Jill Sparrow

He's a handsome lad!

I sometimes wake up to the same thing, SG. Tendons in my lower legs and feet have suffered damage due to the years of ballet training when I was younger. Often I wake in the night with toe curling, literally, spasms and the pain can be awful. A bad one will leave soreness or a dull ache for a couple of days. See how it goes. It will probably fade.

Teenagers are a nightmare, PP!

A couple of moggies from Bradford Found themselves teleported to Radford. "The rodents round here are far worse than the beer! And the cheese isn't fit for a cockroach! " Assonance!

Iambic pentameter?

Preferable to a house full of people!

Very few show Garden Street, especially the Ilkeston Road end where my relatives lived. It's years since I was in that area and I didn't have time to wander that far on my recent Berridge trip but may do so later in the year.

Many memories there!

Some of us are still waiting to hear about the budgie and the garden shed from months ago!

My paternal grandfather, Ted Sparrow, worked at the ROF during WW2. He'd done his fighting in WW1 and rather enjoyed fraternising with the ATS girls at Chilwell, much to his wife's disgust. Precisely what he did there I'm not sure but it was not infrequently that a car would draw up at his house in the middle of the night to take him back to the ROF. He thought that rather grand. It made him feel important. It also woke up my grandmother, the irascible Kate, which was only a good idea if you were tired of living! Kate had worked at Chilwell during WW1 and was playing hookey on the

Such a shame. Exquisite workmanship. Nothing like that will be built again.

Belated happy birthday, Sue. Hope it's been good!

Both my aunts attended Nether Street. One born 1921, now deceased. One born 1930, still very much alive. Beeston has changed since their day!

Thinking about the residents of Bobbers Mill Road after my visit a couple of weeks ago, I recalled the North family. They had two girls, Katherine who was my sister's age, born around 1950 and Maureen who was younger but older than me, possibly born around 1954. Both dark haired and both would have attended Berridge. Letsavagoo might remember Maureen. Tragedy struck when Maureen was 13 and she died. I believe she'd had rheumatic fever or something similar and it damaged her heart. Everyone was very shocked and I remember wondering if I would die when I turned 13! After

That was on the right hand side of St James Street, walking up from Long Row, just round the corner from the Wimpey Bar. The hairdressing salon always had wigs in the window.

My paternal grandparents lived in Stapleford in the 60s. Sometimes, dad would drive us over to see them on summer evenings and then we'd go to Attenborough Nature Reserve to watch the sun set before going home. I have very happy memories of the place.

This one does!!

Did you never ask them who it was, CT?

Who looks just like his mum, then?

I took GCE O level music at Manning. It must have been the smallest group of any O level subject...there were 4 of us! Grade 5 theory Royal Academy of Music examination was a prerequisite. If you hadn't passed that, you couldn't sit the O level course. Playing one instrument to a reasonable standard was also a prerequisite. I already played the piano but was then required to learn a second instrument. I had violin lessons with a visiting strings teacher but I couldn't take to it, much as I love the instrument. The voice was classed as a second instrument and since I sing reasonably

There is a cinema on Broad Street. When I was a child, the building was known as The Rainbow Rooms and was used for dancing competitions. I took part in many of them. I studied ballet with Patricia James whose school of dance was in the lower club room of what was then the Co-operative Arts Theatre. Patricia James died last year, I believe. A friend of mine is a regular visitor to the Broadway cinema. Chulla's daughter studied dancing with Nora Morrison and would also have taken part in those competitions many years ago.

I'm not a member of the Women's Institute. I have an aversion to institutions. As Groucho said, "Marriage is a wonderful institution but who wants to live in an institution?" Don't make jam either.

My personal favourite is 'Once to every man and Nation/Comes the moment to decide' which could be seen as slightly topical at present! The tune is Ebenezer, also known as Ton Y Botel. Ends on a striking tierce de Picardie (a major chord). It was a Manning School favourite but I've rarely heard it sung elsewhere. If you aren't familiar with the tune, Loppy, have a look. The words are also fascinating.

What's wrong with the words? It's a fine poem by William Blake, alluding to the legend that Christ visited England as a child. I love the whole hymn and sing it regularly around the house!

Or joined up writing. Children usually started by writing patterns in a specially lined handwriting book. My writing is atrocious which is why I type everything!