To give some examples of how you might be able to help us:

• Maybe in your collection of family snapshots you have photos of the town, the townsfolk, events and special occasions - perhaps the only remaining record of these things.
• Do you have school class photos which we don't already have?
• And what about memories - stories you can tell or your parents told you? If we don't get them recorded they will be gone forever, and lost to future generations. We need people to tell us about things like the shops, the factories, the clubs and pubs, parades, events, schools, churches, chapels, and so on.

For examples of unexpected but very welcome offers of help with information, see the following:

Latest Offers of Help

• 2016 - Paul Dockley, grandson of Police Constable George Ward, has sent several photographs of his grandfather at work and of him and his grandmother at events in Burton Latimer and elsewhere.
• 2015 - Dick White, son of the popular teacher Dennis B White, gave the Society over 200 copies of photograqphs taken by his father at school and scout group events spanning almost fifty years which will be gradually added to the education section
• 2011 - 2014 Look through the regular additions to the News page.
  09.10.2010 Bill Watson has sent in an account (plus photos) of his life at 46b High Street.
• 04.03.2010 Gaye Elliott (nee Gregory) has sent in her memories of her short time in Burton in the mid-1950s when her father was in the US Air Force, stationed at Molesworth.
• 26.02.2010 Ron Carter has kindly loaned more family photos
• 19.02.2010 Ron Carter has kindly loaned a selection of family photos including school class photos, images of Gala Day in the 1960s, also the Fire Station and one of Banger Racing up Cranford Road.
• 17.02.2010 Sue Humphrey has written a piece on her time working at Alumasc.
• 28.11.2009 Teresa Simpson (nee Rees) has donated three photos of St mary's Junior School in the early 1960s, and also supplied several names and corrections to other photos.
• 26.11.2009 John Byland has donated a series of photos taken in the area around The Crescent in the 1950s.
• 18.11.2009 Janet Meads Jr has donated photos from the Meadowside and Council Schools.
• 10.11.2009 Mike Thornton has sent details of his father's tenure of the Duke's Arms
• 28.10.2009 David Brown has offered details and plans of the history of his house, plus school photos and memories.
• 14.09.2009 John Lack has sent photos of the Britannia Club members and also of local teams.
• 01.09.2009 Brian Laven has e-mailed in an account of his evacuation to Burton in 1939.
• 28.08.2009 John Lack (now living in Perth, Australia) has e-mailed in copies of photos on various subjects.
• 07.08.2009 Dawn Chapman has offered class photos of her time at St Mary's Junior School
• 02.08.2009 Leslie Ellison has sent in an article, a short film and photos on Nigel Brown and his harvesting of thatching straw in Burton.
• 03.05.2009 Kevin Warren has e-mailed in to identify two missing names in a class photo.
• 04.12.2008 Caroline Mitchell has supplied the Society with extra information about Billy Perkins, Burton's famous sportsman.
• 23.11.2008 Peter York has donated copies of 3 class photos taken at BL Infants and BL Junior Schools in the period 1957-65
• 21.11.2008 Steve Richards has sent photos and information on his grandfather Herbert Underwood, whose name appears on the Burton War Memorial.
• 05.10.2008 Tony Jolley has sent in images of his school football team and a school report, and has offered to share some of his memories.
• 04.06.2008 Joan Linnitt (nee Payne) has shared some of her childhood memories of the town in the middle of the last century, and has kindly loaned a number of photographs.
• 28.02.2008 Johan Lubbe, descendant of Joseph Boardman - headmaster of the Church School in the 1890s - has offered to share his research into the family history, along with a collection of photographs.
• 29.10.2007 Mervyn Elliott has offered to share some of his memories and photos.
• 15.08.2007 Chris Bailey has offered photographs of his great grandfather who was the president of Burton Latimer Co-operative Society from 1899 to 1920
• 10.08.2007 Vincent Tickner has written an account of the Dunmore family in Burton Latimer in the 18th century
• 27.05.2007 Neville Sumpter has written an account of his experiences as an evacuee in Burton Latimer between 1940 and 1942
• 23.04.2007 Frances Anderson (nee Muir) now living in Layton, Utah, has sent over two Gala Day programmes from 1954 and 1956, plus a copy of the 1957 Register of Electors.
• 28.03.2007 Ernest Cleaver has loaned the Society a large collection of his late father's photos and slides of Burton. These will be scanned for the archive and many will be used as illustrations for features on the site.
• 27.03.2007 Louise Loasby (nee Ellson) has e-mailed the Society with her memories of the attack on the Church School pets in 1968, the fire at Whitney & Westley's, and the murder in Station Road 1979.
• 14.03.2007 Michael Lack has written an article on the early years of the Cranford Road (Spinney Road) estate, and the games played on the Green there.
• 14.03.2007 Trevor Smith has loaned a book of newspaper cuttings on people and events in the town for the period 1930-31
• 13.03.2007 John Smith has written an account of his time taking part in Banger Racing at the Wold in the 1970s
• 01.03.2007 Bryan Cox has donated a photo of Miss Stokes' class at the County Junior School, 1947
