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Tales from the River Bank is an oral history project that will capture memories of life in the Trent Valley. We are gathering people’s recollections and thoughts about the past, present and future to explore how our ways of engaging with the River Trent and the landscape has changed over the years.
Do you or have you lived within the Transforming the Trent Valley Scheme area? Perhaps you spent your childhood living in Rugeley, Alrewas, Fradley, Barton-under-Needwood, Hopwas, Burton-upon-Trent, Uttoxeter or Rocester? What games did you play? Where did you explore?
We would love to hear from you.
Share your childhood memories by completing the form below.
Your name
Your email address
Your contact telephone number (numbers only, no spaces)
Your story or childhood memory
By submitting your story to Transforming the Trent Valley, you agree to your name being used when we share your story/memory as part of the delivery of the Transforming the Trent Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme. We will not share any of your personal details with any third parties and will only use your name to indicate that you are the author of your story depending upon the choice you make below.
No. Please DO NOT use my name whenever you use my story.Yes. I'm happy for my name to be used whenever you use my story.
We take your privacy seriously and will not share your personal details with anyone outside of the Scheme Partnership. You can view our privacy policy here.
If you have any further questions or comments, or have old photos or items from your childhood that you would like to share with us, please email Nicola Lynes (Community Engagement Officer) with details.
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Recorded March 2021.
I was born in Burton in 1948 and lived in Trent Street located between Branstone Road and Blackpool Street.
There were Irish, Scottish, German, Italian, Jamaican, and English families living there. The children all played together in the street; marbles, hopscotch, skipping, French cricket, football and What time is it, Mr Wolf? Play was not allowed on Sundays.
On Saturdays and school holidays we were given bread and butter or jam, water, and an apple to eat. We would explore the Washlands playing near the river, making dens, playing football.
We would explore the Washlands playing near the river, making dens, playing football
I do not remember an adult ever coming to find us. Eventually, usually around tea-time we would go home. No one had a watch to tell the time, I think we must have gotten hungry and knew it was time to head home.
The house had a coal fire and only cold water in kitchen and an outside toilet. We did not have a bathroom. To have a bath, first you had to bring the tin bath in from the garden, not forgetting to remove the spiders first! Once it was in the kitchen you had to boil water in saucepans if you wanted a hot bath. It took a long time so you didn’t have a deep bath but at least the Kitchen was a bit warmer with the electric stove on.
We didn’t have a bathroom. To have a bath, first you had to bring the tin bath in from the garden…
In the winter, ice would form on the inside of the bedroom window, and you learnt to get dressed and undressed whilst still in bed.
A Burton-upon-Trent resident. December 2020.
Visit our project page to see the work that young people in the Trent Valley have done to collect and showcase Tales of the Riverbank, or watch their films below.
