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That was my old Drs surgery many moons ago. Dr Everton & Dr Want who later in 1971 became the lord Mayor of this city.

Hi catfan, Dr. Want was my doctor from birth to his retirement and I have fond memories of him. He had a surgery on Woodborough Road back in the late fourties then he opened a surgery in a house on Bracebridge Drive before the one on Wigman Road was openend.

I used to be very sporty as a young lad playing football and running but I used to suffer terribly from athletes foot and after prescribing all the remedies on offer at the time he turned to me and said there is one thing you can try.

To my horror he told me to get a large bowl and pee in it, then soak your feet in it for as long as you can stand it before washing your feet in hot water and carbolic soap. After a couple of weeks I was clear of the disease and touch wood have been for fifty odd years.

Sadly after the death of his wife Dr. Want's health suffered and he had to go into a nursing home where he was said to be a really difficult patient and would only let Dr. Williams see him. I don't know what happened to Dr. Everton but he used to live on Aspley Lane opposite St. Margaret's Church.

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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.

Hi piggy and babs, I knew a Clive Hodgkinson he used to live on Baythorn Road and worked with me at D.G. Rennets on Wigman Road is it possible he is the same Clive a real rocker with bushy sideburns.

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Hi glaisdalelad.,

It was really nice to read your memories of our childhood playground.

I was born in 1950 so I think I’m a little bit younger than your good self.

I have many fond memories of the old canal, railway line and surrounding fields and woods.

I guess you took the pictures from Bernard Chell’s book Nottingham Canal: A History & Guide:

I bought a copy a couple of years back and it’s certainly helped me with my fading memory of the area.

I can just about remember when the section of canal running parallel with Hollington/Beechdale Rd down towards Radford was filled in but don’t remember the Woodyard Lane canal bridge which I think disappeared at the same time.

Neither do I remember the house that stood alongside this bridge. I suspect this too was demolished then.

I clearly remember the stone bridge on The Old Coach Rd. and the lads jumping off it into the canal on a hot summer day. Quite a risky thing to do when you think about all the old bicycles and milk crates that were probably in there. I never heard of any injuries but I can imagine there were a few bouts of sickness and diarrhoea.

I fell in the canal one early summers evening and Roger Staines fished me out. Roger was in his Scouts uniform and on his way to the Glaisdale Drive Scout hut for their weekly meeting.

I assume he qualified for his life saving badge that evening. A Glaisdale lad called Steven Brooks took me home. Steven lived near me on Elstree Drive.

I was fascinated by the lock gates with the water leaking through into the empty lock chamber.

I used to wonder what would happen if the lock gates were pushed open and the huge volume of water behind them released. Of course the canal engineers of the 18th and 19th centuries weren’t stupid and now realise that there isn’t a hope in hell of opening the gates until the lock chamber is full of water and the pressure is equalised. I just couldn’t get my head round this principle when I was 9 years old.

I believe the football ground by the Old Coach Rd bridge belonged to Ilkeston Town. My dad took me to a game there a couple of times and I remember a large brick wall on the side opposite the tinny metal stand. The wall looked like it had been constructed for army cadet training but that’s just a guess.

My dad used to take me to The Raleigh Sports Ground on many occasions to watch football and cricket. I saw my uncle play cricket there one afternoon. He bought me a bottle of pop (Apollo Mineral Waters) from the pavilion which was never open during the football season.

Next to the pavilion were some wooden huts which served as changing rooms. One morning I saw Wally Swift the boxer training in there. I think I found a picture of those huts on Picture the Past.

It featured a band playing there in the late 40s.

There is a scene featuring The Old Coach Rd in Saturday Night & Sunday Morning but I don’t think the club that also features is the Raleigh one.

Hi Mess, the football ground by the railway on Old Coach Road was Raleigh's Alliance ground, although they had many football pitches further down OCR they had to have a fully enclosed ground to play in the Alliance League. I played there a few times while playing for Beeston Boilers. Ilkeston Town always played on the Manor Ground actually in Ilkeston but they now play out of town towards Awsworth, all the company sports grounds in Nottingham seem to have dissapeared now and I had fond memories of playing on all of them. Players sports ground gave way to housing on one side and David Lloyd gym on the other, Raleigh is now housing and Boots although still a sports ground is now Lady Bay Sports Club. My beloved Boilers ground was one of the first to bite the dust and is now the site of Padge Road Industrial site and social housing.

