Your original home town.

[Joey Shabadoo]

I left mine in 1970 when I came over here. In all of those 52 years, the town has changed a hell of a lot. When I go back, I feel more like a tourist now as many of the landmarks of my youth have gone.
The grocery shop I grew up in until 1963 has gone and is now a private house. My friend's mother's hairdresser's salon is now a block of flats.
The main square in Orleans, famous for its statue of Jeanne D'Arc on her horse is now pedestrianised but the statue remains of course.
A well known street in my days, known as the red district area is now a posh street with good boutiques.
A tobacco factory I have worked in for 6 months is now a large supermarket.
The town has also expended so much that the nearby villages which had fields in between is now built up all the way.
Roundabouts have also replaced crossroads.
Of course, despite the fact that the town has changed so much, it is still the place where I grew up with happy memories.
How about yours?

Funny you should mention Orleans - we were there last year and found the centre to be beautiful and full of character.

 

[Bollo]

I was born In Hull but more by accident than design - Ma and Pa Bollo are both proud Mancunians but Pa B was serving at a base on the east coast when I popped out. Family legend has it that there was snow on the Pennines so my mum had to give birth in “Yerksher”, much to my dad‘s distress. My family nickname has forever been “the Tyke”.

We were posted away when I was only three so I’ve no connection to the place and haven’t been back - the closest I’ve managed is a weekend away at a hotel on the south side of the Humber near the bridge.

 

[oldwheels]

Have not got a "home town" as such since my father moved around a bit as he progressed up the ladder of better jobs.
Most of my primary school days were in the village of Maddiston near Falkirk. Went back once and our house on the outskirts had vanished and all the surrounding fields we played and sledged in were covered in houses made out of tiki taki as the song says.
Moved to Helensburgh which has changed a bit but not much then to the village of Cardross and at uni stayed in Glasgow before moving to Bowling for work reasons. The listed buildings of the distillery caught fire by accident in the middle of the night after I left and property developers kindly took over the site for houses tho' our old house built in 1772 still stands neglected and empty. The harbour and canal basin has been tidied up and a cycle path runs on one of the old railway lines through the village. This is part of the Glasgow to Balloch route.
I have now been in Tobermory for 50 years which is the longest period I have been anywhere but the tourist industry is now driving me away. Not sure I could physically cope with a flitting.

 

[Dirk]

What is your home town?

Birmingham.

 

[ColinJ]

Most of my primary school days were in the village of Maddiston near Falkirk. Went back once and our house on the outskirts had vanished and all the surrounding fields we played and sledged in were covered in houses made out of tiki taki as the song says.

Kenilworth for me, but the same thing... This area was grassy hills when I was a child and I used to run around on them as often as I could.

 

[Dayvo]

Big melons?

Bunch of grapes!

 

[PeteXXX]

There’s a micro pub on the parade of shops now.
Was the A2 around when you left? It cut the park in half.
And Bob Hope left the UK in 1908!

The old A2 was still the main road so it could pour pollution into the playground of my junior school, Deansfield.
All of one side of Glenlea Road had been compulsory purchased ready for the new road then it was cancelled so council tenants were housed in them for many years until the road was actually built. I can't remember when as I'd left Eltham by then.
The open air baths got demolished, too 😔

(And that's probably why I never met Bob Hope! 😂)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Born in Turriff but I left when I was months old. Revisited a few times when I was about 5 or 6, vague memories of holding my grandad's hand while we walked down the street to get my sister a copy of "Twinkle". Returned with work recently and a surprising amount has stayed the same. Went to call on a prospective customer and was stopped dead in my tracks by a sense of deja vu - me as a small boy watching a combine harvester working in a field. A wee bit of checking and yes, I was standing in the exact same spot.

Moved to Methil - nothing worth remembering there. Methil no more indeed.

 

[Chromatic]

Birmingham.

Cheers, it's a while since I went to Birmingham and then that was a drive to a shop to pick something up then straight back home again. Will be there in June for a concert though and was thinking of staying overnight and making a couple of days of it.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Left home in Merthyr Tydfil when I was 19 to go to university and never moved back except for six months after leaving university.

I have lived just an hour from there since then and, because I have a sister and loads of cousins living there, and my father died just four years ago, I have always been and always will be a frequent visitor.
It was a great place to grow up, literally on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. I still love the place but it has gone downhill in recent years with the loss of many factories and the rundown town centre being crucified by the out of town shopping centre and Trago Mills.

A great place for cycling with the Beacons on the doorstep and Bike Park Wales at the bottom of town. I seem to remember reading a few years back that that year's annual Strava stats showed that Merthyr cyclists had the highest amount of climbing in the UK. Far too much for me these days although I still try to get a couple of (very slow) rides a year from my sister's house to Brecon and back which I used to do as a teenager, and have had couple of trips to BPW when it opened.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Left home in Merthyr Tydfil when I was 19 to go to university and never moved back except for six months after leaving university.

I have lived just an hour from there since then and, because I have a sister and loads of cousins living there, and my father died just four years ago, I have always been and always will be a frequent visitor.
It was a great place to grow up, literally on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. I still love the place but it has gone downhill in recent years with the loss of many factories and the rundown town centre being crucified by the out of town shopping centre and Trago Mills.

A great place for cycling with the Beacons on the doorstep and Bike Park Wales at the bottom of town. I seem to remember reading a few years back that that year's annual Strava stats showed that Merthyr cyclists had the highest amount of climbing in the UK. Far too much for me these days although I still try to get a couple of (very slow) rides a year from my sister's house to Brecon and back which I used to do as a teenager, and have had couple of trips to BPW when it opened.

I have relatives in Merthyr Vale. They're still scarred by Aberfan.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I have relatives in Merthyr Vale. They're still scarred by Aberfan.

It was really hard for that part of town particularly.

 

[nickyboy]

sell Lancaster to me monty.
Despite being lancastrian only ever been 2 or 3 times (lumpy stuff in the way)
My dim memories are that it seemed curiously modest for a county town
(apologies if I've given yorkshire folks an opportunity to jump in with sarkiness)

Lancaster (where I went to secondary school) retains a lot of its original charm and redevelopments of the city centre have been sympathetically done

I'm from what was a tiny village of about 500 called Crag Bank (@MontyVeda will know it I suspect). It is very little changed since my youth. All really is it's got a bit bigger and now is probably considered part of the Carnforth mega-conurbation.

No reason to go back there as both parents no longer with us and no other links to the area

 

[MontyVeda]

Lancaster (where I went to secondary school) retains a lot of its original charm and redevelopments of the city centre have been sympathetically done

I'm from what was a tiny village of about 500 called Crag Bank (@MontyVeda will know it I suspect). It is very little changed since my youth. All really is it's got a bit bigger and now is probably considered part of the Carnforth mega-conurbation.

No reason to go back there as both parents no longer with us and no other links to the area

Yes i know Crag Bank well. One of our friends lived on The Drive and he was the only person we knew who didn't live with his mum & dad so his house was where we all got too drunk and regularly stayed up all night listening to Hawkwind at excessive volumes. Sorry if you were a neighbour

 

[Beebo]

The old A2 was still the main road so it could pour pollution into the playground of my junior school, Deansfield.
All of one side of Glenlea Road had been compulsory purchased ready for the new road then it was cancelled so council tenants were housed in them for many years until the road was actually built. I can't remember when as I'd left Eltham by then.
The open air baths got demolished, too 😔

(And that's probably why I never met Bob Hope! 😂)

Deansfield is still there. Lovely old building.