Eric chats about his long and varied life, as a window dresser, costume designer at the RSC, interior design specialist, entrepreneur and restaurateur. 51 mins. 57MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. eric-shadbolt
Betty is a “foreigner”: she came to live in Leamington at the age of 10, and found it all very different from where she had grown up. She gives her impressions of Bath Place School in 1938, dancing at the Palais in the 40s, and working as a typist at Ford’s. 52 mins. 54MB mp3 … Read more
Dorothy started working life in service, then worked at the Midland Counties Home for Incurables. She recounts what it was like to work there. 41 mins. 43MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. dorothy-marlow
Charles recounts memories of a boyhood in wartime – the Coventry Blitz, the street parties at the end of the War and for the Coronation, life at Sabin’s Bakery, and Saturday cinema in the 1950s. 50 mins. 53MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. charles-sabin
Kevin talks about a life in music, from Rentons Rare Records to playing home-made instruments (watering can, anyone?) on TV’s Blue Peter and in many local schools. 31 mins. 33MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. kevin-renton
Bob reminisces with LHG member Colin Jennings about their early years in Windsor Street in the 1940s. 13 mins. 14MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. bob-ross
Bonesetter? What are, or were, bonesetters, you may ask. They were healers, joint manipulators, and setters of fractured bones, long before the advent of X-rays, Plaster of Paris, and now, MRI scans. Often unqualified other than by experience, their ‘trade’ generally ran in families, handed down from father to son or daughter. It used to … Read more
Can you identify what the Leamington ladies listed below might have in common? Mrs Wackrill Archery Rd Mrs A Hill Northumberland Rd Mrs Hassall 47 Avenue Rd Mrs Nutter 9 Church St Mrs Davies 50 Greatheed Rd Mrs Inge Mrs Dykes 12 Milverton Crescent Mrs Thornton 48 Warwick Rd Mrs Hellis 16 Victoria Rd The … Read more
It was from the Wise family that Elizabeth Surcombe the elder purchased the leasehold plot in Bath Street. They owned much of the land south of the river in Leamington Priors, including part of Bath Street, as well as land around Whitnash, Lillington and Warwick. Matthew Wise Snr was one of the principal landowners who … Read more
Herbert Edward Cox, was born in Coventry in 1870, the fifth of seven children born to James and Sarah Cox of Stoney Stanton Road. He attended the Grammar School, and after the death of his father in 1887, still living in the family home, he trained to paint at the Municipal School of Art in … Read more
1875-1880 Mr Charles Pratt Charles Pratt was a Picture Dealer who had been born in Leicester in 1825. In 1871 Charles was living at 10 London Road Leicester were he owned an old China and Earthenware shop, Working for him as a servant was Elizabeth Ann Westbury, aged 22. She had come to Leicester to … Read more
Many people refer jokingly to discoveries, inventions, memoirs, as jottings ‘on the back of an envelope’. This is the real thing. In 2011 Leamington History Group inherited an intriguing little archive from local historian Toby Cave. At first sight it was just a small brown cardboard box full of all kinds of scraps of paper … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
October 16, 2026
October 13, 2026
October 12, 2026