Memories are made of this

A story of strength,sadness,regret but always great pride that is difficult to beleive really happened. It did!

Memories are made of this

Maxine Line. Mum came from Earls Barton and dad from Finedon. He lived in one of the terrace house on the green opposite the Infant School and later they moved to Eastfield Crescent.

A Copper's lot

When they filmed the police series Hunter's Walk...

A house is nothing whilst a home is everything.

A home is full of books,pictures,clutter that we have accumulated over the years.

All these skills lost now

The Process of a Shoe

Another memory

Canon John P BeaumontVicar of Finedon

Another story;another life!

I always remember the epitaph on someone's grave "He hath done what he could" this is what I would like as an epitaph on my gravestone

Anyone for belly dancing?

Belly Dancing in Finedon.

Charlie Snape

It seemed to nice to be in bed so she wasn't. Wi fit done and dusted she was off on her travels or rather her walk with their newly acquired re-homed dog Henry.

Charlie Snape

Sybil had left school at fifteen. She was employed in a shoe factory office at the other end of her town.

Charlie Snape

Sybil smiled as she sat on the inter-city in search of her pocketful of dreams and family history;gone with a sneeze and a slam of the front door back in 1959.

Charlie Snape

Many things broke Charlie's heart in two; he wouldn't know where to start....but then neither would his wife!

Charlie Snape

A predicted week-end of rain meant one thing... Bank Holiday!Henry looked up at his mistress with his melting brown eyes wagging his tail expectantly and then slunk back to his basket.

Memories are made of this

Mrs Jones In 1947 I came from Atherton Warwickshire and lived in Eastfield Crescent then we later moved into Allen Road.

Memories are made of this

Margaret & Ted Boddington Both Margaret and Ted were very special to us all providing exceptional kindness and support when Catherine, James and Caroline were young children.

Memories are made of this

Melanie Henson I came to England in June 1994 having lived in South Africa. I grew up in Estcort which is two hours inland and towards the mountains.

Memories are made of this

Caroline and Paul Hanson We lived in Finedon for seventeen years and we came from Barton Seagrave and Irchester after we married aiming for a fresh start. We saw our house and bought it.

Memories are made of this

Audrey Ellis (Nesbitt) My grandmother May Hopkins was born here in May 1892. My paternal grandfather James Nesbitt was born in 1900 at Sunderland and grand mother Lucy Esther Nairne also in 1900.

My daughter

Caroline Ellis born June 15th 1979

I still didn't have the answer

It had been decades since my lovely mum had felt her way along the street.
Cherry

iMemories are made of this

I served on H.M.S. Vimmy, a destroyer that had actually been used in the First World War and I joined in 1942.

It wasn't a ordinary day in our house.....catch-up

The dog and the cat might disagree whilst the braille clock ticked away.

Memories

iIt didn't strike a chord with me that our destiny would ever end; forever journeys on bus or train to see that golden world as I felt it was just then.

Memories

Dee believed, as she continued to write her true story down, that thousands of people would continue to pocket beautiful memories about their treasured days at nearby Wicksteeds Park.

Memories

Yesterday had gone in a blink of the eye; no-one could deny nor defy the passing of time from birth through to dust in allotted years.

Memories

Jean B I was born at a terrace house in Rock Road in 1926. Her husband was also born in the same Road.
Cherry

Memories

I remember a German bomber flying over us!

Memories are made of this

I just missed a caning at school after writing a essay about going to visit my father who worked at Finedon sewerage farm; they didn't beleive me.

Memories are made of this

How about you sharing your own story with me?

Memories are made of this

I remember the torchlight parade around the town.
Cherry

Memories are made of this

I still see the following lady, but now only in my minds eye, as I walk past her house on Thrapston Road. I smile as I think of her, sat on her chair, looking out of her bay window.

Memories are made of this

I'm glad I commenced interviewing the residents of a small town in Finedon; it doesn't feel like six years since I began my project as a scribe

Memories are made of this

I named him after you Dad

Memories are made of this

We saved up oxo cube cartons in order to buy a football.

Memories are made of this

He used to carry a red flag to stop the traffic when a train came.

Memories are made of this

The scientific technical centre was founded by General De Gaulle to undertake tropical research work such as the cure of diseases.

Memories are made of this

Audrey Ellis (Nesbitt) My grandmother May Hopkins was born here in May 1892. My paternal grandfather James Nesbitt was born in 1900 at Sunderland and grand mother Lucy Esther Nairne also in 1900.

Memories are made of this

I wonder if the world of Jean, the contributor who kindly became my precious guinea pig, would have thought our brave new world of 2013 be a better place to be than her world.

