Growing up in Bilborough

[glaisdalelad 36]

Some Images of the radio in the fifties

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Write to Horace Batchelor, Department one, Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Bristle. For some reason Bristol was pronounced that way.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Oh by the way, remember Beyond our Ken and Round the Horn with Kenneth Horn, and not forgetting the Clitheroe Kid.

I used to listen to Workers Playtime when I came home from school for my dinner.

[blueh2steve 3]

any one remember a steve murphy brought up malbury melbourn rd area and still lives there mid sixties now.

many of the guys who came down the heart rockers or teddy boys lived in the bilborough area, george oglesby hogkinson brothers and sisters did not know the girls but knew all the lads fran clive trevor steve and nigel ivet wright mick denny ray smith the whatts brothers billy kenny and mick john and mick carling to name but a few.

Still in touch with John and Mick Carlings younger brother Dave, if they are the ones that lived on Bramerton.

[piggy and babs 544]

hi yes think thats were they lived not seen them since early 70s when we worked at boots if you see them say hi from babs john might remember i lived on cavendish rd carlton and mick went out with my good friend janie when we worked boots d10

[blueh2steve 3]

Think Mick was married to a girl whose parents ran a pub out towards Southwell, may be wrong though

[Mess 617]

Oh by the way, remember Beyond our Ken and Round the Horn with Kenneth Horn, and not forgetting the Clitheroe Kid.

I used to listen to Workers Playtime when I came home from school for my dinner.

My dad used to almost wet himself with laughing when Kenneth Williams did his Rambling Syd Rumpo spot on Round The Horn. He was also very fond of Ken Dodd. Al Read was another radio comedy show from the early 60s. He never really made me laugh apart from his classic "The Dog" sketch.

Some of the shows that were broadcast at the weekend were also repeated in the week. I think I remember Take it from Here being broadcast in the week. I vividly remeber the Glums with Jimmy Edwards, June Whifield and Dick Bentley although as a 9 year old I didn't find it especially funny.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I used to love Ramblin' Sid. They should bring some of that kind of thing back.

[bilbrolass 0]

Sandra Eggleton is a member of my family, through marriage. She doesn't look much different from her photo at Raleigh.

[katyjay 5,091]

Welcome bilbrolass, Sandra found me, after many years, after I wrote an article for Bygones, and got in touch. She moved from Bingham a few years ago and we've lost touch now.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

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

[Terry Sadler 27]

Hi Billbroborn. In response to your thread # 233' , Kenneth Williams " the best of Rambling Sydney Rumpo" is available in cd format from Amazon. Cost me £3.99 inc. postage. Worth every penny. A great laugh.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Thanks for that Terry.

Welcome Bilbrolas and have fun.

[glaisdalelad 36]

Welcome Bilbrolas

After a long hot summer here in Spain with lots of visitors I now have a bit of time to get back on this forum. Interested to read recent postings on Sandra Eggleton who, if there is not another by that name, born in 1946 and lived in Bilborough, was my very first girlfriend in 1958 -1959. It was with sadness that we parted when I moved with my family to Portsmouth in the summer of 1959. If I remember correctly she lived on Monckton Drive near to the junction with Graylands Road.

[katyjay 5,091]

That's the same Sandra. Small world.

[glaisdalelad 36]

Hi Katyjay

It sure is, and to think that we were only 14 and 12 at the time. Yesterday I reached the grand old age of 70.

[glaisdalelad 36]

Well it’s back to my threatened series of memories of the time I lived in Bilborough. I have so far covered Medicines, Woods & Fields, Canal, Toys, Games we used to Play, the Railway Bridge and The Radio. Now for the Television

TELEVISION WHILE LIVING IN BILBOROUGH

As we grew older, about 9 - 11 years we would go home and watch the magic of television which we had from about 1953 as I remember everyone gathering around for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The first time that we had seen television was at cousin’s house in 1952. The turning point for television came in 1953 with the Coronation. In the build up to the day 526,000 television sets were bought. By this time a set would cost you about £85.00 and it was estimated that there were two and a half million sets in Britain. It also introduced the voice of the BBC, Richard Dimbleby.

The broadcast started at 10 a.m. with Sylvia Peters introducing Berkeley Smith the commentator outside Buckingham Palace, and it ended at 11.30 p.m. when Richard Dimbleby said good night from an empty Westminster Abbey. The Coronation was then the biggest television event in history. It was estimated that 20 million people in Britain watched the event. It was beamed around the world with an estimated audience of 277 million. The BBC did all of this for £44,000.

Although the Coronation was broadcast the Queens speech, which we always listened to at Christmas, remained on the wireless for a number of years. The television set was fairly large but the screen was small relative to the box itself.

BBC was the only channel available and even this at times had poor reception. On such occasions we would go to the back of the television and adjust the vertical and horizontal hold knobs to see if that made a difference. On such occasions we would go to the back of the television and adjust the vertical and horizontal hold knobs to see if that made a difference even though the signal was through the Rediffusion system.

