firbeck

Fantastic programme, guessed that 'Hey Jude' would be No1. 'Drive my Car' and 'Norwegian Wood' were never issued as singles, that's why they weren't on there. I recall seeing that the Beatles were going to be on the 'David Frost Show' and recall watching it as they performed 'Hey Jude' live, did the same with 'All You Need is Love' while supposedly revising for my Geography 'O' Level. One Direction and the other crap so-called 'Boy Bands', not a chance in comparison, actually quite pathetic and insulting, but the public love them, they have short memories of real talent.

That's Pole Moor on the right. My late, ex in laws ran the Star pub in Slaithwaite then moved to Linthwaite higher up the valley to run the Broad Oak pub. I recall cleaning Renee's Dolomite one morning when a Tornado came so low and fast overhead from the direction of Crossland Moor that I could clearly see the pilot and nav apparently looking at me. It descended into Colne Valley at very high speed then followed the contours up Pole Moor and passed by the radio masts, bloody incredible. That was before they went to war, must have been a GR1, sad to think of circumstances now. I used to take

Finally, a special tribute to my old mate Steve Kirk whose birthday it is today. Taken on the Colne Valley line between Marsden and Slaithwaite in late 1974, a Class 40 meanders down the valley with a mineral freight. In the background is Standedge, now the site of the reopened canal tunnel, Steve was born in a house just around the corner from the buildings at the top background, no running water!! Happy Birthday mate. Another for Steve, a Class 40 heading through the magnificent Huddersfield Station, summer 1974, I reckon it's heading east, but not sure, for any keen types, try the st

If you want diesels and possibly electrics, a few gems for you, sorry, I haven't had time to track down my Notts colour slides yet:- E3064 taken at Crewe, June 1963 by my brother with his Hanimex, no yellow warning panels, this was the furthest extent of electrification, the trains were taken forward to Scotland by Coronation Class Pacifics, which were still abundant at Crewe North. Many people liked the 'Westerns' probably fairly new this one ( and it was always a bugger to read those cast metal number plates ), taken at Shrewsbury heading south a few hours after the last pic, most of t

No Steam on Here!! No chance, while going through some old stuff, none of which I've published before, I was tempted to put this on:- Britannia Pacific 70005 'John Milton', ( Sans nameplates ), climbing Hest Bank and passing through the water troughs with an express parcels heading north towards Carnforth, possibly for Carlisle. Taken in 1965, I apologise for the muck on the slide, I'll do something about it when I have time. He doesn't appear to be taking on water, an experience I suffered when hanging out the window of the carriage immediately behind the tender of 'Shooting Star' a year

Did you know that Hemswell, not Scampton, was used to film 'The Dambusters' back in 1954. Their Lincoln squadrons were used as stand in Lancaster backdrops, well, who would know the difference.

Hi Fredjee, if you search around on Nottstalgia you'll find a considerable number of photo's that I've published from the Firbeck archives. I took my first photo back in 1958, WC 'City of Wells' on the Golden Arrow at Folkestone. I have so many photo's most of which I haven't put on here, it's so time consuming to upload and put them up, not helped by the fact that my PC crashed badly a few weeks ago and stuff vanished into the ether. I have a 35mm colour slide cassette entitled 'Trains 1970's', must be loads of local diesel stuff on there, I probably haven't looked at it for 25 years!! I ha

Bugger, I should be on the afternoon shift at Players, or was it Boots, Raleigh, Ericsons, down pit, sweeping out at Toton Sheds or hanging around the blast furnaces at Stanton Ironworks? I'm confused, what do I do? No, my mobile phone has bleeped and I'm invited to a function at the Swiss Bell in Braintree tonight, no contest, I'll stay in and read a book instead.

I had just staggered back from a hard day at B&Q selling Xmas trees, came home, crashed on the settee, put the telly on, load of crap, as usual, then saw the line up for 'Sounds of the 70's', James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Eagles, America, et-al and decided to watch it and chucked on the surround sound.. Each act was split with a Pathe news item in between, I couldn't see the relevance, but, there you go. Suddenly just before Joni Mitchell came on with 'Big Yellow Taxi', I found myself watching a news item about the Lilac Leopards in Nottingham, followed by a by a split second scene of foll

Thank my brother Compo, he'd just got his Hanimex 35mm camera for Xmas and was quite keen to try it out. These were taken off the original prints, I still have the negs somewhere which my all singing and dancing scanner will probably enhance no end. It must have been quite interesting driving a steam loco in those weather conditions, the 8F's and 'Aussies' had reasonably enclosed cabs, driving a 4F with it's half cab must have been a nightmare, particularly in reverse as they often did, all they had for protection then was a bit of canvas, 'Elf and Safety' would have had a field day with all

After working at Blacks since before the war as a compositor, my old man left the company in the mid 60's and moved to Hill and Tylers in Basford. I recall the place as being quite grim and dark, there was a coal fired boiler in the basement that originally drove a steam engine that connected to all the printing presses by a system of belts. I don't know when it finally closed down, presumably my old man had an inkling of this when he chose to leave, though I gather Hill and Tyler paid him a lot more money than Blacks did. Probably the place had shut down by the time of the fire, there are pic

It was next door to the Hole in the Wall pub, there's a photo of the print works on 'Picture the Past'.

