firbeck
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Posts posted by firbeck
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Zab
By coincidence he featured on Transatlantic Sessions last friday night featuring a performance of 'May you Never' accompanied by the equally awsome Jerry Douglas, amazing. I know that he had a leg amputated a few years ago, but he was still touring last year and planned some more dates in March.
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I heard on the radio that John Martyn had died this morning, sad day.
For those not familiar, he was one of our underrated great singer song writers and guitarists, I believe he features on Transatlantic Sessions, BBC4 7:30 tomorrow night for those unlucky enough not to have seen him.
I first saw him in the early 70's at Trent Poly Union, a concert marred by ignorant people pushing constantly in front of him to get to the bar, he featured tracks from his unforgetable album 'Solid Air'.
I was then lucky enough to be invited to the Radio Nottingham studio a couple of years later by Trevor Dann to sit in on a live interview with him by John Holmes followed by a memorable concert at Nottingham University.
I last saw him at the London Fleadgh in the 90's and was hoping that his up and coming tour would take him to the Cambridge Corn Exchange, but sadly that won't happen.
John Martyn RIP.
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Not all of them did:-
Perhaps it had something to do with trying to get the maximum length and passenger capacity out of them.
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On a similar note, this should be in a museum in the Nottingham area too.
Still in it's original colours, an NCT Regal 111 single decker.
This picture was taken last year at the West of England Transport Museum at Winkleigh in Devon.
It's undercover and probably safe, but looking somewhat neglected, it should be running about at Ruddington, old NCT buses are very rare things.
I wonder how many people know of it's existance.
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I'm afraid that I haven't had time to look for all the last night stuff, some of it is in colour and some in black and white, it's sods law that they aren't all together.
I reckon that I took these on the last but one evening of operation, chasing about the route on bikes.
This one is in Parliament Street depot, they used to paint the fleet numbers out when they were withdrawn.
These are various scenes on the route from King Street to Basford, perhaps you would like to identify where they were taken, the last one is not a repeat from the other day, I was experimenting with a tripod and time exposure for the big night.
I know that I have a colour picture of 506 in it's last trolleybus colours, taken at Parliament Street, you could smell the fresh paintwork inside and out, thats probably when I swapped the brass starting handle over from a withdrawn example, naughty me.
Why this last trolley was never put straight into the industrial museum at Wollaton Park was always a mystery to me, what were the council thinking of, all they had to do was tow it down the road, it's scrap value must have been insignificant.
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Quite a fascinating read this one.
A very good friend of mine, still is and always was, a lovely bloke, was obsessed with the Dungeon to the extent that it took over his life, reading some of the comments on here, I can see why.
Thing is, he had a serious accident on his scooter that nearly killed him. As school mates, we regularly went to see him in hospital, do you know what, not one of his so called big pals from the Dungeon ever bothered to get in touch to see how he was getting on, he never went back there again after he recovered.
I recognise quite a few names off here, and others not mentioned, some were right arrogant, aggresive, unpleasant gits, some used to take delight in going to local discos and causing fights for no reason but the fact that they went to the Dungeon and anyone who didn't go was a sad tosser, yes, not everyone was like that, but I knew quite a few that were.
I recall the mini van gits that used to enjoy wrecking the Wollaton 'Wednesday Club' why? vanity, fun, yeah right. I also recall the mini van nasty piece of work that drove around with a shotgun in the back, I know his name, but I won't mention it as he's probably a youth worker now.
I recall when Stu Morris took up karate, my pal who was a member of the same club, was concerned that he had too much aggresion and had a serious attitude problem. I crossed him once, I wasn't impressed.
Take the p1$$ if you like, but I see rose coloured spectacles here.
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Before he went solo he was in a Band called 'Aphrodite's Child'...they were brilliant
Don't forget Yes and The Strawbs, nice bloke, helped carry his Hammond Organ up those dreaded Boat Club stairs.
Oops sorry, thought you meant Mr Wakeman, not a member of the cast of 'Mama Mia' acting as a windbreak.
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You don't want me to send you a copy then, thought you might be into that sort of thing.
