Merthyr Imp
-
Content Count
1,815 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by Merthyr Imp
-
-
But why did we call it "Dobby" when the rest of the world called it "tag"?
I think it goes along with "suckers" actually being "iced lollies"!
In Lincolnshire we called it 'tiggy'. Dobby for tiggy, suckers for iced lollies and kali for sherbet where some of the new words I had to get used to when we moved to Nottingham in 1959.
There was something we played in the school playground called Relievio (spelling?). Can't remember the details now, but it was something where everybody stood in a line side by side with hands on each others shoulders - and did the person who was 'on' touch the end person and they were allowed to leave the line? Like I said - can't remember. Does it mean anything to anyone? As I've mentioned in another post, this was at Bluebell Hill.
-
blimey, for 50 years i've thought that was CHINESE water ????????
It was certainly called Chinese Waters up Bluebell Hill way.
-
And here's a diesel unit doing that move http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?srch=weekday&page=2&serial=34&img=Y-79-31
I think what's happening there is after Victoria closed there remained a passenger service between Arkwright Street station and Rugby Central which finished in the late 1960s. It mentions on the captions to photos on that site that after the trains terminated at Arkwright St they would run on as far as Weekday Cross then reverse (easily done with a diesel unit) along the line towards London Road where they were stabled overnight, and that's what is shown in those photos.
The freight service to East Leake continued for a year or two after that passenger service finished.
-
For a few shots of part of the real thing...........
http://www.rcts.org....79&img=G-241-35
I think those photos must have been taken when the line was still in use for freight trains to British Gypsum at East Leake. As shown in the third picture, trains were propelled up the line as far as just past Weekday Cross Junction and a little way into the tunnel that led to Victoria Station (obviously blocked off at the far end by then). Then the train would reverse direction with the engine now leading and head off down (or I should really say up) the main line as far as East Leake.
It must have been in the early to mid-1970s when that practice ceased as a new short spur line was put in at Loughborough to connect the Midland main line and the Great Central near Loughborough station so trains could get to East Leake from the south instead.
-
Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember the Mechanics cinema retaining the side galleries until the end.
Yes I remember them being there. Can't remember if people sat there or not though.
-
I remember AMR I bought railway books from there it was run by a deaf/dumb bloke called Jack Gibbons, I went on a number of trainspotting trips and got to know Jack quite well, I never came across any funny buisness though or heard of any.
Brian.
Yes, AMR was 'Attenborough Model Railway' and it was on the right hand side past the railway bridge going from town. In the early 1960s it was the best place in Nottingham for railway books as Sisson & Parker never seemed to have any good ones.
There's a picture here:-
When the shop there closed (which may, or may not, have been when the demolition started) he moved his business to a first floor above a shop on Derby Road - that would have been by the mid-1960s. I can't remember when it finished there.
-
The suggestion of December 1990 just prompted me to do an Internet search and I've found this debate about it in parliament:-
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1990/dec/19/electricity-supply-east-midlands
It was Friday night 7th of December when it started. I've only skimmed through all what's on there (after all a lot of it is MPs waffling) but it's got it all there, about what caused the power cuts and about the local radio bulletins etc.
-
1
-
-
No - what I'm thinking of was in the 1980s (or maybe early 1990s) because it was when I was living in Bulwell, and I didn't move there until late 1980. There was definitely heavy snow, which started on a Saturday morning (maybe late the previous night) and it was said that due to a combination of it being wet snow and heavy winds it had forced the power lines down. It affected just about all of Nottingham as I remember.
-
On the subject of snow in Nottingham, can anyone remind me what year it was when a particular kind of heavy, wet snow brought down all the power lines in the area and all the electricity was cut off for most of Nottingham? I think it must have been between about 1982 and 1992 but I can't remember when.
The main trouble it caused, apart from simply not having any electricity in the home was that it meant the water supply was cut off because there was no power at the pumping stations. I remember it started one Saturday, and didn't come back on in Bulwell at any rate until, think the following night. Or was it longer than that. I remember filling the bath with snow in order to melt it (had a gas cooker) to wash and to do washing up with. Hadn't got as far as having to drink it before supplies were restored.
I remember huddling around the battery radio, tuned in to Radio Nottingham listening for bulletins on how the work to restore supplies was going, area by area.
-
Where in Lincoln? I'm going to be there next Saturday so I'll have a look for them.
Last time I was in Lincoln (10 months ago) there was still the main Curtis's shop on the High Street. That's if you have your back to the cathedral, the shop is on the right hand side about 100 yards past the level crossing heading away from the cathedral The other city centre shop is - or was 10 months ago - heading the other way, towards the cathedral, just through the Stonebow then to the right. It's actually just on Silver Street.
They do good haslet, and stuffed chine. And cakes...making me hungry! When I lived in Bulwell 16 years ago the Gateway supermarket in Bulwell used to sell Curtis's cakes.
-
I don't know when it began taking that route, but in the early 1970s the Thames-Clyde ran via Nottingham Midland before reversing to go north via the Trowell route. Departure time from Nottingham was around 10am. I forget when it lost its name, but you could still get direct to Glasgow from Notttingham in the mid-1970s.
