Portland Junior School - Glaisdale Drive


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The puppets are so dated now, when you look back.  Scott Tracey was a bit of a hunk, though, although to have a crush on him is slightly odd!  Mine, at the time, was at least a human - Illya Kuryakin in Man from U.N.C.L.E, although a bit old for me in 1964

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I also had a bit of a thing for Ilya but couldn't abide his sidekick, Solo.   Scott Tracey was the most fetching of the puppets and quite lifelike too since I later learned at The Manning th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BknhUMWEdgM     Interesting video on the history of the Bilborough Estate: Good old propaganda!

I looked through the list of schools and could not find Portland Junior School Bilborough so I am adding this to the list. Looking at some old school photos from the late 50s I counted the number

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3 hours ago, annswabey said:

The puppets are so dated now, when you look back.  Scott Tracey was a bit of a hunk, though, although to have a crush on him is slightly odd!  Mine, at the time, was at least a human - Illya Kuryakin in Man from U.N.C.L.E, although a bit old for me in 1964

Ahhhh................ Illya Nickovich Kuryakin. Good choice! I liked him for his superior brain and the 'spy' thing was attractive. I thought Davy Jones and David Cassidy were rather cute. If you are talking older guys; I loved the charismatic Saint /Roger Moore and his sidekick the delectable Tony Curtis. About a year before he died I found myself sitting next to Roger Moore in a bistro in Cirencester. It was really surreal being in such close proximity to such an icon but sadly he looked very frail. My goodness he drank a lot of wine!

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I was more superficial at that age - just went for looks!  Wasn't a fan of any of those you mention, apart from Tony Curtis, who was indeed delectable.  My other heart throb (an old fashioned phrase, I suppose, but my Mum said it a lot, about hers) was George Harrison

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8 hours ago, annswabey said:

Scott Tracey was a bit of a hunk, though, although to have a crush on him is slightly odd!  Mine, at the time, was at least a human - Illya Kuryakin in Man from U.N.C.L.E, although a bit old for me in 1964

I also had a bit of a thing for Ilya but couldn't abide his sidekick, Solo.

 

Scott Tracey was the most fetching of the puppets and quite lifelike too since I later learned at The Manning that most blokes have plastic heads with a complete void between the ears and don't do much unless you pull their strings!!  :wacko:

 

OooooohOooooohhhh....take cover!!! Retaliation will surely be on its way! :rolleyes:

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This is my hubby's class. I can't find my photos.:( Hubby is on the top row next to the teacher, Mrs Anderson. Mr. Woodward the head, is on the other side. Hubby and I have identified almost every child by name so I can list them if anyone is interested. Just found out an interesting fact. The Bilborough estate was a Labour initiative to put up lots of houses very quickly, after the war. The school with its fin like design was built from aluminium by an aeroplane manufacturing company. All the surrounding pre-fabricated houses are from the same stable. 

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Interesting stuff for anyone who lived in the new housing stock, on the Bilborough estate.

I also found out that the concrete houses had an asbestos element to their construction. :shout::shout: They were probably safe enough if the fabric of the building was not disturbed but it is not comforting news. thumbsdown

 

https://www.reallymoving.com/surveyors/faq/what-is-a-prc-prefabricated-reinforced-concrete

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy2i0cZJ9QY

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47a15MYYFos

 

 

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OK Here goes.

This refers to the photo with Mrs Anderson. 

Top row, left to right:

 

Head master Mr. Woodward, Graham Gough, Steven Lees, Neville Clifford, David Bramley, Paul Keely, Paul Eustace, Michael Shepherd, Robert Allen, Jonathan Ivans, Richard Garton, Alan Bird, Mrs Anderson.

 

Middle row:

 

Robert Fell, Julie Knowles, Barbara Fisher, Jane Dunne, Denise Grayson, Celia hunter, Julie Mckinley, Elaine Harrison, Lorna Shaw, ???????,Trevor Jones.

 

 

Bottom row:

 

Steven Rogers, Janice Giles, Jane Bonser, Michelle Dodwell, Susan Hudson, Carol Stainright, Christina Collinson, Margaret Harris, Wendy Bowers, Pete Bradbury.

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Jon Ivins:  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jonivins

 

Barbara Fisher became a Primary school head.  When we met him last, Trevor Jones was working in London in some musical capacity.( 25 years ago. ) Alan Bird trained as a primary school teacher but went on to set up and run his own company, for 25 years and is now retired.

Paul Eustace married Joanne Taylor and was working in the insurance business when we met him last. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/paul-eustace-aa574310

 

 

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Sorry, we are pretty useless on the year below us. It shows just how insular we were, in our year groups. I suppose we would recognise them by sight but would not necessarily have retained their names. Went for a drive this evening to have a look at our old stomping grounds. It was great to see the old places and so many memories came flooding back. 

