Mess

In my working life I've learned it's best not to blame anyone. Negotiations are always hindered by "finger pointing" As a school laboratory technician I too was employed and paid a very modest salary by Nottingham Council. I was much better remunerated when I joined Boots but later learned through my mates at college that Boots pay was well behind Raleigh and Players pay rates. Boots lab staff got ASTMS involved to try and get a better pay deal but nothing changed. Incidentally the ASTMS rep was Bill, later Baron Brett who went on to much bigger things. I had an interview with Players in th

These dark January mornings always remind me of the NCT strike in 1968. I was working as a school laboratory technician at Roland Green Bilateral in Wilford and had to get up early (for me anyway) to walk from home in Forest Fields. It wasn't much fun at all. I'd normally catch the 43 into town then walk across slab square to catch the no 40 outside the bank at the top of exchange walk. The walk took me about an hour or longer until I sorted out a lift with one of the teaching staff. I think the strike was over pay but I'm sure there are posters on here who can correct me if I'm wrong. I d

There was a Steeples on Radford Rd where my mum used to get my school shirts from. They had some trendy stuff as well. When the Beatles were just lifting off in 1963 they had a purple collarless "Beatle " jacket in the window which I wanted. When I finally nagged my mum in to buying it for me it had been sold but they also had a brown tweed one which she bought me instead. I only wore it a couple of times before it went out of fashion. In the early 60s I used to get my jeans from Stevensons opposite Lenos cinema. It was a very popular shop with all the young lads in the area. They were one of

As a youngster I was always intrigued by the Windmill Café sign which features in the photo. I posted about it a year or so back: http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12179&hl=windmill I think the little shop with the sun blind next to Singers is Mitsons hand made chocolates. It was also nice to be reminded about the name of the Chinese restaurant The Kong Nam which I used to visit regularly for lunch during my college day release days in the late 60s. They used to offer a great value 3 course meal which usually included a nice curry. I'm sure many other readers of these p

I also loved Johnny Morris as The Hot Chestnut Man Suggest you check out this brilliant website: http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/ Lots of the previously mentioned programmes (and some theme tunes) are detailed here including Shirley Abicair the previously mentioned Australian lady who played a zither. BTW it was Frankie Howerd who recorded Three Little Fishes )I was born in 1950 and loved Annette Mills and Muffin the Mule. I also enjoyed the TV dramas The Railway Children and The Silver Sword. I used to think Tim who drew Bengo was brilliant along with Spotty Dog in The Wooden T

The Golden Age of Children's Television by Geoff Tibballs I bought this book a few years back and absolutely love it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1852864079?keywords=golden%20age%20childrens&qid=1451258937&ref_=sr_1_2&s=books&sr=1-2 For 1p plus £2.80 postage it's a steal. It's one of the best books I've ever bought. Also available here: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=golden+children%27s+television

I didn't warm to his political/peace stuff or a lot of his later music that was based on this ideology but when he was part of the Beatles he made a massive impact on me.

I have to assume the negative comments about John Lennon come from younger members of Nottstalgia. Anyone who grew up with the Beatles was completely gutted that day. A part of me died when I heard the news.

Tomorrow Never Knows was Lennon's baby. He'd been reading Timothy Leary et al's book about psychedelic experiences which was based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. He was getting into LSD around this time and apparently read the book whilst tripping and came up with the lyrics. For the music Lennon wanted to reproduce the sound of a hundred Tibetan monks chanting and in the end George Martin finished up using tape loops and a Leslie speaker. The result was a quantum leap from anything The Beatles had done before. Love it or loathe it, it was certainly the start of Lennon's avant garde conv

I'm with you re the modern boy bands Firbeck. The Beatles performance of Hey Jude on The David Frost Show was outstanding. The audience participation at the end particularly. My wife has bought me 1+ for Christmas which has all the No1's remastered plus the cleaned up videos on Blu -ray. The Hey Jude performance is on there so I'm looking forward to seeing the restored version. Rubber Soul was an amazing album and was the start of their studio period. Revolver which followed in the summer of 1966 was also brilliant. George Harrison said in an interview that he viewed Rubber Soul and Revolv

There's an ad on Gold radio at the moment where a bloke strums his guitar and sings about Hive which is a system to control your central heating remotely using your mobile phone. I reckon he made the words up in about 5 minutes whilst sat on the toilet. There's a "rhyme" where he sings about being at the rugby whilst your house is nice and snuggly. Does my head in. Think it's started up on the TV now. Completely banal.

