Jill Sparrow

Cry, God for Harry*, England and St George! * Henry V, not Diana's offspring!

Yes, loved Eric Morecambe who made me laugh without saying a word but I couldn't stand Ernie Wise. As for Ronnie Corbett...Grrrrrrr!

You need a white trenchcoat and a lamppost stuck up your back for that one, Ben!

I wonder what our Ben's theme song is? Possibly "I fall in love too easily," as crooned by Frank Sinatra! I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast. I fall in love too terribly hard For love to ever last. My heart should be well schooled, Cos I've been fooled, in the past. I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast. Certainly describes our Ben...and we'll overlook the split infinitive in line 4!

The Oxfam shop was just across the road from where I worked at 24 Low Pavement and I remember the first floor for its book department. In addition, much of the timber frame of the building could be seen exposed on the first floor. A fascinating building, centuries old. I don't know what it houses now as I've not been in that area for many years.

Don't you believe it. He'll be busy interviewing scanties for his latest project: Dalai Chulla's Heavenly Tibetan Tipple Emporium. By the time the rest of us get there, it'll be a chain to outrival Wetherspoons!

I remember both the Wheatsheaf and Whitemoor very well, having grown up in Bobbers Mill. Last time I passed, the Whitemoor was The Snooty Fox but, otherwise, little altered externally. I rarely visit the area now. Find it painful to see how it has deteriorated.

I've been laughing all the way home. As I was leaving the office tonight I overheard one of the cleaners telling another about a funeral she'd been to. "It was really good," she enthused, "and his son gave a wonderful urology!' No....surely, she was taking the *iss?

We could Chull out at Wetherspoons!

The sun shone for Chulla, which is as it should be. A bright, warm, delightful day for a bright, warm, delightful person. Wherever you are, Chulla, some of us will be raising a glass of Tibetan tipple in your honour this evening. Might even look out my saffron robes!

He did too but then I called him the Dalai Chulla! Never saw him in saffron robes but he was very much like the present Dalai Lama. Same cheeky face!

Sadly, I will not be able to attend Chulla's funeral tomorrow due to work commitments but I will be thinking of him, his family and all Nottstalgians who gather to celebrate his life. He will long live on in our thoughts and posts.

Love the photo of Ollerton. That area is prominent in my family tree with my great grandfather being born in Wellow and his siblings at Ompton. That line of the family goes back through Kneesall, Bilsthorpe and Laxton. Great great grandad ended his days in Retford, keeping a pub after farming all his life. A few years ago, I worked at Welbeck House in Ollerton, built on the site of the former Colliery. Hated the place. It was a soulless building. Often visited Retford, which is still a nice town. It's nice to walk the same ground your ancestors knew, even if it does look very diffe

If you do, it'll be due to your oxygen supply being cut off by mobs of hysterical females! You should be so lucky!

I'm sure Ben will go on to become a wonderful guide dog and some lucky person will benefit from all the hard work you have put in, Gem. They will also love him to bits. With a name like Ben, he'll be wowing the world with his charms!

Good thing no one had a long-handled broom!

Derby Road, CT. This came up in a thread a while back. It was at the end of a Georgian terrace near where The Octagon was built. Philmayfield is correct about the location of the new HQ.

Yes, the Red Cross moved from a beautiful Georgian terrace to an ugly new HQ in the early 70s. I was a member of the Junior Red Cross and went to the new building on numerous occasions. I don't know whether it still stands.

They were all the rage in Lord Byron's day as unisex headgear. There is nothing new under the sun, as they say!

My mum used gravy browning! Fine until it rained!

I've never used it in anger but I polish it and keep it shining. More likely to use grandma Kate's bread knife. It could tell some tales!

Bit late but...hope you've had a wonderful birthday, Sue!

If anyone broke into my house in the middle of the night, I wouldn't stop to consider their welfare. They'd more than likely get a very sharp WW1 officer's sword through their middle or up their rear end. It's my home and unless I invite people in...which is rare, cos I prefer cats....they have no right to be there!

I remember Lipman's being on Derby Road but not on Parliament Street. I was a bridesmaid in the70s and my dress came from the Derby Road shop. The lady who ran it was the wife of a Nottingham solicitor.

It's a tragedy that those houses and the area were allowed to fall into such disrepair. The houses themselves are stylish...or once were...and have character, which is more than can be said for today's ticky tacky boxes.