Jill Sparrow

For some years, I owned an old house in Brinsley and a number of things happened there which could not be explained. I often sat in the front sitting room in the evening, marking books. I was teaching at this time. Frequently, I heard footsteps crossing the room above, which was my bedroom. I'd creep quietly upstairs and check the room. It was always empty. Nothing out of place. Returning to my books, within minutes it would start again. I learned to ignore it! When I first moved in, I'd had a lovely hot soak in the tub one evening after work and, snuggled in my dressin

Victoria was very fond of nookie, or "fun" as she called it, but detested being pregnant! Perhaps she hadn't worked out what was causing it!

We do have other stories of the inexplicable kind in my family. My grandfather, Ernest Edwin Sparrow was taken under the wing of John Samuel Hudson, my great grandfather, after WW1, as his adoptive parents had died while he was in the Army. John Samuel was a very talented lace designer and taught my grandfather, whose daughter he married, the trade of lacemaking after which Edwin became a twisthand in Beeston where they all lived. John Samuel was a bit of a split personality. Very talented but with a dissolute side and a hair trigger temper which meant that most people,

#12 I remember the Camelot Club. Had my 21st birthday celebrations there! Maybe whatever mangled your gig lamps thought they were those indestructible ones you can bend and squash but which spring back into shape!

#31 Wot? No pink, sticky candy floss, toffee apple, brandy snaps and gingerbread, FLY? I thought you were a traditionalist!

#44 I like to keep busy!

#18 It was certainly called that in my childhood. One of my father's favourite watering holes if my parents went out for the evening.

Welcome to Nottstalgia, The Duke. Interesting first post. I hope you will enjoy the site and I look forward to reading your future posts.

#5 I believe you, Loppy. My cats talk. Well, my deaf cat, Crystal, shouts. Can be deafening, especially in the middle of the night. Sounds exactly like "Fooooooood!" That is usually what she wants! Tarquin Tabbycat always squeaks his thanks when I let him out into the garden every morning. Raffles has a wide vocabulary and understands most of what I say. Young kitten, Bruno, is still at the pre vocal stage but ought to be saying "I'm really sorry about what I did to the wallpaper last night!"

#9 Thought Ian might like this true story which happened to my father's cousin, Jean, in the late 1940s. She told me the tale herself and is still alive, now well into her 90s. As a young mother, she lived with her husband in a house on Alfreton Road in Nottingham. The house is still there and for many years was next door to a fish and chip shop which was on the corner of the main Alfreton Road and one of the side streets. The house belonged to Jean's own mother, my great aunt, who was a widow and, like many young couples in the late 1940s and early fifties,

Too sickly for me but my mother would have scoffed the lot and probably the box as well! She's in chocolate heaven now...well there'll be some complaints if there isn't any!

I think my little lot would appreciate an IAMS tree! Or a James Wellbeloved bush, so they could go and help themselves! Dream on, moggies!

When I was a child, my father woke me up one morning, all excited, insisting I come outside and look at something wonderful in the garden. It turned out to be a chocolate tree! Well, I was only tiny at the time. It was a bare branch, stuck in the ground, with bars of chocolate dangling from the twigs. Ever the rationalist, I asked why it had no leaves, it being the middle of summer, and how the tree had grown paper wrappers on the chocolate. Slightly exasperated, my father explained that it was a magic tree which could do anything and had just appeared in the middle of

My good friend, Catfan, has kindly offered to post some old photos I have of The Manse, the building I suspect could have been The Grange at Eastwood, Lamb Close, various members of the Barber Family, etc. Watch this space over the next few days! Since all the families involved had a great love of animals and the photographer liked animals better than people, there are lots of dogs and cats in the pictures too!

#84 I can assure you it wouldn't have stumped my mother, Lizzie! I once threatened to get her a part-time job with Thorntons in a bid to cure her chocolate addiction. On the other hand, I think it may well have bankrupted the company!!

#64 Tom, Naomi was your great aunt was she? As I mentioned earlier, her death had recently taken place when I visited her neighbour who had known her well. It is some time since I looked at the slides of Lamb Close but, yes, they do feature people and, if I remember correctly, Naomi is among them. I may have scanned them when I first looked at them. I'll have a dig around and see what I can find. Putting photos on NS has always defeated me but we can probably work out a way to email the images to you. You may also be interested to see the photos I have which

#26 Thanks CT. That fits in with what I remember. My recollections of the inside of the shop are clearer than its exterior!

If C&A was always situated on Lister Gate, it must have been rebuilt when the Broad Marsh Centre was constructed. I remember the original shop had huge metal-grilled storage type heaters which is probably why FLY had hot flushes and felt faint. The store was not set out as decorously then. I seem to remember there were just long rails of clothes on hangers and people searched through them.. Mum bought me a pink and white dress from there around 1967. I'm wearing it on that year's Berridge school photo, with a matching head band, although the photo is in monochrome. Look a real

Welcome to Nottstalgia, Marcopolo. Hope you will enjoy the site. The C&A I remember was on Lister Gate but I think it may have been in a different place when I was a child. I remember my moither taking me there to buy clothes.

My paternal grandfather, Ernest Edwin Sparrow, also liked cheese. He would purchase an entire gorgonzola, make holes in it, fill these with port and then, wrap the whole lot up and stash it away for several months. My father recalled being despatched to buy a bottle of port from one of the inns of Beeston when he was a child. It was evening, dark, and he took the short cut through Beeston Parish churchyard on his way home with the bottle tucked under his arm. At some point, he had the living daylights scared out of him when something all in white rose up from behind a t

#28 It's delicious, Margie, and was always a firm favourite in our house! Yummy!

#123 I'd be happy to have coal for Christmas, as long as its the smokeless variety! Not that I'm naughty all year...just now and then!

#13 You're doing better than he is then, Brian. There was a photo of him on the now defunct Friends Reunited and he was bald! Stephen would be my age, 58 pushing 59 and attended Berridge until 1969. He probably fits in somewhere.

Welcome to NS Brian. Interesting family tree. Hope you will enjoy this site as much as I do. I was at Berridge Road School with a curly haired lad name of Stephen Binns. Any relation?

#6 Ah! Brings back memories! Nice to know they're still around. Fortunately, I don't need pocket money any more!