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can any one remember the twitchel at the top end of Priory Road Gedling that went past the Church School to Main Road opposite the post office, many years ago aged about five I escaped the clutches of my Mam and tried to use it in my little pedal car, I vaguely remember bowling over one of the school teachers as i shot past the school gate at some incredible speed for a pedal car as he tried to rescue me ,And I came to a rapid stop in the railings to one side of the path , bending them badly which they stayed like for years after ,the adventure was well worth the good hiding I had off my Mam and I still think this gave me my love of speed,sadly the pedal car was a write off bonnet bent and the rods for the pedals snapped off due to the insane rpm of the axle ,ahh good times

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swe62,

I remember the twitchel well. I lived at Hardys Drive and went to All Hallows Junior School. Probably a good job you hit the railings and not the main road at the bottom. You would have built up quite a speed on the way down! I probably crashed a few times down there on my skates, not quite a peddle car I know, but caused a few grazes to the knees and elbows.

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I was going to a company In Sutton In Ashfield many years ago and came off the M1 and onto the A38 East dual carriageway. As I was driving along the road I saw a milk float in a side road. I noticed that it was sliding down onto the A38 East because of black ice. I moved over into the outside lane and I then went into a skid myself, my wheels hitting the kerb of the central reservation. My car flew into the air, came down on it's roof in the center reservation and bounced onto the A38 West. My tank was full as I'd filled up the day before. I rushed to get out of the car as I envisaged it going up in flames. It didn't and I walked away with just a few bruises.

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Swe62, I often used to walk down the twitchel on my way to school (C le W) We used to get off the 25 bus the stop before the bottom of Westdale Lane so we could walk along Priory Road and call for our friend, Vivienne, who lived there. What was the name of that twitchel? I've read about it somewhere on this site...

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Michael, you were very fortunate to escape relatively unhurt from your crash. Someone must have needed you to stay alive......

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The one that led up to Phoenix Estate was called Apple Tree Lane. The road that led to the Church was Friday Lane, I can't remember a name for the one down the side of All Hallows, if it did have one other than the Twitchel.

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i#11. if I am not mistaken Apple Tree Lane when I was still a brat was unadopted and led to allotments that went along the top of Priory Road School, my Dad had one ,and my Aunt and Uncle kept the shop on the corner of First Ave

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I eventually lived on Phoenix Estate from 1959 untill 1966, and we used to walk up past All Hallows School, then up Apple Tree Lane to the top of the Estate, it brought you out somewhere at the top of Adbolton Ave opposite Phoenix Ave. A very hilly area, always dicey to walk up in the winter.

I can vaguely remember, that the Blacksmith ( George the Forge) had a Bungalow on Appletree about half way up. I imagine it would be opposite the allotments you mention, my memory is not as sharp as it was.

I used to go into a shop on Priory Rd and buy Jubblies, and I would buy little Rice Paper Eggs. When you broke them open, there would be a little plastic figure inside. I must have liked them, because they have stayed in my memory all of these years.The shop was probably your Aunt and Uncles.

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Had me first crash the night I got me first car. (An it wa'nt my fault. :-). ). We went for a run in our new, old Ford Pop and somewhere near Calverton some twit ran into the back of me at an intersection. I got out and he said, "Sorry mate, I thought I'd stopped!" Anyway no harm done except indignation on my part that somebody dared to run into my car.

BTW. If the "twit" that did it happens be reading this. No hard feelings mate, it was a long time ago.

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My first was only a minor bump, 1964 I think. I'd been to night school at Digby College, Arnold and raced into town in my black MG to get some beer at the Spread Eagle on Goldsmith St. I pulled in to park, but the fluid in the master cylinder must have been low as I bumped into a VW .

Weeks later, an insurance accessor arrived at home and enquired if I'd had an accident. I said no, as you do. He asked to see the car which was in the garage. I opened up and he noticed two round indentations in my front number plate where the twin exhausts marked it. What could I say.

Evidently a passer by saw what happened and left a note on the VW windscreen with my reg on it.

If you were the VW owner, then I'm sorry. If you're the passer by, you're a barsteward ok !

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It's a bit of a moral quandary there. What do you do in those circumstances? A couple of years back, I reversed into a car whilst pulling out of a parking space. I misjudged, and at very slow speed nudged into the drivers door. I couldn't believe what a big dent it had made, a right mess. Not a scratch on mine.

I had a look round and the car park was deserted, no-one about at all. Phew, thought I'd make a sharp exit and then looked at the damage I was leaving. Hadn't had a prang for years and full no-claims so I thought no, do the right thing and left my details on the windscreen. I did think though, was I being a mug.

That evening I had a phone-call from the lady owner. I apologised for the damage and she stopped me, in tears, thanking me for being so honest. She went on to list the tragedies she had suffered that year and the financial hardship she was in. Her car was only third-party insurance and she wouldn't have been able to afford the repair.

By the time she'd finished I was nearly in tears too!

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5hit a brick !!!!!! What did you hit, a Roller?

You had a clear conscience though.

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I had a couple more escapades in the old MG, but they were alcohol induced, although I got away with them. !!!!

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Drinking and driving was quite normal in the sixties even after the breathalyser came into use. One night in the late seventies, I'd been drinking in Mansfield and was driving back home to Retford through Ollerton village. It was just before midnight. I'd spent months doing up the old Viva I was driving and it was the first time I'd used it, although it had no tax and a dodgy front tyre. I saw the blue light behind me and was pulled over. Did I know what the speed limit was through the village? I tried to reply 'no, sorry no officer' with my mouth shut, so five or six pints of Mansfield bitter might not be so evident, but I knew it was pointless. '30' he says, 'you were doing 45, Sir'. He then had a look at the expired tax disc and seemed to make a bee-line for the one dodgy tyre. Totally buggered now I thought.

He came back to the window and I was expecting to have to blow into something. ' Please observe the speed limit in future and get your tyre and tax sorted tomorrow please Sir, good night.'

I sat there dumbfounded and continued my way home very slowly, I couldn't understand how I'd got away with it.

A couple of days later I recounted the incident to a bobby I knew in Retford. He told me I'd been very lucky indeed, the Traffic Police, who were based at Ollerton, he thought had a shift change at midnight. The copper hadn't wanted to get lumbered with paperwork last thing.

Moral of the story, I learnt my lesson that night and realised I'd used up all my luck. Haven't drunk and driven since.

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I never learned my lesson till the mid 80's. 18 month ban, heavy fine and told to pi55 off by Swintons Ins. Never mind !!!!

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A mate of mine was best man at a wedding once and the party was staying overnight at the hotel. A couple of the teenagers attending got his car keys and for a lark drove his car round and round the carpark and out onto the road, where they left it. He was told what they'd done and went to put his car back in the car-park. In the meantime, someone had called the police and they turned up and as he was holding the keys they breathalysed him. Well over the limit, big fine, and lost job as he was a rep. How he didn't throttle them kids I'll never know.

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Sorry to here about your first crash at such a tender age swe62 and no that twitchel doesn't have

a name. I lived on Main Road Gedling and went to the said School.

As fore my first crash it was last Wednesday on the Ring Road when I ran into the back of a Taxi.

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