Jill Sparrow

I believe Acton died years ago, M.D. As for slapping people, I think he regarded it as part of dentistry, along with telling people to shut up and mind their own business when they asked what all those instruments were for and what he was going to do with them.

M.D. is correct. 172-174 is now The Boulevard Dental Practice. According to its website, their dentists are wonderful! There is a photo, showing the original house where Acton pursued his grim work behind the first floor bay window. Business is so good, the new set up has also taken over the house next door! Probably just as well it's still a dental practice. I certainly wouldn't want to live there, given all the blood curdling screams from yesteryear within its walls. Some of them mine!

I'm not sure but I think mum said her father's dentist was Mr Birch. Grandad lived in Birkin Avenue before his marriage, so would have been fairly near to where his parents still lived. I recall my mum saying that his own teeth were so decayed that he decided to have them out. This would have been in the 30s. His first set of dentures were, apparently, made of wood, in the days before resins and plastics. Later on, he had a more modern set. I also recall her telling me that he had to borrow the dentist's spectacles to sign the paperwork and he was so distracted that he came home with them!

This was an old firm, run by the grandson of the founder when mum first went there. John Attenborough, now deceased, was a qualified dentist and, according to mum, retained one of those terrifying black chairs in a basement room where he kept his hand in by looking after his friends' gnashers. However, he probably reckoned that given the amount of teeth his colleagues....Acton among them...were extracting, the smart money lay in making dentures!

Yes, Margie. It has happened occasionally since, usually when I've been ill and once when I had shingles, was in tremendous pain and couldn't sleep. For the duration of the experience, there was no pain at all. Wonderful! It has also happened in the middle of the night as it did with your mum.

Relative of the Dalai Chulla, perhaps?

In the 60s, it was the custom to remove all the teeth and then let the gums heal before taking impressions for dentures, so my mum spent 6 weeks with no teeth at all! Must have been awful for her. Some years later, she went back to work after bringing up the two of us and secured a part time office job at C & L E Attenborough Dental Technicians, of Viscosa House on George Street, Nottingham. My sister already worked there as a secretary. Mum noted that Acton sent quite a lot of his work there and she shuddered every time she saw his name on an invoice! I believe he

He was considered a good dentist by only one person I have ever met, Loppy. I suppose, in the early 60s, people could still remember the days when dentists appeared at fairgrounds and pulled teeth with no anaesthetic at all. Acton had no people skills whatsoever. He was by no means the only dentist on Gregory Boulevard though. There was a Mr James more or less opposite Birkin Avenue, near to Dr Kelleher. He may have been better, I don't know. I recall one occasion when I came round from the anaesthetic and was pulled out of the chair while I was still dizzy. I lurched s

Arriving home from Berridge one lunchtime, I discovered my mum looking rather strange and dripping blood from her mouth. She'd made egg mayonnaise sandwiches for my lunch because she'd been out all morning and no time to cook a hot meal. I couldn't eat them. I felt sick. Mum had been to see Ronald Acton. For some years, her teeth had been deteriorating due to lack of calcium and she decided to have them out. Acton wanted to do the whole lot in one swoop but mum persuaded him to do the lower set first. Union dentist, Acton. One out, all out. Bad temperedly, he agreed. Sh

Ronald Acton, I do believe! I know, M.D.. went there myself as a child. Slapped me across the face more than once. Mind you, I did kick him where it hurts...purely by accident and through fear! He was notorious! Trained in an abattoir.

I thought he sprayed it on with one of those candy floss makers! Puts yellow vegetable colouring in it too!

Lovely description, NBL. Like myself, you were blessed with good parents. Mine wouldn't fit into today's world. It would be totally alien to them.

Crikey, best not mess with your family, NBL!

Lives on in my dreams, Trogg. Time stands still in your dreams!

Remember it well. As a family, we often walked there and back on a Sunday afternoon, early to mid 60s. Once got caught in a tremendous thunderstorm and dad's new Harris tweed jacket was ruined!

Walked along Gregory Boulevard virtually every day of my young life, Trogg. Before I could walk, I was pushed along it in my pram or pushchair. I think back to when I couldn't keep up with mum...I was on reins...and had stitch so begged to be picked up and carried. Even today, people ask why I walk so quickly. Necessary to keep up with my mother! It became a habit. I remember autumn, when the leaves were falling. Golden maple leaves, ankle deep, lying under the boulevard trees. We played a game where I'd pick up a leaf and make a wish. It was usually beans on toast for

That's harder than Mastermind!

Are you trying to upset me, young Trogg? Seriously, I've always loved Gregory Boulevard and have so many happy memories of my childhood in which it played a large part. My mum had known it since the 20s and she loved it too. I prefer, nowadays, to remember it as it was. They can't take that away from me....cue, Ben?

Nice to see the absentees back and putting up a good fight. The problem is, we are all gerrin owd! All we need now is Rog! WHERE ARE YOU, ROG?

My dear mother managed to do exactly the same thing one.Christmas eve, nonna. Had to call out a locksmith!

I think it's the same chemist where I once went with my friend, Denise Chambers, in the early 70s to buy saltpetre which they used in the butcher's shop.

There's nothing wrong with guns, per se or knives, vehicles, acids, poisons, lengths of rope or wooden clubs for that matter. The problem lies with people who, basically, want to use them to harm others. The psychopath has always been with us and, since they are usually of above average intelligence, it's impossible to stop their murderous activities before they occur. My father used to say that if there were only two men left in the world, one in the UK and the other in Australia, they wouldn't be happy until they met up so they could bash each other over the head! He was a cynic, like his da

And Ford's...for liberty bodices! Can just make it out.

Yes, Mary. I think it is he. Don't know why he is always referred to as Dr because be was a surgeon. He operated on my grandmother in 1947.

Perhaps it's an age thing but I am frequently assailed by triggers that bring back my childhood memories. Smell is one of the most deeply embedded senses we have and it's often via catching a whiff of something that a vivid memory comes back. The other day, I caught a hint of something from long ago. It brought back an image of my mum spring cleaning the bathroom with Flash powder in a box. The powder was green and sparkly and it played havoc with her hands because she couldn't work in gloves. It had a very distinctive smell. These memories often bring tears, not of sad