My grandad Charles William Gravett was born in 15 Tidy Street in the mid 1800's. I am writing about my family's past in the Gravett family history, a bit at a time as featured in the 'People' section on this site. It's slow going as there are bits of diaries and scraps of paper everywhere, but it will get done, as I think it would be a shame to lose all this glance into the past.

My Great Grandmother, Mercy Mary Avis Haffenden, was born in 39 Tidy Street in February 1861 to a single Mother, also called Mercy Haffenden. 39 Tidy Street was the home of Mercy's sister, Martha and her husband Felix Guy. In July 1909 Mercy's niece, Beatrice Maud Kent, daughter of her sister Ellen, was married from this house.

My Grandad was called Herbert Stanley Slaughter and he was born in Tidy Street, I think around number 44 or 46.
I did have a look at his family history years ago, which is where I came across his address. His family were grocers at one point. Is there a street directory available? He was born in 1897 (this is purely from memory mind, so I could be a bit out!).

My nan and grandad, Sylvia and Patrick Timblin, bought no. 40 Tidy Street in the early fifties, and my nan sold it in 2001. I lived there myself with my nan from 1995 untill she sold the place; I have lots of very fond memories of this house. I also remember that every couple of years they would change the one way system round there, just to confuse us all I expect.

I rented 12 Tidy St (upstairs flat) from 1982 as a student with my then boyfriend, and we were there a few years I think. The rent was £80 a month between us. We made a lot of friends in the North Laine Community Association. Very friendly and great community spirit. The North Laine area was pretty cheap & scruffy then though, not as trendy as it is now. I remember the neighbour opposite us had the only garage in the street, instead of a front room presumably!

My grandparents, Derek Percy Livermore and Ena Livermore, lived at 48 Tidy Street, from about the 70s to the late 80s. It was a fantastic street and the house was on 4 floors. Many happy family memories. I remember staying with them on the night of the hurricane and the roof tiles in the street falling to the ground on my way to work the next day! Next door to them there was a family with twin boys and at the end of Tidy Street there was a chippy and newsagents. My Nan, and most of the women in the area, would go to the Upper Gardener Street market every Saturday morning to find a bargain! My Grandad worked at Phoenix Brewery and the local pubs in the area cleaning the pipes. Lovely community spirit in that street!