Frank Johnson

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Everything posted by Frank Johnson

  1. They would always know the answers so I would’nt get whacked. Nice ‘Kwacker’ by the way!
  2. Dibby lived on a small holding in Derbyshire . Re. Sam Salter ; he not only played pocket billiards, but used to have a questioning technique involving a smack on the head with a board ruler! I always tried to sit behind a kid who enjoyed History!
  3. Benjamin 1945. Absolutely right! The Meads had a cat called 'Mickey' which was my trusty companion when I rode the range in the overgrown garden!
  4. DAVIDW Wow! That's really interesting. It was the very last house on Third Avenue. The one you describe could be the one which was next door. Could your 'W' stand for Wickham? My best friend at the time was Susan Wickham, who had a younger brother David. (Probably too much of a coincidence).
  5. IAN123 I'll dig around for a photo. The neighbouring house was a Nursing home owned by an ex- RAF man called (David) Wickham, who built a modern house for his family on the same plot. Also just remembered that one of the flats in the white house was lived in by an ex- Notts cricketer: (?) Meads.
  6. When my dad, who had been in the "British Control Commission" in Germany from 1945 -1956, returned to Nottingham he brought back my mother and me from Germany and we lived in a large ,white house at the top end of Third Avenue. It had been converted into flats for rent. It was a beautiful building with a huge garden, which had become totally overgrown. As a 9 year old ,this was my play paradise and I remember it fondly. Do any of our forum local historians know anything about the history of this house? I would be very interested !
  7. IAN123: Always thought I wanted a Les Paul. When I got one, I must have got the Friday afternoon model! Gibson in the 80s were not renowned for their quality control. Went back to telecasters and strats and stayed ever since!!
  8. Shops on Goldsmith St. Anyone out there who remembers Jack Bretnalls, the music shop. Bought my first jumbo guitar from there. Cost me nearly a month's wages in 1971!!
  9. In a similar vein; has anyone read the John Harvey books about the rozzer "Resnick"? I've read them all.They're set mainly in Radford, but there are lots of areas in Nottm. I remember the Polish Airforce Club in Sherwood Rise. My old English teacher at High Pavement, Stanley Middleton, was another local author, described, like Alan Sillitoe, as the new DH Lawrence.
  10. Many thanks Ian and Dave P, ( not by any chance Dave Parkinson: ex Claremont?)
  11. So much knowledge on this forum.Thanks for comments about that bend on Alpine Street. I've just remembered that I used to go to scouts on that street, almost opposite Bar Lane. Dead proud of my sheath knife,( but not of me shorts!). We used to march to a church on, ( I think) Aspley Lane on St. George's Day. We had one bugler and myself and another youth pretending to blow a bugle!! Another memory from the time we lived there is me walking back from Claremont carrying a violin case. There were some older Guilford girls across the road shouting, "Ayup, dreamboat", followed by "not yo
  12. The 1959 and 1963 photos bring back memories. Does anyone remember what was opposite the New Inn before it became Bristol Street Motors ( which it may well no longer be). We used to get the newspapers from a newsagent on Mansfield Road, opposite Ebers Road. There was also a ladies fashion shop (very posh), called Hilda Hansen. My mum used to be forever looking at the stylish clothes there in the window, day-dreaming! Later on there was also a Kebab place along there and a 'beeroff'.
  13. Great topic, this! I used to catch a trolley bus from Nottingham Rd,, at end of Claremont Rd. to Bar Lane and then walk along Bar Lane to Broadhurst Avenue where my parents rented a house. There was a sharp bend on the route in Old Basford shortly before Bar Lane, where in thick fog, the arm used to come off the power cable and I used to love watching the conductor sliding out the long pole, then spending ages trying to re-connect, when you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Happy childhood days!!
  14. Could it be that the nearest pub was the "Spread Eagle" near the old Playhouse, where the Moseley supporters were said to hold meetings on Goldsmith Street?
  15. Well done, Katijay and Jonab. They were indeed Lace Makers houses. I think they were demolished to make way for the modern, child centred, open plan Claremont Infants/Juniors school in the 60s
  16. In the late 50's/early 60's there were some small terraced houses towards the end of Hucknall Rd. where it meets Mansfield Rd.. What were they used for?
  17. Hi Jonab I do remember going along a sandstone passage for a short while; however, my friend could have exaggerated the extent of the passage! Just out of interest, my first home in Nottm. was in Third Avenue in 1956.
  18. When I was a teenager I used to be mates with the landlord's son.( early 60's ) .The pub's cellars were part of the cave system under Nottm. and you could get as far as the cemetry on Forest Road East. I expect the caves have all been bricked up by now. It was rumoured that the ones in the cemetry were used by "beatnicks".
  19. Does anyone remember a forward called LeFlem? You could put him and the ball on the goal line and he would sky it 9/10times! I remember watching the great John Charles playing .
  20. Met a bird dawn Palais wunce. She wanted to be an 'Hair Ostess'.
  21. My first bike was a Honda CB 90. I worked on the Post over Xmas and earned £50. I bought it in Hull, where I studied and used to ride it home most weekends down the A614. When I was 21 I bought a Velocette Venom Clubmans with earnings and a bit extra from my folks (for my 21st b'day). I loved that bike: changed the Thruxton bars for Clip-ons, put on rear-sets and a swept back pipe. It looked the dog's bo**ocks with it's massive fuel tank. The downside was that I spent a lot of weekends replacing the cylinder head gasket, which blew regularly. It was bought from a dealer in Arno
  22. No mention of this comp. that I can find. First comp. in the area: 1800 lads from Clifton , organised in a 'house system'. My first 'proper' job. I taught there for 18 months, before following my girlfriend ( now my wife of 45 years) to Liverpool. Enjoyed it and taught some great, talented kids. Mr Thom was the Head. He had a glass eye. Mark Wallington, ex Leicester City goalkeeper, had a brother who taught there.
  23. There's a pub in Kimberley called The Three Ponds. My father in law, who was originally from Jacksdale,and I went there once and had some bitter, which was so bad he took it back to the bar and asked the barman, " Which bloody pond did this come from then?".