Short extracts of some of the interesting local
memories in the book can be found below.
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'Memories of Thorpe Hamlet Norwich'  
Published June 2004

Memories of Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich, Editor Mary Ash, Paperback: 147 pages
ISBN-10: 1903923026 ,  ISBN-13: 978-1903923023

The launch

The book contains over 200 photographs and the memories of over 70 contributors spanning virtually the whole of the last century. Demand has been high and both the original print run of 1000 copies and a second print run have sold out. The book has been reprinted and is available from Jarrold's, and it is also available on loan at the Plumstead Road Library.

What became of the material that didn't make it into the book?

We had a huge collection of memories to draw on and for one reason or another  many of them did not end up in the book. A number of people have asked what has happened to the material that didn't make it.  A complete set of photocopies of all the material, all the notes on the photographs  along with any photographs that their owners did not want returned have been properly listed, archived and presented to the the Plumstead Road Library where they are available on request.   You will also find many personal memories submitted to the website after the book was completed on the Personal memories page
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A taste of  the memories to be found in the book.

The first is from George Harper...
I can still picture every part of ‘the pit’, as we called what is now Valley Drive Estate. It was accessible from the pit gates on Hilary Avenue or Aldryche Road or Knox Close. My friends and I spent so much time over there, but we were never frightened of anything there or ever got into any fighting. It was rare to see adults as they preferred the more picturesque Mousehold, and nobody jogged then or seemed to take their dogs for walks, so it was our domain for a few pre-teenage years. There wasn’t much litter about, but broken glass never got cleared up so it was no good for bikes. Looking back, it was fairly dangerous as some of the cliffs had a thirty-foot drop and they weren’t very stable. Parts of it were overgrown like a jungle, but with trails through if you knew them, and there were tall willows we called ‘neck breakers’ because you could make them swing wildly when you climbed them. There were cliffs to climb up or down and spent cartridges from the firing range near the Prison to find. There was not much wild life as the rabbits had myxomatosis, although there were plenty of butterflies and birds. Towards Heartsease Lane was Alfie Carter’s pig farm, and residents occasionally dig up pig skeletons now. Zac’s Restaurant was then a cafe where you could get a bag of crisps, or if we were thirsty and couldn’t afford a bottle of drink, there was a water fountain.

Gordon Dickie remembers...
The grandstand was still at The Nest and troops used it for training, climbing ropes to get into the windows etc – we used to watch them. At some point, maybe at the end of the war, the old football ground was used to store coal or coke. I think there were also some shelters built there during the war. We used to use the chalk caves at the back of Thompson’s for a shelter, and we had a bunk there in which we could sleep. We used to go along our back ways and the back ways of houses in Rosary Road, past the bowling green and to the shelter. Of course, I thought it a great adventure, being quite young.
     On Rosary Road was Thompson’s Tin and Metal Works. Lots of local people worked there. Further along, City’s football ground, The Nest. PC Scott was the local policeman. Nearby, in the background, was a disused deep cave, which was used in the war for an air raid shelter. Bunks were put up for regular nightly use.

This is from Mr J Read’s memories of working at the Gasworks:
'Prior to 1965, if a child contracted whooping cough, the doctor would almost certainly instruct the mother to take the child to the Bishops Bridge gasworks to contact the purifier foreman. Once there, the child would be shown large heaps of iron oxide. He would then be told to play on these heaps for a time, probably along with other similarly afflicted children, as in those days it was quite a common complaint'.

It seems that a few days gambolling on the foul-smelling heaps did the trick. Even though the oxide was heavily stained with prussian blue, which our modern health experts get hot under the collar about, it seems in this case progress is backwards! Unfortunately the Blue Mountains of Weeds Square are no more, so we are stuck with our modern cures.