firbeck

I can't find the letter, I think I must have found it in the loft last week when I was looking for my Hornby clockwork key ( a long story ), this would give the date of when the inquiry was running. Anyway, while Googling about I can't find much of the story as everything is now ensconced in the National Archives. I did however find this, it looks hand drawn to me and isn't quite accurate:- All the houses on the south side of Trowell Road were to be demolished, apart from ours and most of Firbeck Estate was to remain. The M42 was not going to run along the route of Trowell Road as shown, bu

It was definately in the early 70's, no-one knew much about it until all the plans were revealed one evening up at Firbeck School. The presentation was given by a bunch of arrogant, patronising scum from the 'Midland Road Construction Unit' or some such nom de plume. The reaction from the residents was somewhat angry to say the least, my old man had to be restrained from smacking the barstewards happily presenting the plan to screw up peoples lives. I joined the anti motorway action group on the spot and worked my backside off till we got the ridiculous scheme chucked out, it was my first enco

So that's where your flamboyant use of Anglo-Saxon came from!! Did you know that when the M42 was going to be run along the side of Trowell Road leaving my old man's house teetering on the edge of a vast cutting full of motorway, after plungeing under the Trowell Road railway bridge and across the site of the colliery sports ground it was to follow the route of the canal to The Crown roundabout. At the public enquiry I challenged the council on this, they had known for years about the scheme and kept it quiet, that's why the canal locks were allowed to fall apart and be vandalised, typical de

Strange, if you look up 'Songs written or co-written by Andy Fraser' on Wikipedia it only lists four, that can't be right as he gets most of the credits along with Paul Rodgers for the first five Free albums, I've only got one, the second album 'Free' released in 1969, mines an original vinyl bought then, still in pretty good condition too I might give it a blast 'Alright Now'.

The first time I saw it was February, 1982? on a Sunday night at about 10:00pm. It was a freezing night with a heavy frost and we lived in a very rural location at a place called High Garrett, just outside Braintree. The rather grand 18th century Gothic front door faced directly North looking out over fields, I was putting our milk bottles out on the step and looked up to see this amazing waving vertical curtain of bright green light stretching high up into the sky with pulsating streaks coming out the top almost vertically overhead. At that moment my ex shouted that Bill Giles on the weather

Dull and cowd 'ere anall Pianoman. I thought smog was what you got from Stanton Ironworks, Wilford Power Station, Toton and Colwick engine sheds and all those domestic coal fires back in the 50's and 60's, it just shows you how well the EU Regulations applying to air pollution are practiced in the countries from which they originate. Tomlinson I never knew that, being slightly geographically closer to Holland, that must explain why we have a terrible smell of sewage when the wind is from the East, and all this time I thought it was next doors drains.

Looking at the current weather forecast, Nottingham will see it, Essex won't, it's going to be only an 85% eclipse too, I'm not sure what it was in our two areas in 1999. I also see that our National Grid are whingeing that power supplies in this country could be affected, well it might be for those who can afford solar panels on their houses, otherwise they're clearly covering their backsides, as usual. I shall be working outside in the garden centre at our local B & Q during the eclipse, should I set up artificial lighting in case the plants wither up and die.

I've seen it twice down here in rural Essex in all it's glory but last night went all foggy, I doubt whether it will be seen this far south anyway. Last year there were spectacular views off the Norfolk coast, where I was at Winterton we saw nothing thanks to thick sea fret unfortunately.

Believe it or not there are warnings going out to the European countries that use a lot of solar power that power cuts could be a real possibility, My A*se!! the bloody thing isn't going to last all day, typical EU. I think we could be in luck in Essex, cloudy in a band across the middle of the country they reckon. I remember in 1999 lots of my pals descended on Cornwall to see the full eclipse, it rained, they saw nowt, it wasn't a full do here but pretty impressive all the same, very surreal.

I saw Fraser play live twice. The first time was at the Portsmouth Guildhall back in 1970 when he was with Free. They were dreadful, smacked out of their heads and only keeping upright by leaning against their speaker stacks with Rodgers mumbling his way through their repertoire, mind you the audience were just as bad, we were compos mentis, the pre-concert pints of Brickwoods didn't have the same effect. The next time I saw him was at Nottingham Uni in 1973 when he was playing with Sharks, a really great, underrated band fronted by the brilliant Chris Spedding, I don't know what happened to

It's just been announced that the National Piers Society have made Cromer Pier 'Pier of the Year 2015'. Apparently NCC have just spent £1.8m on restoration following damage in last year's Winter storms, it's also the last pier in the country to still have the 'End of the Pier Show'. Other Local Councils take note, the pier's iconic image clearly make it profitable, it's also free to go on it.

