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Hi,

Will be visiting Beeston for the last time this June. Born and raised at 12 Denison St., came to the U.S. in 1960 first to Indiana then Penn. now retired in Florida. Will be bringing my eldest son, his wife and two grand children. Want to show them where I grew up although the house is gone and no plaque to show it, some of my old haunts, my local The Commercial. Schools gone but can show where it was. (walked to Beeston Fields, up hill both ways).

Plan on going down Trent, see the canal boats. Snakey Wood, whatever is left of it.

I hear that the tram lines have destroyed shopping in Beeston so I suppose there will not be much left on the High rd.

Will be there from June 3rd to 7th. then off to get our pockets picked in London.

Left Beeston Fields in 1948. If anyone remembers, give me a shout.

I put a school picture on David Hallam's site about Beeston, anyone who recognizes themselves on it, drop a line on here.

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can i make a sujestion befor you come write to tony and sandy at beeston maria cafewith a copy of your photo he will put it up in the cafe a lot of people use this cafe including old beeston people and ask for anybody who remembers you to contact via nottstalgia.

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Hi George

I hope you enjoy your visit to Beeston. My dad Dave Stimpson worked at Mitchell's Boatyard as a young lad in the 50s look out for him he's sometimes posts on here even though he moved to Vancouver Island 24 years ago

Cheers Paul

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George,I have a mate from schooldays who lived on a boat at Beeston. Due to ill health he has moved into one of the fixed cabins next to the pub/cafe. The owners treat him like a king also, on two recent visits I have eaten there with him. Amazing value! He is unbelievably looked after there!

The other place that everyone raves about is the Victoria.

The Victoria is a genuine free house located in the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire. Known for its welcoming atmosphere and fantastic food, the pub is a firm favourite with locals and visitors alike.

It is always pretty full so try booking ahead. I shall be visiting Tony (schoolmate) in August.If you see a guy hobbling around on crutches ask him about the time I blew him up with Potassium permanganate in 1955 at school !

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What a fine welcome, thank you all! I've tried to explain what life was like in the war and growing up in the 50's to my daughter-in law and would love to take her and my son, (born a Yank) back in time to the old pubs.

Alas, most changed or gone. However, if I can find one with a game of fives and threes going on I will get them to risk, (lose;-)) a few coins so they can get the feel of it. Many's the time my friend Nevil Clark and I would wander out

to a country pub and skin the locals. We were in our twenties so the old boys thought we were easy pickings but we could play. One good spot was The Cookoo Bush in Gotham. Kind of a coincidence, we will be staying at the Hill Side Cottage at Thrumpton, just a nice stagger from that pub.

Is the Victoria the pub near Beeston station? Will try to drop in there but as the old saying goes, "So many pubs, so little time".

Stan, we were back in England 10 years ago and spent a week on a long boat on the Avon canal. Had a great time and I would have sold up and gone to live on a boat but wiser heads prevailed. Maybe if I had known about the cabins I would have booked one of them this time.

I left Beeston Fields in 1948, the first group to stay to 15, and went to Mitchells garage on Triumph Rd. as an apprentice. After 5 years went to the Depot then in the RAF for 2 years. Came out in 1957 and went to Rolls Royce in Derby as a draughtsman, (note English spelling). There I met some Americans who had come over to work with Rolls on an engine design and became friends. Took them around places that they would not normally see, climing in Derbyshire and Wales. Was going to emmigrate to Australia but one of them talked us out of it and sponsered us in the US.

Pretty hard slogging for many years and thought of coming back, the streets are not paved with gold. Finally after the second child decided to stay and after 29 years and 11 months at RCA, retired to Florida.

Sorry about the rambling but at 79 I'm happy to not be drooling on the keyboard.

I will check up on Tony and Sandy and see if I can find a picture.

Thanks again for the welcome.

