Nottingham Evening (sic) Post RIP

[bamber 128]

I noticed that Nottingham Evening (sic) Post's website has now been be branded "Nottinghamshire Live". Of course there hasn't been anything evening about the Post for quite a few years (yesterday's news tomorrow) but it looks as though Mirror Group is going to put the poor, very much diminished thing out of its misery.

[Martyn 303]

When I was a kid there was a one legged bloke used to sell the Post and Newessss (as he would shout it) on the corner of Long Row and King St. 

He was almost a permanent fixture 

[TRD 196]

Evening was dropped in 2010, the paper has since been called the Nottingham Post

[trogg 2,009]

Here is a link to the paper Nottingham live on Gregory Boulevard over the years with several photos , I thought it easier to put the link rather than individual photos as the written info is important as well. It may be a certain young lady will be most interested as there is a reference to a delightful Academy for young Ladies is mentioned.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/history/looking-back-early-days-gregory-1632039

[jonab 1,644]

Thanks for that, trogg.

 

I worked next door to Ellerslie house (nearer to Sherwood Rise) for ten years (1964-1974). The houses were/are Thorneywood and Thistlebank. They were linked together in my time there. It seems they still are and house a firm of accountants. I'm still unable to fathom why a firm of provincial accountants needs such large premises.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

Are you trying to upset me, young Trogg?

 

Seriously, I've always loved Gregory Boulevard and have so many happy memories of my childhood in which it played a large part. My mum had known it since the 20s and she loved it too.

 

I prefer, nowadays, to remember it as it was. They can't take that away from me....cue, Ben?

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Oh no they cant take that away,

[trogg 2,009]

The last thing I would do is to upset you Jill, but the good memories and friendships you made at that academy are something to be cherished.

Ps it years since I been called young. lol

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

Walked along Gregory Boulevard virtually every day of my young life, Trogg. Before I could walk, I was pushed along it in my pram or pushchair.

 

I think back to when I couldn't keep up with mum...I was on reins...and had stitch so begged to be picked up and carried. Even today, people ask why I walk so quickly. Necessary to keep up with my mother! It became a habit.

 

I remember autumn, when the leaves were falling. Golden maple leaves, ankle deep, lying under the boulevard trees. We played a game where I'd pick up a leaf and make a wish. It was usually beans on toast for tea! Always came true!

 

Such a long time ago. Such happy memories.

[trogg 2,009]

Have to agree with you Jill walking along the boulevard was a joy with the trees , the forest and pleasant houses was very pleasant, especially before the volume of traffic nowadays.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

Lives on in my dreams, Trogg. Time stands still in your dreams!

[mercurydancer 1,104]

My memories of Gregory Boulevard are good, but some horrible.

 

There was a dental practice not far from the Bentinck Road on the opposite side, it is still a dental practice, and I shiver every time I drive past it. Almost diagonal to Le Grand pub, as was. 

 

The dentist was an Irishman, and bordered on brutal. He once did a general anaesthetic on me without warning and I can still recall the smell of halothane even now. (I worked later in life in operating theatres so I recognised the smell instantly) I can distinctly recall the windows which were in front of the chair growing more hazy as I went to sleep. 

 

An odd memory was that there was a Charlie Brown cartoon playing on the TV in the waiting room at the dentists, and it was Charlie trying to prepare for a spelling bee. I still remember i before e except after c. I recall walking home to Bobbers Mill Road in terrible pain after treatment. 

[MargieH 7,599]

1 hour ago, mercurydancer said:

....An odd memory was that there was a Charlie Brown cartoon playing on the TV in the waiting room at the dentists, and it was Charlie trying to prepare for a spelling bee. I still remember i before e except after c. I recall walking home to Bobbers Mill Road in terrible pain after treatment. 

 

What a horrible experience for you MD.  I'm pleased that dentists are more sympathetic to children these days.

 

Did Charlie Brown also mention exceptions to the 'i before e' rule, like 'weird' and 'seize'?  There's probably more but I can't remember them.  Where spelling is concerned, I just seem to be able to recognise when a written word is spelled correctly...  I suppose rules can help but in infant schools nowadays they teach 'split digraphs' instead of calling it 'magic e'.  Our youngest grandson was explaining to me what a split digraph was when he was only 6!

 

Isn't that right, nottinghamlass!

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

1 hour ago, mercurydancer said:

There was a dental practice not far from the Bentinck Road on the opposite side, it is still a dental practice, and I shiver every time I drive past it. Almost diagonal to Le Grand pub, as was. 

 

The dentist was an Irishman, and bordered on brutal. He once did a general anaesthetic on me without warning and I can still recall the smell of halothane even now. (I worked later in life in operating theatres so I recognised the smell instantly) I can distinctly recall the windows which were in front of the chair growing more hazy as I went to sleep. 

Ronald Acton, I do believe! I know, M.D.. went there myself as a child. Slapped me across the face more than once. Mind you, I did kick him where it hurts...purely by accident and through fear!

 

He was notorious! Trained in an abattoir.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

Arriving home from Berridge one lunchtime, I discovered my mum looking rather strange and dripping blood from her mouth. She'd made egg mayonnaise sandwiches for my lunch because she'd been out all morning and no time to cook a hot meal. I couldn't eat them. I felt sick.

