banjo48

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Posts posted by banjo48

  1. My old grans standard dress was a crossover pinny, she wore one daily, always remember her going into a home as she started to wander due to demetia, last time I saw her alive she was sitting on the edge of her bed in her room in the home with her hat on, a pinny and her handbag on her knee insisting she wanted to go home.

    Her house had been demolished about 4 years earlier and she had lived with us till it got too hard.

  2. God, the Mill Cafe, we used to go there regularly for morning breaky, Sos and egg sandwich on home baked bread !

    I Went again when I was in the uk last year, still operating and still same, think it may be the son running it now.

    Had some old photo's on the wall of older times.

    Anyone remember the Kingfisher on Mansfield road, just up from Woodborough road, opposite side.

    Was our Friday night last stop before home , that or Pancho's down near Savoy hotel on Mansfield road too. Best Donner kebab in Nottm, well it was.

  3. Remember our maths teacher in the final C&Guilds course was an ex RAF pilot from the war and he used to explain a particular theory in maths, by explaining how he crashed his spitfire on the downwards slope of the only hill in Holland and he escaped unscathed due to the angle of the decent and the hill ! which in his words proved the particular theory! sumefin like that anyway !

    On day release we had to have one period of english for some stupid reason, anyway we found out that to pass the course you only needed 30% attendance so when that lesson came up we used to go to the pictures at the Odeon or walk around town and have a coffee !

  4. Cliff Ton

    Looking closely at the larger scale copy you sent me, its bloody amazing really as I used to work virtually in the same spot in later years when it was a Telecom building and also previously at the Post Office as an engineer.

    Cannot believe I was on the virtual spot where my great gran and all the siblings lived.

  5. We have similar problems here in oz and the powers that be are on about the same thing. We also have big issues with the indigenous people who consume what we call "Chateau Cardboard" which can come in anything up to 5litres !

    Will have little or no effect on the real causes.

    I drink very little but my wife likes a glass or two of white or red now and again so will have little effect on us.

  6. Seen mention in a few posts about Peoples College.

    Wandered if many members here had attended there in the 60's ?

    I was in the electrical engineering courses from 64 to 67, then I did a year at Arnold & Carlton college, then day release back at Peoples for another 2 years.

    I attended at an annexe place on corner of Canal street/ London road for the first couple of years as it was night school - 3 nights per week.

    Then moved up to the main building for my final City & Guilds 3rd year, did a bridging course at Arnold & Carlton for a year, then back to Peoples for my advanced Tech certificate.

    Remember a teacher called Tony Hinds but very little else of that time. But then again it was all happening around us then, nightclubs, girls, all night parties and lots of more memorable things!

    Funnily enough I met a chap here in oz earlier this year and he attended there but doing a different course as he worked for the Gas Board !

  7. Wow thanks for that Cliff ton, think my great aunt maybe was having an alsimic moment she was in her 80's !

    That must be the place as I remember gran saying something about the old bath house near there opposite the sneinton market.

    Their family name was harrison. How could I get a copy of that map ?

  8. Not a garden centre but there used to be a nursery, down Westdale lane on the right hand side, I think its an elderly residents retirement village now.

    I used to go to school with the son from there but cannot remember his name. They had an old Morris truck and a stall in the market in the city, maybe the old central market.

    Family run business for years, but when the old man died, the son I knew was made an offer he couldn't refuse, also the council gave him some more land somewhere else but out of town a little.

    Tony Wickes had his own squash courts built on his garden centre as I had a friend who played there, it was almost a private club, with invitation only from the select few.

    Think they also played at the plains racquet club from memory, as well as Carlton forum sports centre.

    Used to take my old mum for a Sunday drive to the Floralands garden centre for a cuppa, but she used to drive me nuts moaning about how expensive it was ! and how easy it was to grow and propagate plants.

    She even used to moan about the cost of the tea ! even though I had bought it !

    But then again she had a hard childhood in harder times.

  9. I was at the Beachcomber too that night, also saw Hendricks at the Isle of Wight pop festival, mind me and my 3 mates were only on "desolation hill" but we had a great view !

    The Beachcomber was up a courtyard just below Broadway on the South side of St Marys gate about 70 meters up from Weekday Cross.

    Just looked at Google earth and looks like a new building in front of the courtyard, maybe the Lizard Lounge now ?

    Was one of the old lace factories I think.

    Knew Keith Symonds and Pete Hubbard very well. Symonds was a poser, bit like an ex public schoolboy, but Pete was a lovely fella.

  10. Sorry I gave the police/service station as a rough position reference, it would have been mid late 18oo's as the census record showed my gran and siblings as young children.

    Have no access to the records at the moment as my Ancestry membership lapsed as it was becoming just too expensive, and all my personal stuff is on my desktop PC in storage !

  11. Does anyone have an old map showing Sun Hill St Annes, was told by a great aunt that it was somewhere opposite Hungerhill road behind the police station and the Sheppards race service station on the bottom of Ransom road.

    Most of my mums family were listed there in a copy of an early census I got on Ancestry.com

    Would love to know exactly where it was so I can fill in another gap.

  12. Yes remember the yoyo craze, think everyone had one, strange but my twin grandaughters aged 9 have the 21st century version complete with flashing led lights as it goes up and down !

    Also had the gyro thingy yes it ran up and own some wires or could stand on top of a small tower.

    Had a diabalo too ! big plastic thing between two sticks with string in between.