Raleigh sports ground was a lovely place to go and I remember Notts County Cricket Club used to play certain matches there and I can remember Reg Simpson knocking up a few runs on there.

Another pitch I forgot to mention was the old Wollaton & Radford Colliery sports ground on Trowell Road, now the site of the Wollaton Co-op store, like the Raleigh ground it was right next to the railway embankment which was good for drainage.

I have had some rare time on my hands today so I have read every post on this thread and some good reading it is too, keep posting folks.

'

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Good to see all the interesting recent postings. Thanks katyjay for the photo of Sandra, she looks a fair bit different to what I remember but is still recognisable and was still lovely. Of course the photo was taken six or seven years on from when I knew her and we all changed so much in what seems now to be such a short period. I can vaguely recall that Sandra wrote to me just after we had moved to say that she had won a “Miss Popeye” competition, does that bring back any memories.

One thing I particularly miss living her in Spain is bonfire night. Although they have lots of firework events it is just not the same. So here are some of my childhood memories of the 5th November.

BONFIRE NIGHT

The days before bonfire night were always filled with excitement. There did not seem to be too many restrictions on buying fireworks as if you had the money you could always get them. The merits of different fireworks were discussed, some preferred "Brocks", “Astra” or “Lion” but there was no doubt to me that the "Standard" banger wreaked the most damage. The Standard penny ‘Cannon’ banger was the most used, but now and then we would have the renowned penny-halfpenny ‘Thunderflash’. To hold, let alone use, one of those orange wrapped cardboard tubes filled with gunpowder was pure delight. We did all the silly things like trying to blow up bottles, throw lit fireworks to see if we could time them to explode in mid-air and also cut them open and use the powder to make a flash.

I remember that one day my friend and I found a trickle of water coming out of the edge of the woods. A plan was hatched and we clawed at the soft ground with our hands and improvised tools made from old branches to make a channel. We widened and deepened part of channel and spend a long time, using mud and sticks, to build a dam across it. By the time we had finished it was late and we had to go home so we diverted the water away from the channel and camouflaged our handiwork with ferns and grass. With school the next day we did not know until after tea on that day if our work had survived. After tea we found the dam was still intact so we let the water build up behind it, inserted a few bangers and blow it to bits.

I was always fortunate in having a good collection of fireworks that were looked at every night as I counted the days down to bonfire night. The fireworks were always stored in the cupboard on the right hand side of the kitchen as you walked in the back door.

Of course we would also build a guy and take it out on a cart or just carry it to an area near the shops either at Bracebridge Drive in Bilborough or at the top of Middleton Boulevard. The guy’s body was made up from old clothes stuffed with newspaper with the head from an old stocking again filled with crumpled up newspaper. It was quite profitable and the proceeds were split equally between us to be invested in fireworks. All Bonfire parties were held on 5 November no matter what day it fell on or what the weather was like.

The excitement was intense as dusk fell, the jacket potatoes were put in the oven to be half cooked before going in the bonfire, the chestnuts were put at the ready to be put straight on the bonfire and the fireworks appraised for the last time. A good selection would include numerous Bangers, Sky Rockets, Flying Bombers, Volcano’s, Shimmering Cascades, Traffic Lights, Roman Candles, Crackerjacks, Jumping Jacks and Catherine Wheels. Dad would check that the Catherine Wheels would spin freely on their pins, which he nailed to the fence post, and then we would follow him expectantly to the bonfire. Rockets were launched from old milk bottles slightly buried in the ground.

The material for the fire had been carefully collected from the woods and any other possible source over the previous few weeks. Many sheets of newspaper would be screwed up and positioned inside and then the moment came when it was lit. When the weather had been wet Dad would use some of the paraffin from the heater supply, this would sometimes give a bit more flame than was expected.