 

Mum had been to see Ronald Acton. For some years, her teeth had been deteriorating due to lack of calcium and she decided to have them out. Acton wanted to do the whole lot in one swoop but mum persuaded him to do the lower set first. Union dentist, Acton. One out, all out. Bad temperedly, he agreed.

 

She told no one she was going and took no one with her. The receptionist had to walk her home afterwards because he'd made such a mess that mum fainted. Dad went ballistic when he came home.

 

Fast forward...I'm now 17 and have wisdom teeth trying to erupt where there is no room for them. Acton, plus an anaesthetist, can cut them out at the surgery. The gasman was necessary because Acton was only allowed to give a tiny amount of nitrous oxide. Must have been very tiny because when he removed a previous tooth, he didn't give me enough and I woke up, screaming with pain. Mum, sitting downstairs in the waiting room, watched his other patients scarper!

 

Had nightmares about that for years.

 

They did remove my wisdom teeth but that would never be permitted today.

 

I will never forget the big black chair which faced the window and had all the instruments suspended over it. Thank heaven you don't see those any longer.

[loppylugs 8,427]

I thought the school dentist was bad.  This guy sounds ten times worse. Surprised somebody didn't bleed to death.  How did these guys keep their license?   How did they ever get a license in the first place.  

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

He was considered a good dentist by only one person I have ever met, Loppy. I suppose, in the early 60s, people could still remember the days when dentists appeared at fairgrounds and pulled teeth with no anaesthetic at all.

 

Acton had no people skills whatsoever. He was by no means the only dentist on Gregory Boulevard though. There was a Mr James more or less opposite Birkin Avenue, near to Dr Kelleher. He may have been better, I don't know.

 

I recall one occasion when I came round from the anaesthetic and was pulled out of the chair while I was still dizzy. I lurched sideways and sent all his sterilized instruments flying onto the floor! He was livid and shouted at me.

 

I also remember the day he put the mask over my face, having first stuffed the black rubber wedge in my mouth to keep it open. I was terrified and suddenly found myself standing beside the chair, watching what was going on. My body was strapped down across the legs to prevent me moving! Made me realise he couldn't hurt the real me!

[MargieH 7,599]

Jill,  I found your last paragraph particularly interesting as my mum had a similar experience once when she woke up in the night and said she was standing by the side of the bed looking down at herself!

 

Apart from a school dentist when I was very young, who refused to treat me because I was screaming so much, my experiences of dentists haven't been too bad.  We went to Ralph Syder near the bottom end of Woodborough Road.

[jonab 1,644]

I was another of Acton's victims. Nasty little man. Someone  (another victim) described him as a psychotic leprechaun - he was short of stature and did have red hair so that description fits.

Acton was the third dentist and the third butcher I had the misfortune to be treated by. First was the school dentist at the clinic on Watnall Road, Hucknall - with a mouthful of rotten teeth and the foulest breath you could imagine. Then Brian Lawson on Radford Road in Basford, opposite the gas works and then the leprechaun.

No wonder my opinion of dentists is so low. All of them caused me much pain and disfigurement by unnecessarily removing visible teeth (with no hint of trying to conserve them) at an age when it was particularly important to have a reasonable appearance.

[Commo 1,292]

Another dentist on Gregory Boulevard was Archer Birch where I was forcibly taken as a child. He later also had a surgery at his home on Kirk Lane in Ruddington and my Mum kept with his practice throughout the time he was operating.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

In the 60s, it was the custom to remove all the teeth and then let the gums heal before taking impressions for dentures, so my mum spent 6 weeks with no teeth at all! Must have been awful for her.

 

Some years later, she went back to work after bringing up the two of us and secured a part time office job at C & L E Attenborough Dental Technicians, of Viscosa House on George Street, Nottingham. My sister already worked there as a secretary. Mum noted that Acton sent quite a lot of his work there and she shuddered every time she saw his name on an invoice!

 

I believe he had a lot of patients, although I can't imagine why! He certainly had no patience!

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

3 hours ago, Commo said:

Another dentist on Gregory Boulevard was Archer Birch

Relative of the Dalai Chulla, perhaps?

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

4 hours ago, MargieH said:

Jill,  I found your last paragraph particularly interesting as my mum had a similar experience once when she woke up in the night and said she was standing by the side of the bed looking down at herself!

Yes, Margie. It has happened occasionally since, usually when I've been ill and once when I had shingles, was in tremendous pain and couldn't sleep. For the duration of the experience, there was no pain at all. Wonderful! It has also happened in the middle of the night as it did with your mum.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said:

C & L E Attenborough Dental Technicians, of Viscosa House on George Street, Nottingham. 

This was an old firm, run by the grandson of the founder when mum first went there. John Attenborough, now deceased, was a qualified dentist and, according to mum, retained one of those terrifying black chairs in a basement room where he kept his hand in by looking after his friends' gnashers. However, he probably reckoned that given the amount of teeth his colleagues....Acton among them...were extracting, the smart money lay in making dentures!

[loppylugs 8,427]

I only really had one decent experience with a dentist in the UK.  That was Johnny Preston at the top of Carlton Hill in the early 60s. He extracted an upper eye tooth that I had allowed to decay because of fears caused by earlier dentists.  He explained he could only remove it because it was too far gone to fix.  The extraction was painless and he had a partial denture plate made to replace it because it was very obvious.  So I've had a partial for years thanks to the butcher types.  Fortunately I've never had a bad experience with dentists in. Canada or the USA, but they ain't cheap.  Biggest pain is in the wallet.