Memories are made of this

I think one of our undertaker's used to do his carpentry in his back garden

Memories are made of this

During the war I was a member of the Women's Land Army

Memories are made of this

Hobby Boddington I was born in Rock Road Finedon. I had four sisters Nellie, Phyllis, Linda Beryl and a brother Ted.

Memories are made of this

Born Nov 25th 1915 Kit Joyce

Memories are made of this

My mum helped the nurse to deliver babies.

Memories are made of this

Edna Sherwood I moved here when I was thirteen and I am eighty-three now. My father was Finedon born and bred and he wanted to come back to Finedon. Our mother sadly died when I was eight.

Memories are made of this

I remember when the bomb was dropped on Thrapston Road.

Memories are made of this

Looking at your photograph the other day; I thought about you. A wedding day shot, with you and mum standing on the Registry Office Steps in London. No flowers, or buttonholes in sight.

Memories are made of this

We were allowed to have three weeks off of work to pick potatoes for the war effort.

Memories from my town; voices from the past

I interviewed, over approx five years many people from my town; because I couldn't find any of my lost paternal family.
Cherry

My early life

We ate around a formica table; one chair leg missing when our carpentry hungry father, blind as long as I could remember,had accidentally sawn it in two.

Searching; fifty shades of sight

How my new novel, Searching, fifty shades of sight begins.

Searching; fifty shades of sight

If you had agreed to a guide dog, as your Ma and Pa in Coventry wanted you to do, you wouldn't have fallen onto the underground line would you James?

I'll never forget the turning point

We ran down Swindon Close where not so many months before The Daily MIrror had been taking photo's of us all.

Memories are made of these

Being blind didn’t make you nice

Memories are made of these

Junior school include sitting at the back of the class-room, where she had always made a bee-line for. Squashed in like jelly-beans facing anything but a grand-day out.

Memories are made of this

A visit to the BBC in London

Memories are made of this

Where was her dad’s family?

Memories are made of this

There were lovely things happening in her town. It wasn't all doom and gloom.

Memories are made of this

The swinging sixties

Memories are made of these

Esther so wished that her mum could see the changing seasons. See snowflakes fall from the sky, a rainbow that arched their world or even the size of a elephant.

Memories are made of this

Was this it then?

Memories are made of this

Just where H.E. Bates used to live

Memories are made of this

So time moved on in Esthers little town called Stanton.

Memories are made of this

At the end of the dance he had kissed her; she forgot about his drainpipe trousers and bright odd coloured socks on his feet.
Cherry

Memories are made of this

Although the years had now turned her from child to young woman she still thought of her dad as well as her lost family.
Cherry

Memories are made of these

Then the thunder came once again!

Memories are made of this

Those we love we want to live on forever. Sorrow

Memories are made of this

Seven years later and how could she have done it?

Memories are made of this

Her sad duty done

Memories are made of this

It was only her rocking shair that stayed still!

Memories are made of this

She learnt that she was not stupid nor thick; just crazily mad!

Memories are made of these

'Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.! Aldous Huxley 1894-1963.

Memories are made of these

'Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.! Aldous Huxley 1894-1963.

Memories are made of these

Hell had hung heavily; now was the time to try to move on and find her lost family!

Memories are made of these

She had almost given up hope of finding her own family; so why not record the history of the town where she had lived since a child....but

Memories are made of this

Then there came another of those sad days when Esther learnt that nothing stays the same forever..

Memories are made of this

And she typed 'Hello Dad'

Memories are made of these

There on the crossing was a blind man with a stick...

Memories are made of these

They turned away from the grave and Esther Esther felt happy, but also deeply sad and then once or twice turned and looked back at her past, knowing that memories were everything; good as well as bad!

Memories are made of these

Again she thought of her fathers words;it was better to try and fail than to never try at all!

Memories are made of these

Esther still sought the precious photo taken by the Daily Mirror.......where might that be?

Memories are made of this

He lifted the lid of his braile watch

Memories are made of this

It's obvious that you haven't talked this barmy idea through-two blind folk talking of marriage, I have never heard the like!"

Memories are made of this

So he left, sadly, his two younger sisters and parents in Coventry....barely having time to adjust to his total loss of sight...and moved to Coventry....with only his case......and....

Memories are made of this

Laura now really needed courage didn't she?

Memories are made of this

A New Life “Come on, honey. You know you can do it. This is special. What you have been looking forward to for months...and what a battle by all accounts!”

Memories are made of this

Not for one moment could she imagine how life might change

Memories are made of this

When The Daily Mirror and Photographer visted Swindon Close Harold Hill Romford.

Memories are made of this

The doctors at Harold Wood hospital had just told her that......

