Jill Sparrow

Yes, Catfan. They lived at 178 Bobbers Mill Road. Ken passed on years ago but would now be in his 90s. I believe Violet, also in her 90s, is still with us. Peter sadly died young and Margaret would now be around 63. Violet came from Dorset and had a strong accent.

I'm trying to remember what it was before Steans. It may have been an ordinary house. Can anyone recall?

Violet Beardsall, mother of my childhood friend, Margaret Beardsall, was the cleaner at the Le Grand and Violet, husband Ken and their son, Peter, often spent an evening there. The Beardsall family lived just up the road from us.

I remember Steans opening because the shop frontage was altered. It would be around 1966/7.

I have never been in but Le Grand was my grandfather's favourite haunt. In the late 50s and early 60s, he would nip in there for a pint of Mitchell & Butler's or what his wife, my grandmother, called 'loony beer!' I believe he sometimes met up with some of his comrades from The Great War in Le Grand and, because he had little capacity for alcohol, he came home in a morose and tetchy mood after possibly recalling the horrors of 1914/18, including witnessing his little brother being blown to pieces by a German shell. Grandad wasn't a heavy drinker. He couldn't afford it! However,

But look at the antics you've packed in to such a small area!

You'd better offer her your very best bone as an olive branch, Loppy!

When I've visited Italy, I noticed that the concept of a queue is alien to Italians. It's a British thing really, waiting your turn in an orderly manner!

But how do you know, colly? How do you know your mother isn't waiting on the other side of the black hole to administer another biffng...or to apologise for those she administered when she was this side of it? Questions, questions!

Maybe not, Brew, but we could be back there very easily!

Get away with you, our Ben! There's life in the old dog yet!

The receptionist would be female, Phil, and Ben has worked his magic on her. It's a lifetime of working his magic on women that has worn all his bits out! what a way to go, eh Ben?

Zoos are, in my opinion, a necessary evil and I heartily wish they weren't. The more humans there are on this planet, the less natural habitat will exist. We seem to think we are more important than any other creature. We aren't and we neither understand nor accept our responsibility toward them. We should follow the native American Indians. Revere all life, take only what we really need and live in balance and harmony with nature. If we don't, it may well be that nature itself will sort us out and that won't be pretty!

I think we were aware of his decorations, NBL, but he was a very modest, unassuming chap when at the office. The complete opposite of one young, newly qualified upstart who covered his office wall in framed certificates, including one for swimming 100 metres! I kid you not! As to Peter Allen, his area of work wasn't conveyancing, so he was certainly doing you a favour, NBL. My friend and colleague who was Christopher Allen's clerk and had previously clerked for his father, never forgot the day Peter was summoned to Percival Allen's office, having done something to annoy

Was it David Douse? He worked for Warren & Allen for a while. Litigation, so he was often in court. 1985ish. He eventually left and set up his own practice. Nice chap.

That's how they get their dosh. They never spend any!

During my time at Rotheras when their offices were sited on Friar Lane, the Senior Partner was Peter Howard Mellors. He was also Registrar for the Diocese of Southwell and a mine of information on ecclesiastical law. He resided at The Old Brewmaster's House on Burgage Green in Southwell. A beautiful property. Whether, again, it was owned by the church I know not. Many solicitors lived in Southwell, including Christopher Bennett Allen and his younger brother, Peter.

He was a true gentleman. One of the old school. Unlike today's grasping, aggressive, ego-ridden lawyers, McCraith and his colleagues didn't affront their clients by telling them how much they charged per hour before the client's backside had touched the chair. They were far too well bred and sufficiently well-heeled, thus avoiding the need for such tactics. During my time working in the legal profession, I met many such gentlemen. Sadly, I met a lot of little upstarts too, who thought they were God's gift. I wish they could have heard what the old guard thought of them! It didn't a

I also knew Colonel McCraith when he was at Rotheras on Friar Lane. A gentleman, like most of them in those days. He was a consultant and semi retired then and that was 1988 ish. I doubt he would still be alive.

We also visited The Wheatsheaf or The Whitemoor on summer evenings and usually saw one or two friends from Berridge with their parents doing likewise. Happy memories!

Remember them well, M.D. Catfans school teacher Eric Towle and his wife lived on Plimsoll Street when first married, in the early 60s. They both served as Sunday school teachers at st Stephen's church.

I've met both of you and didn't know you weren't already married but thought what a lovely couple you were. Many congratulations and best wishes.

Looking at the old street map bigrob has posted brought back memories of walking up Berridge Road with my mum in the early 60s. On the right, between Lambert Street and Camomile Street, is marked an Embroidery Works. I remember this building. It looked prefabricated in construction and I'm trying to recall the name of the firm. My mum's older sister, Edna, worked there prior to and just after her marriage in 1940. Edna, apparently, was something of a magnet to the males...a sort of female equivalent of Ben! She was, I'm told extremely good looking and the boss at the embroidery wo

Excellent work, bigrob. It's a shame there aren't more surnames on the back of the photo as, undoubtedly, some of those people would have lived locally. Berridge Road is now truncated and the street pattern has changed but I remember it as it was in the map you've posted, including Cammomile Street, where our chimney sweep lived! Also remember the works on Bobbers Mill Road, as will MercuryDancer when he next pays a visit.

Me too, Catfan! TV licence chap called here and was amazed to find no t.v. which could receive live transmissions!