I was posted to Christmas Island in the territory of Australia in 1957, from RAF Wyton in Huntingdonshire, just after getting engaged to my future wife, Evelynn. Plans for marriage were put on hold, and my fiancée and her cousin Doreen spent the time while I was away making a wedding dress and preparing for … Read more
As a result of the Spanish Civil War, over 4000 children, some only just over the age of six, were evacuated from Northern Spain to Britain in 1937. Suffering extreme hardship, violence, imprisonment without trial, and widespread poverty under the Franco regime, for the families of the Basque evacuees life had become an endless struggle … Read more
Ryland took on all our employees except, understandably, me. They rented our existing premises until a new, smaller dealership was built on Tachbrook Park Drive, later tagged ‘Leamington’s Motor Trade Alley’. As they wished to retain the goodwill of the name, they traded as Ryland Soans until in turn selling the business on to Allen … Read more
In the early and mid-60’s much thought was being given to the future development of Leamington, in terms of housing, industry, traffic and roads – rather like the recent Local Structure Plan. A.C.Lloyd acquired planning permission to develop Sydenham Farm, partially for housing, partially for industrial use. Stanleys Lane, a turning off Radford Road, renamed … Read more
So in 1927 Grandad had a cheque in the Bank, enjoyed being a Ford Main Dealer and was undoubtedly good at his job. He therefore approached Ford to see if there were opportunities for a new Main Dealer anywhere in the country. It turned out that at that time Hastings, High Wycombe, Wembley & Leamington … Read more
Soans is an unusual name, is spelled in various ways, sounds a bit foreign, but probably comes from the English word Son, which has evolved into Sons, then Soans. It may be Scandinavian, implying that my ancestors came to this country in long boats, intent on pillage & plunder. Many people might think that an … Read more
Elizabeth Anne Galton was a Victorian gentlewoman, the eldest of six daughters and three sons born to a wealthy Quaker banking family and related through her mother to the Darwin family. She was not a feisty high-achiever, explorer or philanthropist, but she played a significant role for future historians at least in recording her memories … Read more
In October 1940, a fresh-faced young American named John Buccellato, just out of his teens, enlisted in the United States Army Infantry. His parents who were middle-class Sicillian immigrants lived in an apartment block facing Central Park in New York City. His mother was a milliner. Within two years ‘Butch’ Buccellato found himself in … Read more
“Don’t touch it with a barge pole!” A piece of advice that the Hampson family did not heed when purchasing no 8 Lansdowne Circus in 1966. Its bulging gable end wall, run down condition and an elegant two-storey staircase painted ‘fire-engine’ red did not deter us, – it was definitely a heart buy. We loved … Read more
When I was a young lad growing up in the nineteen- fifties, my father was a baker in the small Warwickshire town of Southam. In 1947 he had purchased the old windmill and the bakery business that went with it and my two brothers and I moved in to the small cottage that went with the … Read more
Back in the mid – 1950s, following my success in passing the eleven plus examination, I was offered a place at the Hugh Clopton School for Girls at Stratford upon Avon (later The Stratford upon Avon Grammar School for Girls at Shottery Manor). When I first started there a lot of Leamington girls chose to travel by train, … Read more
William Bradley was born into a family of Leamington basket makers, who grew their own osiers on a small island in the River Leam, adjoining Welch’s Meadow. Both Kit Smith and Eva Sabin remember a smallish, kindly man, working on his little patch in the river. Kit’s father, the boot-maker from Bath Street, had a small boat which … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
September 9, 2026
August 12, 2026
August 8, 2026