Compo

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Everything posted by Compo

  1. Ditto this post: I bought my Lambretta from Jocelyn's. In it's later years it was owned/managed by a Morris Dancer who's name escapes me for the moment although I recall, his wife was known as Maz. There was a motorbike shop at the junction of Morris Street and Mansfield Road not far from Hammond's Garage and the shops at the foot of St Alban's Road. Cheers, Compo in Caithness
  2. Apologies if this appears twice - I tried to respond via email and it hasn't appeared: That's a fascinating account Poohbear; excellent gen. I had been thinking about asking of the Garage but you answered the question of who the owners were. Did Walkers also own the garage across the road adjacent to Bedale Road and the works next to the aforesaid building block? Cheers, Compo in Caithness
  3. Will check out the books Stu, thanks. I once spent an afternoon watching Arnold St. Mary's losing 1-3 to Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup at home. That must have been about 1967ish. I had an uncle who played for the Pakamount (sp?) team. Their home ground was somewhere in Basford I think. Having said that, I'm no fooptie fan really. Used to watch Notts County occasionally; was sworn at by the opposition goalkeeper once - sound carried over a near empty stadium :-(
  4. Never visited the "Clootie Well" in Munlochy but promise to make time for it when next spending a day in Inverness. Smoo Cave is great. If you look out towards the sea you can judge where the cave once extended to by the height and steepness of the cliffs for about a hundred yards or so. They still do the boat trips deep into the cave. In all, a bit bigger than the sandstone caves in the city of Notty.
  5. The Nottingham part was quite small. A mixed race woman who fled Kenya with her mother after independence found the then new Hyson Green flats to be wonderful. However, towards the end of their existence the flats became a no-go area for police (1980 riots) and were taken over by undesirable elements. Finally, they were almost pulled down by the tenants because of their poor state of repair. There was a short piece of film showing the demolition of the Hyson Green flats.
  6. Probably been discussed before my arrival but was anyone here involved in the making of any of the big-screen films in Nottingham. For example The Ragman's Daughter and Saturday Night & Sunday Morning.
  7. Crikey! What are all those trees doing on St Ann's Well Road? It used to be wall-to-wall shops just there.
  8. Brian Fish rings a bell.... Ok who was the barber I am thinking of? On Nottingham Road opposite the park entrance? I remember Duke street but thought you were talking about the Nottm road barber, sorry about the mix up. Now that you mention it, I do remember the offy. I also remember the church/chapel across the road and up a bit. They used to put a float into the Whitsun parade each year (or was it May Day?). An uncle of mine had a wedding reception in the upstairs of the old Co-op. The last time I visited it had just become Wetherspoons. The drive around to ours from Ullapool is on
  9. Thanks for the cinema name. I don't recall one of that name - did it change sometime before about 1962? I now remember the Cavendish being where you describe; I went to see 'The Great St.Trinian's Train Robbery' there with a couple of school pals in about 1965. I also seem to remember there being a number of second-hand (Pawn?) shops along the road. If I recall correctly, the numbers 40 and 47 trolley buses (Later, motor buses) went up the road to the Wells Road from somewhere in the Meadows area.
  10. Crikey Stu! Now you're bringing back all sorts of memories long forgotten :o) I don't recall Len although I was born at 51 High (back) Street, opposite Wharton's Dairy and next door but one to Harry Fish's bakery. I do recall a women's hairdresser at the end of West Street in a row of shops at the junction with High Street, across from the Liberal? club. Was there not a chippy in there somewhere too? I do remember Rex in Daybrook though. I used to go there for the "Boston" style which, as you say, was little more than a short back and sides. His shop was IIRC at the end of the street
  11. For me too. Wasn't there a cinema called the Cavendish just around the corner, bottom left, St.Ann's Well Road?
  12. I seem to recall the tackle shop being across an entry-cum-alleyway from Alf's rather than behind but I could be lying. That shop was to become a Juke box/ Arcade game sales and repair shop in the mid 60s. I know this because I bought an ultra violet light from there for my den and remember wanting all of the machines in the workshop! These shops were indeed just through the arch of the railway bridge. Just a few yards from the car park for the Grove Hotel. On the other side of the arch was a row of terraced housing, boys brigade hall and the Daybrook junior school; there may also have b
  13. Ah yes Steeples had a boys section where I had to go for my school uniform. Next was, I think, a garage and then teh Midland banl. Finally there was a fire station next to the bank. Opposite this little bunch of shops was the post office and a newsagents. There may have been a butcher's and greengrocer's between the post office and the little corner sweet shop at the road up to Daybrook Station and the BeRo factory. The shops opposite Oxclose Lane on Mansfield Road housed, among other things, a Marsden's Grocery shop, a Newsagent and around the corner a chemist next the small hosiery facto
  14. She didn't like local dialect and I'm sure would have stamped it out if at all possible :o(
  15. Nah then, you're mekkin'm up as you go along <g>
  16. On mainland a bothy can be a dwelling or shelter. In this case a railway bothy is a lineside hut for the shelter of permanent way (trackbed and earthworks) workers.
  17. Does anyone remember Alf Hutchin(g)'s barber shop just below the railway bridge in Daybrook? I remember my father buying a fishing rod for me in about 1959ish from the shop next door. We fished in Arnold park pond but never caught owt
  18. When in primary school I was asked to construct a sentence containing the word "Road". I responded with "I couldn't get past because my brother was in my road" and suffered many swipes with the cane for my misuse of the English language!
  19. The railways were inconsistent in their disposal of properties. They were happy to sell 2 acres of land along with the Watten Station but wouldn't sell the tumbledown bothy at the end of the plot. That bothy is still falling to pieces and it is a great shame that such pieces of history are neglected for the sake of a simple sale to an interested party.
  20. Warning! Trainspotter alert! After the closure of Daybrook station and the line through Mapperley tunnel (known as Gedling tunnel to we of Arnold origin) many old carriages of different origins appeared on the line between Daybrook and Hucknall Road. This would be about 1963. They were stored there for a time and many left in near derelict condition, presumably scrap. Does anyone: A) Remember this? B) Have photos of those carriages?
  21. The trains (4 in each direction each day) are no bother at all. Lorries hitting the level crossing are, however, another matter! When working in the garden the train drivers always give me a toot on the horn and a friendly wave as they pass. Here in the country the old ways are not yet fully dead.
  22. That's a real b*mmer! What an opportunity to have missed
  23. In the early 60s we lads hero worshipped a fellow called Paul Harwood - a local cyclist of some note (I think). None of us had ever met him but he was said to be the bees knees of the Midlands cycle world.
  24. I had been told that there used to be a signal frame in the station office. Recently, we installed a multi-fuel stove in that room and I took advantage of the floor being bare to get underneath and see if there is any trace of it remaining. I discovered the severed remains of a two lever frame still in situ beneath the floor alongside what I now to be a tunnel leading onto the trackbed - which was nice :o)
  25. WARNING! Trainspotter alert! I live in the former Watten station near the end of the Inverness- Wick line. Milepost 154 is at the end of the garden. The following link should take you to a couple of photos in Picasa - I hope. If not I'll try again. https://picasaweb.google.com/paul.simonite/WattenStation?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCInH3Mv-7fS-2gE&feat=directlink