The final pier is Hunstanton, this lost it's seaward side in a storm in 1978, then the remaining pavilion burnt down a few years ago, whats been put in it's place is pretty pathetic:-

Which one, there are two, well, in part. Britannia Pier just about occupies the beach and not much further, it's a wonderfully tacky seaside place to go to:- Wellington Pier is also one that sits on the beach. After a fire it was bought by Jim Davidson who wanted to restore it, the particularly superb glass pavilion is incredible, but falling to pieces. After investing £750,000 of his own money in trying to preserve the pier, Davidson pulled out after he couldn't get any funding from either the Lottery Fund or the Local Authority, shame on them, whatever you think of Jim Davidson, he tried

Claremont Pier in Lowestoft is falling to pieces, there is an amusement arcarde landside but the rest of it is too dangerous to go on, the owner would like to restore it but can't afford it, c'mon Lottery Fund, you can waste your money on trying to restore Brooklands which is largely occupied by immovable housing and industrial estates, why not something worthwhile:- South Pier Lowestoft is in reality part of the stone harbour breakwater, but still in use:-

Next one along is Felixstowe, this was condemned 10 years ago, I think they're still arguing over what to do with it:- This appears to be the latest cunning plan, not much of a typical long pier is it:- Another favourite of mine is Southwold. Only a few years ago it consisted of a tacky shore pavilion and a few feet of actual pier, the rest was removed during the war in order to prevent invasion, as if!! It was rebuilt about 20 odd years ago, very nicely too, the pavilions contain some really wierd and wonderful amusements and the kiosks sell pretty upmarket food and souvenirs:-

Running around the East Anglian coast from Clacton, as it's my happy hunting ground, the next one along from Clacton is Walton on the Naze. This pier has a wacking great enclosed amusement arcade at the entrance, then the original structure heads out to sea, used originally for the pleasure steamers that plied the Thames Estuary:- Next along is Harwich, not strictly a seaside pier, more of a quay, but has some quaint buildings at the entrance:- Across the Stour estuary at Shotley is a pier currently for sale, this was used for the naval cadets at HMS Ganges, it's derelict but all yours

Cromer is my favourite pier, we go there a lot. It's kept in immaculate condition and still has the 'End of the Pier' show, a decent bar and cafe and is probably being painted up for the new season as I write this, no chance of that being sold off for commercial gain:- In the 90's a terrific storm blew a loose barge into it taking out the middle section, the lifeboat station was stranded as the crews couldn't get out there, so a reserve lifeboat was positioned on the beach slipway until the pier was repaired, very quickly and in matching style. One of life's pleasures is to buy a crab sa

It still does and has everything else including the kitchen sink:- The Helter Skelter got blown over during the big storms a year last Xmas, it's back up, hopefully with some bigger holding down bolts this time.

No, even that caught fire during demolition.

Southend Pier is always catching fire, the most memorable time was the day after I first visited it in June 1976, bit of a coincidence. This is one of the trains that were used up until that date, we were probably some of the last people to catch one:- The pier is constantly being updated, these are the new trains:- And a current view of the pier as it is now:- What is a worry to everyone is that over towards the Isle of Grain, that you can see on the other side of the Thames, is the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery, a wartime Liberty ship sunk in 1944 and still carrying several tho

It certainly did, January 1978, the same storm wrecked Hunstanton and Herne Bay piers, blew in some of the canopies at Midland Station while I was standing underneath them and took off large bits of my roof back home in Witham. Skeggy Pier after the storm. The current truncated Skeggy Pier.

Rob is certainly much missed by me, we used to have loads of e-mail banter between us ( couldn't have done that on here, we would have been banned, or worse ). I rarely go on Facebook, but did so the other week and was shocked to find a 'Friends Request' from non other than Rob, I still can't work that one out?? Back to cricket, I don't think it exists anymore down here except at Felsted Public School, we drove over there in the summer as I wanted to show our Hungarian Uncle George the wonderful tomb of Lord Rich in Felsted Church ( no he wasn't on the board of England selectors, quite the re

Which would you suggest was the back!

This is the completed kit, looks superb, by the time mine got hacked about to put the HD 0-6-2 tank chassis on the front, it was never the same again.

Sorry, back to Garratts, I was looking a few things up and found this:- All I have left are a few tatty bits, makes me weep.