Barbara Hambleton talking about her memories of Marple in 1996

This is a video from Marple Local History Society's archives of Barbara Hambleton talking about her memories of Marple and Marple Bridge. It was recorded in 1996 by Gordon Mills and was converted from VHS tape to digital format by The Marple Website in March 2011.

Barbara moved from the centre of Manchester to Marple Bridge with her family in 1936 at the age of 17. She says she felt like a foreigner and a townie when she first arrived but seems to have settled fairly quickly. For a while she commuted to Manchester by train but later worked locally in the Council Offices in Memorial Park and remembers the inside of Hollins House being much as the Carvers left it.

Barbara recalls many happy memories including the 1937 coronation celebrations, posh dances at Marple Baths and "sneaking" off for her first visit to a pub with her future husband and their friends. She talks about how it was during the Second World War, with evacuations, black-outs and rationing and shopping in Marple at the posh end of Market Street where the shops were once covered by a veranda. She also recalls how different it was bringing up children without today's modern aids and remembers when there were only three lady drivers in Marple Bridge!

The video is 28 minutes long altogether and has been split into three segments of between 12 and 8 minutes in length so that you can view it in stages instead of having to watch it from the beginning every time. It was actually quite difficult to select the breaks because Barbara barely pauses for breath as she recounts 60 years of life in Marple Bridge.

View Video on The Virtual History Tour of Marple

The files are in Windows Media Video format, which should work for most visitors but
 if you have any technical difficulties watching and listening to the recording please get in touch.