Jill Sparrow

I think it's quite widespread among homo sapiens, sadly.

I wouldn't, Ben, you'll get soaked. Just had a hailstorm and now more rain. Poncing about in the rain ain't much fun. By the way @benjamin1945 I think one of your foreign conquests has been posting messages again.

I've always said that I should have been a hibernatory creature. I think it stems from the fact that, being born at the end of November, the weather was so bad that I didn't go out in my pram for two months, according to my mother. Spent all that time snuggled up in my Moses basket and clearly acquired a taste for it!

Hedgehogs need all the help they can get, @Beekay Like most other creatures, we've fouled up their habitat. We owe it to them to make recompense.

Most probably it is. You fed it royally in 2023, so why would it go anywhere else. Good thing they're not sociable creatures or it would be telling all its friends about your hog restaurant!

I'm pleased to hear that Mr Mayfield is still alive and kicking...with both legs.

Surely, not you Ben?

@MargieH I thought it wasn't my imagination. Hope there is nothing amiss. He's not having his other hip replaced, is he?

Is it my imagination or has @philmayfieldbeen AWOL lately?

I don't know whether there would be a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer five times a day but if I were a resident of the nearby care home, I don't think I'd be too pleased about that.

Little beggars are hungry. Rutting season approaches.

The proposed site appears to be land on Occupation Road, off Cinderhill Road. Former colliery land, possibly? The locals are considerably less than keen but, apparently, have been advised they have no chance of stopping it.

Had a look on Street view at the former Peter Barrie premises. The frontage has been altered and it looks very different now. Many years ago, I bought a short evening cape from there. It was in the sale. The original price was eyewatering! I still have it. The other shop may have been nearer to Pearson's than Clumber Street. I'll have to find a 1950s trade directory and see whether I can track it down.

Excellent news, @MRS B They know where to go for humans who run hedgehog restaurants.

I've been trying to remember the name of the shop I was referring to and the name Peter Barrie has suddenly sprung to mind. I'm not sure whether it's the right one. Does anyone else remember it? It was there for many years. The premises are still there but occupied by someone else these days. I remember another very high class shop on Long Row, I think, where Muriel's clothes came from but, again, the name escapes me. Just remember mum pointing out the place when I was a child and saying that all the taffeta ball gowns and velvet skirts In my dressing up box originally came from th

That's the conclusion I came to, as well. CT. Doesn't seem long since I was a very small child and stood not far from there watching the construction of a high rise block on the other side of Maid Marian Way.

It did, indeed, CT. Does that say Park Row on the side street of Smalley's shop? If so, the street pattern has changed since those days.

Thought so. Thanks Stuart. I used to like wandering round Baker & Plumb.

Crikey. Didn't that used to be part of Baker & Plumb?

I remember The Golden Cage. It was there for years. Also Pennyfeathers on Goldsmith Street, in an old Victorian house that probably isn't there any longer. They were ideal places for finding theatrical costumes. When I was a child, we lived next door to an elderly couple whose only daughter, Muriel, had been one of my mother's best friends from early childhood. After attending Berridge and the dreaded Manning Grammar, Muriel went to Millers Business College and then found employment as a secretary to one of the directors of Player's. Muriel's mum, according to my mum, was determ

Or, with a dodgy knee, backwards and sideways.

I recently found this photo which I'd archived and not realised what it was. In fact, it's a photo of Robin Hood, An Entertainment by Berridge School which took place on 4 April 1968 at 7pm. It was a combined cast of the final two years of the junior school, plus one or two younger ones. Another old classmate had sent me a scan of the programme which is so faded it's barely legible but it lists the cast (so far as I'm able to decipher it because the odd name I can't read) as follows: Narrators: Jill Sparrow, Martyn Jewers Robin Hood - Jeffrey Warren Maid Mari

You can rely on me!!

An endocrinologist actually admitted to a friend of mine that GPs are mostly completely ignorant about thyroid issues and cause a lot of problems for him. It has also been my experience, as a hypothyroid patient, that GPs know very little about the subject...and they certainly don't like it when their patients have researched their own condition! Tough. It's my thyroid and I want to know everything possible about its activities, or lack thereof.

@nonnaBjust thought I'd mention it. UK GPs seem reluctant to test men as they seem to think it's mainly a female problem.