My Street........fond memories

[Robbie 39]

Walcot Green, off Bransdale Road, Clifton.

We didn’t live in Clifton long I was about 3 years old when we moved into this brand new council house but left when I was about 8 or 9 and moved onto the next Council estate and another brand new house. My mam must have accrued a lot of council points over the years to be offered two Council houses in such a short space of time.

What I remember about my time at Clifton:

1. How good it felt to have our own home and not having to squat at my Grans for years, in her small dining room, another Council House

2. The Saturday cinema, back off Southchurch Drive playing cowboy and flash Gordon films. Always full with kids screaming and shouting

3. The Rag and Bone man with his horse and cart exchanging bags of clothes for a gold fish in a plastic bag, which never lasted the week.

4. A mate who played football for Clifton All Whites, l was never any good at football.

5. The two old ladies who ran the old post office near the pigeon dovecote on the green, beautiful interior.

6. Playing football near the pigeon dovecote with my mates

7. My next door neighbour breaking the head off my lead toy soldier and my dad fixing it using a match

8. Going down to the river Trent via a very steep bank which was beyond the church and the girl’s school through Clifton village

9. Going to the shops to spend too much money on lucky bags

10. Playing near a stream on the road to Ruddington Village and seeing my first water rat. Put me off swimming in the Trent for ever.

11. Going fishing in the Trent and catching my first gudgeon

12. Playing at night around the shrubs in the Man of Trent pub carpark because they were all lit up with halogen lights, it was great fun.

13. Going to Woolworths and the Co-op café on Southchurch Drive and having my first milkshake

Good memories, I enjoyed those days.

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

Nice one. I'll add a few and join in.

What I remember about my time at Clifton:

2. The Saturday cinema, back off Southchurch Drive playing cowboy and flash Gordon films. Always full with kids screaming and shouting

Never went in there. That cinema only existed for a few years. Not built until late 70s, by which time they'd missed the boat.

3. The Rag and Bone man with his horse and cart exchanging bags of clothes for a gold fish in a plastic bag, which never lasted the week.

Had a few of those fish.

5. The two old ladies who ran the old post office near the pigeon dovecote on the green, beautiful interior.

The village shop? Been in there a few times. Surprising, but it still exists. Remember the other shop down in the village, which only opened in summer for ice cream and drinks?

8. Going down to the river Trent via a very steep bank which was beyond the church and the girl’s school through Clifton village

Been down that slope a few times. And all the other slopes in Clifton Grove.

9. Going to the shops to spend too much money on lucky bags

Yes.

11. Going fishing in the Trent and catching my first gudgeon

Played at fishing where Fairham Brook joins the Trent near Silverdale.

13. Going to Woolworths and the Co-op café on Southchurch Drive and having my first milkshake

Bought loads of Airfix kits at Woolies; and I remember my parents taking us to that cafe in the Co-op.

Good memories, I enjoyed those days.

And me.

[Robbie 39]

Hi Cliff Ton,

The cinema I went to would have been in the late 50's, I left Clifton around 1960. It was a single storey building and I think constructed out of timber and approx. 6d to get in. It was to the back of the row of shops.

I also remember the sweet shop further into Clifton Village, same side as the post office.

[sue B 48 1,226]

Did he break the head of your toy soldier on purpose Robbie?

[Robbie 39]

I think he did, he didn't have one so he obviously didn't want me to have one.

Funny what rubbish you remember, when half the time I forget my daughters names, the two most important people in my life.

[carni 10,094]

Hardy's Drive. Gedling.

We moved to this address when I was a Toddler and stayed untill I moved onto Phoenix estate aged 10/11ish untill I left Nottingham in 1966. Here is a few of my memories.

1. Swinging on the big gate belonging to the Doctor who lived at the top of the drive and the Doctors Wife giving us apples from thier garden

2.Scrambling through the fence of the big garden opposite and building dens. Pretending it was the jungle.

3. Big Bonfires in the middle of the drive every Nov 5th. Blocking the drive off for the night.

4. Rescueing the baby Rooks as they fell from the big trees at the edge of the Doctors garden. Being heart broken when they died.

5. Helping to carry the coal down the entry if the coal men left it out the front.

6. Playing up and down the street on our home made trolleys.

7. The old lady at the top of the drive who used to babysit us, while Mam and Dad popped over to The Chesterfield Arms. She used to wear a bonnet and played a Mouth Organ.

8. Climbing the walls in the Alley between our houses like a spider. A hand and foot on each wall. Not being able to get back down.

9.The freedom to roam around.the traffic free Street, learning to Skip, Play Ball, Marbles, Whips and tops, Mud pies, Hide and Seek.

10. Lastly and most importantly. Meeting age 2ish and growing up with my life long friend, Sue B48,who is now a Nottstalgian as well.

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

The cinema I went to would have been in the late 50's, I left Clifton around 1960. It was a single storey building and I think constructed out of timber and approx. 6d to get in. It was to the back of the row of shops.

Hmm. Not the one I was referring to, then. I've never heard of a wooden hut cinema from the early days of Clifton. It couldn't have lasted very long, because my earliest memory about a cinema on Clifton is that there wasn't one. It was something people always complained about.

When you said it was at the back of Southchurch Drive, do you mean the row of shops opposite the library? Or somewhere else on Southchurch?

[Robbie 39]

Cliff Ton,

I am going to ring my mam up and see if she can remember exactly where it was and get back.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Thats right Robbie,.....you tell ya Mam......lol.

[carni 10,094]

Sorry Robbie, #6. I got the meaning of the topic wrong. . oops

[Robbie 39]

#7 I rang her up, she wasn't too pleased as she was in bed nursing a cold.

You may be right Cliff Ton, she does not remember any picture house/cinema that I went to as a kid. I am convinced her memory is worst than mine and she just can't remember. I hope somebody out there will have gone to that cinema which was in the area back of Woolworths.

[Robbie 39]

Sorry Robbie, #6. I got the meaning of the topic wrong. . oops

Carni, I don't think you did at all. You are only following on with your street, I hope others do as well. Could make very interesting reading

[sue B 48 1,226]

#6 Same carni, some of my happiest memories that I will always treasure.

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

You may be right Cliff Ton, she does not remember any picture house/cinema that I went to as a kid. I am convinced her memory is worst than mine and she just can't remember. I hope somebody out there will have gone to that cinema which was in the area back of Woolworths.

The area at the back of Woolies - and all around those shops - was all waste land and there was plenty of room for things such as scout huts and community halls. I'd guess it was probably one of those, and they occasionally showed films. Not a proper cinema, just an all-purpose wooden hut.

[Robbie 39]

#14

You are probably right, I don't recall it being a very substantial building.

[Robbie 39]

Sudan Terrace The Meadows.......Not my street my Dad's Uncle's Street....But interesting story.

1. Cal (Clarence) worked at the Gun Factory in the Meadows.

2. Lost sight of one of his eyes after germoline being rubbed into it.

3. In 1966 whilst cycling home from the Dunkirk Hotel, only yards from his house he was knocked over and killed by a hit and run motorist. The driver of the vehicle was never found .