A few observations from a whirlwind visit:

  • The housing stock was in far better condition than it was 10 years ago. It took a real nosedive then and many windows were boarded up and there were too many car wrecks on front gardens. Today I saw many houses that had been done up and were an absolute credit to their owners.
  • Saw a large group of teenagers by the shops on Bracebridge Drive being confronted by the police.
  • I saw several dodgy souped up cars, one a Subaroo Impreza flying about breaking the speed limit  and others sitting about in dark corners.;)
  • Just near the school there were so many work vans  thumbsdown and some were blocking the pavements.
  • There was a threatening notice on the school gate saying that if you dared to stray onto school grounds you must pay parking fees. :dry: How very welcoming.......
  • I was amazed to see that Baxter's hardware shop was STILL there with exactly the same sign above the shop.
  • The Pelican public house still exists!
  • The phone box that used to sit on the lower section of Tremayne road was absent. That made me feel sad because it used to be our lifeline, as none of us had private phones.
  • William Sharpe (Billy Blunt) has been completely rebuilt and became Nottingham University Samworth Academy in 2009. I see that they boast about Henry Normal and football's Nigel Pearson being former pupils.
  • I noticed very prominent CCTV cameras on the old Portland Infant School. noblue Security is obviously a significant problem.
  • The park on Birchover  road has been completely revamped.
  • The number 60 and 55 terminus has disappeared from the corner of Westwick/ Birchover roads.
  • I must admit that I am sick to death of seeing posters on school railings, telling us how good they are.!bored2!
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Enjoyed (if that's the right word for our old area having gone into a sad decline) reading your observations.  I know the last time I saw our old house (Melbury Road), I was sad to see how bad it looked.  All that hard work my Mum had put into the garden and it had been paved over and was covered in children's toys.  I knew the Pelican was still there as my cousin is involved in running their football team!  Amazed that Baxter's is still there.  Is the chip shop still there?  It was Proctors in my day.  I live near London now, so don't go to Nottm very often

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The posts on this thread about Bilborough estate bring back memories!The concrete houses were built in 1950.  I remember the ice on the inside of the windows in winter! The council workers came to paint all the window frames in winter when there was snow on the ground. My parents lived there for 32 years. When I was young it was a nice place to live but by 1976 I worried about my parents still being there. When mum left there a certain large and well known removal company refused to do her removal to the West Midlands! I was disgusted as we had used them. A local company did a good job for her. During the last few years there mum and dad did have a phone. They got sick of people phoning to try and sell them home improvements as they lived in a council house.  Mum got rid of the double glazing people by telling them she was moving house (true) to live in a lighthouse! Good sense of humour! One of her neighbours made an appointment for the cavity wall insulation people to visit and give a quote! They arrived to find solid concrete walls. That got rid of them for the whole area! 

I was happy living there and at Portland School I do not remember there ever being any snobbery. We were all from the estate. When I moved to BGS some of those who lived in Wollaton thought they were better than us. I never let it bother me.

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Have you seen these? 

 

Tissues required for the second one.noblue

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66OimWfAcD0

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TgCkKCwufY

 

 

Your comment about snobbery is very interesting. My husband remarked that he always felt inferior to the Wollaton lot, even though he actually passed for the High School. Of course his place was rescinded when his parents were interviewed.  Too working class I suspect. :dry: I certainly felt as if the Wollaton crew perceived themselves to be real cut above us Bilboroughites.  Hubby feels that the root of the 'snobbery' emanated from the teachers. For example; My husband was a very able cricketer. In one game against Mundella, hubby's bowling figures were 7 wickets for 1 run and Mundella were duly dismissed for 11 runs in total. :jumping:During the same season he achieved 6 wickets for five runs against Carlton-le-Willows and 7 for 11 against Bramcote hills and yet he never even got a mention in the school magazine. He is convinced that, had he been one of the chosen few, his achievements would have been on the front page. It is also worth noting that he was awarded a miserable C for sport that year.

In the sixth form those prejudices had faded somewhat, thank goodness.

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I could never understand why some people think money equates to intelligence.

 

As a teacher myself, I found that some of the brightest children were from poor families. The problem lay in convincing the parents that their child's route to a better life depended on education. A few could see it but many could not.

 

Many of The Manning girls were from Hyson Green. Their parents had very little but their daughters were given a first class education of the type that would cost a great deal of money today. Sadly, many of them became teenage brides as soon as they left.

 

I have also taught in the independent sector and encountered parents who, because they were paying fees, had decided their child HAD to be a doctor, even though he/she didn't have the ability to aspire to such levels. Sad but nonetheless true.

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An interesting documentary about the John Player factory in the 1960s. My education was vital to me since I didn't want to end up in a factory like this. The motivation to get a good education was driven by the need to escape this kind of life. It was interesting to see references to Player's Angels. The women who worked in the cigarette making factory were given this nickname because they worked such punishingly long hours,   There was never any time for mischief and they basically had no life outside work. Women were treated badly on the factory floor and if they did anything wrong, they would be humiliated by having to walk through the factory with a board round their neck detailing their misdemeanour. The inequality between men and women was horrendous. There was no way that I was going in that direction!

With the help of my education, I did it.........I escaped the drudgery of factory employment, gravitated to medical research and became a Clinical Research Associate in the pharmaceutical industry. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9GTzSXwzVM

 

The link is worth watching because it contains lots of images of 1960s Nottingham.

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