-
I remember the Lyons place as well from when I was a kid.
Stu, I agree, it was a fairly narrow place which went a long way back, and was on several levels. You went in at ground level and then went up a couple of flights of steps which were like terraces in a garden. The serving area where you got your food and drink was right up at the top at the back. Then you had to come back to the front half of the building to sit down and eat.
That's right. There was a long self-service counter on the left hand side. On day trips to Nottingham when we lived in Lincolnshire in the late 1950s a sausage roll and a doughnut in Lyons was a treat I always looked forward to. In later years, I would go in there for lunch on my way to work in Bulwell after morning day release at Arnold & Carlton College. The pie and chips were pretty ordinary though.
There was a shop area as you went in, before the steps, and my mother worked there for a time in the late 1960s.
Before it was Ladbrokes was it Pizzaland by the mid 1990s, or was that next door?
-
Great finds above.
Here's an atmospheric shot of the interior of the Mechanics Institution which became a cinema. Image dated at 1895
.
I remember the screen when it was a cinema went across just where the curved part of the walls started, but it didn't go all the way to the top - you could see the ceiling with that decorative moulding above the top of it.
Around 1960 I think the Mechanics was the only city centre cinema we could afford to go to.
-
Merthyr Imp;
As mentioned above, Morrisons sell Dickens & Morris pies, and sometimes have a Melton pie available on the deli counter not to be confused with their "Vale of Mowbray" range of own-brand budget pies which are OK but nowt special.
Well, they do in Carmarthen anyway. And you'll find decent pork pies and faggots in the indoor market.
Much as i like pork pies, Carmarthen is a bit far to go from here! I think Ebbw Vale is the nearest Morrisons, all we've got here is Tesco, Asda and Co-op.
-
Do I remember PC49 in The Eagle comic? I do recall Dan Dare, Riders of he Range, Harris Tweed, Tommy Wall and the centrefold cut back illustrations.
And Storm Nelson - Sea Adventurer, who had the 'Silver Fleet'. From memory, 'Silver Spray', I think was the schooner, 'Silver Foam' was a motor boat, 'Silver Fish'(?) was a submarine, 'Silver Fly'(?) a helicopter, and 'Silver Flea' was a miniature helicopter.
-
Of course there was another Famous Five in the Billy Bunter stories. I think they were all in that video that was posted - Harry Wharton, Bob Cherry, Frank Nugent, Johnny Bull and Hurree Singh.
Wasn't Billy Bunter on TV in the Saturday tea time slot? 'Mr Pastry' was another programme that used to be on at that time - and who else remembers 'Gary Halliday'? All these were in the days before 'Dr Who' came along.
-
. I think Billy Bunter was featured in a comic too.
Dennis
Billy Bunter was in the 'Knockout' in my day (1960-ish). Have a look here (if it works):
http://www.friardale.co.uk/Knockout/Knockout%20[1961-10-07]%20(comicsuk).pdf
-
Nit-picking again, as usual - wasn't it a 29 to the City Hospital? (2 was the peculiar route from Goldsmith Street to Valley Road, via Mount Hooton Road, Bentinck Road, Gregory Boulevard and Hucknall Road). Later on there was also the 28 that went to Padstow Road. At that time all buses went round Trinity Square anticlockwise. Which stop was which - I seem to remember the 6 (and possibly 28?) was the one on the north side (i.e. back to Victoria station).
Yes, the 29 was the Ciy Hospital bus - did it terminate in the hospital grounds? Perhaps it only ran during hospital visiting hours - I'm just guessing at that.
You're right about the 2. I can't remember where it left from in town, but it went by an obscure route, then eventually heading up Hucknall Road to Valley Road and along there to Daybrook (I think). So you could have got a 2 and walked up from Valley Road to get to the City Hospital. But the 6 and the 28
went right past the entrance - or an 18 or 49 went past the Edwards Lane entrance to the hospital at the other end.
Re the 2 - it can't have been a very well-used route, as in the early to mid 1960s at least it was often worked by single deckers, in the days when NCT only had four or five of them.
-
Never mind Melton Mowbray, if you're ever in Lincoln get a Curtis's pork pie. I was brought up on having pork pie for breakfast every Sunday as well as Christmas (still do) but that was living in Lincolnshire in the 1950s before we moved to Nottingham. I'd always thought it was a Lincolnshire custom, in fact when I was living in Nottingham people expressed surprise at the thought of pork pie for breakfast.
No disrespect to Pork Farms, but I've always considered them as bog standard pork pies - mind you I'm quite happy to get one when they have them in the local Tesco, as I discovered when I came to South Wales that this is not a great pork pie area and it's sometimes difficult to get them at all.
-
Has anyone mentioned The Metropole in Sherwood, now a Co-Op. I have great memories of leaping off the bus before it had even stopped, outside the cinema, to get in the queue for the Saturday morning show. The place used to be packed and we'd all sing the 'We are the Ovaltineys' song. I never did like Ovaltine though!