I worked in the Standards (later Quality Control) Labs in D10 Beeston from 1968-72. It was my second job after leaving school (Forest Fields) in 1966. All the management had to be addressed as Mr, Mrs or Dr by junior staff such as I. There was a holiday student who addressed my boss as Ken rather than Mr Rodgers and that caused a bit of a stir. I think the canteen /staff shop building at Beeston had an executive restaurant upstairs but I never visited. I think you had to have special permission if you were non management. When I started in 1968 I was introduced to a nice man called Mr Pegg w

My mum and dad used to buy quite a few bits of furniture from Baker & Plum on Derby Rd. My dad favoured the unpainted drawer units and cupboards because they were reasonably priced and you could paint them up to match your colour scheme.

Rubber Soul, The Beatles (in case you didn't know)

My first wife's parents had a caravan on Golden Sands Mablethorpe and I stayed there a few times in the early 70s. It was grim and nowhere near as lively as Skeggy. I haven't been to Skeg since 2010 but it was an enjoyable visit. The fish & chips near the beach were excellent. Some of Britain's run down seaside towns should take a leaf out of Illfracombe's book. That was crumbling away when I visited in 1990 but you should see it now (apart from the statue of the pregnant woman, Verity) With the increased threat of terrorism a lot more people will start to holiday in the UK again rather

I'm bet you glad you did. Issue No 1 changes hands for around £75 now. The Eagle was designed to have an "educational" content. I was given the first three Eagle annuals by my mum's friend. They belonged to her son who went to Nottingham High School and he was quite "brainy". A bit like you Chulla lol I enjoyed the annuals they certainly help to educate me. The cutaway drawings in the centre pages were brilliant. I'm sure many successful engineers began with The Eagle.

There were four titles in the "Told in Pictures" series. Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist and Robinson Crusoe all beautifully illustrated by Dudley Watkins. See: http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/keys-aylsham-salerooms/catalogue-id-srkey10075/lot-1d34d7ac-0247-49ed-950a-a49e00fbe68f All highly collectable especially with their dust wrappers.

Merthyr, I've read and very much enjoyed Leo Baxendale's excellent book " A Very Funny Business" and was fascinated to learn about the other comic strip heroes mentioned. It seems D C Thomson were a difficult and demanding company to work for. I've checked and see Davey Law died at 63 whilst Ken Reid made it to 67. Leo Baxendale is now 85 so he may well have extended his life by leaving D C Thomson when he was 32. I too love Jonah but my favourite is George Martin's Greedy Pig from The Dandy (http://spleenal.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/greedy-pigg-2011.html) although Leo Baxendale's Three Bears

My mum & day used to buy me The Dandy Book every Christmas from 1958 until 1964. I'm not sure why they opted for The Dandy over The Beano perhaps it was because my cousins who we visited every Christmas had The Beano. I also had the comic delivered from 1960-61. I accumulated them until we moved and I gave them away to a neighbour who was stuck in bed following an asthma attack. The Dandy was launched in 1937 a year before The Beano but it was The Beano that became more popular over the ensuing years. I think the reason was probably down to Leo Baxendale the artist who originally drew Th

I also used to confuse the two. I "discovered" Raleigh pond in around 1958 when I was 8 and playing around the old canal as I did frequently around that time. A couple of years later one of my Beechdale school pals explained that Martin's pond was closer to Wollaton village but I never got to visit it until 2013 when I did the walk described in the link. I was never into fishing but I'm sure I would have found it much sooner if I had been.

Another fascinating picture which I thoroughly enjoyed studying thanks. Just to confirm the date is definitely pre 1953 because you can see Queen Victoria's statue next to The Market Square

Fantastic picture thanks for posting it Cliff Ton. I've studied it for ages. In the mid 1950s my dad used to take me from our home in Elstree Drive up along Woodyard Lane, over the "tin" railway bridge, past Brown's Woodyard and either directly into the Raleigh Sports Ground or along the canal tow path to the Old Coach Road and then into the Sports Ground past the tennis courts. He enjoyed watching the football games but his real love was watching the cricket. If I was lucky in summer I'd get a lemonade from the wooden pavilion. On a few of occasions in summer we'd walk along the towpath to

This graph on Wikipedia is quite revealing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottingham_derby#/media/File:Trentside_Derby_Performance.svg

There's a whole bleddy stand named after him though.

Good for you Dave. Dylan always inspires me. Have you seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPa31KOZg0? Great guitar solo by Slowhand The words take on extra significance as you age. Magic.