Northgate New Basford

[Ashley 288]

Ben lived at bottom of Ekowe St, not your area really Craig, Can't recall any part time workers at Stan "waiting for chips" Boswells, just him and his missus, one thing I do recall was his meat pies,mince and onion, never seen such elsewhere. Chard Street has has a few mentions in this thread, anyone know the origin of it's name?

[poohbear 1,360]

Lieutenant John Chard VC Commanding Officer Rorkes Drift Zululand 1879.Many roads in this area were named after this era.Durnford St after Colonel Durnford etc. And the battle of Isandlwana being remembered by Isandula Road...probably the nearest the common man could get to pronouncing the name.

[Ashley 288]

VG 9 out of 10, (point deducted for lack of mention of Zulu Rd) lol, just up the road from there was Middle East theme, Egypt Rd, Rosetta Rd, Cairo St, Suez St, etc not sure where Chatty Avenue or Monsall St fit in? and no mention of fairly local Lieutenant Grenville Bromhead? If built nowadays we'd no doubt have a Cetawayo Close, Taliban Terrace and Al Qaeda Avenue, such are the cretins in charge of such!

[poohbear 1,360]

If someone had asked where the name Zulu Rd had come from I wouldn't have bothered answering the post You'll notice there is a Chelmsford Rd though, and he was the pillock general responsible for the cock up at Isandlwana that lost us nearly a thousand men.Because he thought he was dealing with a bunch of naked savages.

I guess poor old Bromhead missed out because they ran out of new roads to name

[Keith Dawes 1]

Craig, my sincere apologies for misunderstanding your sentence re Keith Holland. I have no idea who Keith Holland is but I expect he and his family would appreciate a little less candour. Never the less, although the sentence you used was grammatically a little unorthodox, I completely take your word that the subject of the sentence wasn't me. I hope other readers of this forum don't draw the same initial erroneous conclusion that I did.!

Again, thank you for taking the trouble to set the record straight.

[Keith Dawes 1]

Craig, you might have known Ben Walter's better as Mac Walters. Mac, was the name he was generally known by.

[Keith Dawes 1]

QA couple of years ago, tragedy struck Mac's family. without going into too much detail, you may recall, the murder of a vagrant on Nottingham Road.

[Keith Dawes 1]

There was a lad named Barry Stevens, he lived about three quarters of the way up Ekowe Street, and was , I believe, a cousin of Alan Keetley's. Barry would have been a year or two older than Alan and I.

Did you know Jill Gregory, Her parent's had a grocery shop on Suez Street. Jill's elder brother was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1958. He would have been about seventeen or eighteen at the time of his death.

[Ashley 288]

Never did know why he was called Mac? I remember the day he helped put new clutch plates in john keetley's bonneville and used clutch thrust rod as a tommy bar! lol

didn't know the others you mentioned Keith, think you'll have to email me again re the nottingham road incident? I lived on there till 18 (1964) then moved to Forest Fields till 1970 then Old Basford till 2003 but seem to have missed a load of things

[Craig Strongman 13]

Craig, my sincere apologies for misunderstanding your sentence re Keith Holland. I have no idea who Keith Holland is but I expect he and his family would appreciate a little less candour. Never the less, although the sentence you used was grammatically a little unorthodox, I completely take your word that the subject of the sentence wasn't me. I hope other readers of this forum don't draw the same initial erroneous conclusion that I did.!

Again, thank you for taking the trouble to set the record straight.

Apology graciously accepted! !!

Now, for your information, the Hollands were a large family who lived in Casey Court, off Northgate, which, for want of a better description, was a plot of houses around a central piece of unkempt ground, which Nottingham Council, or whoever, saw fit to demolish it, as it was rather an eyesore to say the least. Some less diplomatic folk might have called it a slum. The younger ones from the family always had runny noses, and, all of them were scruffy, and some of them were dirty, as in not washed on a regular basis.

At Northgate school, I would often end up with Keith as the nearest person to me during the dances one did as a child,having to link hands, and the smell of the day before s chocolate on his hands would make me heave, hence my earlier comment, which you mistakenly thought referred to you.

Ah! Mac Walters, I do know him, or at least did.

I also knew the Gregorys, I believe Andrew Tregannawen (misspelt)? was a cousin.