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hi stan i know tony i used to visit the cafe a few times a week but have not been down much this last year or so due to the weather and my own health probsbut tony and sandy are always so hellpful and freindly and the food good value its always worth a visit down there and if they can they will help you in whatever way they can

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Welcome George, glad that you've found The Forum and logged on, there are lots of memories on here and do please let us have more of yours.

Great that you have planned a trip back with the Family and I wish you an excellent stay. Hope you can find plenty to point out to them.

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Hi George, a warm welcome, from one Floridian to another.

My aunt and uncle lived on Denison street years ago,Ann and George Wildy, had three daughters and a son. can't remember what number house they lived at.

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You are about 1 hour 20 mins away George,strait shoot down Interstate 4, we will have to meet up sometime.

I was born, and grew up in Beeston,and an old boy from 'Beeston Fields',small world eh':)

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Hi George, a warm welcome, from one Floridian to another.

My aunt and uncle lived on Denison street years ago,Ann and George Wildy, had three daughters and a son. can't remember what number house they lived at.

Hi,

George Wildey lived at No 30 Denison Street

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bye the way george if your talking dominoes i can also play 5s and 3s my dad also a george tought me to play dominoes as soon as i could count to 20 in my case about 4 years old and 5s and 3s one of the games he taught us as kids i still like a game of dominoes and can play a solo game dad tought me too and i have got a set of triominoes have you played that the same but triangular rather than rectangle

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Isn't it a damn small world. As a kid I played with Georgie Wildy and I think my friend at BF married one of the girls, his name was Brian Hendey. There is a site about Beeston run by David Hallam that has school pictures that I sent him and he has posted. I am on it (I've changed a bit) so is George Wildy.

I've never played solo 5's and 3's and haven't played the other for years but will give it shot given the chance.

You talk of motor bikes, my last ride was a Vincent Comet. I would like it back now, not to ride as I have a dicky shoulder but just to look at. There is some chap on youtube that has mounted a camera on his Comet and rides down the road. You can hear the crackle of the exhaust, MAGIC! Now I have to have 4 wheels so I have a 1988 MR2 hidden in the garage that only comes out when there is no rain forecast for a 200 miles radius.

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the last bike we had was a vellosette but would have loved a vinnie lovely bikes . i can no longer get on a bike due to my disabilities but given the chance i would be on one again tomorow if i could

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When I sold my Comet we bought a 1946 Hillman Minx. We never could afford to fill it up with petrol and it really was a piece of junk. At the time, 1959, my wife and I both worked at Rolls Royce at Gresham Rd. Derby and lived in a caravan at Shelton Lock, Chellaston. Good happy days, always broke but young and eager. Did stuff that was cheap, hiking, climbing in Derbyshire. Also was a member of the Long Eaton Operatic Society where I did Gilbert and Sullivan and had a "starring role" in Ruddigore.

Somehow got the grease paint bug and when I came over joined an acting group in Indianapolis and did a number of shows. The last show was "The Music Man" and I went bonkers for the Barbershop quartet and immediately joined the local Barbershop chapter. Sang in a couple of quartets until I was spending too much time away from my kids so quit and didn't sing again for 35 years. What a terrible waste of singing time. Started again but you cannot bring back the breath you had at age 35. Still enjoy it though.

My oldest, the one coming over to England was born with the bug and has been involved in theater since he was in junior high. When he was 9 he could play the banjo like a dream but never plays now. My younger son went in the US Navy when he was 18 and stayed in for 20 years. Now he's the one with the money because he has no children and both he and his wife have good jobs.

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  • 6 years later...

Snakey Woods was the place to go. Winter time for sledding. Autumn for scrumping and I remember the wild pear trees. The allotments supplied us with gusgogs  etc. As long as you didn’t get caught. The track from Derby Road is only partly there now and the open fields are long gone.

Martyn Murray. Formerly Gilbert of boundary road

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Welcome to NS, Martyn. My father was from Beeston, so I heard much about it. He often went back for a trip down memory lane but much has changed.