• 27.02.2007 Sue Groome has sent in photos of the Pownall family who ran the bakery at 9 Kettering Road
• 16.02.2007 Amy Garlick has offered newspaper cuttings and details of her family who kept the former shop on the corner of Church Street and Church Lane.
• 14.02.2007 Godfrey Bigley has loaned photos and slides of Burton in the 1950s-1980s including class photos from the County Junior School in the 1950s, shots of parades, exhibitions in the parish church, and general views of the town.
• 13.02.2007 Michael Lack has donated copies of class photos of Burton County Junior school in the 1950s.
• 01.02.2007 Jaqueline Scorrano (nee Wells) has donated an album of her father's photos dating mostly from 1989-1993. The contents include the redevelopment of Spinney Road, the demolition of the Co-op, the building of the bypass, and the realignment of Church Street at junction with the Cross, plus the return of the War Memorial. There are also several older photos of teams and outings. Selected shots from this collection will appear on this site and on the DVD.
• 23.11.2006 The Greenwood family has offered the Society the loan of a videotape with recordings of Parade Day in the 1960s and the mid-1970s.
• 01.11.2006 Tony Palmer has written a short article on working at Whitney & Westley's in the 1950s
• 08.08.2006 Diana Glasspool (nee Simons) has offered information on her mother's work for the St John's Ambulance, and also a book - The Story of Stan - written by her father, Stanley Simons.
• 05.08.2006 Vivienne Morris (nee Congreve) has offered the Society old pictures and postcards of Burton
• 31.07.2006 Claire Weiss has offered to allow the Society to publish on this site her booklet on her father Ron Potter, and will also provide details of her grandmother (Mrs Fennel) and her work for the Winter Distress League which brought children from London for a 12-week stay in Burton. Many of them were enrolled in the Finedon Road Infants School (The Mission Room). Details of the Admissions Books for the school (1898-1935) have already been transcribed by Maureen Moore and are scheduled to appear in the next site update.
• 28.07.2006 Steve Wiles has provided the Society with photos of his Barlow family ancestors. these will be included on the barlow Family page in the next update
• 20.06.2006 Brian Mutlow has loaned a family photo album of pictures of Burton station in the late 1950s, when his father was stationmaster there.
• 01.06.2006 Angus Westley has agreeed to provide details of Whitney & Westley shoe factory, and has loaned the Society a copy of the BBC radio programme of 1975 "Down Your Way" which featured the town and included interviews with him and others. The tape will be digitised for Society records and extracts made available on the site.
• 04.05.2006 Robin Sharp has agreed to talk about his involvement with football and cricket teams in his youth
• 09.05.2006 Norman Baish has agreed to do an interview on his involvement with wrestling, youth football and cricket in the town
• 04.05.2006 Mick Freeman has offered a cine clip of the inside of a shoe factory, taken in the 1930s
• 15.04.2006 Ann Burrage has kindly offered to transcribe the Book of Remembrance in the parish church. This records services held for those who were cremated at Kettering and who have no marked grave in the churchyard.
• 13.03.2006 Ted Farmer has loaned a video of the Duck Race from 1995.
• 21.02.2006 Frances Anderson (nee Muir) has offered photos of Burton Carnivals, plus details of her work at Burton Council Offices.
• 28.01.2006 Les Allen of Burton Latimer Fire Station has offered to supply records of fire calls from 1968 to the present day.
• 10.11.2005 Norman Baish has loaned copies of videos showing wrestling matches he promoted and refereed at the Band Club one Christmas, and also at the Recreation Ground in 1995. He also has photos of the league and cup-winning BL Youth Club team of the late 1960s.
• 06.11.2005 Godfrey Bigley has offered to supply memories of his work at Barron's (formerly Hart & Levy's) plus the loan of Alumasc books, photos of Infant and Junior School classes, plus slides of the Whitney and Westley fire
• 26.10.2005 Elizabeth York and Carol Desborough have each separately offered the Society use of family cine film and video showing the High Street, Church Street, Churchill Way, parades, cubs & scouts and much more
• 18.10.2005 Sandy Tebbutt has contacted the Society on behalf of herself and her father Eric Wilkinson: "My father, the only son of five children, was taken to Burton Latimer railway station when he was 17 ½ years old by his father - my grandfather - to go to war. It was the Second World War. He joined the Navy – quite brave really as he couldn’t swim (and still can’t).  We have a picture of him with his large cap sitting on the side of his head when he joined.-.....  His father at the time ran the Horse and Groom, sometimes called the Jockey - which is now ‘The Olde Vic’ where we lived for a while whilst Dad was fighting.....My father is still alive, now over 80 years old but still tells his stories of when he was in the war .....His memory is as good as it ever was......  We have a lot of good quality photos as well which we would like share.  We would be proud to help to put a bit of the jig-saw together for Burton Latimer."
• 14.10.2005 Vic Severs has loaned a copy of an amateur video taken of Princess Diana's visit to Weetabix
• 08.10.2005 Jessie Mills spent all her working life at Batty's factory and has kindly agreed to do an interview