[Beefsteak 305]

As I read Poohbears post re the origins of the road names in the area, I remembered something I had in my photo files, and was going to post them in here and ask "Who lived in a house like this?" Any way the answer was given a couple of posts later by Ashley (Thought it was Gonville Bromhead not Granville though, I may be wrong , usually am!!)

http://farm3.static...._3e78d7f21a.jpg

[Keith Dawes 1]

Hi Craig, I do know of the Holland's (I Didn't know there was a Keith)I was aware that they lived in the most derelict part of Northgate. My only direct encounter with on of them was when I was attacked by Rodney Holland and his mates in an ambush (sounds dramatic, but it actually happened)I had had an argument with one of his mates, and they intended to give me a beating. Anyway, I got in a couple of lucky punches to his nose, the second one put Rodney on his back, he rolled over, lost his bottle and legged it! His mates jumped up and down trying to look dangerous. That concluded my first teenage punch up (I was fourteen)

Anyway, I am non violent by nature, and happily that was one of the very few times I got involved in a fight.

Jill Gregory was my first girlfriend (We were 13) The love affair?? lasted about two weeks - maybe less.

[Keith Dawes 1]

Does anyone remember Marilyn Stevenson and her friend Alma (I cant remember Alma's last name)

[Keith Dawes 1]

Melvin Brown is another name I remember, and Tommy Thorpe

[Craig Strongman 13]

Just on the opposite corner of Casey Ct was Steven and John Burtons house, Fay Miles, up a few, towards my mums at 86 was the Cliffords house, on Palm St there were the Roses and the Knights, back onto Northgate heading towards Bob and Sadies beer off was Brian Prince (gingernut) the Butlers on the corner opposite, and the Stuarts.

More names as I recall them.

[Ashley 288]

yes you're right re Lt Bromhead's name (not alot of people know that alfie)

[Keith Dawes 1]

Ahh Yes, Lt Bromhead "Front Rank Fire!...Second Rank, Fire!...Front Rank Fire!...

Ekowe Street and Terrace were also named to commemorate and event from the Zulu War, Ekowe was, a military garrison that was besieged.

London, April 22. After two bloody battles, fought by Col. Wood's command, in the course of a movement to divert the attention of the Zulu Army during the march of Lord Chelmford's column to the relief of Ekowe, the Zulus were completely routed losing in all over 3,700 men and the gallant garrison of Ekowe relieved

[Ashley 288]

"Hook?..... You're alive Hook, I've seen you!"

[poohbear 1,360]

Good old 'Zulu' seen it many times...

I was in the old Central library archives on Shakespear street many years ago reading the 'Times' newspaper dated one day in January (17th?)1879 when the news reached England of the defeat of Chelmsfords forces at Isandlwana.

On another page was a story of our troops being pinned down in the campaign in Afghanistan....Things don't change much do they??

[Ashley 288]

crikey, that means you must be over 130 years old, I know your interests state staying alive but that's taking it a bit far! lol

[poohbear 1,360]

In the archives Mush.....the archives

[Keith Dawes 1]

A lot of archived newspaper records 0f the period (1879) with reports of the battle of Isandlwana, generally refer to it as the battle of Isandula, the spelling used for Isandula Road. Both British and American newspapers of the period spell it Isandula. As mentioned in a previous post,so generally, Isandula seems to be the preferred spelling.

a large number of streets in New Basford were named after the events and people who participated in the Zulu wars. Does anyone know how Northgate received its name?

[Ashley 288]

Always assumed some sort of gated road, same with Lister Gate etc however a while back on Radio Nottingham some expert saying Gate was an adaption of the viking word for road or street. Do you remember Northgate before it was widened? where there is one house now next to Ropers garage there was I think 3, then a small Midland? Bank branch and on the corner Bicknall's Post Office.

[Craig Strongman 13]

Ashley, Pete Ropers garage, and the Midland bank were on Nottingham road, with Bicknalls P/o on both, as it was at the junction, where it got widened.

As you lived on Nottingham Rd, I thought You'd have been accurate in that!

[Ashley 288]

Seeing as TED (his dad owned it before Pete) Roper's garage is still there I assumed anyone who knows it or saw it as it was would realise it has not be moved by molectural reconstruction to round the corner! but what you say is true. Used to get very busy around there what with the no.37 trolley bus turnaround and cars filling up with petrol on the road! there were I think 4 petrol pumps virtually on the pavement with long rigid steel pipes (galvanised inch and a quarter bsp right hand threaded) that swung out above head height over the pavement with rubber hose and nozzles on the ends (sorry Craig can't recall colours) lol !rotfl! Do recall as a kid being fascinated watching the fuel flowing through some square sight glass thing at joint of pipes, Think actual fuel tanks were above ground at back of garage, remember seeing some tanks from Potters Terrace which towered over the yard, not sure if true but there was a story of a policeman being badly injured when he jumped the 5ft? wall at end of that terrace chasing someone and was met with a 20ft? drop other side! On opposite side of Nottingham Rd there was a big triangular tarmac area in front of the 2 council houses with actual crossroads being + ( no gentle curves into such) a bus shelter stood on that, also some samall sub station box for the buses which exploded one night after a car ran into it.