I come from a long line of Rodbournites. My great grandparents,Frederick and Martha White lived at 55 Summers St. the first of their 7 children was born there in 1879, she would become my grandmother. When Harriet White married Frederick Reeves, they moved into 57 Summers St, my mother (Doris Reeves) was their 4th child, they had 6 children altogether. When my mother married and became Doris Carter she moved to Bath for 3-4 years. When the war started and my father was ‘called up’into the Marines,she and my brother (Terry) moved back to Swindon and moved in with her brother Arthur Reeves at 28 Morrison st, where I was born.When the war was over and my father returned to civilian life, we continued to live there until 1950 when we moved to Moredon. I continued attending Even Swindon School until I went to Secondary School, Pinehurst and then Moredon.
My grandmother’s two youngest brothers spent their entire lives in Rodbourne, as did my Uncle Art in Morrison St. Frederick White and his family lived in Bruce St and Albert White and his wife Edith (Edie) lived at 6 Summers St. Mrs White will be remembered for the concerts she arranged yearly and were performed at St. Augustine’s Church Hall. She would rope people into this before they knew what had hit them!!! My aunt was very hard to say NO to, she would look so sad and make you believe that the whole show depended on you. When you gave in and agreed to do it, her whole face would light up and she would beam from ear to ear.
Even though I have not lived in Rodbourne (or the UK for that matter) for most of my life, I still consider myself to be a Rodbournite. I have several memories of the area but I will post more on that later.
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