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I can remember being pushed in my pram and also in my pushchair. I also remember being in my cot in my parents' bedroom at Bobbers Mill. Not always so clear about what I did last week! 

My Grandfather was Harold Aaron Priestley. He's on the screen on the right hand side. I have a picture of it but it's on the PC and I'm on the iPad now. He was a native of St Anns and married my Grand

I tell you what Jill, just found this thread and until then, thought that I was the only one that can remember stuff like that. I can remember being pushed in a pushchair and nursery, most significant

Fascinating indeed. I love looking at photos like these, as MD clearly does. So much detail and so many memories of  buildings now gone for ever. Also  makes me think about the area as it was before building started. Sand cliffs? I know little about geology but would this mean that, at some point in the dim and distant past, the whole area was under water?

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Looking at both photos reminds me of what a nice house St Stephen's Vicarage was. It was built some considerable time after the church and had a beautiful garden. I doubt there were many occupants. As it was my mother's parish church, the banns had to be read there even though she was married at St Peter's, Old Radford. She and my father went to see the Revd Twycross, then vicar of St Stephen's in 1949. Apparently, all he was interested in was talking to my father about the Navy! When the phone rang, he couldn't even find it, so untidy was his study! He was succeeded around 1955 by the Revd W V Beckett and his wife, Kathleen. A lovely couple and the parents of Professor John Beckett. When Revd Beckett retired in 1983, the vicarage remained empty until it was demolished. Very sad. I suppose the reconstruction of the entire area is in accordance with serving the community but I preferred it as it was!

 

I attended church and Sunday school at St Stephen's when I was a child and remember that the organist and choir mistress was Miss Pamela Watts who was born and raised in nearby Belton Street. Pamela Watts was a teacher at a Nottingham school and although I can't remember which one it was, someone on Nottstalgia may know. in the 1960s she drove a little Triumph Herald which was always parked in the church drive on Sundays.

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After all the sand has been excavated the bottom of the pit is usually blue clay,completely waterproof and stable, the only problem,if there is one would be of ground drainage with water being unable to seep through the clay,but with  a good drainage/sewerage system in place there should be no problems

 

Rog

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About the inland sea, if you go to the top winding house on the High Peak railway there is very informative plague near the viewing spot telling all about it. Did you know the Sahara was at one time under water and home to some of the largest sharks the world has ever seen.

 

Then we worry about global warming!!!!

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Now the mention of Rev Beckett brings a memory.

 

1980. At the end of a tough army course. Got from Aldershot with all of my kit. By the time I got to Radford Road I was very tired indeed. I started to move some of my kit 50 meters towards home, then go back for the rest, and move it on. 

 

It must have been Rev Beckett. He had a dog collar on. Obviously he was elderly but at 20 how do you assess age? Bright white hair. Slender man but with a lovely smile. He helped me to get me and my kit closer to home. Even by a few meters it was totally appreciated. 

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The sand cliffs on what is now Plantation Side were quite high. They have been reduced by industrial activity but were in the region of 100 ft high. Undoubtedly the Leen had some effect on that side of the sand pit, but I have no idea how the cliffs were formed. The Leen does not seem to have had the power to carve out such steep cliffs. 

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7 hours ago, mercurydancer said:

 

It must have been Rev Beckett. He had a dog collar on. Obviously he was elderly but at 20 how do you assess age? Bright white hair. Slender man but with a lovely smile

Certainly fits his description, MD. He did have a shock of white, wavy hair. I believe he was born in 1912, so would have been 68 ish at the time. He left St Stephen's in 1983 after the passing of his wife and, after a period at Bramcote, retired to Norfolk.

 

It doesn't surprise me that he helped you carry your kit. He was that sort of person. Had time for everyone and was genuinely concerned about offering practical help where he could, unlike his replacement who seemed interested only in peddling politics! Mr Beckett was also,if I recall correctly, ex Army (WW2) and decided, after the war was over to train for the ministry. He told me he was ordained in Exeter Cathedral and spent some of his curacy at Pentonville! Must have been interesting!

 

Mr Beckett was very low church. In the religious sense, a bit of a Puritan. The only time I ever heard him say anything remotely nasty was directed at Roman Catholicism, which he apparently despised! He always referred to himself as a parson as opposed to a vicar and on one occasion, when a stranger attending a service addressed him as Father, I observed an expression of anger cross his face!

 

He was a sad loss but had remained in his post past his 70th birthday and deserved his retirement. He had his detractors because I've discovered that in every church there are backstabbers, but my family liked him for the genuine person he was. They don't make clergy like him any more!

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NBL. I Know slightly off topic but what you say about Middleton top,if you look at some of the limestone formations in the area you can clearly see small fossilised sea creatures like sea worms,shell fish etc, at one of the quarries I worked at in Lincolnshire we had a lot of "Belamnites" turn up (small squid like creatures) but also Mammoths teeth that must have come down with the ice flows,,Leicestershire is a good place for Mammoth remains

 

Rog

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On 9/24/2017 at 8:24 AM, DaveN said:

I used to go to FFGS and there were several pupils from the Bobbers Mill Rd area including Pat Joynes, 

The Joynes family name is familiar but I cannot place it. My recollection is meagre on the family but I do think they lived about 94 Bobbers Mill Road. 

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56 minutes ago, mercurydancer said:

Always called him Padre, bit of a military term, and he always responded with kindness. 

I think he might have liked that although the the root of the word is pater, which means...father! :blink:

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Jill

 

Almost all military priests are referred to as Padre. It avoids a poor soldier trying to remember which denomination/religion/ordination when he really just needs someone to speak to. It also avoids the issue of rank. Chaplains do have rank but it is non-executive ie they cannot issue orders. 

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What the area was named after.......Bobbers Mill. A photo from the early 1930s before the railway bridge was built and the level crossing was still in use. The footbridge to the right of the bus is still there - albeit an updated version.

85BtSaj.jpg

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Cliff Ton

 

The Wheatsheaf pub would be about 10 yards from the lamp post in the middle centre of the photo. 

 

The mill itself remained at least until I was a child at Berridge. I can recall the lovely house next to it, some sort of mill owners house possibly? 

 

Was there ever a station there? There is a station house which I recall very well, but a station? no. 

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There was always controversy about the origin of the name Bobbers Mill. I read, many years ago, that it was derived from 'bourbes milne' and was in some way connected with Lenton Priory, who owned the land. I have no idea what the real derivation is.

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My memory is that the square house next the footbridge was a railway house. There being a railway signal box across the road on the left edge of the photo. My guess is that the crossing gates would be manually operated originally. 

In the 1950s (when Nuthall rd went over the new bridge) our parents took me and my brothers to stand on the footbridge at 7 o'clock each evening when there would be 3 trains coming through. From the foot bridge we could see into the signal box, hear the communication bells tinging and watch the signalman pull the levers. Then the trains would rush under the road bridge in a big blast and cloud of smoke and steam. It was a bit frightening to a small kid but it was the highlight of our day.

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