My mother, the great autograph hunter, once bumped into Roger Whittaker at some airport and knowing my aversion to the 'great whistler' deliberately got him to dedicate his signature to me, she reckons she's going to dig her album out and wind me up the next time I go and see her.
Thats reminded me of another great 'whistler', Ronnie Ronalde, I distinctly remember going into the booking office at a theatre in Great Yarmouth in the 50's and mother pouncing on the poor bloke and demanding his autograph, I recall him being flustered but very kind, while I stood around and cringed with embarrasment. That wasn't the last time, I recall being grabbed by the hand by my Aunt Joan and dragged over to stand like an eejit while she interrogated Jane Asher on her relationship with 'Our Paul', I was speechless at her audacity, bloody Lancies, poor Jane was only opening a seaside ( Teignmouth ) carnival.
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It was a bit wierd down here today Beefsteak, no frost but thick fog and the cars were covered in condensation inside and out, I had to stop and clean the inside of the windscreen while going to get some diesel for Liz at 7:30, never had to do that before with our computerised Peugot, switch the bloomin thing on and it tends to sort itself out quickly.
At the moment it's like spring outside, warm and sunny, the daffodils are about to come out in the front garden, much later than last year, but they are ready to go. Trouble is what happens in the States often hits us a week later, global warming, what do you think, eh.
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Found amongst my dear beloved's Hungarian collection, this one looks very worrying.
C'mon, I bet you've got the follow up as well as Musical Youth's Greatest Hits, Fynger.
Is anyone going to own up to having a copy of the soundtrack to 'Mama Mia', or even worse a DVD of the film, it makes me feel ill just to write it.
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I think I still have a Frank Ifield single somewhere - luckily I don't own an operating turntable!
Whats wrong with that, can you still yodel as a consequence.
For some inexplicable reason someone once bought me 'Pass the Duchy' by Musical Youth, but I have a feeling it went straight in the bin, unplayed, when they had gone, I bet Fynger still has a copy.
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Braintree was the home of those appalling pre-war steel Crittall windows, found everywhere, now owned by the French, with a token, high tech, but unused, factory, still in the town.
Bocking and Braintree was the home of Courtaulds Textiles, now long gone, though Julian Courtauld, a lovely man, the direct descendant of those famous Hugenots, is Liz's boss and lets us keep our ponies in his barn for naff all.
You'll know the company Beefsteak, Courtenhams Haulage at Blackmore End, you may have delivered there, I'd be interested to know if you did.
Not many people know this.
In WW1 the Sherwood Foresters and Notts and Derby Regiment were conscripted up your way, trained up, shoved onto trains down to Hatfield and forced to march over to Bocking, causing mayhem and fear and loathing in the towns on the way, particularly Dunmow, where they got drunk and slept in peoples front gardens.
On arriving here, they were billeted in local houses nearby and ordered to dig defensive trenches around the town, just in case the Germans invaded, unlikely, but having marched miles they were then forced to protect Braintree from the Hun, poor sods. Not much light relief before they died in the real trenches. It's very sad how I've never been able to find any evidence of their efforts either, nothing remains, though there is a bit of an odd ditch in father-in-laws next door neighbours garden where they apparantley started this exercise, does anyone know more.
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179450
I was coerced into remembering it when I had to pay the milkman on a friday morning during the school holidays in the 50's and 60's, the money was placed in a little china pot next to the front door.
It was all a waste of time really, the number was written in pencil on a brick next to the front door, just in case I forgot. 50 years on and you can still clearly read it, and the pot is still there as well.
Incidentally, how come that my Chelmsford Co-op Divi card was acceptable at the Trowell Road, Wollaton Co-op, yet not at my local branch just down the road at Bocking.
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We do get Magpies, Jays, et al, they just didn't fancy coming out yesterday, can't blame them.
We do get a large number of birds in the garden, as I write this I can see 4 Goldfinches and 2 Blue Tits on the feeders but I think it is probably due to the fact that we back on to the so called 'Nature Reserve' that has been so messed about with by the ' More knowledgeable Powers that Be' that they are forced to seek food in peoples gardens.
