Jill Sparrow

#209 Well, Loppy, no one knows you like your own mother and mine certainly knew me inside out. She was wise enough to realise that I was too much like my father in character to cope with a place like the Nottingham Girls High School. Apart from the final two years of junior school, I hated having to go at all and she never forgot the awful performances she had every morning trying to force me out of the house or disentangle my little fingers from the stair rails. I was fortunate enough to be sufficiently bright to do pretty well at Infant and Junior School but my mother knew that i

I feel inspired to add my own tribute to my old alma mater. The tune is well known, please feel free to join in. Apologies to any left wing members for misappropriation of their anthem. THE RED (AND GREY) FLAG! Oh Manning School, Oh Manning School, What nightmares you've engendered. Those washing !lines of knickers grey, So neatly stitched and mended. Of hockey sticks and muddy boots, Of laced-up brogues and tweedy suits. And lessons with sadistic brutes... Your horrors aren't yet ended. We won't forget the Admin Block!

I also remember my great uncle Horace who, at home in Beeston on leave when the Armistice was declared, stuffed his Army uniform down a rabbit hole and declared that he wouldn't be returning to his unit! The military police had other ideas! There's one in every family!

#79 Good for you, FLY2! I've not seen any poppies yet this year but I'll be sure to purchase and wear one. I'd feel guilty if I didn't remember the 5 members of my family whose lives were cut short by war, along with millions of others.

#201 The head teacher at Berridge, Mr J W Baugh, pressured my mother to let me sit the scholarship exam for NGHS as he was convinced I'd get in. Very wisely, she refused. He told her it had been a bad year for 11 plus passes but, if my memory serves me correctly, there were 4 girls and 6 boys in my class of 30 who passed which doesn't seem a bad percentage. I believe pupils needed an IQ rating of 130 plus to pass the exam, where the average was deemed to be around 100.

#204 With a pinch of salt!

#201 And a very modest apprentice electrician at that, Loppy!

#198 Ah, that explains it! The boys in my year had the same choice of co-ed grammars or High Pavement which I have only just realised was in Bestwood. I remember several boys in my year going to High Pavement in 1969.

#195 I'm sure my friend and near neighbour Margaret Beardsall went to FFGS. She was a couple of years older than I but I don't recall that school being on the list of options given to my parents when I passed the Eleven plus exam. They were Mundella, Bluecoat or Manning. When did FFGS close?

#27 Nice to see you posting again, Shaz! I too have fond childhood memories of the Wheatsheaf and, as it then was, the Whitemoor. Happy days!

#32 I think we'll have a gander at your birth certificate, Ben! You must be older than you look!

#188 Harold Wilson wore Dannimac and Gannex raincoats, if I remember correctly. Dannimac garments are still available today, a cheaper alternative to Aquascutum. Probably need to remortgage your house to buy one of those nowadays!

#170 He's sporting a liberty bodice underneath so he don't catch cowd!!!

#182 Yes, The Manning carried a lot of weight when it came to interviews. Can't imagine why, but it did!

#179 You found a good one, Loppy!

#177 I'm not 18 any more, Loppy! When you're young, you think you know it all...well I did! Took some years to filter through the grey cells that I didn't really know very much and that pouncing on other people's weaknesses was not a nice thing to do. The 'women are superior to men' message propounded at The Manning took hold and was probably reinforced by the mutterings of my paternal grandmother, Kate, whose dealings with misguided males I wrote about in the Strange Neighbours thread! Most of the blokes in my life aren't too bad...but it has to be said that a fair num

Goole was one of the most desolate looking places I think I've ever seen in my life!

Welcome to Nottstalgia, Kerry. Hope you will enjoy this wonderful site as much as I do!

#175 Enjoyed your post, Stan. It's a terrible shame when a school destroys a pupil's confidence instead of building it. You've largely recovered from it, as you say, but the resentment is still, to some extent, there inside. During my time at The Manning, we were frequently told that we would emerge from that establishment able to converse with anyone on any subject and on equal terms. This was good as it boosted the self esteem of more reticent girls but the ethos of anti-male philosophy backfired to some extent. Certainly, after I left, I was guilty of what can only

My garden has had several blackbirds nesting this year. Also had wrens nesting in the trachycarpus and robins right at the bottom of the garden. Seem to be having less visits from the Sparrowhawk which often resulted in piles of feathers under the trees.

#70 You're not wrong there, RR!

I spent some time working in a "glass" building. Hated it. Only a few years old, leaks like hell when it rains, perishing cold in winter, stifling in summer (no air con). Couple of years ago, a large section of glass fell into the communal area of the building. It was pure chance that no one was killed or seriously injured but, of course, it meant the whole structure was suspect. Waste of money. Let's go back to wattle and daub. It's warmer, environmentally friendly, tons cheaper and, most important of all, I like it!

#697 Nobody's that thick, surely. It just wouldn't be fair!

#693 I've only seen David Beckham once, on Parkinson years ago. Initially, I thought he was putting on an act and pretending to be a post frontal lobotomy patient, gifted with an IQ preceded by a minus symbol and in urgent need of a personality transplant. After 5 minutes, I realised he wasn't faking. Who, with all their marbles at home, would want to emulate that?

#7 No doubt about it, Loppy, Kate meant business. She was 63 when I was born but, even as an old lady, she still had an aura of menace about her. Had to be careful what we said. Turned out that number one candidate for the eunuchry was my paternal grandfather, Ted. Ted ran a grocery shop in Middle Street in the mid to late 20s and often delivered orders to customers with his horse and dray. As a four year old boy, my dad frequently accompanied him. Dad was unwise enough to complain to his mother about deliveries made to the unfortunately named Mrs Adcock wh