Peak District Genealogy
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Memories of Buxton - 1941-1943

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Memories of Buxton - 1941-1943 Empty Memories of Buxton - 1941-1943

Post by Selwyn Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:40 pm

Hello Buxton! What wonderful memories I have of you!
I spent two periods in Buxton as a child - too young to be evacuated with my brothers and sister, I was taken out of London by my grandparents and we lived first in West Street just off the market place. behind "The Slopes."

At some later date we moved to Lightwood Road and then later still (on a second stay with my older sister) to No. 1 Hogshawe Villas Road, the home of Marjorie Thompson, daughter of our previous landlady. It was in Buxton that I first started school somewhere up the top of Fairfield Road and off to the right down one or two side streets, and at the time of my visit with my sons (see below), was actually being converted into an old-people's facility (1987/8?).
In later years, when I had already left England for Israel, I brought my two sons on a visit to their grandparents in London and made a special trip up to Buxton to show them where I had been during the war. I discovered that the second school I attended, immediately at the top of Fairfield Road on the left handside of the roadway (the immense area of the Common was our playground!), was no more and some kind of small closed housing facility occupied the site.
Having contracted polio immediately preceding the outbreak of war, what little treatment there was for my condition was continued at the Devonshire Hospital.

I used to love the fierce winters and my grandfather made me a sledge; the runners were fashioned by a blacksmith who had a forge down at the bottom end of Lightwood Road. The slope we mainly used was just a little way up Lightwood Road on the left before the junction with Brown Edge Road. I once fell in the little stream down in the gully on the right side of Lightwood Road and almost drowned! I remember that the house on the corner of Brown Edge Road had a pool of some sorts in the garden and there were always forget-me-nots growing through the iron railing on the corner!

When I came back with my sons the sledge was still "alive" but entombed in the cellar of Hogshawe Villas.

I could still find my way around Buxton - certainly the areas with which I was then familar, and am still in touch with the two "little" girls who were the family daughters of our hosts - Eileen and Pauline Thompson (now Pauline Smith and STILL living in Lightwood Road! I returned for a further visit with my sister around 2002 or so just in time to say "farewell" to Marjorie who had only recently become bed-ridden but was still mentally unaffected; she passed away only a few weeks after our visit.

If someone will tell me how to use this site to upload photos - I have one or two from "long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away"

These are just a few of my memories - there are more........................

Thank you for being a wonderful part of my early life.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone up there!

God Bless!!
Selwyn


selwyn@brorhail.org.il
Licensed Tour Guide,
Kibbutz Bror Hayil,
D.N. Hof Ashkelon,
Cell:- +972-503-130-569;
Fax/home: +972-868-03331
Israel 79-152
http://www.holylandtours.netfirms.com/index.htm
http://www.americanodyssey.bravehost.com/odyssey.htm (2004)
http://www.americarevisited.bravehost.com/index.html (2007)
http://www.from-sea-to-shining-sea.bravehost.com/index.html (2008)
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Freiberg/Freiberg.html

Selwyn

Posts : 2
Join date : 2009-10-01
Age : 88
Location : Kibbutz Bror Hayil, Israel

http://www.holylandtours.netfirms.com/index.htm; www.americanody

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Memories of Buxton - 1941-1943 Empty Re: Memories of Buxton - 1941-1943

Post by Admin Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:59 am

Hello Selwyn,

Thank you for your wonderful recollections of Buxton in the 40's. On my side I have only discovered the town in the 60's, but I do remember the fierce winters, with large amount of snow. However, since the 80's Buxton's is seeing less and less snow, but it can still be bitterly cold, up here ;-).

Replying to your question on how to upload a picture on this forum, from what I have seen, in order for it to appear on the page, the picture would have to be hosted somewhere on the net (like flickr for instance), which, I admit is not very convenient.

Another option would be for you to send me the picture you have directly via email (info at buxtononline.net). I would gladly place it on one of the Archive pages on the Buxton Online website, mentioning you as the image owner and copyright of course.

Best regards,

Richard
www.buxtononline.net
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 70
Join date : 2007-10-22

http://www.buxtononline.net

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