I'mAlan Rosher and I lived at 22 Samuel Road with my mother and father and my siblings Brian Rosher and Sylvia Rosher. I was born 6th May 1945 and attended St Helens School 1950 until 1956, I then attended Tower Ramparts School until 1960. I lived at no 22 until I married in 1965. My brother was born in 1938 and attended the same schools as myself. My sister Sylvia was born 1943 and attended St Helens School and Christchurch School in Bolton Lane (now Flats). I did a paper round for Bert Halls paper shop at the top of Samuel road when the shop was run by Mr and Mrs Gibbons. My Mother was Dorothy May Rosher born 6 Feb. 1908 (died 1964 aged 54) and my Father was Henry William Rosher better known as Harry born 29 September 1909 (died april 1987 aged 76). My brother and sister are still alive and living in Ipswich however I now live in Thetford Norfolk. I remember the Coronation street party in 1953 which was held on the parade ground of the St Johns Ambulance Hall in Samuel Road. I still have a group picture of the party and if anybody is interested i can scan it and email you a copy to publish. I can still name the majority of the children in the picture. My mother and father moved into Samuel Road around 1940 from Woodbridge Road and I think the address was 109 Woodbridge Road opposite Argyll Street. My Grandfather and Grandmother lived at 14 Samuel Road and when my Grandfather was in good health ran a building business from that address. My Grandfather was Bertie Butcher and my Grandmother was Sarah Butcher. My grandfather owned the houses from 2 to 22 Samuel Road which where built by my Great Grandfather and where known as Butchers Buildings. My best friends where Barry Thorpe who lived at 18 Samuel Road and Bobby Lyons who lived in Blanche Street. I can still remember the characters who worked at Singletons the undertakers and many others. I can also remember the aeroplane that crashed in Tuddenham Ave. I hope this is of interest to you, if so I could write you a lot more.

Mac Clarke. I was born at Avondale Road, off Nacton Road at the end of 1929. In 1934, we moved to 33, Warwick Road and were there for the next 20 years.
We knew the (Finchley Rd) Mannings, Alice and Herbert, well, as Alice helped my mother, cleaning, for many years. Alice was born in one of the villages outside Ipswich, I would guess in the 1880's and came as a live-in kitchen maid when she was about 14 years old to a family called Pell (?) who lived on Fonnereau Road and, eventually, became cook. Herbert came from a large Ipswich family, all boys. He became a skilled fitter and was deferred in WWI but also gained a reputation as an "agitator", so was blacklisted at all the Ipswich factories. He did not work in the 30's and finally was employed by Ipswich Council as a "street orderly", that is he pushed a little cart around the streets, from time to time using a broom to sweep when he felt it was no longer avoidable. Alice and Herbert are both long gone. Herbert died in the mid-50's and Alice a few years later. They had no children.
I have memories of Finchley Road. The man with the tradesman's bicycle ringing a bell and calling out,"Harwich shrimps." Going to get the accumulator charged for the wireless at Boddey's. And, of course, when the landmine landed in Cemetery Road and then exploded later. The Mannings were staying with us, having been evacuated from Finchley Road.
There was a name missing from your Finchley Road listing. Bob and Doris Jewell lived in either 5 or 7 Finchley Road in the early 30's. Doris much later became the landlady of " The Case Is Altered" on the Woodbridge Road. They had a daughter, Pauline, who I know quite well, as I married her in 1958. We are long divorced, but Pauline still lives in Surrey.
I live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I left England in 1974 to work in New York and retired here in 1992. While I have children and grandchildren in England and it's nice to visit them, I wouldn't want to go back. The England I remember isn't there any more. 11/24/05

Andre Grimwood, of Trefoil Close, Ipswich, has been in touch following my reference to the Social Settlement building in Fore Street, Ipswich, which he can remember still being there in the 1950s. He said: “My grandfather, whom I never met, was caretaker of the Social Settlement until his death in 1940, aged 54. His name was Ashley Charles Wash. “After his death my grandmother, whom I didn’t know either, carried on as caretaker until 1942, when a bomb fell close by. My grandmother’s name was Edna Muriel Minna Wash (nee Ward). She and her seven daughters and one son were moved to 180 Cemetery Road, Ipswich. 10/11/01 Article from Ipswich Evening Star, Kindred Spitits...Nostalgia

