Chulla

#115. Why are Manchester United talking Crystal Palace?

#77. Better still, I'll bring some scab and matter pudding.

Don't forget Arthur Askey in The Love Match (I think it was). He was an engine driver at Longsight depot, where some filming took place.

My favourite railway film - Oh Mr Porter. Hasn't aged a day and still one of the greatest British comedy films. For those interested in such things, the tank engine in the film, named Gladstone, was built in 1899 by Hawthorn and Leslie, and had their construction number 242.

#53& 52. It always was Chulla for me - some people used to mis-hear and call me Chilla. Incidentally, a correction; our family name should, by the laws of genealogy be Weet, not Newton. Newton was the other Victorian black sheep.

When people hear my nickname 'Chulla' for the first time they invariably ask how it came about - it happened twice at one of the Nottstalgia meet-ups. It comes from schoolboy silliness back in 1953 and is a bit complicated . Having the surname Birch (it should be Newton, but we won't go there), I inevitably got the nickname 'Butch' in class. At that time there was a comic-strip cartoon character called Butch the Burglar. The two were put together by a lad named Brian Austin and for a little while I was 'Butch the burglar'. This was quickly shortened to Butchelar, (Butch the burglar) and then

Oh yeah, it's the dog's name - come off it. You are a man-eater (watch it Ben) - carni-vore!

Ooooohhhhh,, promises, promises!! Get in there, Benjamin.

#46. Oh, so your name isn't Carney, and Mark, the governor of the Bank of England, isn't your brother; or Martha, the BBC presenter isn't your sister?

This subject has drifted from its original thread (Meet-up). People cannot be forced to attend meetings, particularly if they are not well or live too far away; but as Lizzie says, there are plenty who live local and could have supported the event. We almost had the room to ourselves, with only two couples dining in there besides us. A glance at my photograph does not convey the image of a society celebrating its tenth anniversary. I have attended three now and note that it almost always the same people that attend. It is high time that we had some fresh faces at the meetings. Regard this me

A little surprised you didn't think much of Beyond the Blue Horizon, Firbeck - did you listen to all of it? Never mind, try this one. Melissa. If you are reading this then play it - deffo brillo!!

I would imagine that railway enthusiasts enjoy listening to music with a railway rhythm beat. Coronation Scot comes to mind, and from the classical world Honneger's Pacific 3.2.1. Try this one; Beyond the Blue Horizon by Morton Gould and his Orchestra.

Bubblewrap. Don't take this the wrong way, but the last line of your poem doesn't rhyme. Hope you don't mind me telling you.

mercurydancer. 65 quid! - strewth! You would get the hang of it in a few minutes if somebody showed you. That said, don't bother; they are the biggest collecters of dirt that I have ever seen.

#24. Bilbraborn. I'll tell you where all the lockstitchers, machinists and overlockers went to. They all got the sack when Marks & Spencer decided to get its clothing made overseas, and the local factories went out of business. That's why you will never find me in M & S.

Mick. We only shop at Sainsbury's because there is no Fortnum and Masons in Nottingham.

Lough is Irish for lake, and is in the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. I believe it is also Scottish for loch. I say this because the two Loughead brothers went to America and foundered an aircraft company. Because the Americans could not come to terms with the name being pronounced Lockheed, the brothers renamed themselves to the phonetic pronunciation.

The phenomenal rise of budget stores has to be taken seriously. I go into Poundland for stick-jaw, batteries and photo print paper. The other week we went to the local Aldi to see what it was like. Mrs Chulla did her usual food shop and then compared the prices with her last Sainsbury bill. Taking like-for-like at same amounts and weights, but not same brands in all cases; for 12 or just over items the saving was over five pounds. We are talking serious money here. Is there any wonder that all of the big supermarkets are making losses. Store closures are next on the agenda. Tesco has complet

I am starting this thread as a receptacle for items concerning our language (keep it clean!). The English language is populated with spelling, grammar, idioms, etc, that hardly make sense, and yet we say and write them without query. Take the example of the name Loughborough, mentioned in a recent posting; it has that awkward combination of letters spelling 'ough'. It has them twice, both phonetically different from the other. I have heard that during the war, when they arrested German Fifth Columnists, who obviously spoke decent English, MI.5 or whoever, would ask them to read a sentence tha

At the Rise Park Association's 1940's 'do' yesterday (it was excellent) there were some of the old wartime posters on display, one of which was Make do and Mend. Being of a certain age this reminded me of the days when this was a common, everyday mantra, during the war years and for some time after. It was nothing like today's throw-away society where practically nothing gets mended - often costs more to mend than to replace. During the 1940s there was often no choice; it had to be mended, a replacement didn't exist. This was relatively easy when it came to clothes, which could also be altered

I have heard the stories that the scrap collected during the war was never used. Tripe! Of course it was; but not necessarily for the reason stated. The aluminium pans were not of the correct grade for aircraft manufacture, but aluminium was used in many other things. There were local Aluminium Boards that made sure that it went to the factories that need it, and in the right quantities - it was, in effect, rationed as there was only so much of it available at any one time - no bauxite coming from France to manufacture it. As for the iron railings; these could be used for low-grade items, suc

#21 & 22, Barclaycon and Lizzie. Talking about Concorde. I worked with a chap (Sid) who's son worked for British Airways. Free travel was available to family members, so Sid and his wife used to take advantage of this, but they had to travel on stand-by - ie, only if there was a seat available. One trip took them to Los Angeles and on returning to the BA desk at LAX they were told that there were no seats on any return flights to LHR. They hung around until eventually the BA man said 'I can get you to New York, but then you are on your own'. New York was half way to London so they took u

I was in Wheeler Gate at 11.00 this morning. There were many people walking past us that stood in remembrance.

This morning's sunrise.

Yes, the Farnborough accident was 1952. I remember it like it happened yesterday. We were quite close to where the engine hit the crowd. Dad said 'stay here' and went for a look. he came back and said ' come on, were are going'. He didn't think that the show would continue. I can still see the aircraft breaking up and the two engines arcing their way towards us. Minutes later there was a very long stream of ambulances snaking its way through the crowd to get to where the casualties were. We hung around for a bit longer and they decided to continue the flying display. We went on train that day