BRIGG AREA MEMORIES FROM OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

The recent Brigg Blog posting about gulls in the area, and particularly Scawby ponds, brought a speedy reply all the way from New Zealand, courtesy of former town resident Cliff Turner.
He emailed to tell us: "The Ponds, off  Twigmoor Lane, were the breeding grounds of hundreds of black-headed gulls before the war. I have seen their departure attributed to the presence of large numbers of Canadian and/or American troops prior to the invasion of Europe in 1944.
"In about 1938 or 1939 I went to the Ponds  with a party from school on a Wednesday afternoon; I travelled with French teacher Chips Morris but cannot recall any other boy in the group..
"Albert Turner, brother of my Dad Reg, was married to Miriam Green, daughter of George who was then head game keeper on the Nelthorpe estate. Auntie Mim used to help at the ponds in the summer taking the admission fee and selling ice creams.
"Another local occasion was the opening of the lily woods at Broughton. For a small fee visitors could pick bunches of lily of the valley - which is not really a lily but a member of a quite separate genus. Does this still occur?"

(Cliff's dad and  his brother Fred had the pork butcher's shop in Queen Street)