Yes, the Metropole was our local cinema after we moved to Sherwood in 1961. Used to go there regularly, but I could never get up early enough on a Saturday to go to 'Minors Matinees'!
A particular memory is of Charles Hawtrey making a personal appearance at a showing of 'Carry on Cowboy' when it first came out (1966). Don't remember anything of what he said, though, and we were at the back of the stalls, so didn't get a good view of him either!
You could see the illuminated red 'Metropole' sign at the top of the tower for miles around at night. After it was closed and later became a Kwik-Save supermarket I used to go there occasionally. I understand the building has now been demolished and there's a new supermarket on the site (I haven't been up there for years).
-
One or two people have commented that the new line wouldn't be used by ordinary passengers, but HS1 is. That's the line from St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel which has services on it (the 'Javelin' trains) for people travelling to places like Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Dover etc. When we were on holiday in Folkestone a couple of years ago we used it for a day trip to London. I can't remember or not whether it was more expensive than by the slower service on the old route, but if so it wasn't enough to put us off using it.
-
Welcome to Nottstalgia, Merthyr Imp. I look forward to reading your posts.
Thanks. I've just discovered this site, so as I trawl back through the topics I may be replying to stuff that was last discussed ages ago.
I see there's another thread going about cinemas which covers some of the things recently mentioned on this one.
Re The Scala on Market Street, which was its name when I first remember it, it would have been about 1964 or 1965 when it was converted to a News and Cartoon cinema, and my mother and I used to go there quite a lot. One reason was that as it was a continuous performance of short pieces you didn't have to bother about getting there for a particular time.
As I remember, the running time of the complete programme was about 80 to 90 minutes, so was a lot less than you'd get at a 'normal' cinema. It was there that I first got to see Laurel & Hardy films, as one of their 20 to 30 minute shorts would usually be included. There would also be a newsreel, a 'Look at Life' (or similar) or two, and of course the cartoons, I particularly remember Bugs Bunny.
I think it lasted a couple of years or so, then became the Classic, being twinned either then or later, and finishing as Cannon 1 & 2. In both cases, as has been said, it was noted for the, shall we say, risque films that were shown there. Although, as I remember, during school holidays it would show children's films on at least one of the screens. Off hand I can remember going there at least a couple of times myself in the 1970s/80s, once to see the Disney film 'Candleshoe' and once to see the Charlton Heston film 'Grey Lady Down'.
The building itself had quite a history, and it's sad that it was demolished.
-
1
-
-
Regarding the earlier posts about what films were showing when the Odeon became a two-screen cinema, I also remember them as being The Sound of Music in Odeon 1 - and that it ran for over a year. Mary Poppins was the opening film in Odeon 2 and it also ran for quite a while, but not as long.
I expect most people on here have memories of the Odeon. Back in the late 1950s/early 1960s we could seldom afford to go there. I would have given anything to see Sink the Bismarck when that first came out, but no - my mother said we had to wait until it came to the Cavendish - only I don't think it ever did.
I went to the Odeon regularly from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, and if I remember right it was Odeon 1 upstairs (the largest) and Odeon 2, in plan a sort of mushroom shape the second largest downstairs. They were the two with big screens, then either side of Odeon 2 you had 3 and 4, with Odeon 5 in the basement, very small, with a small screen. Have I got it wrong, or did they then open an Odeon 6, also downstairs, in what had been a restaurant? Or was it 5 that had been the restaurant?
-
2
-
-
I wonder if people complained when they pulled down the old Exchange buildings?
One of these days some fool will come up with the brilliant idea of building a giant Tesco in the middle of the Old Market Square. No doubt it will be tarted up with twee little Noddytown towers - as they do, and who knows, the Council House could then be pulled down and turned into a multi-storey car park.
Electric trains
in Pete's Nottingham Transport Forum
Posted
Regarding the situation at Newark, the idea of building a flyover was first raised, I think, back in the 1970s. Since those days, of course, a new road has been built, complete with a bridge over the main line not far from where the Lincoln line crosses it on the flat. A pity they couldn't have thought to build a combined road and rail bridge just there - although I don't know what the gradients would have been like. Even so, I'm sure it could have been done if they'd wanted to.
The trouble with Newark has always been partly with the cost of maintaining the flat crossing (wear and tear on the track is higher, plus it means a speed restriction on the main line) and the simple fact of the conflicting movements of trains on two lines. Back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, there was a scheme put forward to close the Lincoln line just the other side of Newark station so the crossing could be done away with. That would have meant passenger trains from Nottingham terminating at Newark (in those days there was still freight traffic to Staythorpe power station just before Newark as well). Services from Nottingham to Lincoln would then (according to this scheme) have taken the Grantham line as far as Bottesford West Junction then turned off to take the line through Cotham, which was still open for freight in those days, and reach Newark North Gate staion on the main line that way. They would then have taken the link still used by Lincoln trains to reach the Lincoln line just the other side of the flat crossing.
Nothing came of that, no doubt for various reasons, one of which would have been that Nottingham - Lincoln trains would still have needed to cross the main line even if not by the flat crossing. The Bottesford - Cotham - Newark line, of course is now long-closed.