The licence fee for television, which included the radio, was £2 per annum. There was also a licence for a ‘sound set fitted in a car’, a luxury that not many people had.

The standard set supplied by Rediffusion was the Plessey TDUK-1 9 inch screen model and we later bought a magnifier glass that was hung in front of the screen to enlarge the picture. It worked quite well if viewed from the front but the picture was a bit distorted if looked at from the side.

In 1953 we also had 'Take Your Pick', with the famous 'Yes-No Interlude' on the television. This was where the Quiz Inquisitor Michael Miles would bombard the poor contestant, for one minute, with quick fire questions. If the contestant said either yes or no the ‘gongsman’ Alec Dane would gong him or her out. If the contestant lasted a full minute they would win £1. Box 13 was the star prize box, usually a holiday. ´

The BBC was put into competition when the Television Act of 1954 , created the Indepentent Television Authority to regulate a commercial television industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands and the North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV network to launch was London's Associated Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively.

I can still feel the suspense and excitement as my Uncle Tats and me settled down on the settee to watch ‘Quatermass II’. This was the second in the series following on from ‘The Quatermass Experiment’, which was first broadcast in 1953. This was the first real science fiction that I had seen on television and I presume was the forerunner to Doctor Who. I always associate this with Christmas 1955, so it must have been broadcast around about that time. It was about an alien invasion set around a sinister chemical plant in a remote part of the country. Professor Quatermass discovers a plot by aliens to take over the world by infiltrating human minds.

In 1957 I can remember watching occasionally with the family a new series called Emergency Ward 10.

Christmas 1957 was the first time that the Queens Speech was broadcast on Television which to us made it an even more auspicious occasion.

Television awoke to the fact that Rock and Roll was not a one-day wonder and BBC produced "Six- Five Special" and ITV "Oh Boy". Both these shows introduced home grown talent like Tommy Steele, Lonnie Donnegan and Marty Wilde.

Other programmes that I liked were the weekly wrestling bouts with characters like Jacky Pallow and Mick McManus. One of my other favourites was "Army Game" with Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser playing Bootsie and Snudge.

I remember getting quite concerned on one occasion when we visited some of the relatives near Hathersage because I was not sure if they would let us watch Six Five Special which was presented by Jim Dale. It was called Six Five Special as it followed the five minute six o’clock news.

On the 2 May 1959 we sat down excitedly in front of the television to watch Forest play Luton Town in the FA Cup Final. The big day was preceded by lots of souvenir editions of the Nottingham papers which I read over and over again. We sat excitedly in front of the television watching the pre match build up, the singing of ‘Abide With Me’ and the presentations to the Queen.

The game kicked off and Forest were completely in control. Forest scored twice in the first twelve minutes with Roy Dwight and Tommy Wilson getting one each. Disaster struck in the thirtieth minute when Roy Dwight broke his leg. With no substitutes allowed Forest had to play the last hour with ten men. Luton scored with thirty minutes to go but Forest hung on to win 2-1 and take the cup for only the second time in their history.

Now its Ultra High Definition Flat Screen and 3D. Some things do change for the better

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

TV might have been good in those days, but the great outdoors had a stronger pull, even in winter. Football on the park, bikerides and school sport. And of course in our teens there were girls to look out for. Now my wife has dropped a bombshell. She says what do you mean growing up in Bilborough. You haven't grown up yet. Well Bless Me!!

[glaisdalelad 36]

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

My mum and dad had a TV way back in the early fifties to watch the Queen's coronation. We lived in a prefab at 135 Wigman Road (I was born there in mum's bedroom). Just about everyone who lived down that alleyway were crammed into my parent's front room. Later we had Reddifusion with a multiple switch by the window frame.

[firbeck 859]

Our TV was similar, I'm sure it had a bigger screen though and ours was bought on HP, we didn't get Rediffusion put in until BBC2 and 625 lines came in around 1965. My main moan about the Rediffusion system was that when the BBC radio programming was changed in 1967, Reddifusion didn't put through Radio 1, everything else, yes. I can only assume that the management decided it was strictly for teenagers who didn't pay the bills and that was the end of that. My brother got round the problem by building a stereo 'radiogram', very smart it was too though the reception on the radio was not too good, we managed to put up with it though. Yes, what would we have thought of 3D, HD, wide screen, smart, colour TV's with surround sound systems and the ability to insert this small silver disc into a box and watch a film of your choice.

[Burtonjoyceoldboy 2]

Just joined this site and interesting to hear about Wigman Road as I did my early courting there at 195 Wigman Road with Margaret who's sister Barbara married Dave Ritchie who played for the Panthers alongside Chick Zamick & Les Strongman. I served my time at Manlove Alliott on Ilkeston Road from 1953-1959. One of the fitters I served under was Frank Streets who left Manloves to work at Weller.

[Raybo 28]

As far as the land behind the shops on Bracebridge,in my day no one was allowed to build because of the worry of workings underneath from `t pit.