Jessie Mills (r. in the photo) in Batty's factory in the late 1950s Her colleagues (l. to r.) are Mel Potter, Vera Wright & Phyl Walker

We need to set down for future reference what it was like to live and/or work in Burton Latimer in the 20th century. Before cars and computers became commonplace, how did people get about, and what did children do for fun in the evenings, at the weekends or in the school holidays?

It's so easy to forget how fast things change. Take telephones: try explaining to today's children (who may well have their own mobile phone) that forty years ago many homes were on a "party line" and that you could pick up a phone, hear someone in another house having a phone conversation, and have to wait until they had finished before you could make a call. Or that if you wanted to call a relative abroad on Christmas Day you'd have to book a call with the International Exchange at least a month ahead of Christmas, and you'd be lucky to get two minutes of call time!

So don't think your memories or your photos don't have any value. One of the things we are interested in is games and toys - even from the comparatively recent past. Do you have a photo (or even better a film) of yourself or a relative playing with things like - say - a space hopper, a hula hoop, roller skates, or even a pogo stick?! And who still remembers clackers, elastics and deeley boppers? OK, we could perhaps get someone to do a sketch or an artist's impression, but photos, live pictures and film would be so much better. And the Big One - can you still do the Rubik's Cube? And can we film you doing it?!

If you have things you think we would be interested in, please get in touch. The story of the town and the lives of the people here belongs to us all. Help us to tell it.

Specific Information needed to use on current topics

School Photos

We are putting on line all that we hold in the way of School Class photos, but there are huge gaps in our archive, eg we currently have nothing on Meadowside Junior School in the 1980s, and very little for the 1970s and 1990s. Please consider sharing any school photos you have. Even if we already have the photos you have, please check out our captions, and if you recognise someone whose name we haven't yet got, then please contact us with the information. We would like to assemble as complete a collection as possible so that future generations can see their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents (even their great-great-grandparents) when they were at school.

Team and Group Photos

We are starting to publish in the Sport & Leisure section a series of photos of teams, bands, groups, etc. Apart from being of general interest, they are also a valuable aid to people researching their family history - that is, where the names are known. It is all too often the sad case that the names have been lost and someone could be looking at the face of an ancestor and wouldn't know it. If you can help us fill in the gaps, that would be very welcome indeed. If you have photos of your own to share with us, that would be even more welcome.

Pubs and Clubs

We are trying to cover all the pubs and clubs which existed in the town. A brief photo-gallery can be found here. Have you got photos and stories of The Duke, "The Jockey", the Wagon & Horses, The Thatchers, The Red Cow, "The Brit", The Band Club, "The Rack"? Can you tell us about the landlords, barmen, outings, events?

People & Families

Have a look at our People & Families section. Yes, there are notable local people there, but there are also the stories of ordinary people and families who have contributed to the life of Burton Latimer. Have you got stories, photos and memories of your family which you can share with everyone? It doesn't matter if you haven't done any research on it. We're here to help you. This site isn't reserved for the stories of the great and the good. The town belongs to us all, and the lives of our parents and grandparents contributed to it. If they aren't recorded, they will eventually be lost and forgotten. The title of this site says what it's about: Burton Latimer - A Sense of Place: The Town, The People, Their Stories.