Jill Sparrow

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Everything posted by Jill Sparrow

  1. Much of Tesco's car park was flooded this morning. I only ever go in for cat litter as my elderly mog will not under any circumstances use litter other than Tesco's bog (no pun intended) standard product. Managed to find a space I didn't have to wade out of, miles from the entrance doors, and got wet through on the walk there and back.
  2. My mother's family came from Lambley in the mid to very late 1800s. The only Pearson I've come across in my researches was the vicar of Holy Trinity, Lambley. I've heard a few tales about him that are a bit scurrilous for a man of the cloth, if true.
  3. That's some snowdrift. It's moved Clovelly all the way to North Notts!
  4. Yes, @Beekayfrom looking at Street view, that's where I thought it was. I remember The Jaguar when it was first built so that makes me feel old!
  5. Remember the Jaguar from childhood. Paternal grandparents lived at Stapleford then. Drove past The Jaguar a few years ago on a diversion due to a road closure. It looked very run down and I've been told it now no longer exists.
  6. The god of gates is Janus. He's a bit two-faced
  7. I think, in the days when the nuns were teaching, they possibly tended to expect from the girls the same type of behaviour the Mother Superior expected from them during the days when they first entered religious life. That was certainly the impression my former colleague gained from her time there. Sadly, many of the girls went off the rails for a time as a reaction to it. It's good that things have changed in more recent times.
  8. @MRS B my former colleague was slightly older than myself and so would have been at OLC around 1968 to 1973ish. Perhaps, like many of those Roman Catholic establishments, in later years the nuns were replaced by teachers who weren't in the religious life. As a result, perhaps the discipline imposed by the sisters was eased. I've known a number of people who were educated by Roman Catholic sisters and brothers. None had anything very positive to say about it. One, with whom I worked in the late 70s, was so terrified by the sight of a nun that he would cross the road to avoid her. This stemme
  9. You mean they caned the soles of their feet? I thought it was only the pesky Japanese who did that to POWs in WW2. Many years ago, I worked with a girl who was educated at Our Lady's Convent somewhere within striking distance of West Bridgford... I think it may have been Loughborough? She said anyone who slammed a door or who didn't close it quietly would be punished by the nuns because Our Lady always closed doors silently. It's news to me that most people had doors to close during Our Lady's time
  10. Also deceased yesterday was Michael Jayston, the Nottingham-born actor who was educated at The Becket School and had a possible claim to the record for the most canings whilst a pupil there.
  11. I hope you gave her guide dog a biscuit.
  12. My father absolutely loved Dad's Army. His favourite episode was the one starring Philip Madoc as the captured German submarine commander, which was also the episode where that character demands to know Pike's name, prompting Mainwaring's comment of, "Don't tell him, Pike!" It also contained the line, spoken by Madoc in a strong German accent. "I don't vant any soggy chips!". Dad would trot that one out at any opportunity. I recall going to The Futurist Cinema with my parents to see the film version of Dad's Army when it was first released.
  13. I never wear shoes in the house, so I can well understand your problem @mary1947 There's nothing worse than catching your toes on unyielding objects like furniture. Since I also tend to walk around in the dark, I've had the problem many times!
  14. The Dalai Lama (not to be confused with the Dalai Chulla) said, "Wherever it is possible, be kind. It is always possible." Or, as my mother used to say. Do as you would be done by.
  15. I used to like Geoff Hamilton and also Geoffrey Smith. The latter's infectious humour and obvious love of his subject was very apparent. He bore a resemblance to George Orwell, I thought. Then there was Bob Flowerdew and his floating lettuce boxes.
  16. He's buttering me up now! don't worry @Beekay. When I was teaching, I was often asked what it was like to live through the war and did I remember the dinosaurs.
  17. Don't lose any sleep over it, Oz. You didn't miss much!
  18. It was CT who found it, so credit goes to him. Thanks, CT. He did have the good manners to observe that it was before my time! The photo is even more interesting when you consider that Berridge was in use as a military hospital around this time. That is an aspect I would like to know more about. A friend of mine has a photo taken of wounded soldiers at Berridge during the Great War. He's going to let me copy it, when he can locate it.
  19. You can go off people, you know. @Beekay
  20. The little girl, fourth from the right on the back row, is Edna Foster, born in 1908. She lived all her life in the area and her grandson has posted some fascinating photos on a Nottingham-related Facebook site, all in pristine condition. If only more people treated their family photos with such care.
  21. A Colin Cade was based there in the 1960s. His daughters, Carolyn and Andreana both attended the same ballet classes as myself. They came into Nottingham on the train from Lowdham. Their father was transferred to Glen Parva and they had to find a new ballet teacher!
  22. I also watched it again over several evenings on YouTube. I watched it when it was first broadcast and hadn't a clue what it was about. Usually, if I saw a tv adaptation of something like that, I'd go and find a copy of the book and read it to see whether it made any sense of the televised version. In that case, I didn't. Sounds as though I wouldn't have been any the wiser for the effort. Alan Garner seems to have written quite a number of books. I've never read any. Certainly never read any at school.
  23. Starlings seem to be making a comeback. I remember watching them when I was a child but haven't seen too many in the intervening years. I now see far more rooks than anything else. Highly intelligent birds and fun to watch.