Thorpeness

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Garrett's of Leiston

Aerial photo AFA77116TR: "Leiston from the Air 1959" Is a view taken looking toward the East and clearly showing the Garrett's "Bottom Works", which formed a large part of the town centre at that time. This very old facility, part of which is now preserved as a Museum, housed some of the main manufacturing facilities for the "Richard Garrett Engineering Works". Garrett's were the towns main employers and were involved in doing work for a variety of other companies. Shaping machines for Elliot's of London, Corrugated cardboard box machinery for S&S of New York, Portable Compressors for Broomwade, Radio chassis for Pye's of Cambridge, Peat bog harvesters for Bord na Mona of Ireland, were some of the many products being engineered ...read more here
A memory of Leiston contributed by Derek Stanbridge

Samuel Wright

I am researching my husbands family tree. His great grandad was Samuel Wright who was a coal hauler in Grimsby in 1883, on looking at the census further I found he came from Sudbourne in Suffolk. Terry [my husband] had no idea that his Wright family had originated from there. Does anyone know of any of Sam Wrights family still around there or have any knowledge of the Wrights. Is Sudbourne a small place? What is it like now? We intend to visit one day. Many thanks Chris Wright
A memory of Sudbourne contributed by chris wright

International Stores

A previous shared memory recalling International Stores reminds me that my father worked there, as a roundsman. He would cycle every day from Leiston,  then do the equivalent all over again in Saxmundham, several times a day as he delivered groceries.

He had his own band - he played piano - and met my mother, Joan Spatchet, at a dance in the Market Hall.  They married in 1937, my sister Ann was born a year later and I arrived on February 23rd 1944 - just a few weeks after my father was killed on a bombing raid over Germany on January 1/2nd, when his plane was attacked by a night fighter. Two years ago we travelled to Germany from our ...read more here
A memory of Saxmundham contributed by John Fisher

blacksmiths

Apparently my Gr Grandfather John Freeman owned a blacksmith shop that was situated just on the left hand side of the road here at the beginning of the 20th century. He also made the 'fences' that protected the bases of many of the trees on the Hurts Hall estate. I've never been able to find any written infromation about him or the 'smithy' though.
A memory of Saxmundham contributed by carol allen