We couldn't play rugby either, too dangerous on a frozen pitch, instead we had to play football, much hated by BGS staff apart from Mr Wombwell, who'd apparently had played pro for Barnsley FC. Looking at peoples recollections of that winter, it's the smog that stands out for me, it was green! You could taste the sulphur which came pouring out of the coke ovens at Stanton Ironworks which was only a couple of miles away from Bilborough, also, most people had coal fires which added to the flavour of the smog. Our only source of heat at home was a coal fire in the living room which was kept burn

The 'local demolition company' seemed to consist of the local youths from Firbeck and Fernwood estates. No sooner had the hearse containing the coffin of the old boy that lived there driven up the 'Black Path', and I was on the 'Train Bridge' at the time and saw it go by, then the gangs moved in and trashed the place. Myself and Ian Hutchins were taking Chips the dog for a walk along the canal one day when the Pigs tried to arrest us for being seen vandalising the place, we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it took some convincing to persuade them we'd had nowt to do with i

Hi Sorry, have been so busy with work recently, I tried to write a message on my I-Phone on Sunday but it's playing up and our Broadband connection is crap. I'd just like you to think of the past, and the future, in 15 minutes time. My Grandad, fought in the 'Unknown Battles' in Salonika against the Turks and Germans from 1916 onwards. My dad, fought in every major battle in Europe from D-Day onwards then awarded the 'pleasure' of being sent to India to fight the Japs. My mums brother Eric, armourer on HMS Illustrious, seriously wounded in a Kamikaze attack in the Pacific, his life saved

Ou

Only one bag Kev?Snarf,snarf

The old timber level crossings were great fun. You'd look up to the adjacent signal box and see the signalman start to turn that great big wheel to close the gates, very reminiscent of a ships tiller. They'd be lot's of clunking and thumping as they came together and locked into place, the gates would all shake and tremble as they settled down, the bigger they were, the noisier and rattlier they became. Then I would get off my bike and hang off them, waiting to see whether a double peg would appear and from which direction the train would come. If it was a decent Saturday afternoon, my dad, b

Have just been up to Morrisons, bought fresh meat and asked for a bag for nowt in view of the law. The girl, who was lovely and most helpful said that the management hadn't a clue what the law specifically stated and decided that it was down to a tied up clear plastic bag. As there were none available, and besides, my purchase wouldn't fit into such a tiny thing they normally put individual meat/fish items in, their answer was to chuck it in a normal carrier bag, 'As long as the ends were tied up'. Apparently this was the way Morrisons found it acceptable to the grumbling old gits like me, bu

Isn't that what the press is all about DJ, I haven't bought a national newspaper since the crap they were publishing about the first Gulf War in 1991.I actually bought our local rag yesterday, this was because of the ridiculous headline about the new shopping malls and tram system about to be introduced to Braintree, yeah, right, multi millions of pounds to be spent on the public being able to walk past empty businesses, browse charity shops, estate agents and spend what money they have left on supermarket bags.

I think that one of the problems is that the poor PBI, the staff on the ground, have not been briefed properly on the actual law, which is sad because any primed customers will not appreciate this, I've talked to staff at Tessies and Sains and they haven't a clue what's going on or what they are supposed to do about it. I've worked at Tessies, I currently work at B&Q, so I know what the relationship is between management, staff and directives from above, it's very muddy sometimes. B&Q have never provided free, dodgy bags, well it's not really that sort of retail environment, you can't

Of course there are bigger things in the world to worry about, I agree with that, but it's the principle of the thing. Like others on here we never waste a bag, we use them for rubbish disposal (our Tory council don't provide free bags for general waste, yet you're not allowed to just dump your rubbish uncontained in the black wheelie bin), dog poo, taking butties to work, storing mail, et al, we even run out of the bloody things even though you may think it's hard to do so. It's all been a game by Cameron and his former lackey Clegg, what do they care about the poor bloody pensioners who have

Can anyone confirm this.The day before the introduction of the bag charge, the BBC News, of course, had a feature about it. Liz and I both watched it and it was stated that bags would still be provided free for fresh meat and fish. I went into both Tesco and Sainsbury's yesterday and none of them seemed aware of this, so what's the truth of the matter?

I work at the garden centre at our local B&Q, a none ageist company, well, at least down here. A couple of weeks ago I was cycling in, as I do everyday, on our myriad of cycle paths, when I came across a couple of gross, overweight, teenage dickheads waddling down the middle of the cycle path. I cycled around them and said nothing, one of them said, 'Ere, you old man, you c===, what are you playing at, you nearly ran us over'. I stopped, pointed to the bike symbol painted on the path and politely explained that they were walking down the middle of a cycle path. Noooo..... that didn't wor