Jill Sparrow

Getting out of bed in the morning to go there!

My reports whilst at The Dreaded Manning are contained in a Report Book. I think all secondary schools had them. The book is contained within a buff envelope which has the name of the school, school crest and motto emblazoned on the front. I still have the envelope but it's falling to bits now. The report books themselves were, at Manning, covered in shiny coloured paper equating to your house colour. Mine is yellow, for St David's house. I often read the comments in the report book. I started off well. High marks for in-house exams but, gradually, I stopped making the effort

Mr Skilbeck became head of Berridge Boys in 1950 and Mr Henton in 1952. There were obviously some peculiar goings on with age groups during those years. I've recently encountered a former Berridge Junior Boy who says he went straight into the second year juniors from the infants and remained two years ahead of his chronological age group for the remainder of his junior years...and his photographs bear that out. My mother was also very keen on preserving school photos. This is why I can't understand why we don't have any of my sister after her time in the infant school.

Their joint leader, at one point, was Catmando... A cat. Cats make excellent politicians. They're egocentric, totally selfish and concerned only about what they can get out of any given situation. The only difference is, cats are quite honest about their motivations and intentions, making no attempt whatsoever to hide them. If only we could say the same of humans...

What about "doolally"? I use that one quite a bit. Connotations of empire, though. Tut, tut. Doubt I'll change my ways.

My father was caught scrumping pears from the trees behind The Crown Inn in Beeston when he was a child. The landlady, Nellie Clark, was a hard number and said he could keep the pears but he'd have to earn them. He was made to clean out all the grates in the pub, lay materials for new fires, fetch the coal, blacklead the fireplaces and any number of other chores before finally being permitted to return home with the pears!

Haven't we all?

There are numerous ways of spelling the surname: Hurd, Hird, Herd, Heard, etc, but I can't find a Richard who would have been around your age.

I just noticed a Hird in the Nottingham obituaries the other day but he was born in 1948, so younger than yourself. It's not a common name.

What was his first name @Beekay?

Knights in White Satin references a sonata by Clementi but you have to listen closely to hear it.

There are a couple of vague references to JSB's Wachet Auf! I believe but, other than that, no connection.

Not this one. I think you mean that some manufacturers of vegetarian processed foods do their best to make the products look like meat.

No, your ginger tomcat and my five moggies cannot live without meat. They just aren't designed that way.

Those who want meat can have whatever is on offer, carved and put on their plate. Those who don't can pass by the meat and help themselves to a good selection of nicely prepared veggies. I suppose it's called meat free carvery because it's all served from the same area. I usually have cauliflower cheese (a particular favourite), roast potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans and veggie gravy. One of our number isn't a veggie yet but we're working on her.

@IAN FINNyes. The Hole is still going strong. I'm meeting some friends for lunch there next week. We often go. It went through a rough patch a few years ago but has since pulled its socks up. I always have their meat free carvery. In fact two of us do as we're both veggies. The only difference is that he can eat four Yorkshire puddings and I don't care for them, so I donate mine to him.

Someone on Nottingham Lost School Friends is looking for anyone who was at Henry Mellish in the 1940s. Unless he was a child prodigy, that's a tad early for Mr Mayfield, I think.

Tomato sausage was a favourite in our house when I was a child. My father was quite partial to it. It was for sale in most butcher's shops. As to crisps, @Beekay, they're just a bag of chemicals and flavourings these days.

That's a bit rough, Trogg. Hope you're soon feeling better.

My father knew some chap who had ordered a suit from John Collier, many years ago. John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch! So ran the advertisement. The suit wasn't quite the ticket. The trousers were fine but the jacket didn't 'sit' properly. One shoulder was higher than the other which made the poor chap look like a scoliosis sufferer. He did his best with it but soon tired of people looking askance at him and declaiming, "A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse!" For years afterwards, whenever the John Collier advert appeared on tv

If I'd stayed at The Manning any longer, I'd have needed the services of a psychiatrist! Otherwise, I think the attraction was trying to establish how people's minds work and why they do the things they do. I'm also incredibly inquisitive.

I wanted to be a psychiatrist. That's after I realised I would never be able to work on the biscuit counter in Woolworth's which was my ambition as a young child. By the time I was a teenager, they'd gone self-service. No consideration, some people.

1960/1 fourth and final year juniors. Teacher, Mr Wild. Back row: L to R: Alan Steele, Christopher Camidge, Alan Allcock, Paul Taylor, Carol Stokes, Margaret Broomhead, John Beckett*, unknown, Nicholas Clark, Paul Baylis. Third row L to R: Keith Brown, Jennifer Simons, Lorna Howard, Ivy Terry, Lyn Danby, Lesley Webster, Maria Switzenhof (spelling uncertain), Janice Sharman, unknown, Dianne Blackband, Vivian Widdowson, Audrey Denman, Peter? Second row. L to R: Mary?, Shirley Lee, Kathleen?, Susan Pollard, Kathryn North, Theresa?, Patricia Smith, Kathleen?, Ju

I now have a much more complete list of names for the two recent photos. Thanks to Jenny Lewin (nee Simons) and Lesley Allen (nee Webster) for providing many of the missing names. 1958/9 second year juniors. Teacher: Mrs Peart. Back row. L to R: unknown, Dianne Blackband, Keith Brown, Janice Sharman, Nicholas Clark, Alan Allcock, Christopher Camidge, Lesley Webster, unknown, Paul Baylis, Gillian Danby, Linda Smith. Third row. L to R: Paul?, Robert Baron, Ivy Terry, Lorna Howard, Diane Winstanley, Alan Steele, David Jepson, John Beckett*, unknown, Lyn Danby,

That has just made me think of Jean Nicholson who was a well known Nottingham historian and genealogist, now deceased. I taught Jean's two grandchildren when I was at Calverton. Jean and I were chatting about Lambley and when she discovered my family connection there, she lent me the thesis she had written on Lambley local history. Many of my relatives were mentioned in it and Revd Pearson certainly was. She had also taken many photos of the village before it changed so much.