Norman Fisher THE ROBERTS FAMILY, OF FINCHLEY ROAD and CEMETERY ROAD
My mother Doris Roberts was born in Cemetery Road on the 15th November 1907 to Ada and James Roberts. They also had a younger daughter called Edith born in 1909 and who died in 1989.
The Roberts family moved from Cemetery Road to Finchley Road in 1909. My mother who will 93 in November 2000 says she can remember most of the people that lived in Finchley Road up to the early 1950s plus people in some other roads near by.
When my mother married in 1930 to my father Charles Fisher they first moved to Bramford then in 1933 they moved to 77 Finchley Road which was a small two-bedroom house with a living room and a small kitchen.
About 1935/36 my parents moved to 27 Hayhill Road. About 1938 they moved back into 54 Finchley Road next to the Kemps. My mother’s sister Edith when she married Arthur Bolding moved into 102 Finchley Road.
My mothers uncle, auntie and cousins lived at 122 Finchley Road their name was also Roberts. My parents lived in Finchley Road until they got bombed out during the Second World War. My grand parents lived in Finchley Road until 1952.
My mother can remember going to school in Argyle Street then to St Helens School.
She can remember seeing cows being herded along Cemetery Road on their way to the Slaughter House in Norfolk Road. As a child she can remember the soldiers funerals from the 1914-1918 War going up Cemetery Road.
She can remember taking a jug out to the milk cart to be filled up. She can remember going to the grocers at the top of Samuel Road to buy 2d worth of dripping which originally came from the Great White Horse Hotel.
When my grand parents first moved into 120 Finchley Road they had oil lamps this was followed by gas then in the late 1920’s Author Bolding, my mothers sisters husband who was a electrician wired the house up for electric. 8/13/00
MEMORIES OF FINCHLEY ROAD 1917. My mother Doris Roberts says she can remember when she was about 10 years old every Saturday afternoon going to St Margarets Church to fetch a free loaf of bread for a Mrs Barber, who was a widow and live in Finchley Road. My mother says, "Mrs Barber would give me her basket with a clean tea cloth in and the man at the church would wrap the bread in it. Mrs Barber would give me a fathing for going".
She also remembers Doctor Adams of Christchurch Street, he used to do his rounds walking with his case.
Miss Ditchman of Cemetery Road was the local midwife this was in the 1920s. 8/20/00

Margaret Pope Attached is a photo of'Granny' Spalding with my mother,Rhona Sewell, taken at 'Granny's' grand-daughter, Monica's wedding in 1968. 'Granny' was a well known character to all who lived in Samuel Road and was known by that name to all and sundry. My mother remembers the bomb being dropped that Kathryn mentioned in her message. She was living in Gt Yeldham, Essex at the time but her parents were living in Finchley Rd.. Her mother had to come and stay with her for a few weeks as every window in their house in Finchley Rd was blown out. Her father stayed behind to take care of the damage. Unfortunately, she remembers little else of the incident. Will keep trying to un-earth more photos and memories! 7/17/00

Kathryn Valente There was mention of a bomb being dropped in Cemetery Road and demolishing a home. I don't know if you recall at the top of Finchley Road, closest to Samuel Road, there resided quite a lovely cottage there were big wooden gates to the entrance of the property. The reason I know of this cottage is, as I told you, I lived on Lacey Street for a number of years. From the bottom of our small garden we could see this cottage. We had to look down to it as it appeared to be in a huge crater. A concrete wall supported our garden and a couple of the neighbours from slipping or falling. Come to find out my mum was trying to make a major repair to our kitchen floor, it was so warped you had to practically walk up hill into the kitchen. Forget having a washing machine it would rock all over the kitchen floor, Ha! Ha! although, not funny at the time. Mum had a contracter to come and look at it, he told her that our house was still settling from the war he also told her he thought the government was still issuing grants to help with war damages. As it turned out, they had stopped issuing grants a month before she applied. Mum still went ahead to get the the repairs done at quite a cost of course. The short of it is that where this cottage is located is where one of the biggest bombs was dropped in England during the war. I thought you might be interested to hear this story if you were not aware of it. 7/15/00