Memories are made of this

Happy Memories.......runner up story printed in Prima magazine

Memories are made of this

She was stunned with what she saw

Memories are made of this

"A German plane was indeed flying very low; right alongside Finedon Hall and near to our cottage in Mill lane".

Memories are made of this

In came a blind man,nothing like Esther's dad, who would smash their difficult world apart
Cherry

Memories are made of this

He does sound lovely in all his braille letters....

Memories are made of this

Why should they want, or need, another daddy as if you could pick one from the sweetie counter at Woolworth's and..

Memories are made of this

Being blind didn't make you nice;everyone knew that...didn't they?

Memories are made of this

If only religion had been the tool to lift him out of the hole he had dragged them all into, yet a million ringing of bells, sweeping of clerics' cloaks and cloying incesnse wasn't sadly......

Memories are made of this

So there was happiness and music as well as fun in their little town.

Memories are made of these

Some dandelions stood in a milk bottle in the centre of their table, trying to make their own world normal.

Memories are made of this

He beats his guide dog....

Memories are made of this

He slid deeper into his own insanity whilst all Esther could do was to watch.

Memories are made of this

Later, streams of light shone down as Esther stood in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, she thought of those losses so much bigger than hers might....

Memories are made of this

Timmy put to sleep One of the saddest days was the day Esther was forced to have her beloved cat put to sleep.

Memories are made of this

Where a micro-phone and a braille book lay

Memories are made of this

You have to remember how he was forced to have both eyes removed as a child.
Cherry

Memories are made of this

Why did she give her hard earned round money to him on a non-return basis she wondered.

Memories are made of this

"You don't have to stay in the gutter"

Memories are made of this

She had almost forgotten meeting the Duke of Bedford

Memories are made of this

Her emotions were mixed with the gruel of life as her mum's soggy fruit cake had been!

Memories are made of this

She had said with tears in her eyes,as he sat there alone at the helm of his house "If you don't beleive me why not ring the hospice".

Memories are made of this

Soon with a brighter and happier story to share but sadly first there is this

Memories are made of this

The world outside kept turning

Memories are made of this

Why live with boundaries and yesterdays fears?

Memories are made of this

She had self-published then sold over two-thousand books; what a grand feeling that had been!
Cherry

Memories are made of this

At last she had found her paternal family from decades ago!

Memories are made of these

There on the crossing was a blind man with a stick!

Memories are made of this

The most terrifying fear had been conquered; but she wouldn't be doing it again....unless there was a gun at her head!
Cherry

Memories are made of this

Memories; the most important possession we can have-without it where might we all be.

I just stepped outside my door

There was an axe on the bed

The dead don't leave us

My yesterday world of today

In my somewhere town

His teacher wouldn't get away with that now

Memories are made of this

We were really afraid that the gas works at the back of us would be hit and that half of finedon would have gone up.

Memories are made of this

On Monday evening I will be joining Bill and Liz, along with a few work mates,to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

The world of Charlie Snape

Charlie Snape has been fishing today. The fish don't mind if he hasn't visited a barbers in over forty years or that he just 'splashes his cash' on new underwear.

Sybil Snape had a life to

If the latter part of Sybil's day ran as smoothly then she would have little to complain about.

So the Snapes story continued

Standing on the platform at Wellingborough Station Sybil knew that life would never be perfect; but it was still good!

It's a risk looking for lost family

As blind people they had been forced to elope.

Here she was on another train

Here she was on another train; this time to London to meet her other Aunt who worked as a Casting Director on The Bill.

Does life change

It had been a tight world and, as a child, it seemed constant. Whether the sun shone or rain belted their broken windows nothing inside their house ever changed.

The truth is all memory is fiction

She only remember what she wanted to remember. Meeting a new book, it is said, is like meeting a new person or in her case a whole new family.

I've hit the big money

It was there, in front of me, not something I could ever have expected; a life changing moment indeed!

Love

Records, spin in wild abandon, slipped from quiet places. Elvis or Buddy to delight Car-boot special finds at summer jaunts where unwanted love is found winters drum a heavy sum

Nobody knows

How can we say we care

My inspiration was always there

Others had sight because of them

Memories are made of these

Family history is important to us all

Life as it is

he stood there quietly with his hands in his pockets; close to his self -built shed as well as the other that was about to collapse into the neighbours garden.

Why mum was born blind

As we walked the lane where butterflies wafted she tol d me the reason why her pallette was black. Her sockets so red it hadn't been said "Why can't you see the branch of the tree?

Voices now and then

Memories of Finedon and how it began and grew into the title 'Voices Now And Then.

Voices Now And Then

We were surrounder by airfields during the war and I clearly remember a Dornier being hit over the grove by spitfires and it went down later in Thrapston Road.

Woolworth's

Woolworths.