Scriv
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Posts posted by Scriv
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Used to deliver there regularly when I was working for Rainbows Nightfreight. Nice people, always very polite.
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I have struck upon a little gold mine for Nottstalgia's railway fans; photo albums published by a chap called David Ford, comprising pictures taken by his father in the 1940's - 1960's and by himself in the 1970's/80's. Lots of stuff from all over the UK but plenty from the East Midlands, including some interesting ones of the early preserved GCR.
Some of the older ones sre not of the best quality and have deteriorated with time, but there's a veritable cornucopia of memories for you in here. And thanks to Mr. Ford for publishing them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/sets/with/72157632973221514
Enjoy!
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Stag & Pheasant Loughborough had been closed a few years before I came to live here (1971)
I had family in Loughborough (my grandmother on mum's side and also my aunt and uncle) and was a regular visitor to the town. Over the course of about 20 years on-and-off volunteering at GCR, I got to know many of the pubs quite well.
Back in the late 1970's/early 80's Loughborough was a good town to drink in if you liked real ale, as I do; the GCR's Signal & Telegraph dept. was a notoriously hard-drinking crew, not something that happens these days in the preserved railway scene as, for good or ill, Elf and Safety regulations have pretty much killed the social side off.
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#1 same article in june edition of 'Bygones' with pictures,i noticed that it states 'Home ales pubs' throughout the county, and wondered do any of you know of them having pubs outside the county,..?.........i knew of one.
Black horse, Hose
Royal Leicesters, Leicester
Stag and Pheasant, Loughborough
Nautical William, Wigston Magna
Turk's Head, Maltby-le-Marsh, Lincs.
Lion Hotel, Sleaford
Rhino, Chaddesden, Derby (originally an Offilers pub)
Jessop Arms, Codnor
Vulcan Arms, Derby
Sir John Warren, Loscoe
Eclipse, Loscoe
Midland Hotel, North Wingfield
Beehive, Ripley
King William, Ripley
Devonshire, Somercotes
This is a non-exhaustive list from the Brewery History Society website and is only a list of those establishments which still retain traces of their origins like signs, so there would be many more; given the vast number of miners' welfares and working mens' clubs etc which also served Home Ales there were probably hundreds of outlets outside Nottinghamshire itself. I'm pretty sure there were Home Ales pubs in either Mablethorpe or Skeggy too.
And of course there were a lot of off-licences too; remember that horrible "Luncheon ale" they used to sell in pint bottles?
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I don't think they've ever been audible.
Oh i don't know. Leave them for long enough and they'll start to hum.
(I'll get me coat.......)
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One experience I had down here in Wales a few years ago made a deep and lasting impression on me. I delivered sheep feed to a customer in Cymmer, a former mining town deep in the heart of the Rhondda Valley; he had worked down the mines for many years and now had a smallholding. It was always a pleasure to deliver to him as he was the most hospitable of men and you never left without the offer of a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich.
During our conversation after unloading, we came round to the demise of the industry, which decimated employment in those areas; His view was that it was inevitable; after all, he said, coal like any other mineral is a finite resource and if you looked back in history, there were many instances of mining for stuff like iron ore and silver lead ore which at one time occupied great swathes of the landscape but had now virtually gone back to nature. He pointed out of his kitchen window, which overlooked the valley. "See that river down there?", he said." Crystal clear now, you can fish in it. When the mines were running it ran black, all day every day; nobody ever painted anything in bright colours, it was a waste of time and paint. This valley looks a damn sight better green than it ever did black, boyo. History will judge that shutting those mines will turn out to have been a good thing".
It's taken far longer than it should have; but a visit to the Valleys today will show you that better transport links have made it a worthwhile choice of home for many who work in Cardiff. Parts of it, as Merthyr Imp will no doubt testify, are still run-down dumps, but to be fair some were like that when the mines were still working. We've seen enough of that in Nottinghamshire.
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It was the Clean Air Act first instigated in London in the late 50's or early 60's I believe that started the death knell for the pits.
However, the shutdown certainly was hastened under Maggie, who saw it as a perfect way to crush the unions as Scriv so rightly says.
Sad but inevitable.
That, and the modernisation of the railways; which effectively removed their second biggest customer after the power stations. I don't think that Thatcher picked the fight with the primary intention of dismantling the unions though; subsequent history has proved that the unions were perfectly capable of doing that for themselves with little help from the government. Again, Labour had thirteen years to roll back those union reforms and did very little about it. For the record, before anyone accuses me of being a rabid Thatcherite fascist etc. I'm a card-carrying union member meself. I also inhabit the real world.
One other point; who, nowadays, would encourage their children to go "down t'pit" even if such work was available?
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Coal = coal mines = NUM thats why the Tories closed the mines down in the first place.
You can peddle that line for as long as you like mate, but Ayupmeducks has posted the real reasons.
I've always maintained that there was a quiet sigh of relief amongst the more pragmatic and less hide-bound members of the Labour party when the pit closures programme started; because they knew deep in their hearts that it was inevitable, but that Labour could never do it. Hence, for all Bliar's rhetoric and waffle, not a single mine was ever re-opened, nor any attempt made to re-nationalise what remained of the industry.
