When people talk about riding the old red rattlers, the horse swings in the park and swimming under the Hinton Bridge, you immediately think of Maitland.
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Thousands of people have taken to Facebook to join a page – You Know You’re From Maitland When? – to share their memories of the city.
Aaron Golledge, from Aberglasslyn, created the page last Monday and by Thursday night it had 300 members.
By Friday morning that number had doubled to 600 and has since exploded.
As of yesterday afternoon, the group had attracted more than 3800 members.
Mr Golledge said the page had given people a place to look back on fond memories of their formative years.
“I think Maitland has such a brilliant history,” he said. “People like to reminisce about their childhood and people have picked out some great memories.
“What I like seeing are the comments that I and other people can relate to where they can say ‘yeah, I remember that.’”
Mr Golledge started the page after he saw some friends start a similar page about Kurri Kurri.
The page involves people sharing memories and photos of the city.
He said the group’s members had made the page what it was.
“It’s the wonderful people of Maitland who have done this,” Mr Golledge said. “It only took me five minutes to set up and everyone on the page has contributed to it.
“I don’t want to take all the credit for it, it was just an idea that people seem to enjoy.”
Mr Golledge said he was happy to have found so many others who were proud of their Maitland roots.
“I’ve had people comment on the page that they left Maitland 40 years ago and live in such and such, but they still consider Maitland home,” he said.
“I personally love Maitland; we’ve got such a rich history with the floods and things like raft races from the Belmore Bridge to Morpeth.
“It’s just a great place to be able to call home.”