On the night we were not allowed to play with the fire or light the fireworks ourselves, except for sparklers and those made to be held. This did not detract from the fun, we could still creep up behind someone, usually a girl, and shout "banger". The fire blazed, the jacket potatoes and chestnuts were eaten, the fireworks discharged and all too quickly it was over. With the smell of smoke and powder in our nostrils and with tired bleary eyes we would drop off to sleep dreaming of a wonderful night. “Perhaps next year we might try the "Brocks Bangers”.

Another treat at Bonfire night was that Dad sometimes would shoot a blank in his Smith & Wesson revolver which he had from his work in security at Players. Dads other souvenir which we liked to handle was his diver’s knife from the war. This was honed to perfection and the brass case was heavy and well-polished. For some reason the pair seemed to go together and be associated with bonfire night. Perhaps it was that slightly illicit feeling associated with the bangers.

The next day we would scout round the local area and find as many sticks and cases from the spent rockets and other fireworks and would dump them on the smouldering remains of the bonfire to try and keep it going.

Final thought, what happened to “Light the blue touchpaper and stand clear”

Hope this provokes some happy memories

Remember, remember the Fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and plot

I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holler boys, holler boys, ring bells ring

Holler boys, holler boys, God Save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope

A farthing o'cheese to choke him

A pint of beer to rinse it down

A faggot of sticks to burn him

Burn him in a tub of tar

Burn him like a blazing star

Burn his body from his head

Then we'll say old Pope is dead

Hip Hip Hoorah!

Hip Hip Hoorah!

Hip Hip Hoorah!

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Wow Katyjay, were you top totty in those days?

Back to Bilborough. My Dad passed his test around the mid 60s and his first car was an Austin Cambridge A55. We weren't daft enough to expect to be transported everywhere though. Besides, I had my bike - a large framed Carlton racer with 12 Campagnola gears. And I remember getting my childhood orange juice and Cod Liver Oil (YYYUUUKKKKK) at Bracebridge Drive Clinic. Years later, when we moved back from Scotland and lived with my parents for a while, we used that clinic for our toddler son. When did it close by the way?

My first childhood doctor was Dr Griffin who had a surgery in a house on Staverton Road. When he went private, we transferred to Dr Want and Dr Everton who then had a surgery in new premises on Wigman Road near Fremount Drive. I think those premises are at this moment up for sale. They've been used for just about everything since being a surgery.

Raybo. I remember watching Raleigh play on the Old Coach Road ground. There was a funny little stand. The bit of canal near there has been preserved but badly maintained. Supposed to be a sitting area.

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Welcome to Nottstalgia, Burtonjoyceoldboy. I look forward to sharing your memories.

Thanks Trevor S. I'm not all that computer literate so hope this message reaches you O.K.

I have a passing interest in Bilborough as 59 years ago my first girlfriend lived at 195 Wigman Road. I was still an apprentice at Manlove Alliott on Ilkeston Road and can well remember arriving back home at 6pm and then travelling back to Nottingham on the 6-30pm Trent bus before walking to Mount Street and catching another bus to Wigman Road where I arrived about 7-30pm! I then had to leave at 9-15pm to bus it back to Huntingdon Street to catch the last bus back to Burton Joyce at 10pm. I must have been keen!!!

I see you are in Oz, did you emigrate? Always wanted to visit the MCG to watch a test match, but at 76 I don't think I ever will! Only last year I was umpiring a match where Derek Randall was guesting. A great down to earth lad is Derek and he was telling me all about his 174 he scored at the MCG in 1977 I think it was.

I too still enjoy fishing in the Trent and have been a lifelong supporter of Notts County. One thing I do envy you is your Mustang, are you restoring to pristine condition? I like the old "proper" cars and run an old X type Jaguar. Before that a Rover '75, which I really enjoyed.

"Bilbraborn" has mentioned the old Raleigh football ground on Coach Road. I played there many times for both Bestwood Colliery, Boots and Gedling Colliery football clubs but it wasn't a great pitch, too much of a slope! The best surfaces in the old Alliance senior division were Players, Ericcsons and Boots, absolutely flat.

She also mentioned Dr Ernest Want. I remember him well as after saving me from having a serious operation, he became a friend of the family and actually became a godfather to my brother.

