My family lived in Wigmore from 1955 to 1966. Our house was No 27 Wigmore Road (Holmwood), which still seems to be there from Google
Earth, although what was the orchard now seems occupied by 'Leafy Glade'.
I remember arriving there one freezing January morning in 1955 at about 2am after a horrendous drive from where we previously lived in North Lancashire - no motorways then! Our furniture took another 3 days after getting stuck in the snow, so meanwhile we had to sit and sleep on the floor! The house had an ancient coke boiler which took about 5 hours to get any heat into the cast iron radiators.
The electric wiring was installed in the late 1920s by a previous occupant who had 'liberated' most of the switchgear from ships in the dockyard, the cables were lead sheathed! There were two other houses of the same design in Wigmore, one was not far from the road to Hempstead (now a tunnel under the link road I think.) I can't locate these on Google.The dairy leapt into action about 3am daily and the noise, including the fleet of electric floats setting out with bottles clinking, was something we hadn't bargained for. After a week we scarcely noticed it!
I cycled to school in Gillingham every day, sometimes coming back over Darland Banks. I can't see many parents allowing their kids to cycle along the A2 these days, but traffic was much less then. I often cycled to see my Aunt in Wye, going via the A20 and back along the A2. Of course this was the 'Never-had-it-so-good' time.
I still think it was the best time of my life, but I suppose everybody looks back at their teens like that.
Robin Dawes (Abbotts Ann, Hampshire)
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The dairy was the one that became Unigate and was between Bredhurst Rd and Wigmore Rd. That site has also been built on now. If you came back you would notice a lot of differences - many of the old houses are being demolished to build larger detatched houses or gardens used for additional houses.
The following article was written by Tony Gutteridge, current owner of Holmwood
Holmwood, 27 Wigmore Road, Gillingham.
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The attached photo is 6 Station Road about 1920/25. You may be able to read the name over the shop which was JACOBS, it is tucked behind the produce on display. My Dad, Percy Gladstone Jacobs, was born at that address and he can be seen in the photo. It is amazing to see how much produce was on display.
I am researching the family tree and this photo I found in with some old papers. Please feel free to dispaly this photo and also if anyone has any comment I would be pleased to hear.
Brian Jacobs
This is the same shop taken in 2013 now occupied by Medway Audio. You can see the detail above the shop canopy has gone and the wall to the left of the shop has been removed.
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Newspaper headlines from The Guardian on 17th October 1987 following the Great Storm that hit the UK overnight on 16th October 1987. Photos of damage caused by the Great Storm or Hurricane of October 1987
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I recently visited the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, West Midlands where a typical village has been recreated with original houses, shops and amenities moved and rebuilt from their original locations to show life in the Black Country from early 1800s to around the 1930s. There were plenty of hands-on things to do including children being able to play with toys from the early 1900s. One of these was a metal hoop toy that you had to balance and push along the street with a handle as per the photo below.
Amazingly when we got back home I had received an email with some old photos of Rainham from the 1900s and one of the shots showed a child playing with exactly the same toy along the A2 in Rainham!
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The new A249 Sheppey Crossing opened in 2006 to replace the old Kingsferry Bridge between Sheerness and the mainland near Sittingbourne. The previous Kingsferry Bridge was officially opened in 1960 and had single carriageway each direction but could be lifted to allow river traffic by. The Sheppey Crossing is part of the A249 Dual Carriageway between Sheerness and Maidstone. These photos of the Sheppey Crossing were taken in 2007.
The Sheppey Crossing seems to be prone to fog which has caused a number of accidents in the short history of the bridge since 2006. One of the most serious was in September 2013 when over 130 vehicles were involved in a mass pile up along the length of the bridge and left the road closed for many hours. The history of the Sheppey Crossing and Kingsferry Bridge is here
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Subcategories
Historical tales Article Count: 3
Historical tales
Rainham Life Article Count: 10
Rainham Life
Local Events Article Count: 48
Local Events
Photos Article Count: 142
Photos
Action Forum Article Count: 231
Action Forum is a free monthly magazine that is distributed to the Rainham area covering Wigmore, Parkwood and Hempstead as well. This archive covers old copies of the magazine dating back to its initial publication in 1969 and give a fascinating glimpse into life in Rainham over the last 50 years.
Link to Article Index - Action Forum Index - Photos and Articles from 1969 onwards
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