I even remember the space without the garage. (I also remember filling my car at 3/6 a gallon-or was it 3/9d !). If you ask me nicely I will even tell you of my exploits on the `woods ' on Glaisdale before the factories etc. On second thoughts maybe not ......

I moved to Glaisdale Drive in the early 1950's, the house was brand new and there were no roads built in many places we often had to wear wellies on rainy days even in the summer. The nearest shop was the Co-op in Wollaton and we had to walk there in all weathers to get food which was on ration. What people tend to forget is that your ration book did not gaurantee that you you got your few ounces of tea,sugar meat and other items it only gave you the opportunity to purchase these items if the shop had them. I have memories of queing at the Co-op in the snow with my mother and once inside the shop we were told thats it come back tomorrow, we then walked all the way to Radford with mum pushing the pram with my baby brother inside and me sat on the edge. Can you imagine the young mothers of Bilborough doing that these days? it was a time of hardship but we were happy as kids and if you didn't have it you did without it you never thought about pinching other peoples stuff.

My dad was a bricklayer and worked on a lot of the brick built houses in the area but after he was demobbed from the Navy after the war there was no work for a few years until the government started its rebuilding project and these huge estates started to spring up and dad was kept busy until the winter when in those days bricklaying was not done after the frosts arrived. There was very little help for those unable to work in those days so dad would go down the local pits like Wollaton, Cossal and Oakwell Grange still laying bricks but underground away from the frosts. Things are different these days with the chemicals that go into building materials.

There were only a handful of factories on Glaisdale in those days and the woods in front of our house were our local playground, we would go out in the morning with a bottle of water and perhaps a couple of slices of bread and dripping and our mothers wouldn't see us for hours. There were a few sink holes in the ground that nobody could ever explain but our theory was that they were bomb crators from the war which made it more exciting for kids our age. We would get branches from trees and make a roof over the holes to make dens where we lit a fire and roasted apples we somehow found on someones tree.

Opposite Burnside Road there was a path that was created by miners walking home from Wollaton pit and it was called Black Path because years of coal dust from miners boots left it that way. The path led to a field we used to call Osse's feild because there were horses from the Saint Leaonards riding school in there and the pit used to graze their ponies in there too. It was our football pitch in those days because the grass was nice and short from the horses grazing, we would play football until it got dark and then light a fire and roast more apples or even chestnuts in season.

I could go on for hours but perhaps I have bored you all enough for one day, love reading the forum and even an old dodger like me has learnt a few things from it.

[katyjay 5,091]

For glaisdalelad, here's a picture of Sandra. It was taken outside Raleigh offices of Triumph Rd, around 1965, Sandra on left, me on right.

[Raybo 28]

My mum and dad had a TV way back in the early fifties to watch the Queen's coronation. We lived in a prefab at 135 Wigman Road (I was born there in mum's bedroom). Just about everyone who lived down that alleyway were crammed into my parent's front room. Later we had Reddifusion with a multiple switch by the window frame.

Oh my goodness!, those pictures of old tv's bring back fond memories and like you Bilbraborn we were the first in our area to get a tv, a Marconi that stood about four feet tall with a tiny screen. I remember people that I had never seen before crowding into our front room to watch the 1953 Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton.

We had a street party for the Coronation and all the neighbours chipped in, the women baked cakes and made sandwiches, jellies and trifles while the men put up bunting and even made benches and tables, we even had a piano for a good old sing song and of course a barrel of beer.

I remember it started to rain so everything was put on the back of a lorry piano and all not forgetting the barrel of beer and we finished up at the Wollaton Grange where the kids were presented with a Coronation mug full of sweets (a rare luxury) an apple and a Coronation coin.

Talking about the Wollaton Grange can anyone remember the Saturday film shows they used to put on for the kids?, the projectionist used to come on a moped with the films strapped on the back and all the kids used to cheer as he came through the gate. I remember they used to do the same at Old Park Farm too, the films were very basic but we kids enjoyed them although you could see the rope that hoisted Flash Gordon's rocket into space we didn't care. I remember on ocassions the film reel would snap half way though a fillm and we would all boo until it was fixed. The cost was sixpence which included an orange and it was the first time that I experianced the taste of an orange as they were in short supply after the war until about 1954.

We had orange juice from the clinic on Bracebridge Drive which was a converted house, I remember going with mum to fetch the orange juice which was highly conentrated and you had a token book for each bottle which was the same size as a medicine bottle. You put a teaspoonful full of orange into a glass of water, but my younger brother once drank a whole bottle of it neat and finished up in Childrens Hospital with sugar poisoning (he was the original Mr. Blobby covered from head to toe in blotches).

My dad was the first on our block to buy a car it was a Wolsey that was originally owned by Mr. T. Shipside who owned the garage and car showrooms on Lower Parliment Street. I remember the day he bought it home it was immaculate shiny black paintwork and polished chrome with running boards. Within ten minutes of him arriving the car was full to the brim with me and my mates and our dog with its head out the window, as we drove down Glaisdale there were kids jumping on the footboards to get a ride, you wouldn't get away with that these days.