Swindon, Wiltshire

School

Highworth Warneford School is a very good school in Swindon.
I have lots of good memories here and will be sad to leave :(
Jaz
xxx

Coate Water.

I remember swimming in Coate Water aged about 8 - 10 and nearly drowning in the open air swimming pool. My cousin fell into the lake when he was about three but was rescued by my uncle who leapt in to get him out. The diving board in the picture seemed enormous to me and I was impressed by the people who dived from the top. I love Richard Jeffries books and have several which I treasure. I am now aged 73.

I went to Holy Rood Catholic Primary School for two years travelling by bus from Ashbury each school day the fare was 11d return.

Ducks

I remember when I was little going to Coate water, feeding the ducks and having picnics with my family. Those were the days! :)

Mother.

My mother worked in the cafeteria at lunch time, collecting the money from the students. She seemed to know everybody in the college and when she passed away at the young age of 48, it seemed that the whole of Swindon mourned with us. Swindon is a place that I hold dear to my heart. Every picture that I have looked at today brings back wounderful memories of a town that I still call home even though I live overseas.

Swindon Living Memories

This public house at Stratton St Margaret owes its existence to the Wilts and Berks Canal which ran nearby. The original inn stood on the opposite side of the road, on the south- western corner of what is now the busy Oxford road into Swindon. The original building was demolished, and a new one built in 1937-38 on its present site. One of its most famous landlords since then has been Johnnie Stiles, whose band had brought prestige to the town when winning the All British Dance Band Championships in both 1948 and 1949. Standing on the A419 Swindon by-pass and A420 Oxford Road interchange, the pub was subsequently extended and modernized in 1982.

Swindon Living Memories

The View to Bridge Street This section of Regent Street is immediately to the north of the McIlroy’s store. On the corner of Havelock Street and to the left stood Anstiss & Co Ltd, drapers, which stood here until the 1960s when it suffered two major fires, the second of which destroyed the premises completely. On the right is the Arcadia Cinema, which later became the Classic cartoon cinema. The HMV store now stands on this site. At centre-right is Morse’s department store, 10/12 Regent Street. This was the second of Swindon’s major stores for many years (with McIlroy’s) and was owned by the Morse family of Old Town. W H Smith has occupied this site from 1973.

Swindon Living Memories

The View North-West This thoroughfare was originally lined with workers’ cottages, but from about 1865 many of these dwellings were converted into shops. The small shop fronts to the left were built out from the original terraced houses. On the far left is the Regent Street Primitive Methodist church; it had been built here in 1876 to replace two former chapels on the same site of 1849 and 1863. In 1895 a large Sunday school was built behind the chapel. This remained for many years, even after the chapel itself was demolished in 1957. It served for some years as Swindon’s first arts centre and as the children’s library.