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Lots of memories for me, too. Happy memories though...there aren't any photos of Manning!

 

I know they were initially popular with some who were housed there but, in my view, those awful concrete flats should never have been built. An eyesore from the outset, using material that would not weather but simply grow dirtier, tattier and stick out like a sore thumb. Sometimes, before they were finished, I walked through them with one of my school friends from Berridge. The children's play area struck me as an alien landscape: arid, barren and hostile. I certainly couldn't imagine anyone wanting to live there.

 

They also ripped the heart out of the community that was settled there, whose solidly built terraces could have benefited from improvements such as bathrooms, indoor toilets and heating at a fraction of the cost of the monstrosity which superceded them.

 

 

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I wasn't really aware of Hyson Green until my grandma moved into the newly-built flats in 1968. She was one of the first occupants, and I remember visiting and seeing that a large part of the complex was still being built; she was literally living on a building site.

 

She was in a flat which was on two floors, but the layout was upside down, so you went in the front door in a normal way to the living room/kitchen etc, but then you went downstairs to the bedrooms. As a kid that fascinated me.

 

Obviously at that time the place hadn't acquired any reputation or stigma, nor had the building weaknesses come to light, so everyone living there was reasonably happy with it all.

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15 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

my grandma moved into the newly-built flats in 1968. She was one of the first occupants, and I remember visiting and seeing that a large part of the complex was still being built; she was literally living on a building site.

That would have been when I used to wander through there with my friend, Kim Machin who, I believe, knew someone who had just moved in. I vaguely recall going to visit this person in her new flat. To be honest, the whole thing reminded me of the lunar landscape.  After walking through what was, basically, still a building site...would never be permitted today due to Elf and Safety.... we emerged onto Gregory Boulevard via a cutting at the side of the library.

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My memory is of walking along those elevated walkways - where all the front doors were located. 

 

You could walk along part of it, and then you'd come to a stop due to building-site fencing which prevented any further progress....because the next part of the walkway hadn't been built yet. Behind you were people living in flats; ahead was mud and rubbish.

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When I  first got married, I  lived in that area. Used to live on Burford rd., off Berridge rd. I can remember that some beautiful houses on Berridge rd being demolished and the flats started. Remember vividly, the big cranes unloading huge concrete slabs to be assembled on site like lego. They were massive prefabricated  sections, brought in on lorries. We always thought what a tragic waste of lovely houses. On the other side of the coin, an old mate of mine moved into the new basford flats which were built on a similar system. He said, after where he used to live, they were like palaces! He changed his mind after a couple of years.

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I used to walk or cycle up Berridge Road every day on my way to Forest Fields school. I watched the progress as  Hyson Green flats were being built. I recall when one of the girls from school was walking a little way in front of me. As she’d pulled he satchel on her shoulder it caught the hem of her skirt so Her knickers were on show. As she went past the flats word must have spread as dozens of builders lined one of the walkways and shouted some very rude things to her. I did shout to warn her, honest. Perhaps not loud enough. Funny how some things stick in your mind.

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I worked at Gerard's 1974 - 78 and one of my assistants lived in the flats. Hers faced Gregory Boulevard - I seem to remember it was on the third floor and it looked out on to a brothel where (apparently) she would spend many hours each evening watching the comings and goings (mostly the former I suspect) in said houses of ill-repute then come into work the next day and tell (in lurid detail) what went on and how disgusted she was with it all.

 

It was often pointed out to her that she had no obligation to watch but she said that she felt obligated to keep an eye on the place in case anything illegal was going on. We found out later that she was a regular visitor to the local cop shop with reports of the 'happenings'.

 

The Gregory Boulevard houses where the brothels were are located between Noel Street and Radford Road. and, from Google, look to be quite respectable nowadays.

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In 1974, I was still at Manning and would have walked past those houses every day. Staff were aware of the burgeoning problem of Waverley Street and Mount Hooten Road with their red light areas. Not that it was ever mentioned to us girls. We were just instructed to avoid those areas if we left the Manning site at lunchtime and those below the fourth form were not permitted to do so anyway.

 

There were reports that some girls had been approached in the areas near the Forest and Arboretum and there were always a few dodgy males to be found outside the railings fronting the school field when hockey or athletics lessons were in progress. They were invariably cleared off by staff.

 

The situation grew much worse after I left.

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I should have mentioned, perhaps, that a number of the 'ladies' offering their 'services' were employed at Gerards on the soap packing lines and some as strippers at the Old General (and other places).

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