I fully acknowledge that the way the mines were closed was brutal; but it had to happen.
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Midland Hotel in Newark was another which opened early on market days, the old Newark cattle market being opposite. I think there were one or two others as well, they used to display a special sign outside quoting the relevant by-laws.
As an aside; before the easing of licensing restrictions in the 1980's, the Great Central Railway used to have a hard-core of daytime drinkers who took advantage of the laws which permitted alcohol to be served on trains without time limits. Most were middle-aged men, all were reasonably well-behaved (though occasionally difficult to wake up after the last train pulled into Loughborough) and their descendants now probably inhabit Wetherspoons.
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I would love to get my hands on a Home Ales or Shipstones beer pump for my home brew. I have a hand pump but the glass electrics of Shippos and the plastic electric cubes of Home have more class. It pains me to think that so many hundreds of them were thrown away.
Along with the beer, it was probably the best thing to do with them!
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A couple of years ago, I started the "Nottingham Hauliers" thread, inspired by the sight of an old Marshalls trailer in a farmyard down in West Wales. A recent trip to the Lake District revealed another once-familiar local name in less than familiar surroundings; this time Haverthwaite railway station.
.Anyone else got pics of owd Nottingham stuff, be it transport, plant, buildings or whatever, that are still in use away from the area?
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The bitter was only drinkable when mixed half and half with their mild....... no matter how well it was kept.
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Well well well, not a surprize really,but still disappointed. The Trews don't seem too good at choosing managers do they?Bets now on how long it will take before Moniz either walks out or is pushed out by ......yet again "The Trews" I think we might be the only team to have had more managers than players.Had Sean Derry been given a chance we would still be playing League 1 football next season.
He was..... and we wouldn't. I felt for Derry, but passion alone wasn't going to motivate the players, and with the honourable exception of Roy Carroll they let him down.
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Just about sums their whole season up; go one ahead and give three away in the last couple of minutes. Here's hoping they bounce straight back; ideally having taken six points off Mansfield on the way.
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I lived on Union Road at one time Ian,
Can't answer your first quetion but,
Aggrelli Spares on St Marks Street were Italian Motor Bike importers.
Agrati actually; as you rightly say they were the importers for Benelli and Garelli . I think you could get parts from them; I ran a Garelli Rekord back in 1976, probably the most unreliable bike I've ever owned! The dealer would probably have been Andy Bone at the top of Huntingdon Street, who saw about of much of my Garelli as I did.
Best memory of Agrati's was the Benelli Six in the window, lusted after that bike for many years.
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I once made the mistake of taking the Barton service from Loughborough back to Nottingham, instead of the usual South Notts. Made the latter look like National Express in comparison, the trip took forever!
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Hardly any, no cars then.
Maybe not but there were plenty of horse-drawn vehicles. I suspect it's more that this was the first affordable transport for ordinary folk whereas these days many people seem to be able to run a car even if they're on long term state benefits. Not saying they shouldn't before I get drowned out with angry pensioners; just that we sometimes forget how fortunate we are these days.
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I've caught a couple of episodes of the "Gregory affair"; not enough to really follow it but certainly enough to know a quality radio programme when I hear it. wonderful that they have kept it unspoiled and that the seemingly inevitable modern PC hasn't smothered it in cotton wool. In some parts of the programme you can almost smell the cigarette smoke!
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Newcastle Emlyn station is long gone mate; much of the trackbed is still traceable though. There may well be steam in the area soon too as the Teifi Valley Railway (a little narrow-gauge line which runs on the old trackbed ) is hoping to be back up and running soon. With that and the Gwili, there's quite a bit of the line preserved. The Gwili is opening its extension soon, to a new terminus just north of Carmarthen.
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It is good to search for remains of old railways. Trouble is they are getting less and less all the time.
There are quite a few old lines down my end of west Wales. I use OS maps in the course of my work (satnav does not do farmyards!) and it's interesting to spot the evidence of former routes.I've found quite a few old station buildings still pretty much as they were when the railway closed, though sadly without Firbeck and Bilbraborn's treasure troves of artefacts inside. Keep intending to take my camera along to update the pics on the Disused Stations site.
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Nelson slices we called them when I was at school in Southwell; Gadsby's bakers van used to call round at morning break time selling all sorts of stuff that would probably give the health inspectors a cardiac arrest if it were to happen these days.
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Which would you suggest was the back!
(shakes head) As the old saying goes, "If I had to explain, you wouldn't understand".
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A bit of closure on this one. I have traced the relevant people; I'd like to thank those who've posted on here and sent PM's for their input, which has proved very useful.
As this is a sensitive issue, out of respect for others concerned I'll not go into detail on this on here but if anyone who has helped wishes to know the outcome please PM me.
Thanks again.
Scriv
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I just found this; hilarious!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=628248060625640&fref=nf
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Recognised as being from Nottingham
in Owt' Abaaht Nowt !
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The only thing in South Wales less popular than the English.
It's short for "Gogledd" which means "northerner" in Welsh and refers to anyone who comes from north of Powys.
If I ever come across a Plaid Cymru supporter who's rabbiting on about kicking all the sais (English) out, I just remind him that if they do they'll just go back to hating each other; which they do, with a vengeance!