Russell & Margaret Pope. My wife and I have been visiting your Cemetery Road site for several weeks and have finally got round to sending you the following. My wife's mother, Rhona, was born at 3 Finchley Road in 1912 and lived there until 1940.She lived with her parents, Alice and Jack Pearce and her 5 brothers, Alf (now 99 years of age) and Frank,Orris,Fred and Russell (all deceased). Her father Jack was undertaker at Singleton's in Samuel Road. In 1943,after marrying Robert Sewell from Westerfield, they both returned to 39 Samuel Road rented from Singleton's. They lived there until 1970 and had two daughters, Janice and Margaret (my wife). Unfortunately, my wife's father died last year but Rhona is still well and living in Melville Rd. where they moved from Samuel Rd. Rhona and her brother,Alf can remember the shop,Kerridge's at the corner of Finchley Road and Cemetery Road where they used to get their fresh bread from. Names that Rhona remembers from Finchley Road are Little, Wiles, Fitches, Harvey, Bloomfield, Woodcock (no.44),Ida Thimblethorp and Alf Brown. From Cemetery Road she remembers Billy Neers, Bob Sawyer, Marshall, Rozier, Charlie Coe and Lumpkin. Both Rhona and my wife remember from Samuel Road, Mr.& Mrs.Harris who had 4 children (Keith,Janice,Cheryl and Jasmin), Mr.& Mrs.Evans who lived with her mother and father (Tom Spalding & 'Granny') and had two children, Monica & Bridget. Their house still had no electricity in 1970, and an air raid shelter in the back garden! Mabel Reed who had two sons, Dougie & Roger. Mr.& Mrs. Pallant, Mrs. Beer, Mr. & Mrs. Barker (no 37) and Mr.& Mrs. Besford. Practically all that remains of that area now is the St.Johns Ambulance HQ. My wife remembers the milk float pulled by a horse (she used to feed the horse bread) and the shrimp man ringing his bell. Sand bags constantly in use and being flooded out several times. Rhona worked at Britton (?) & Bannisters (shoe makers) at the top of Argyle St.at its junction with Woodbridge Rd, and could hear the start siren from her home in Samuel Road. Gordon Croucher, who you have mentioned as living in Cemetery Road and was a very good friend of Rhona's husband, unfortunately passed away last year.The lady who used to work at Gould's the butchers in Blanche St.(she had no fingers on one hand), is alive and well as my wife saw her a few months' ago after 30 years. Question. Does anybody remember the name of the gentleman in the bath chair who lived on the left hand side towards Christchurch St. in 'Little' Cemetery Road. He was always in the window and had a cheery word for all the children. We have thoroughly enjoyed looking at your site and it has brought back many pleasant memories for my wife and her mother. Trust that you can use some of the above information. Kind regards. 5/27/00

Wendy Guimont nee Barker. I was born and raised at 210 Cemetery Road, along with my brothers and sisters, Hilda Singleton Carswell Barker now deceased and buried in Alabama U.S.A. Dennis living in Doncaster, Yorkshire. Maureen Burch Keeble Barker now deceased and buried in The Old Cemetery in Ipswich. Brenda McNeil Barker living on Whitehouse Est, Ipswich. Charles Barker now deceased buried at sea. Bunny (Bernard) Barker living in Ipswich. Jack Barker now deceased and buried in Bentley, Yorkshire. Jennifer Barber Barker living in Claydon, Ipswich. Doreen White Barker (although not born in Cemetery Rd) living in Earith, Cambridgeshire. Then myself, living in Andover, Minnesota with my husband Ray, whom I met and married in England in 1968. We have two children Tracy and Mark who are both married but live close by, and our dog Brittany.5/25/00
From Wendy Guimont (nee Barker) who was born in Cemetery Road, Ipswich, who has a frightening memory of when her parents put real candles on the Christmas tree! She said: We moved around the Ipswich area, finally settling on the Priory Heath Estate. I went to several schools, St Helens, Christchurch School for girls, Copleston Road, and Priory Heath Secondary Modern. I now live in Andover, Minnesota, USA. My fondest memories of Christmas past have to be from Cemetery Road, the lighted candles on the tree, sixpences in the Christmas pudding, my mothers neighbourhood parties for the children, having them leave with a hankie and pencils as gifts, singing with the Co-op Juniors, and school choirs on the Cornhill. Do they still hang the chickens, rabbits, and turkeys by the doors of the butcher shops? As a little girl I can remember being scared to go in the shop! Wendys memories of the butchers and game shops in town make it clear she has been away some time as most have closed with supermarkets taking over. From Kindred Spirits, Ipswich Evening Star

Maureen Tansey nee Jarrett. : Hi, I grew up at 182 Cemetery Road. My Mum Audrey now lives in Chantry Estate at 57 Jasmine Close. My Dad Reginald died in 1986. Brothers Graham, Robert, and Anthony still live in Ipswich. I have been living in Sierra Vista, Arizona since September, 1993. Moved here from Leominster, Massachusetts where I lived after leaving England in 1965. I work at the Super 8 Motel. My Husband Jim works for the US Army at Ft Huachuca, AZ. We have three children; Mark, lives in Leominster with daughter Markayla. Kelley, (lives in Sierra Vista with husband Wayne, daughter Kelley, son's Randy, Matthew, Jason, and Zack) and Deborah (married to Keith, son Joseph, living in Leominster). 5/23/00 Update: Audrey now lives at Tolworth Rd. Jim retired Jan 2003, Maureen retired Aug 2004. 9/17/04

Rose Granlund nee Grant.: Hi, I grew up at 175 Cemetery Rd. My brother, Brian, who lives in Felixstowe now called me this morning and told me about an ad in the paper and this is how I got to your web site. What a great trip down memory lane. My best friend was Carol Simpson and she has a sister named Sue. Carol (Rodriguez) lives in Oklahoma City now. I married Gordon Swan in 1956. He was stationed at RAF Bentwaters at the time. I've lived in Alaska for over 30 years now but we still keep in touch with England. In fact we were there in Oct 1999. Thanks again for a wonderful web site. 3/25/00

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