Fleetwood

Ann Levers recollections

I remember Ann Varley as she was then called. I was a mate of Peter Simpson who lived on Queens Terrace & I lived in Custom House Lane.
Peter's grandfather was called Potts & was the landlord of the Steamer Hotel.
The last I heard of Peter was that he went to America on an exchange scheme through the I.C.I & was working at Cape Canaveral.
The lad with the spade on the ferry beach was always called daft Tommy by the kids & lived on Blackiston Street.
The other families that lived in the area of Custom House Lane were the Crostons, the Abrams, the Whitesides, the Brooks family, the Peddars & others that I can't recall.
When the Isle ...read more here
Contributed by John Foulds

Days gone by

I lived in Fleetwood from around 1948 - 1952. My dad was in the army and we lived in the Drill Hall in (Ithink) Preston Street. I can remember going to the library nearby and playing on the beach near some piers. There was a young man who was unfortunate who used to dig very deep holes in the sand and chase us kids with his shovel when we taunted him (how cruel are kids). I went to Fleetwood Grammar School for a year before we moved south. I lived in Queens Terrace for awhile and loved looking out of the bedroom window at the cottages on Knott End. My name then was Ann Varley, and ...read more here
Contributed by Ann Levers

Holidays

My mother was born in Fleetwood and lived in Pharos Street, just below the
lighthouse. I was born in Lancaster but I remember having holidays at
Fleetwood when I was a child just after the end of the war. I particularly remember being fascinated by the marionette shows which took place in the gardens near the Pier.
In 1894 my grandmother worked as a Stewardess on the Duke of York when it first
sailed between Fleetwood and Belfast - possibly she was one of the first women
to work on these newly-built steamers.
Contributed by Maureen Bezzant

Fleetwood ferry

My great-grandfather, Thomas Newton Croft, a member of the family that founded the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry, managed it for the local council from c.1896 to his death in 1915. I am told that my grandmother, Alice, used to do cartwheels to entertain the passengers waiting for the boat to come in. The service was re-privatised a few years ago.  Being involved in marine business myself I like to refer to it as "the family shipping line"!
Contributed by John Dearing

My Grandfather

My grandfather, John Wilson, is entered as being Captain of Steam Boat Ferry in the 1901 census of Fleetwood.  Although the ferry boat pictured does not appear to be steam, this sight must have been very familiar to him and his family who lived in nearby Pharos Street.
Contributed by wendy holden