Growing up in Bilborough

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Oh by the way GL. I had a full complement of I spy books. Od/huntinggo.

[firbeck 859]

Yes, I had a full complement too, I don't know what happened to them but I still have an I-Spy annual from about 1958, I'll have to dig it out, I think it's in the garage.

I found these photographs I took of 'Black Path' bridge when Wollaton Vale road bridge was being built, circa 1980? I know I've put them on here before but most of you writing on here probably haven't seen them.

This was taken from Balloon Woods flats, not much clearance underneath is there. We used to fight for places to sit on the extreme right of the bridge so you could look down the track towards Trowell. The 'dares' were to hang on to the stone parapet and cross the bridge with your feet on the sloping brick course above the arches, or to 'simply' walk along the top of the parapet itself which sloped outwards, the value of the dare was increased if you did this when a train was coming, but then we were all immortal in those days, weren't we?

I notice the security fence, it wasn't like that in our day, we had just a simple post and wire job that was falling to pieces which couldn't stop anything getting through, a good job really as when it rained we used to shelter under one of the side arches, I'm sure there was more headroom underneath then though.

Here's a few more:-

This is looking towards Fernwood school, the area behind the big crane used to be called 'The Kennels'. This was an area of mainly sycamore woods with a house and dog boarding kennels situated around the outfall from Tottle Brook, accessed from the black path via a track that turned off adjacent to the railway bridge. Again when the property was vacated, it soon became a target for vandals and was smashed to pieces very quickly, I only ever remember seeing it as a pile of rubble, there must have been some bad lads on the Fernwood estate!

Quite an operation wasn't it'

I always coveted the Midland Railway bridge number off of the bridge, I think it was number 16, however so had many others who had tried to remove it without success and it was very badly damaged.

[dgbrit 258]

Anybody remember when the Beer lorry overturned on the Wigman rd island & all the kids ran off with cases of alcohol & hid it in the dens in the woods, That is the first time I ever got flat out drunk on cider that's the only thing I liked, Must have done something to me as I never liked booze might have a shandy once a year but that's it.

Beechdale pub was my regular as I liked playing darts.

It sounds like the kids on Elstree did pretty well in the career's they chose.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

MENTION of the Beechdale pub,brought back alot of memories of blokes i worked with at Frank Farrands Wigman rd on the island you spoke off,we used to meet at the 'Beechdale' on friday nights to get our instructions of where to work for the weekend,that would be early to mid 60s.

I was involved in their 'security' it was'nt our Cider was it ?

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Pete. Re Wollaton Vale Bridge. When I moved to the flat on Nidderdale in 1974, they were still building the dwellings on that estate. The Vale bridge was complete but not yet open. It stayed that way for a while. My mate who delivered milk at Balloon Wood flats would just pull straight out without looking onto Wollaton Vale towards Balloon Crossroads returning to Co-op Long Eaton Dairy. He must have got a bit complacent because the day they opened the bridge he pulled out and just missed a car which had come across the newly opened bridge. I eventually took over the milk round delivering on the Nidderdale Estate and was able to acquire new customers as they moved in. There were 699 dwellings and I delivered to 695 of them. The others didn't have milk delivered. My youngest was both conceived and born while we lived there and I delivered milk there. That's why we always say his dad was the milkman.

The Moor Road bridge over the canal had been vandalised and virtually destroyed so I acquired a lot of the sandstone for rockery when we moved from Nidderdale to Airedale walk on the same estate.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I remember watching Farrands being built. The building was later taken over by neighbouring Chromoworks after Farrands finished. Until all the buildings on Wigman Road were complete, it was single carriageway from Glaisdale Drive down to the traffic island.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Thats right,i believe Chromoworks gone now ?

[benjamin1945 16,139]

The house in the grounds of Farrands was occupied by a Bloke called Joe Scothern and his family and he and his two sons were the 'mechanics' for all Farrands vehicles,an old workmate Bernard Montgomery' (how could i forget his name) married Scotherns' daughter.

[taxi ray 170]

benjamin1945, on 24 Jun 2014 - 6:01 PM, said:

Thats right,i believe Chromoworks gone now ?

The demolition team moved in last week.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Sad that Ray,chromo offices just the same as Farrands back in 60s,more houses i suppose.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Reading your posts regarding Farrands got me thinking. Did there use to be a narrow humpback bridge off of Wigman Road near Farrands?