 

Where did you go to school? Look forward to reading more of your memories.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Jill. I went to Beeston Fields Infants then on to junior. Didn't stay long, we moved to Lenton then West Bridgeford. Born at Myrtle Grove then moved to the council house at Boundary Road. Myrtle Grove long changed and completely rebuilt. Nothing original. In those days we had complete freedom so know everywhere down to Trent Weir to Bilborough, Bramcote to Wollaton Hall. Used to swim in the Trent downstream from the weir when there were lots of stony banks. Water is a lot higher now. Also swam in the canal where the water was warmer from the old power station. I was a bit of a juvenile delinquent so always getting into trouble somewhere or other. Remember the old cinema in High Road. It was closed down then but we managed to get in and check everything out. First movie I snuck in to see Boris Karloff in a horror movie at the cinema on corner of Boundary and Derby Rd. We also got scrap cast iron and lead from all the places that were up for demolition and sold it for a bob a pound. Used to get  2 bob + for caddying at the golf course. There was always a ways to make money in those days when pennies mattered. It was a great place to grow up with the freedom we had and the safe environment. No one got really hurt apart from Johnny Wragg who fell out of a conker tree and broke his neck. Cuts, scapes and the odd broken arm or leg was just a right of passage and burns from fires we made to cook stolen potatoes. my Mum worked at the Prince of Wales pub on the High Rd for a few years and the Fish and Chip shop round the corner at the same time. We used to call in the get fish and chips for lunch. Mum met my Stepdad Stewart Murray (Boatbuilder) whilst at the Pub. A lovely man who died 2 years back and I miss him very much. Mum has been gone for 25 years. Died from everything imaginable caused by Post Polio Syndrome. She lost her 1st born Hilary to polio but she managed then to go on and have 5 more kids. Tough woman and never complained about her lot. Just got on with it. Her kids outlived her for which she was grateful and proud of. We done her proud was the saying then. My real father Jack Gilbert who I was never close to served in the war. I say served but he only did a couple of weeks before becoming a POW for 4 years. His POW camp was liberated by the Russians who too a year to repatriate them home. By then he had become a Communist and swore that the government owed him a house and he lived in a council house for 60 years thereafter. Always had the latest Vauxhall though. He worked for the council as head builder and was behind all the council estates from the 60s on. He never left the shores of Britain again and hated immigrants and anything foreign especially Australians who he described as wheelers and dealers in the POW camps. They always had the smokes and other goods which they traded in the camps.

I left Beeston after getting in trouble with the coppers. Same again at Lenton and West Bridgeford when I got sent to an Approved School for 3 years. By the time I got out mum and dad had moved to Dad's home town in Scotland,  Girvan Ayrshire. It was a good move and I never got into trouble again. WELL! never got caught anyway. I ended up in Leicester working as a bouncer at the Palais de Danse until 1973. I went to Brisbane  Australia in 1973 a year after Mum and Dad. My life was okay but there was always a throwback to my early life. I could never settle into anything in life. Relationship, Employment and Residences were always short lived and the most I stuck at anything was 8 years of marriage. No kids and marriage for me was worse than the approved school. No regrets. Lots of experiences, more than most for sure. Literally 100's of each category. For me that's life with the likelihood that it can change at a moments notice. Tell me about you? Martyn

 

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Sounds pretty much like the Beeston of my dad's childhood! Mr Voce, the school board man, trying his best to ensure the urchins went to school but there were many houses he daren't enter for fear of being assaulted with the dolly peg by the Truant's mother!

 

The Beeston where my father and grandfather were born no longer exists. The cottages were several hundred years old and living conditions were primitive but it was a thriving community.  There was plenty of trouble for little boys to get into and my father was usually in the thick of it!  He always said he was glad of the opportunity to join the Navy in 1942 as it gave him a chance to see the world, especially Australia which he loved.

 

Lets hear some more of your Beeston memories. There are plenty of former naughty boys and girls on Nottstalgia to appreciate them!

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