I've just been for a walk down there with the dogs, please don't encourage me to say what I think about the sad situation that I've found, I'm an amature, these people that run it are alleged paid proffesionals, if this is this the best that they can do, well, f### em, whatever I say won't make any difference, it might interefere with their pension plans otherwise, we have to support our local council don't we, they know best after all, tossers.
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Fynger, your enthusiasm is well appreciated.
OK, which TV series featured a character called ' Cupcake', and which actor played the part, it doesn't relate to the title of the programme, but hell will freeze over before you get an answer to that one, despite all your efforts.
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I thought that this might bring back a few memories:-
I knew it was lurking up in the loft somewhere and I found it yesterday, crap picture I know, I just stuck it on my drawing board and took the photo.
It's album sized, typical 70's, could it be unique.
They used to produce, similar, single sized bags as well, anyone got one of those.
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I thought you might be interested in this:-
These are the autographs of the last driver and conducter of the last trolleybus in public service, they don't appear to tally with the names given by Robert.
This is the special ticket that they signed:-
The City Council put out a special commemerative ticket, it's yellow with green writing, I got them to sign it also, I remember that the conductress was in tears.
We hired our own trolleybus to follow the last service vehicle, leaving Parliament Street Depot, we linked up with the last service at King Street and followed it to the terminus at Basford. We then followed it back to Parliament Street Depot, losing the poles at the junction of Mansfield Road and Parliament Street, I recall that we were followed by a convoy of tooting cars.
On arrival at the depot amongst hoards of people, everyone sang Old Lang Syne, and that was the end, apart from the special trip the next day for the overpaid council officials, who had no right to be on there.
No, the conductress and driver that signed that ticket weren't the ones from our hired trolley, they were the ones off the actual public service bus, I have colour slides that I took of them.
As Sidney Hill was my mates grandad, we tried to use his influence to get us on the last ever trolley, but he couldn't, even he complained that most of the civic party had never travelled on one and didn't deserve to be on it, besides, our headmaster was an evil moron and wouldn't give us time out to see it, despite our honesty in going to see him and discuss it, he wasn't interested and threatened us with being expelled if we did, arsehole.
I have a folder somewhere with newspaper cuttings, tickets, memorabilia and my original pictures of that last public day, but can I bloody find it, no way, oh, and I have the original starting handle off of 506, the last trolley, pity it lost it's crudely and hastily applied Last Trolley transfers when it went to Sandtoft, sad that.
This picture was taken by me on one of the last nights of the 36 service, I reckon it was the night before the end, this is one of the last 36's at King Street, I'll endeavour to find my other stuff and publish it.
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So what happened to all you twitchers then.
We had foul weather all day, Liz put out some extra bird food at about 11:00 and this is what we recorded over the next hour, nothing really spectacular I'm afraid, the results were duly sent off when the RSPB form eventually appeared on their site.
Blackbird 3
Blue Tit 4
Chaffinch 4
Coal Tit 1
Collared Dove 2
Dunnock 2
Goldfinch 6
Great Tit 2
Greenfinch 1
House Sparrow 2
Long Tailed Tit 6
Robin 2
Song Thrush 1
Starling 2
Woodpigeon 2
Wren 1
Rats 2
It's noticeable how the numbers of House Sparrows have dwindled, and this year no Corn Buntings, Reed Buntings, Nuthatches or Woodpeckers, thank you Braintree District Council.
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The weather here is so appalling today, it's been continuous rain since we got up, I doubt whether we are going to get a true picture of what is about.
So far, apart from the usual suspects, two large flocks of Goldfinches and long tailed tits brightened the gloom, but it's so dark and dismal you need a pair of night glasses to make out anything.
I know that they aren't very clever, but I love pheasants, please don't shoot them Rog.
Fynger, that looks like a coal tit you had on your feeder, I reckon mine are hiding in the bike shed, don't blame them either.
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I thought you might like this, Waddo 1981, it must have been noisy.
I gather that in 1968, 22 Vulcans did a streamed take off from Cottesmore, joined up with Victors over Finningley then formated with more Vulcans over Waddo and did a 50th anniversary RAF flypast over Abingdon, it must have been an amazing sight, trying to track down pictures of this is proving difficult though, but I shall persevere.