[benjamin1945 16,139]

I THINK THERE WAS MICHAEL,just off the island before Farrands,bilboraborn will know.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Woodyard Lane exited the island at the bottom of Wigman Road (and indeed still does). It goes south up a steep hill to cross the Radford/Trowell branch railway. I suppose you could call it a hump back bridge. When I was a kid it was open to traffic. Now it is just a footpath. They built Farrands when I was quite young and to get from old coach road to Woodyard Lane the quick way, we had to climb over the fence a walk along railway land. If we thought there were rail-cops about, we could just about squeeze between the Farrands high fence and the railway fence, but it was quite tedious.

[catfan 14,793]

As a kid about 1963 ish me & my mates heard about a trip from the Beechdale Pub for the regular's kids.

On the appointed day we mingled with the crowds of kids & boarded one of the coaches, resulting in a free trip to Dudley Zoo. At lunchtime we even got a free slap up meal in one of the eateries.

On the way home it was free pop & crisps as well !

Talk about happy days. !

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

How many of you Bilborough kids have cycled the whole length of Wigman Road UPHILL. Don't think I could do it now. I once got knocked off my bike by a car coming out of Bracebridge Dive. Said he didn't see me. Late 60s if I remember rightly.

[brianno1 2]

Used to do it every day-going to school(BGS), mind you that was 50 years ago!!! The picture of the new bridge over the canal with the house in the background brings back memories. An old man used to live there and grow plants for sale.We lived on Kinross Crecent and my dad had an allotment backing onto Martins pond and he used to buy his plants off this man- he used to charge 2d,3d up to 6d a score (depending on difficulty). At night the area around the house was filled with bats

[catfan 14,793]

I used to ride a Co-op delivery bike with groceries up & down around Wigman Road, hard work.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Welcome to Nottstalgia, brianno1. I look forward to reading your posts and sharing your memories.

[LizzieM 9,507]

Welcome to Nottstalgia Brianno1

[benjamin1945 16,139]

I used to ride a Co-op delivery bike with groceries up & down around Wigman Road, hard work.

I was the 'Granville' for 'Marsdens' up and the hills of old Bestwood est ,that also was hard work,and looking back i liken it to life ever since,thats had many ups and downs.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Welcome Brianno and have fun. One question. When I used to frequent Woodyard Lane as a youngster on train-spotting forays, I remember a family on Kinross Crescent who had 3 boys all younger than me. I remember seeing their mum as I used to cycle to the chemist for her to get a prescription. I can't remember seeing a dad but I was never there in the evening. Can you remember this family. I can't remember the boys names.

[Vintageann 66]

I lived at the top end of Bilborough, right by the Midland General E1 terminus. It was great having the bus wait there, They ran every half hour I recall, I could delay leaving the house until I heard the engine start! But then I had to be fast! The other bus was the Corporation 16a, that went past and stopped a bit further at the end of Bilborough Road. Across from us, over Bilborough Road, was Sandy Lane, not sure if that was just the local name or the official name for it. You could wander up there to Strelley Village and beyond, to Cossal, Trowell etc. I recall watching the M1 being built along that stretch. Seemed to take a lot less time than the Chilwell tram is doing too.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Ayup vintageann. You are right about the time taken to build the M1. We also used Sandy Lane for long walks around Strelley. I remember the blue Midland General buses.

[glaisdalelad 36]

Hi

Bit of a lull in my jottings due to unforeseen circumstance, 16 burglaries in our small urbanisation in Spain. Fortunately we were not one of them but our next door neighbour was.

Thanks for all your comments and memories to date.

So far I have covered, Medicines, Woods and Fields, The Canal, Railway Bridge, Toys and the Games we played, the next one is about the Radio or the Wireless as we called it then. Hope it brings back some memories,

RADIO

My most vivid memory of radio is when we used go to my Grandad and Grandma’s on Saturday for lunch. After we had had our beans on toast or tomato soup we listened with Grandad to the radio as we awaited Sports Report. The first few bars of the stirring signature tune immediately caused a hush to descend on the household. Sports Report was on the BBC Light Programme and was broadcast in two parts, the first on between 12.30 and 12.55 setting the scene on the football games of the day with information on team selection and ground conditions. The second part started at 5.30 and ended at 6.00 pm with the ‘Classified Results’. This just gave you time to get to the match and home again with all kick offs being at 3.00 pm and finishing at 4.40 pm, there was no added time for injuries and no one would ever think of wasting time on purpose. Eamonn Andrews was the presenter of the programme and his slow articulation of the football results will always stick in my mind and remind me of sitting and watching Grandad Allen marking off the scores and checking his ‘Football Pools’ coupon to see if he had managed to get those elusive eight draws.

