SUDBURY REMEMBERED
A Series of interviews by Ashley Cooper
Roger Green
ROGER GREEN recalls how St Peters Church, on the Market Hill, was saved from possible destruction in the 1970’s, whilst also revealing glimpses of the building’s past. As a music teacher at Cornard Upper School ,(now Thomas Gainsborough School) he also describes the building of the Prospect Theatre there—together with some of its famous visitors.
Phyllis Felton
PHYLIS FELTON remembers her time at Walnutree Hospital where she nursed for many years, beginning her training there in 1959. She vividly describes the building, its history, the Nurse’s Home where she lived and of Matrons who had been pioneers of the NHS. Local characters are also recalled, together with the creation of Sudbury Museum.
Peter Minter
PETER MINTER remembers the Sudbury of his youth with its Corn Exchange, livestock market and Rugby Club—when cows also grazed on the pitch! An expert on brick making, Peter describes Bulmer Brickyard and some of his favourite restoration jobs, together with some amusing anecdotes about the local characters he also knew.
Sue Tibbetts
SUE TIBBETTS reminiscences about her forty year teaching career in Sudbury’s ‘Middle Schools.’ Arriving in 1972 at the beginning of Comprehensive education, she describes how the schools were amalgamated and new schools eventually built. She also recollects the Great Hurricane of 1987, together with the very first pocket calculators—and computers—to be used in schools!
Peter Cooper
DR. PETER COOPER is an authority on Victorian Sudbury. Born in 1937, he describes his early education. Despite failing the ‘Eleven Plus’ he eventually won a place at the Grammar School, before going on to Selwyn College, Cambridge. Peter’s knowledge of Sudbury and love of music shine through, as he recalls those who taught and inspired him.
Margaret Hibble
MARGARET HIBBLE talks about her schooldays in the 1940’s and 50’s, when she was told that, ‘Girls don’t study science’. (Undeterred she still got a job in a laboratory!) Margaret also reminisces about ‘sweet rationing’, life before electricity came to Waldingfield Road and of Sudbury in the 1960’s—with its cattle market, cinemas, church activities and coffee bars.
Ted Filer
TED FILER was a lifelong designer in Sudbury’s Silk mills and explains the intricacies of silk weaving. Born in 1930, Ted also provides memories of Sudbury during the Second World War, of the American aircrews based at Chilton and of the Gainsborough cinema, when the film often broke—and had to be repaired!
Produced in association with Sudbury Museum Trust
by The Offshoot foundation