Jill Sparrow

Excellent news, @MRS B They know where to go for humans who run hedgehog restaurants.

I've been trying to remember the name of the shop I was referring to and the name Peter Barrie has suddenly sprung to mind. I'm not sure whether it's the right one. Does anyone else remember it? It was there for many years. The premises are still there but occupied by someone else these days. I remember another very high class shop on Long Row, I think, where Muriel's clothes came from but, again, the name escapes me. Just remember mum pointing out the place when I was a child and saying that all the taffeta ball gowns and velvet skirts In my dressing up box originally came from th

That's the conclusion I came to, as well. CT. Doesn't seem long since I was a very small child and stood not far from there watching the construction of a high rise block on the other side of Maid Marian Way.

It did, indeed, CT. Does that say Park Row on the side street of Smalley's shop? If so, the street pattern has changed since those days.

Thought so. Thanks Stuart. I used to like wandering round Baker & Plumb.

Crikey. Didn't that used to be part of Baker & Plumb?

I remember The Golden Cage. It was there for years. Also Pennyfeathers on Goldsmith Street, in an old Victorian house that probably isn't there any longer. They were ideal places for finding theatrical costumes. When I was a child, we lived next door to an elderly couple whose only daughter, Muriel, had been one of my mother's best friends from early childhood. After attending Berridge and the dreaded Manning Grammar, Muriel went to Millers Business College and then found employment as a secretary to one of the directors of Player's. Muriel's mum, according to my mum, was determ

Or, with a dodgy knee, backwards and sideways.

I recently found this photo which I'd archived and not realised what it was. In fact, it's a photo of Robin Hood, An Entertainment by Berridge School which took place on 4 April 1968 at 7pm. It was a combined cast of the final two years of the junior school, plus one or two younger ones. Another old classmate had sent me a scan of the programme which is so faded it's barely legible but it lists the cast (so far as I'm able to decipher it because the odd name I can't read) as follows: Narrators: Jill Sparrow, Martyn Jewers Robin Hood - Jeffrey Warren Maid Mari

You can rely on me!!

An endocrinologist actually admitted to a friend of mine that GPs are mostly completely ignorant about thyroid issues and cause a lot of problems for him. It has also been my experience, as a hypothyroid patient, that GPs know very little about the subject...and they certainly don't like it when their patients have researched their own condition! Tough. It's my thyroid and I want to know everything possible about its activities, or lack thereof.

@nonnaBjust thought I'd mention it. UK GPs seem reluctant to test men as they seem to think it's mainly a female problem.

@nonnaBhave they checked his thyroid function? I recall Carni saying she had similar problems before she was diagnosed hypothyroid.

Small beer?

Hot water? Radiators? You must be joking, @IAN FINN you've been ruined. Spoilt rotten!

Heat? I don't remember Manning having any heat. Just icicles INSIDE the corridors...and it didn't always have corridors. Originally, when you left a classroom you were outside and at the mercy of the elements. No one seemed to think it wasn't fit for purpose when I was there... Except me

That's a shame. We were getting some cracking deals on Oz reds the Chinese didn't want to buy. Their loss, our gain.

@Alpha my maternal family lived in Kirkby in the early 1800s. Hodgkinson and Shacklocks. Hodgkinson were local worthies, I believe, and have a street named after them. Shacklocks are still there: solicitors and plumbers.

It's older than I thought. Bluecoat was on the list of options in 1969 when I had to choose.

Thanks, Stuart. That makes a bit more sense of it. @BeekayI think Bluecoat started in a building on Mansfield Road,, opposite the Victoria Centre. It's accessed from a side street (Bluecoat Street?). I presume the building still stands and it's probably listed.

It may have been, Malcolm. Perhaps he meant Bluecoat has a new building on the site. Bluecoat seems to have a lot of campuses nowadays.

Someone told me recently that Bluecoat had taken over what was formerly Clarendon College. Does anyone know whether that's true?

My cats are all litter tray users. Those who go into the garden (and not all of them do) will come back into the house to use the tray and then go out again. No dirt digging for them. Cats are very clean individuals. Then there are the dog owners who allow their hounds to enter my front garden and defecate where they please. Caught one about to do it a few weeks ago and informed the female dog owner that I would pick up the turd and she'd be wearing it as a hat if she permitted her hound to foul in my garden. It's not the animals. It's the owners.

Save it for the irresponsible owners! They deserve it.

Didn't see mine last night but the dishes are empty and have been shuffled about in typical hog fashion. They're messy diners!