099).
Motor transport had been invented, and was becoming very popular
indeed. The Second World War had been over for about ten years,
and better times were on the way - and so there were traffic direction
signs and advertisements for travellers. Lamp-posts that had lost
their lamps now became supports for road directions, and streets
were lit by electric lamps on long concrete posts; these were not in
the least attractive, but were functional.
Boots the Chemists were still next door to the hotel, but not
for long: they were soon to move further along the High Street
as Grantham’s shopping centre gravitated towards St Peter’s Hill,
following the move of the F W Woolworth store from the Market
Place. Eventually the redundant lamp-posts were removed and
replaced by traffic lights, which seemed to spring up like mushrooms.
They still are doing so elsewhere in town. The space left by the Cross
Swords pub was still vacant at the time the photograph was taken
(to the left in G43099), but would soon be filled in by another most
unattractive but functional building.
An extract from from"Grantham Town and City Memories".
During the First World War, two enormous army camps were
situated within two miles of the town, and in 1915 the Machine
Gun Corps was founded in Harrowby Camp. There are plaques
recalling this, and the Corps standard is laid up in the church. (The
Corps was nicknamed ‘the suicide club’ as they suffered over 62,000
casualties). The church also boasts a superb ring of 10 bells; the
Society of Change Ringers of St Wulfram’s was founded in 1781, and
is the town’s oldest club.
Across narrow Church Street, formerly Alms Lane, is the nearby
King’s School; it was re-founded by Bishop Foxe in 1528, although
there is an earlier reference to it in 1329. The Old School, now used
as the school library, dates back to the very early 16th century, and
among its pupils were Sir Isaac Newton and William Cecil, later
Lord Burghley, the great advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He later built
Burghley House just south of Stamford. Isaac Newton was fond of
carving his initials, sun dials or even his name on walls, and his name
can be seen on one of the window sills in the Old School. This boys’
school is still a grammar school as it was in the early 1500s, but Latin
grammar is not now one of its subjects. The school was one of several
endowed by Bishop Foxe, a local man - he was born in the nearby
village of Ropsley. Bishop Foxe was appointed Bishop of Winchester
in 1501; he died in 1528, and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.
An extract from from"Grantham Town and City Memories".
W G Harrison, who would now have two shops on the High Street.
This corner shop has had a long history of printing and publishing, and
local names such as Ridge, Clarke and Marshall Ltd and Leayton &
Eden, plus the two already mentioned, were at times situated there.
In G43024, left, we see that the gentlemen’s outfitter Colin Tipler
had arrived (right of photograph); the Olde Café of Catlin Bros
(near left) was still a place to go for coffee and delicious cream teas.
John Pacey, who during the Second World War was an officer in the
Lincolnshire Regiment and won the Military Cross in Italy, was busy
in his flower shop (near right) and with rugby and cricket whenever
he got the chance. He was presented with his award by General
Montgomery in Italy after he had recovered from his unpleasant
wounds. Whysall’s, the opticians and chemists, were next door.
An extract from from"Grantham Town and City Memories".
The Crazy Golf Course is still there; so are the hotels and flats fronting South Parade, including the Lakeside Hotel on the extreme right.
An extract from from"Skegness Town and City Memories".
There is still a putting green near the Clock Tower, but it is in an adventure form, and is perhaps not so attractive as the simplified version was. The flagstaff belonged to the lifeboat station, which at that time was sited off the picture to the right, and a flag was flown when the lifeboat was at sea.
An extract from from"Skegness Town and City Memories".