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Ayup firbeck,
Scope and bins already in place looking over the back fields
Rog
Have you seen anything exciting yet, I've only just got back from meeting the Hun, madams gone to the local farm shop to get some snacks for the birds ( I reccommend the Robin mix ) so we can artificially persuade them to call in at the bird table tomorrow.
Our reed bunting, a former visitor to our bird table 18 months ago, it's nest site and habitat now destroyed by our Local Authority and it's army of blue rinsed 'nature lovers', but they know best don't they.
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I know that quite a few of you have an interest in our feathered friends, I wondered whether any of you were taking part. It's easy to do, just record the different species you see on your bird table and garden for an hour, better still, go on the RSPB website, they'll tell you what to do and they have an on-line recording chart.
I thought it might be a good idea to see what some of you record around the country and in different habitats, Sea Harriers don't count though Beefsteak, perhaps some of our American contributers might like to take part for the hell of it.
I'm not hopefull of seeing anything amazing here, following the local councils decision to turn the river area over the other side of my fence into a 'nature reserve', they've destroyed the habitat of many rare species, and continue to do so despite my protests, we won't be getting any more Nuthatches, thats for sure.
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Wheres 'Spock' ??.....only Vulcan i know of
I'm here, however, I find you very illogical.
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I've tracked down a list of participating aircraft from that year, I thought you might be interested.
I gather that the official scramble involved 4 Vulcans, repeated in 1978, 80, 81.
I only ever saw 4 Vulcans in the air at once, that was during the practice for the Queens Jubilee Flypast in 1977, I was working in Chelmsford at the time and they flew low over the office, only three took part in the actual flypast on the day, the fourth was held in reserve. It's a shame that I only have pictures of this on slides and can't upload them. On the day, the formation flew right over my house in Witham, it was a right mixed bag of Lightnings, Phantoms, Jags and whatever was about at the time, presumably the Reds flying Gnats, an amazing sight that we will never see again.
Here's the list, it's very poignant:-
Note that the Red Arrows were an aircraft short, presumably due to an accident, look at all those aircraft we'll never see again, Jags, Phantoms, Buccs? Lightnings, Vulcs?
Then the one's sadly lost in accidents, The Vintage Pair, colliding over Mildenhall during the Air Fete, Mosquito, stalled and crashed at Wharton, Sea Fury FB11, abandoned over the sea when the undercarriage wouldn't retract.
Sad isn't it, especially when you consider the aircrew that were killed.
I wonder how many of the aircraft on this list have survived intact, I note that our possibly never to fly again Vulcan XH558 isn't on the list.
A Buccaneer is being restored to fly at Scampton and some airforces still fly Phantoms, so lets not give up hope on seeing some of them fly again at our airshows.
Strange, I've just noticed the lack of American participation, I wonder why, no, perhaps the Starfighter was one of theirs, CAG, National Air Guard California perhaps, I remember seeing ANG exercises involving Delta Darts over Suffolk around that time, so who knows.
50th anniversary - end of NCT trolleybuses
in Pete's Nottingham Transport Forum
Posted
Robert
You've had me in tears this morning, glad to help.
I don't think I'm going to have the time to go rooting for these other photo's and momentoes for a few days, I'll try, but it could be a major search and I have quite a few problems to deal with myself this weekend.
I have done a bit of sniffing about on the net and discovered the whereabouts and website of the former secretary of the Nottingham Trolleybus Group, I know he took a load of photos as well on the last trolley night so he might have some good one's of your mum, I'm pretty sure that some members of the group also took colour cine film that night. Despite not being in contact with them for over 40 years, I recall their names and know that some are involved up at Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum, and even have original NCT and Notts and Derbys trolleys lurking about in the Nottingham area, it's a pity that these aren't on public view.
Starting with the old secretary, I'll see if any pics or film are available, I'll let you know.
Here's a picture of 506 restored to all it's glory at Sandtoft.
I came across this picture, taken during the big freeze, 62/63, under the wires with not a trolley in sight, just a Midland General Lodekka, can anyone recognise the location.