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Messages - Shetlandok

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London and Middlesex / Re: Ashford residental home . middlesex
« on: Wednesday 07 July 10 18:36 BST (UK)  »
Well Jeannette, you came into the world when I was 10 years old and still at Woodthorpe road primary, and the same year that my sister started at Abbotsford secondary.
Did you live in Ashford at that time and if so was it near the old school, (remand centre). Maybe I heard you yelling from your pram in Woolworths, now sadly gone.
Nice to speak,
John

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London and Middlesex / Re: Ashford residental home . middlesex
« on: Monday 05 July 10 08:34 BST (UK)  »
Hello again Jeanette,
Which school did your mother go to? I went to Woodthorpe road primary and then to Ashford grammar. My sister went to a secondary school just up the road.
We were in Ashford from 1956 till about 1961.
Has the common changed much? there used to be ponds at the back of the railway line where I went fishing and more ponds further out on the common.
Maybe I met your mother all those years ago.
Nice to speak,
John

3
London and Middlesex / Re: Ashford residental home . middlesex
« on: Sunday 04 July 10 23:48 BST (UK)  »
Thankyou for that Jeannette, were you resident in there at some point?
And I mean the old school not the new building...   ;)
cheers
John



4
London and Middlesex / Re: Ashford residental home . middlesex
« on: Sunday 04 July 10 23:00 BST (UK)  »
I'm not sure I qualify as a member here as i never actually attended the residential school.
However my father took the family down from Shetland to Ashford in 1956 as he had joined the prison service. There was little in the islands in those days workwise.
I was just 8 years old and it seemed like an exciting place as I was explring all the old victorian buildings. We lived in a house in the grounds initially and my father was involved in the reconstruction of the buildings. He was a carpenter by trade.
I remember the tunnel which ran under the railway line out to the woods and ponds beyond. I also remember scrumping in the orchard at the back whilst looking out for the caretaker.
I realise that my experiences there can have little comparison to the painful experiences of the kids who used to live in there, but I have many memories of the place and would like to find out more about it.
I was down there just a few years ago and was quite devastated to find a new prison there and all traces of the old buildings gone. It just seemed wrong somehow.
I would be delighted to correspond with anyone who can tell me anything about the place.
Kind regards,
John

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