    Ana also my favourite a whip and top !

    Quite a few of my old relly's are in Cavendish cemetary in the old part up on the right near the wall.

  13. Used to pirate the redifusion box above the rear window, at my grans old house in St Annes, bit of wire and a speaker she had free radio but only one channel unless I climbed up and changed the wiring Lol!

    Went for an interview at their Castle Boulevard office in 63, but failed the aptitude test ! Then became an apprentice electrician, and finally a Telecom Tech at BT.

    Rented our first colour tv from Wigfalls, good job it was rental as it went up in smoke first night ! but they replaced it with a different model next day.

    • Upvote 1
  14. Briyeo

    Love the old Triumph, a nice restoration project.

    My elder brother was a rocker, he had many bikes that I sort of grew up around. He had a BSA Road rocket, which we used to ride together, me on the back, easily do a ton up Porchester road after an early mornings fishing somewhere!

    I started my motorbike/scooter fetish when I was 14, got a Sun 197cc (3 speed villiers engine) form a mate, swapped it for my electric guitar and amp.

    I used to torment the neighbours screaming around Breckhill fields, till I cracked the crankcase and that was it, I stripped it down but never got it repaired.

    My next happening was a major accident on a mates Aerial Leeder, I ended up in James Forman ward at the General hospital for 9 weeks on traction as I broke my femur pretty bad.The Wheldons dairy milk float fared much better.

    During my 12 months recuperating I had to visit the hospital 3 times a week for physio and the ambulance bloke that used to come and pick me up asked if I wanted an old bike to do up, turned out to be an Excelsior 90cc 2 speed.

    Got it running and used it daily for a year, till some old plonker knocked me off of it on Edwards lane, a year to the day of my previous accident !

    Ended up back at the general with a dislocated kneecap on my damaged leg, but the old break was fine.

    I then moved to my first scooter a Lambretta LI 150

    Then a TV 175.

    Now a backward step - an NSU quickly Lol! It was cheap and got me to work ok till I could buy my first car.

    Still had bikes though

    Sunbeam shaft drive S8 with chair.

    BSA 250 C15

    Triumph T110

    A Honda CB250

    Kawasaki trail bike

    To name a few.

    After moving to oz I rekindled my bike fetish and had a 2008 Harley softail, but now own a 2010 BMW R1200 GS and love it !

  15. Kingstons moved to canal st around 59/61 as I mentioned in the other thread on bikes shops, I helped my dad prepare the place on canal street for the move.

    I would be around 12 -14 then as any younger i wouldn't have been much help and any older I had gathered new interests (girls)!

    Cannot remember where they moved from though. And yes all the saleman wore a brown smock coat thing.

    also mentioned in another thread my mums neighbour was a salesman with them all his working life after he came out the airforce, his name was Ken Pickering, tubby chap with horn rimmed glasses.

    Also remember old man Kingston coming around to check my dads work at the shop, he was quite a nice bloke too.

  16. My old mums next door neighbour was a salesman at Kingstons,his name was Ken, my dad was a builder and did a heap of work for them when they moved into the "new" premises on canal street.

    Always remember as I used to go and help him then and we had to cut doorways in 2' (two feet) thick walls, all done with a hammer and chisel ! no power tools then !

    In later years got a couple of my bikes from them as Ken used to do me specials. He also gave me my first real sheepskin flying jacket, not a copy, the real mccoy as he was ex RAF flight crew from the war.

    I cherished that jacket but the leather cracked up and gradually fell apart.

  17. My wife and I are both avid readers, we both have ereaders and always have a few dozen books on there ready to go.

    Love gritty detective types, Rebus - Ian Rankin, have read all Stuart McBride and eagerly await his new offerings, Michael Rowbotham too. Mark Billingham. , just to name a few.

    I've also recently d/loaded Alexander Solhenitsyn (spelling) His "Gulag Archipelago" "Cancer Ward" "The First Circle"

    Dont laugh but while staying with my daughter in Darwin, she recently got me into "The Game of Thrones" series by George RR Martin so I downloaded the 5 books and I'm hooked !

    I know its a fantasy/fiction but I love all the historical type of stuff in it and the knights, and chivalry, honour etc.

    Makes me want to believe that is possibly how our history developed from the upper class lords and ladies and the big families betrothing their children to gain more power and influence.And some of the devious goings on.

    As a side I also admire George RR's mind in conjuring up so many characters and giving them all life. Amazing stuff IMO.

    While working as an electrician in Nottm many years ago, I had a job at the Nottm records office in the lacemarket on Weekday Cross, whilst having lunch with the old caretaker bloke, he asked me if I was interested in history, anyway he took me into the basements and I was blown away by the stuff they have there,all the way back to the middle ages ! Drawer after drawer of the stuff and all real.

    Sorry to digress from the OT. but this memory suddenly appeared as I was talking about "Songs of Fire and Ice".

  18. My first vehicle was a Ford Thames van circa 1950's, not the big one, the 5cwt one, I bought it in 66 for 35 pounds, sidevalve engine wacky window wipers (vacuum driven), 3 speed box. 2nd gear was too low 3rd too high ! Woodborough road hill was a real crawl.

    Puce green in colour but it was all mine and a big step up from a Lambretta ! Used to leave an oil heater thing hanging in the engine compartment when winter came to stop it freezing up.

    I passed my test in a Vauxall Viva as I daren't take it in the Ford. Had 6 lessons so I could use the driving school car.