FLOODS, trains and a rag and bone man are amongst some of the memories brought to life this week. Gill Cooper of Trowbridge has kindly lent the photos along with some from the members of her social media group who celebrate the town’s recent history.

We begin with a photo of the floods taken from the Three Horseshoes pub on Mortimer Street opposite the Lamb Inn thought to date to the 1950s. Gill said the River Biss used to flood regularly at Cradle Bridge with regulars at the Three Horseshoes having to wade knee deep to their local if they wanted a drink. The town saw a disastrous flood in 1894 as illustrated with a series of photographs in the archives at Trowbridge’s museum while more can be seen on the BBC Wiltshire website including floods in the towns in the 1940s and 1960s.

Next in Gill’s collection is a postcard of the railway station when the complex was a major concern with several platforms, shunting yards and sidings and considerable amount of freight. The postcard view is from 1979 before the changes which saw most of the buildings destroyed. Opened in 1848 as part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway it is certainly not the station it once was. With the increasing demand for rail travel perhaps it could yet see a Renaissance.

Stella and Clive Greaves of Trowbridge have shared their snap of the North Bradley rag and bone man Sammy Paradise. He was known as much for his pet whippets as for his trade which in a way predated the recycling industry.

Another photo from the Greaves collection is of them as children in Trowbridge’s Woolworths store in the 1960s when you could buy broken biscuits, shoe polish, batteries and even jeans. The photo was taken by their dad Vic Greaves who was the manager.

Finally, a photograph of members of the Chamber of Commerce planting a tree in the 1980s. Vic Greaves is the man in the middle while James Ladd who ran a building supplies store is on the left. If anyone can name the others in the picture then do email me. We welcome original photographs and the stories attached to them so do get in touch.