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The 2 I remember from around Aspley, pre- Messrs Whippy & Softee, were Federici's & Covelli's, both from Basford??

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It would have been easier to have just given him his change..

Mam .... Mam ... Mam ..... Mam ...... Mam .... Ice cream vans here   

One summers evening whilst on Softee's, I was outside the Deerstalker at Bestwood. A blousesy woman came up to the counter and asked if I'd got a King Dick (Walls lolly) Quick as a flash I replied tha

The 2 I remember from around Aspley, pre- Messrs Whippy & Softee, were Federici's & Covelli's, both from Basford??

I think all of 'em went everywhere. Covelli's real name was Raymond Covell - me dad went to school with him - or should I say he was at the same school. He was an Aspley-ite and the school was Ellis, Bar Lane. In later years Raymond Covell made toffee apples and bagged mushy peas at his factory at the top of Truman Street, Kimberley. Me mother for a time, worked for him as one of his pea baggers!

Federici was somewhere around Alpine Street just above The Mucky Duck. Wasn't there Ice Cream makers around there until recently?

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i can remember whippy ice cream van comming to deabil st in the 50s but carnt remember whos it was know he was a dog lover usd to give our dog kim an icecream cone every day our dog was always at the bottom of the entry long before he got there and whould not come in untill he had had his ice cream. we used to fetch a bowl full to go with sunday tined fruit. and bread and butter.

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The 2 that we got were Mr Softie and Walls......all the kids waited for the soft ice cream, because Walls ice cream was hard, had to be unwrapped and came in a square cone.

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Or you could have it as a sandwich between two wafers....I never could manage it without getting in a mess

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#3, The Pianoman, I knew Covelli's was actually from the Covell family, in another post from way back I mentioned Barry Covell who lived with his dad on Melbourne road & used to sell kindling wood from a barrow that he'd wheel around Aspley. Barry got taunted because he was of limited intelligence (PC version), & he would have epileptic fits, I believe they were part of the ice cream family...............

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I didn't know that they were specifically off Melbourne Road. Me Dad lived at 25 Melbourne Road. If I think about it for long enough I might remember some more. I vaguely remember something about the firewood.

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When I've got a bit more time, I'll relate some anecdotes from when I worked for Mr Softee's . Hilarious beyond belief.

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When I was a kid living on Broxtowe Estate we used to have Bales Ice Cream come round. A special treat was to have a bowl of ice cream with your tinned fruit cocktail for Sunday tea.

You used to take a bowl to the van and depending how much you could afford he would fill it accordingly. Bales also made lovely ice lollies ( suckers) Lemonade and Dandelion & Burdock come to mind. Also the sucker stick sometime had a letter on it and if you found one of these you were entitled to a free one.

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Prior to being " promoted " to Mr Softee vans, the week end workers took out Lord Neilsons vans. I was put on Loughborough area which had a very large council estate which took up most of the afternoon. There was dry ice to keep the large containers of ice cream frozen, and a heated tank of water for washing the scoops. This was great as you could use a warm scoop on really cold ice cream and actually roll it into a ball so it was hollow inside. Great for the kids at 6d, they didn't know it was hollow, they just licked away and were happy. This meant I could relieve the takings of a couple of quid.

These vans were Bedfords, but had a large Vauxhall engine. I was racing up the M1 one Sunday evening about 1967, not much traffic so I blasted it. I managed to get it nearly to 90 and smelt burning. I pulled back the engine cover, the manifold was glowing red.

I had to get back to The Five Ways for a meeting with some beer.

More revelations later.

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One summers evening whilst on Softee's, I was outside the Deerstalker at Bestwood. A blousesy woman came up to the counter and asked if I'd got a King Dick (Walls lolly) Quick as a flash I replied that if I had, I wouldn't be doing this bloody job.

Another time on Edwards Lane Estate, a similar type of woman asked what was the biggest sucker on the van. Again I replied me !

Never a dull moment on Bestwood, Bestwood Park, Edwards Lane Est and Daybrook.

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The caption for this photo mentions two names I'd forgotten; Midland Counties and Pearce's.

http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;NTGM002996&prevUrl=

I made a post about my first school last week in which I mentioned that I walked by Pearsons ice cream factory to get there, I was in error it was Pearces and the bit I remember was on Grant St off Ronald St.

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Re # 17, I might have if I'd answered her question differently.

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I made a post about my first school last week in which I mentioned that I walked by Pearsons ice cream factory to get there, I was in error it was Pearces and the bit I remember was on Grant St off Ronald St.

Me Mam grew up on Grant Street and my sister currently lives just off Ronald Street!

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A later time when I was on Loughborough, I had been given a Softee van and it was Sunday lunchtime. I was bursting for a wee and made for the old aerodrome where I knew there was a public toilet. On entering the site I noticed there was a large fete and gala taking place. On returning to the van after a wee, there was a large queue. I began to serve them and an angry chap came up and started berating me about Rossa's a local company being given permission to sell there. I told him it was public property and carried on serving.

Many customers wanted Mivvi's or Orange Maids which they didn't have. I quickly sold out and only returned to the council estate to sell the remainder of the soft ice cream in my tank. I made a big profit and went home early.

The following Saturday, as I was on the estate, my van was bombarded with stones, sods of grass and several bottles. There was no great damage done, and it had all blown over the following week.

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Me Mam grew up on Grant Street and my sister currently lives just off Ronald Street!

The reason I remember Pearces so well(or not so well) is because they had a competition back then in the early fifties just for local kids I think, all you had to do was think of a slogan for why pearces ice cream was the best. my dad asked me and I replied "because I like it" that went down as our entry which I took in to the factory in person. two or three weeks later we got an envelope through the door(on Bloomsgrove st) with a very nice letter and three Half Crowns in it.

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Whilst on Softee's in the summer of 68, I had a couple of set to's with rival drivers.

I'd been self employed from March of that year and had struggled through a cold wet spring, and was looking forward to a good summer. I used to start on Andover Rd, Bestwood about noon, then do Teviot and Leybourne, before being outside Haywood School on Edwards Lane. I then did Raymede and damn me, a "Superman" van came around Raymede Close. I told the driver I'd done this area all spring without competition. He just laughed, so as he drove past, I propelled a tub of fruit sundae across his windscreen. I then went to the bottom of the steps round the bend and he was there surrounded by kids. When they saw me, they cheered and ran infront of me. I pulled in a little too sharply and took off the front bumper of his van. He then squealed he was going to the police. I served the kids and went up to Bestwood Police Stn. The cops laughed and said Superman had been and reported me. They took my statement with a smile and that was it. However my manager made me pay for his repairs.

Another time, I was on Edwin / Byron St , Daybrook and a little van popped up. Mancini or Federici I think . I drove over some waste ground to cut him up, but burst a tyre and had to let him get one on me. I must have made my point as he didn't turn up in future.

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There was a young boy on Edwards Lane Estate who today would be described as having learning difficulties. He always had scabs and purple ointment on his head. The more rebellious kids on the estate used to stub their cigarettes out on his head.

He always used to try and get inside the van but I wedged the door handle to prevent this. He would hang on the counter as I moved from stop to stop and would not get off. It became irritating after a while so at one stop I pulled in really close to a car very slowly. His sudden squealing made me look in my mirror. He was wedged between the car and the side of my van.

This episode had not deterred him, as a few days later, he found he could hang on the door handle whilst the van was moving. This also became irritating, so on Longmead Drive I speeded up. He still didn't let go. He then started squealing again. It transpired that a grubby bandage on his hand had caught on the forward facing handle and he couldn't release himself. Poor little bu66er didn't do it again.

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