“Now boys with squibs and crackers play, And bonfires blaze turns night to day.” ‘Poor Robin’s Almanac’ dated 1677 For many people today, Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night means a chance to get together to watch fireworks, and perhaps attend a bonfire party somewhere in the community. The…
We have been stocking the Death of a… series by Derek Farrell in the museum shop for over a year now, but it was only recently that I got round to reading one. Having looked at the cover, I expected the story to be set in the 1920s as the…
The chairs which are now on display in the museum. No! These cane backed arm chairs painted in light blue with some beautiful painted flowers have a lovely local story behind them. They were owned by Alice and Frank Hyder of Three Bridges. Alice was born on the 10 May…
One of the most interesting ways to approach local history is through the memories of those who were there. While taking into account the vagaries of memory, reminiscences of the past provide a unique source of information for the historian. In the case of Crawley before the First World War,…
My father, Anthony Stoker, was the eleventh child of a devout Catholic Irish immigrant couple living in Southport, Lancashire. He was born in May 1918, but his mother died six months later, during the Spanish Flu pandemic. His father was unable to cope with a new baby as well as…
My family’s memories start with my mum taking me to be weighed at the Baby Clinic held at the Monte, I have a 1947 newspaper cutting of a party at the hall with all the mums, toddlers and babies. The announcement of Crawley being selected for a New Town was…
Marion Cecilia Buckett was born on the 2nd April 1892 in Brompton Kent. She married Reginald Milton Crowe in Horsham in 1925 and they lived and worked at 57 High Street, Crawley.From 1924 – 1968 Reginald is registered as being a Print seller and Picture Frame Maker. Involved in the…
Tuesday 29 March 2.00pm ‘The Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony and the People Who Rest There’. The fascinating stories of some of those who are buried in the Friary graveyard.’ John Keaveney.Tuesday 26 April 2.00 pm ‘The Montefiore Family of Worth Park’. Liz explores the lives of…
by Martin BastoneTilgate Park with view of the lake. CAMPBELL’S LAKEMy earliest memories of Tilgate Park are from the mid sixties when I joined the cubs at their hut in the woods. These huts were previously army barracks and were cold and damp but, as we were required to jump…
Lyons BakeryDuring the summer of 1966 I worked a week of twelve-hour night shifts at the bakery operated by J. Lyons and Co. in Telford Place, off Southgate Avenue. This was a famous restaurant chain and food manufacturing company, founded in 1884, which would later be a pioneer in the…
