The Forest and its features

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Just had a thought, triggered by a conversation with a friend yesterday. There used to be a bowling green on the forest. I can remember going there with my mum when I was around 12 to 18 months old and still in my coachbuilt pram.  She used to take her knitting and sit chatting to other mums with prams, watching the bowls players.  Is the bowling green still there?

 

My grandad used to take me on the swings which were roughly half way up the forest from Gregory Boulevard near a path close to an ice cream kiosk.  I'd be around 3 years old. Every Thursday he took me with him to collect his pension from the post office and sometimes we went to the forest and the swings. I recall vividly the creamy taste of the ice cream sold at the kiosk.  I know the swings and the kiosk have gone. Just wondered about the bowling green.

[radfordred 6,284]

I can confirm the outdoor bowling greens on the Forest, Radford & Lenton rec are no longer there?

Must be some bowling type phone app to play instead? 

[jonab 1,644]

I remember that bowling green on the Forest from my days working on Gregory Boulevard. It was at the Mansfield Road end. One thing that sticks in my mind about it was a big hoo-haa from the officials running the green about players wearing outfits made of Terylene instead of the regulation white linen. This caused protests amongst the players and it was really amusing to see loads of mature citizens/pensioners parading around with placards raising their objections to the silly rule. The pensioners won in the end!

 

The frames for swings were there but there were no swings attached to them and the kiosk only opened occasionally.

 

This was 1964 - 74.

[Beekay 5,134]

A few years ago when we came up to visit Goose fair, we had to walk from Mansfield road end from parking our car. After crossing the island we walked on the forest side of Gregory blvd., past where the greens were and if memory serves me right, isn't there some outdoor gym/fitness equipment there now. The play area was at the back of pavilion(?) which was on the road, (can you still drive a car through there, from Mansfield road to the other end, is it Mount Hooton road? Cant remember. Had some smashing trolley races on those steep paths at the back of the play area. Small wonder no-one was killed or seriously injured, the speeds we used to do.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

That's sad, RR. It was a beautifully kept green with seats all around the perimeter.  Jonab is correct, it was at the end of the forest, near Mansfield Road.

 

The fracas over wearing the wrong type of fabric sounds like the petty minded lot across the road at the other establishment with which I was too long acquainted!

 

I remember trying to find the kiosk one lunchtime when at Manning, around 1973. My visits to the swings with grandad would have ended in 1962 when school intervened but they are very happy memories.

 

 

 

 

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

The Bowling Green area is still there, and it's still green but it doesn't appear to be used for bowling. It's marked out for football and other sports.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/TxEU6ViwWLa3kG5z5

[Beekay 5,134]

Thanks for the pic CT. I see the equipment is still there. Noticed a sign referring it to "The Forest sports zone".

I assume the car park at the side is for that area, including football pitches etc.

[philmayfield 6,115]

What’s the current position regarding the gate lodge at the Mansfield Rd. end of the Forest? Back in the 70’s/80’s a friend of mine who ran the building company, CR Crane and Co., did a complete refurbishment of the lodge which was in a poor state of repair. Has it been maintained and is it habitable? I’m never in that area so I’ve not seen it for many years.

[LizzieM 9,507]

1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

What’s the current position regarding the gate lodge at the Mansfield Rd. end of the Forest? Back in the 70’s/80’s a friend of mine who ran the building company, CR Crane and Co., did a complete refurbishment of the lodge which was in a poor state of repair. Has it been maintained and is it habitable? I’m never in that area so I’ve not seen it for many years.

My best friend’s great grandmother was born in that lovely little house, I suppose that would have been in the late 19th century.  I don’t know many details but I do know there is a family vault in the Rock Cemetery, next door.  I attended the funeral of my friend’s dad when he was buried in the vault years ago.  It was the first time I’d ever been in the cemetery and we followed the coffin down a windy path on the side nearest the white lodge, it was like a fairy dell down there and a very interesting experience.   
EDIT:  The great-grandmother wasn’t born there, but she lived there.

[radfordred 6,284]

The Keepers Lodge is now a cafe/cake shop run by Homemade who also have a cafe in the old cricket pavilion also on the Forest, had a place on Pelham Street @ one time. 

 

http://www.mynottinghamnews.co.uk/new-cake-making-base-is-cherry-on-top-for-local-cafe/

[philmayfield 6,115]

That's good. I'm pleased to see it in good use. When Jim Crane started on the refurbishment it had been vandalised and was a right mess.

 

[jonab 1,644]

In the ten years I was local to the forest area, the keepers Lodge was used as a tool store for the cemetary gardens and the flower beds around the bowling green.

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

The bowling green on The Forest, in the late 40s. Very atmospheric. but I can't quite say why.

Mansfield Road on the slope at the rear.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Lovely photo. It was a beautifully kept area and I regret its demise.  When I went there as a very young child, we sat with our backs to Gregory Boulevard. I do remember people playing bowls but it was never as crowded as in the photo.

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

In the early 1960s I remember being taken - on a few occasions - to see my grandfather bowling on Lenton Rec (the one between Derby Road and Church St). He always wore one of those white peaked caps.

 

The whole thing probably looked very similar to this photo.

[Beekay 5,134]

My guess would be some sort of match or bowls tournament. But they weren't playing in match whites. Only a guess mind!

[Beekay 5,134]

There used to be some greens on Radford rec. Off Ilkeston road. I can even remember the toilet block that one passed, when entering from Bulwer road gate. There was a children's nursery at the end of the greens. And I'm talking about 65 years ago !

[PeverilPeril 3,279]

Looking for my dad in the photograph of the bowlers CT. He played there during that period. I spent a lot of my childhood playing on the Forest and have many fond memories. I rode in a few bike races around there in the 50's too.

[Mess 616]

The Forest was my playground in the early sixties when I moved to Russell Rd from Beechdale. The hard standing was great for bombing round on your bike. The grass was great for football and cricket using the wall buttresses as a wicket. The  “cowshed” for meeting girls and sneaking a fag. The scouts bonfire well before that abomination that the council set up on Nov 5th where the surrounding area is gridlocked. The conker  trees where I was always too late for the best ones. Goose Fair and the “untouchable” Manning girls and my favourite The Camels Hump where in winter the best sledging in the area was to be had. During the Winter of 1963 that sledge run was solid ice and kids used it well into the evening. My dad was always down there in the summer watching the cricket which he loved. Happy Days.

[PeverilPeril 3,279]

The only time I made it on to the front page of the Nottm Evening News was a picture of me sledging on the Forest.

The first day of snow 1948/9.