The BBC Radio Broadcasts at the time were on three channels, the Light Programme, the Home Service and the Third Programme. The Light Programme broadcast the more popular entertainment and music, the Home Service provided the news and drama and the Third Programme was more upmarket with classical music and plays but the same time it did provide the sports programmes such as the ball by ball commentaries on the Test Matches and of course Sports Report. There was also the BBC World Service that kept English speakers across the Empire in touch..

I remember looking at amazement at the tuning dials on the wirelesses at both Grandparents houses, as these would have marked on them such places as Hilversum, Lille, Luxembourg, Warsaw and Moscow. Places that to us were a million miles away. The inside of a wireless receiver was something out of a science laboratory with glass valves and soldered wires. The cases of both wirelesses were as far as I can remember made of Bakelite and were dark brown in colour except for the faces, which I think were both in a creamy colour.

At home we would listen to programmes on Redifusion, which was a wired system installed in the house. Programmes could be selected by a switch on the wall just inside the living room, and included the Home Service, Light Programme Third Programme and Radio Luxembourg. As far as I can recall there was also a switch to allow the broadcast to be routed to one of two speakers. I remember that there was one in the Dining Room and that I used to pull up a chair against the sideboard to listen intently to the latest episode of Dick Barton Special Agent where he and his sidekicks Snowy and Jock would get in to, and eventually out of, all sorts of escapades. I think that Redifusion was installed in all the new houses on the Estate. The last series of Dick Barton began on the 3^rd October 1950 and finished on 30^th March 1951, it was broadcast daily at 6.15 pm on the Light Programme.

Sometimes we would listen on BBC radio to PC 49 who was a posh speaking but an ordinary bobby on the beat who solved crime in London. He worked for 'Q' Division of the Metropolitan Police. The series began in 1947 and lasted until 1953.

I also recall that as kids we had to be quiet whilst the daily saga of Mrs Dales Diary was enacted out on the radio. There was also an annoying advertisement for a pools firm that ended with ‘ and that’s Keynsham, K, E, Y, N, S, H, A, M, in Somerset’.

Radio Luxembourg was broadcast on the 208 metres medium wavelength and began with the opening announcement something like ‘this is your station of the stars on 208’ Because of the wavelength it was difficult to pick up during the day and in the evening it would sometimes fade in and out.

I liked to listen to the Ovaltineys show, which was broadcast Sunday evening at 5.30pm from Radio Luxembourg. It was a show to promote the Ovaltine drink and wellbeing of children. It was a mixture of songs and riddles to solve and began with the unforgettable theme tune ‘We are the Ovaltineys’.

Another favourite on Radio Luxembourg was The Adventures of Dan Dare, "Pilot of the future" which was on Monday to Friday. This serial began on July 2, 1951 and ran for five years. Although it was a serial it seemed to have a new story quite often and I think I used to listen to it from the age of about ten years although I used to read the Eagle comic from a much earlier age.

I remember the first time I heard Elvis Presley on the radio, it was at Grandma and Grandad’s house in Wollaton Park and my Uncle Tats called me in from the kitchen and said listen to this song. It was Heartbreak Hotel so I presume it was in 1956, it was the start of my love for Rock n Roll.

One of the family’s favourite radio programmes that we always listened to on a Sunday from 12 noon until 2.00 pm was Two Way Family Favourites. The show always opened with the words ‘The time in Britain is twelve noon, in Germany it’s one o’clock, but home and away it’s time for Two Way Family Favourites’. The programme linked British service personnel in Germany with their families at home. It was an extremely popular programme with a peak audience of 16 million people in Britain alone. Jean Metcalf was the announcer in Britain and it was her that made me curious about what seemed to be mysterious BFPO numbers which I always thought were some sort of code for where the forces lived because for security reasons the names of the places could not be mentioned. It was a theory that lent mystery and intrigue to what seemed to me as a child as being faraway places. The programme always gave a good mixture of music as many of the service personnel were young and up to date with the latest hits.

At every opportunity I would listen to the radio to listen to the new songs coming out. It was an exciting new time for us new ‘Teenagers’ but as television caught on to the Pop culture we would spend less time listening to radio and more time watching the new pop shows on the television or playing records on the new radiogram.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

What can I add to that. As a youngster I would listen to Children's Favourites on the radio introduced by Uncle Mac. As I grew older I would listen to 'The Saturday Club' with Brian 'adenoids' Matthew. Sunday afternoon it would be Pick of the Pops with a variety of DJs. usually Alan 'Fluff' Freeman. I too listened to Radio Luxemberg usually on a Sunday before I went to bed. Favourite programme - Battle of the Giants' The marvel of the age then was the transistor radio which one could carry in one's pocket. Memories of dad shouting 'TURN THAT FLAMIN' ROW DOWN when the Rolling Stones were on.