Well, I've carried on a bit so hope not to have bored you.

All the best

Clive (Burtonjoyce oldboy)

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Raybo (#252), babs had misspelt Clive's surname. The family name was Hodgson, not Hogkinson as stated. Clive is a real Rock & Roller and does have long sideburns. I've put the photo on to see if you recognise him.

10690028_10152875505413974_3787917092664

Looks very much like the lad I worked with at Rennets are you in touch with him

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Question re Post # 249 to all of you that may know - Sandra looks familiar for some reason........Did she ever date Geoff who lived on Glaisdale Drive back in the late 50s?????

Clive, yes, we migrated out here in 64 and have never looked back nor been back since then; however, hope to return with the wife in the near future to see what is left of the old stomping grounds.

Had a family connection with Glaisdale Drive from the late 40s through to the 60s and it rekindles memories (all good) when I read the posts about the area back then.

The Mustang started out as a simple refurbishment which has turned into a ground up, back to the shell, total restoration. Another year before she will go in the shows.

I like the Jaguars as well but a bit pricey to restore - if you can find the parts out here. Rovers are plentiful out here....the next door neighbour has at least 5!

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I remember going on a school trip round there when I was at Firbeck Junior, I'd forgotten all about it until you showed me the pile of rubble. I recall they printed off sheets of beer bottle labels some of which we were allowed to take home, it wouldn't be PC nowadays.

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Did any old Bilborough folk know my cousin Peter Smedley of Kimber Close. He would have been in his sixties now. He died and his estate was split between my mam and cousins so he couldnt have been married or had family. We lost touch in the 60's (family fall out I reckon)

A long shot I know

Gaz

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Sorry mate, Didn't know him.

I remember Chromoworks being built but it wasn't all Chromoworks years ago. Part of it was Farrands I think. When it closed Chromoworks took over the empty premises. Prior to the two being built, we could walk on the correct side of the railway fence from Old Coach Road to Woodyard Lane. Later, when it was all built, the perimeter fence went right up to the railway fence. The only way to do it legally was to edge along the wooden railway fence in between that and the factory fence. We would mostly walk the wrong side of the railway fence (.

well away from the tracks I might add) keeping a wary eye open for Railway Police as we walked.

As the commercial premises on the land bordered by the railway, Wigman Road and Glaisdale Drive were gradually put up over a period of time mainly in the 1960s, we lost more and more of our adventure playground. But by then we were into our teens and were able to pursue our railway interests further afield. And of course other interests started entering the equation - you know, those interests which wore skirts.

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Did any old Bilborough folk know my cousin Peter Smedley of Kimber Close. He would have been in his sixties now. He died and his estate was split between my mam and cousins so he couldnt have been married or had family. We lost touch in the 60's (family fall out I reckon)

A long shot I know

Gaz

Pete was in my class at school, he was a quiet lad who kept himself to himself and not surprised he never got married. I also worked with his dad I think his name was Bill Smedley, he was a warper at Raywarp Textiles that was back in 1962.

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My brain tape just rewound It was Ambergate rd shops opposite tha waste ground that lead to the school.

I remember the Grundy family he was a mate of mine but I don't think his name was George did he have a older brother

I remember feeling sorry for his dad as he was walking up to the tin bridge to work every morning he looked totally worn out.

I had a mate on Plungar close that got leukemia & passed away Then my other friend Rodger Stanley got it also, He lived near the Beechdale pub

He also passed away . It scared me as I thought it was something you could catch.

Another mate was Paul Wyatt

what age / name

was your mate that passed away

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just read about bilbraborn living at 135 wigman rd. in 1951. my family, myself, sister mam and dad lived at 137 at that time, names terry, wonder if you remember us, mam had a big boot on left leg.

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I knew a Pat Brindley from Melford/Melbury Road, she was one of six children.........We worked together at Healey & smith Solicitors on Derby Road Nottm in the late 1960's.......We lost touch when we got married, my name is Lynn and I married a butcher named Malc from Cinderhill................I also knew Christine and Lorraine Sharp from Glaisdale Drive...........Christine married my hubby's friend Rob and they emigrated to New Zealand in 1983...........

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