What a fantastic and interesting afternoon we had here at Hengist Field Care Home on Tuesday 30 May. Theresa and Richard from The Heritage Hub in Sittingbourne came to visit us, where they passed round some old black and white photos.
Richard spoke about the buildings, what the pictures showed, corner shops that no longer exist, outside toilets, old fashioned mangles, doodle bugs and the last one that came from Holland in 1945. He also talked about air raid shelters, Anderson and Morrison, Sittingbourne Paper Mill, grocery coupons and rationing, picking blackberries along the road and the Rainham train crash that happened in Oak Lane, Upchurch in August 1944.
We also learned about Browns the Butchers that used to be in Sittingbourne, and Mr Brown was also the father of one of our ladies here at Hengist Field – as a little girl, she can remember all the animals in the field that were destined for the Butcher’s shop.
The topics discussed brought back lots of memories for our residents as they reminisced. It was great – lots of questions were asked and answered. We are also on the Heritage Hub’s list to receive a magazine “Archive” so that the residents here at Hengist Field can read it on a regular basis.
Thank you Richard and Theresa – we’re all looking forward to seeing you again soon.
