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1. The Art School, Ford Street, remembered by Liz Bayly
2. Schoolday memories of Pauline Bearcock
3. Little Park Street & Spon Street, by Mick Billings
4. Memoirs of Stoneleigh Abbey, by Catherine Binns
5. Birch family war-time memories and the next generation, by Wendy Lloyd
6. Hillfields memories from the 1930s & 40s, by Jerry Bird
7. Bombers over our Radford Streets, by Jerry Bird
8. Voyage on the Queen Mary with Cecilia Cargill
9. Schoolboy fun around town with Patrick Casey
10. Dunlop Rugby Union Club, by Lorraine Clarke
11. Pre-war memories of Norman Cohen
12. Remembering Courthouse Green School, by Robert Coles
13. The Life of Riley, by Ron Critchlow
14. Wartime memories of Wyken, by Alan Edgson
15. Boyhood Memories of Peter Ellis
16. From boyhood to young adult, by Peter Ellis
17. War and Workplace memories of Mike Fitzpatrick
18. 1940s & 50s remembered, by Ken Giles
19. World War Two memories of James Hill
20. A selection of 1940s and 50s memories, by Rod Joyce
21. Pictures of a Coventry ancestry, by Lesleigh Kardolus
22. Innocence, by John Lane
23. A plane crash over Exhall, by John Lane
24. Post-War memories of Keith Longmore
25. Growing up in Willenhall, by Josie Lisowski-Love
26. Coventry Zoo and the Hippo attack, by Paul Maddocks
27. The thoughts of a younger Coventrian, by Paul Martin
28. Growing up in Hillfields, by Jan Mayo
29. Winter before central-heating in Hillfields, by Jan Mayo
30. Viewing the Blitz from Birmingham, by Mavis Monk
31. Family memories of Eric Over
32. Early working days of Barry Page
33. Band life with Derick Parsons
34. Brian Porter, A Coventry Kid
35. Experiences of the Coventry Blitz, by Joan Powell
36. War-time memories of Brian Richards
37. War-time memories of Jeanne Richards
38. Coventry Remembered, by Andrew Ross
39. The Coventry outings of Brian Rowstron & family
40. Time Gentlemen Please! - Jo Shepherd's Family
41. The life experiences of Mike Spellacy
42. Humber Works photographs of Peter Thacker
43. Early Coventry memories of Lizzie Tomlinson
44. Post-war decades remembered, by Mike Tyzack
45. Fireman Frank Walduck, remembered by Peter Walduck
46. Early memories of Coventry, by Muriel Wells
47. Family memories of Burt West
48. A Childhood in Stoke, by Graham Whitehead
 

Family memories of Burt West

Naul's Mill Park c1910
At the end of Mill Street, where Burt's mum was born, was Naul's Mill Park, pictured here in its prime before the First World War.

Born in 1940; the year Coventry changed forever, Burt West retains many memories that have been passed down the generations of his Coventry based family.

Beginning with his mother, Grace Mary Hogan was born in Mill Street in 1906. She worked in the weaving industry at Leigh Mills - a place better known by most people now, of course, as a car park. Burt's mum told how the girls there had to communicate using sign language, because the machines were much too noisy to enable normal conversation!

Perhaps, during what little leisure time Grace might have had, she relaxed in Naul's Mill Park, situated at the end of the street where she was born.

Rotherham's watch making factory around 1910
Rotherham's factory, pictured here around 1910, was synonymous with the watch making industry in Coventry.

Burt's grandfather, George John Hogan, also lived and worked in Coventry, beginning in the clock and watch trade, almost certainly in or around Spon Street.

After watch making, George joined forces with his father and uncle Tom, who had a stand in Broadgate from where they ran a horse-drawn taxi-cab service. As an interesting sideline from 'normal' fares, the Hogans also had a padded carriage for taking insane people to Hatton Hospital. According to Burt.... "It was a well know saying in Coventry to 'fetch Hogan' if someone had gone nuts!"

As the First World War approached, the government commandeered all the horses, and gave the Hogan family a note to the value. Unfortunately, no money was forthcoming, and so eventually the business folded.

When the time came, Burt's granddad was called up for his army service, where fortunately he survived the terrible 1914 to 1918 conflict. Many tales were to arise from his time spent in the trenches - Burt remembers....

.... "he captured a Turkish officer who he became very friendly with, but felt sorry for him and let him go. The officer gave him a pearl handled revolver and a bag of diamonds! I always remember seeing them as a young boy, but I think they were lost in a card game, so nothing was ever passed down.... but stories of yesteryear - they're worth more than material goods don't you think? I wouldn't have minded a nice Coventry pocket watch though!"


 
 
 
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