Bilbraborn

Members
  • Content Count

    3,067
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    20

Posts posted by Bilbraborn

  1. Ayup Plantfit. Doing OK but still getting old. This was brought home to me last year when my grand-daughter sprogged us a great grandson. His name is Carson and is 15 months old. He's a proper little livewire and wears us all out very quickly. Very proud to say that his first words were "Gandag".  

                   I retired last year but seem to have even less time to do anything.

    • Like 1
  2. My son was sitting on my shoulders (he was 2 years old) when I caught his head on the blinds outside The Music Inn on Alfreton Rd. It was the year 1975. There was a lot of blood so I ran back to the car and quickly drove to the Children's hospital on Chestnut Grove. When we got to the gate there was an ambulance comi g the other way. A collision was imminent but at the moment of impact nothing happened. The ambulance had disappeared. I never did work out what happened. 

  3. Sorry not to have posted for a while but have been very busy. I'm retired now but having moved backed to Bilborough into the house on Wigman Road which I grew up in, I have plenty to do bringing it up to my wife's exacting standards. I was at BGS from 1962 until 1967. It was not a very happy ride. A long spell of pneumonia in my first term set me back so much that I never really caught up. I remember being in 1c with Miss Louden in charge. Enough to put anyone off school. Most of the teachers were fine and given that I was a rebel and could never keep that hole under my nose zipped up, it's a wonder that I was never expelled.

                    Mr Kirton, the metalwork teacher used to give us work to do and then clear off and chat up the female domestic science teachers. When this happened, I used to accompany my friend making half crowns. I didn't smoke at the time but my friend (The late Pete Truman - member name Firbeck) used to have the ciggies we used the home made half crowns to obtain from the machine at the top of Aspley Lane. Since the 18 Senior Service had a two shilling piece sellataped to it, that was my half of the booty. Aren't teenage lads little s..ts? Happy days. Fortunately my English teacher, Mr Jacobs instilled into me a love of the English Language and I now belong to a writing group at St. Martin of Tours Church in Bilborough Village. 

                  Despite my waywardness, I did belong to the Junior Scripture Union and later, The Senior Christian Fellowship, both run by Keith (Polly) Flinders, who also ran the Railway Society. Anyone know what happened to him?

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1
  4. Sorry about my scrambled posts. My tablet just seems to do what it likes. I'm now back to using my computer. I meant to say why my dad nearly got the sack from Middleton BVD co-op. One of his posh  customers asked to see the garden furniture range. She made a decision and told him she wanted a seat with a canopy. My cheeky dad replied "A can of what?" He had to go and see the manager for his crime.

    • Like 3
  5. Sorry if my posts are all scrambled. My tablet just seems to do what it wants. I'm back on my proper PC now. 

          My Friday writing group at St. Martin's in Bilborough Village is hosting a poetry recital  during the Bilborough Arts Festival. It will be visited by Henry Normal, co-writer of TV comedy series The Royle Family. Henry (not his real name) is a Nottingham man who started his life in St. Anne's but spent his teen years living on Baythorn Road at the back of Bracebridge shops in Bilborough. He is now retired and living in Brighton but still writing poetry. He was also the founder of the Nottingham poetry festival which is held in Nottingham every year in the early spring.

              The Bilborough Arts Festival starts on Saturday 29th June 2019 and ends on Friday 5th July. It includes a Jazz café at St. Martin's Church on Sunday 30th July from 2pm til 4pm,  A history walk around Bilborough (lasting an hour) on Thursday 4th July from 2.30pm until 3.30pm and also from 6.30pm until 7.30pm. Both walks start and finish at St. Martin of Tours Church in Bilborough Village. The Friday Writer's performance is on the 5th July also at St. Martin of Tours Church starting at 7.30pm.

    • Like 3
  6. I think everyone in my family worked for co-op at some time. My dad was at Middleton Boulevard before the war as a delivery lad. He nearly got sacked for being cheeky to a posh customer. She had asked to see a foldi g garden seat that had a canopy. My mum worked in the Co op house offices, later using her divi to uy my school uniform. I worked on the milk rounds in the 70s first at Beechdale then at Long Eaton, both depots now closed. At the same time I was working part time as pump attendant at Co op service station on Wollaston Vale. 

    • Like 1
  7. 5Hello all you Nottstalgia so. Sorry I've not been posting for a while but when my old mate Firbeck died 2 years ago it put me off a bit. Anyway, I'm retired no

     

    Sorry. I'm still getting the hang of this new tablet. Probably need a six year old to show me how to use it properly (lol). Be hearing more from me hopefully. 

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1
  8. Hello all you Nottstalgia so. Sorry I've not been posting for a while but when my old mate Firbeck died 2 years ago it put me off a bit. Anyway, I'm retired now and have a bit more time on my hands. I have recently become a Great grandfather to Carson. Did I say recently? The little beggar is 15 months old now and comes up twice a week to wreck the house for us. He's a little monster but we absolutely adore him. I'll be showing him around all the Bilbrough haunts especially the new swing park near the stadium. 

    • Like 2
  9. Around 1964 my friend and myself (who was in fact the late nottstalgia member - Firbeck) managed to access the filter block through the vent shaft, and no it was not us who nicked the metal. Realising where we were, we got out very quickly. The next time I visited the site was in 1984 with my children just before the surface barracks were demolished. Everything in the old cutting had changed. I still like to explore disused railways but I am careful where I go these days

    • Like 1
  10. Sorry but I just can't keep away from Car Boot Sales and Jumble sales. Yesterday my little lady and myself hobbled along to a jumble sale at Nuthall Methodist Church. Found a little Lilliput Street sort of model of the Trip to Jerusalem. It was mine for 20p.   As for sentimental. I still have all my dad's old joinery tools and his textbooks from college just after WW2.

    • Like 1
  11. Great to see others like collecting books. I have a fairly good collection of Nottingham and Notts books including many by Douglas Whitworth, also stories by Alan Dance, Joy James and Joan Wallace - authors who set facts into stories.  I also collect railway books, mainly about the railways around Nottinghamshire.  I also have books about Medieval history.  I am also trying to put together a collection of local authors for the benefit of my grandchildren.  This is on top of my personal  local history research which fills about 80 binders. I'm half expecting the house to collapse under the weight. I'd sooner read a book than watch the TV. 

    • Like 3
  12. Hi jopip.      I was actually born at 135 Wigman Road but we moved to one of the BISF houses between Graylands Rd and Glaisdale Drive. I left there in 1969 to get married. Meanwhile, my parents bought the house. When my dad died in 2013, I inherited the house so I am back here.  I went to Glenbrook Infant and Junior Schools but at the age of 11 I attended Bilborough Grammar School.

    St. Martin of Tours Church in Bilborough Village was restored by a grant from the Lottery Heritage fund. A lot of work has been done including the beautiful murals which were painted on the chancel wall just after the war. We have had a lot of activities lately. The funding ends in August and we have formed a group called 'The Friends of St. Martin's' to keep things moving and to raise funds for the maintenance of the church. We will be doing outings, evening talks, local history displays etc so we will be kept quite busy.

    • Upvote 1
  13. For anyone with roots in Bilborough, or indeed anyone who may be interested, There is a very lively local history society which meets in St. Martin of Tours church every 2nd Wednesday evening of the month and every 4th Wednesday afternoon of the month. The Afternoon meetings are mostly open discussions and at present we are taking one road per meeting and evoking memories. We have already done Strelley Road, Wigman Road, Bracebridge Drive and last month did the industrial units on Glaisdale Drive. The next afternoon meeting is on 26th April from 2:30pm until 4:30pm. We will be remembering the Denewood Crescent area from the fifties and sixties. The evening meetings are usually talks which incur a small charge - 2 pounds or a pound for concessions. We have one on 12th April which is Coal Mining in the Leen Valley, by Dave Amos. It is from 7:30pm until 9:30pm.

          We have acquired a huge archive which is at present being sorted by members. We also have the chance of acquiring the nearby farmhouse from the local authority which can be used for events etc.

          We also have various activities like the Saturday local history day which we displayed various archive to the local public, visits to the central library and many other events.

           Much of this is centered around the St. Martin's hidden treasures project which was funded by the National Lottery Heritage funds. From this we were able to restore the church, install heating and bring back to life the Evelyn Gibbs murals.  We are open each Friday and Saturday to visitors who wish to see the Evelyn Gibbs Murals and hear the history of the church. There is also opportunity to become one of the Friends of St. Martin's Church.  There is so much happening and members can be involved in as much or as little as they want.

    • Upvote 2
  14. Ayup Denboid. Sorry not posted lately been up to my neck in work. Welcome to Nottstalgia (a bit belatedly).  I lived on Wigman Road and also played on that fantastic adventure playground called Glaisdale Drive woods.  I remember a lot of the people you mentioned but some of the older ones terrified the hell out of me.  The Greaves family (along with Paul Tomlin) lived at the back of us on Monkton Drive. Alan Greaves could play all sorts of musical instruments. I knew him again briefly a few years ago but have lost touch. I knew the Prendergasts very well as I had friends on Staverton Road, like Dave Booker, Philip Day, Rob Catchpole and Katrina Long. I notice you mentioned Pete Hudson. I knew him but I was the same age as his brother Roy who I often walked to school with.  Remember Edmonds at the Beer-Off? and Jack Haywood the newsagent next door. The shops are now knocked into one with that modern name 'Convenience Store'. I used to have a nice little earner at the age of 8, running to the shops for neighbours ciggies earning threppence a time.  God the authorities would have a heart attack at the thought of it. Especially when I used to go up to the Beer-Off for a jug of beer for my dad.

            I well remember the tunnels in the woods. Maybe they started life as Bell Pits many years ago before they built all the houses. We used to play in an old canal branch called the 'Dyke' and go home covered in muck and get a clout off mum. Happy days.

           If you live locally there is a Bilborough Local History Society which meets at St. Martin's Church in Bilborough Village  on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7.30 pm. (there is one tonight) and 4th Wednesday in the month at 2.30pm. Look them up on the internet. Got to go, wife has just come in.

  15. Welcome Ben. I have just read your post. Your dad, Wilfred Junior certainly was my cousin.  Like a lot of families, we were close when we were young, but just drift apart as we get older. We used to have family parties at my Granma's house in Wollaton.  I can remember one of our Sunday morning get-to-gethers at Granma's house. Your dad and I got kinda bored so we had a wander around the local allotments. When they found us we were having a paddle in the stream which came from under the (long gone) canal.

          I lived in Glasgow at the same time as your dad. My son was born there.    Were you also born in Glasgow? Is my auntie Annie (nee Defries) still alive?  And did you know that your great grand father was once the Sheriff of Nottingham?