Homing in on 50 getting reflective.

[Messy Hessey 15]

Life has been a funny old thing, and although 50 these days is half way through life, it still gets you to being reflective, especially when you see others get tagged much like a giant game of British bulldog, which I used to enjoy at Parkdale primary, they had a big net ball court set out, that was a perfect size with two large semi circles at each end as places to run too and from. Anyways, I always was one of the youngest in class, so come September the first lot of folks from school days will be holding their bats aloft and saluting the crowds as they reach their half century. Can not say I had deep and meaningful relationships with folks but I was and still am a nosey person so it would be interesting to see how folks got on.

 

The other part of this and I will say interesting rather then any sad description I am starting to lose my memories, words get mixed up days get mixed up. From time to time I can forget which year it is or month. Our lass puts it down to stress I put it down to something akin to the end of the film 2001 a space odyssey where the computer is being switched off bit by bit. So with that in mind I would like to store my memories somewhere. My first 26 years of Life in Nottingham were different shall I say. years 26 to 33 I would rather forget and from 33 to now and beyond they were something I could never have dreamnt of thanks to our lass.

 

So old school folks from Mountford House (Mansfield Road), Parkdale Primary school, Carlton le willows school (my first year was the last year of using the old building opposite the fire station) , Rushcliffe Comprehensive. If anyone has any links or information feel free to let me know. Also info on Netherfield, Ruddington and Long Eaton as they were my homes for the first 26 years, with a short spell above a bike shop on Aspley Lane. Very grateful to Chris for saving us from the streets.

 

Also ideas on best ways to put memories down in this forum, I never do straight lines or linear thought, so a way to pull together nostalgia, places in Nottingham and my own life would be interestingly looked at if you could let me know.

 

I only have two photographs left in my possession from before I was 30 so I just have my memories to rely on, so i will be as honest as I can remember.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

We're all Ramblers on here, so ramble away to your heart's content and we'll enjoy sharing it!

[Cliff Ton 10,468]

Yes, the original point of this forum was for people to ramble and wander and rabbit on about things they remember from their past in Nottingham. You seem fairly well qualified in those areas so feel free to add to your list of memories.

 

In your list of schools I'd not previously heard of Mountford House; I don't know if you're aware but it seems to be still operating.  https://mountfordhousenursery.co.uk/

[MargieH 7,600]

@Messy Hessey  The name ‘Mountford House rings a bell with me - I think one of my friends went there - ..Patsy Knowles - who is the same age as me.  I  may be mistaken though.  Perhaps @philmayfield will correct me if I’m wrong?

I went to Carlton le Willows from 1954.  Have you found their Facebook page?  It isn’t very riveting but there’s lots of information on there.

Just keep rambling on, we love to listen to other people’s memories.

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

As Phil Mayfield will probably know, Salterford House School in Calverton was set up by a former Mountford House teacher.

[philmayfield 6,141]

I remember Patsy Knowles. I believe she lived on a corner of Greys Rd. Woodthorpe. Her father was in to scouting and the last time I saw him he was running an office equipment company in a former cinema in Aspley. Salterford House preparatory school, just outside Calverton, was set up by Marlene Venables. (Later restyled herself as Marla). She was married to the late Dr. Tom Venables, a Calverton GP and jolly nice chap who was also the Radio Nottingham doctor- Doctor Tom. Salterford was an excellent school with a good academic success, some pupils going on the pass the High School entrance exams. Marlene could be described as a bit of a martinet! Salterford still continues under new management and I believe Marlene’s daughter Kim is the headmistress. Did Mountford House have the rather showy black, white and green striped blazer?

[MargieH 7,600]

@philmayfield  Patsy lived almost in the middle of Greys Road, almost opposite Jeremy G.  Can you remember if she was at Arno Vale or Mountford House?  Perhaps it wasn’t her I was thinking of…. Could have been Diana Lane who lived on Fairview Road.  I know it was one of my little playmates.
 

[philmayfield 6,141]

Patsy Knowles was at Arno Vale but I don’t know where she went afterwards. I’m not sure she was in our year. I thought she lived on the corner of Greys and Fairview. Coincidentally JG lives in the same village as our daughter. She did work experience in the office of his printing works in her final year of 6th. form but walked out after her first day as she didn’t appreciate being sworn at!

[MargieH 7,600]

@philmayfield It was Sally Fremantle who lived on that corner you mentioned.   Patsy went to Bluecoat? I think, after she was 11

if you ever see JG say hello from me

[philmayfield 6,141]

She may have gone to Bluecoat. I think her family were involved with St. Marks Church.

The last time I saw JG he was running a wine bar in Trinity Square but that was many years ago so I don’t know how he got into printing. Unfortunately his business went into liquidation but he does live in a rather splendid old hall in the village so he must have salvaged something! 

[Messy Hessey 15]

Serendipity, has a strong influence over my life, so lets go with the flow and it seems that Mountford House is to be the starting point and this Oo ar yer thread a place as good as any other to home my thoughts. It is not just the audience asking who are you? But the writer that of them self.

 

Mountford House wasn't actually the first school I went to it was the 2nd. My first venture into the education system left me with a funny little line which I tell to folks when it takes my fancy of how I was expelled after two days at school. I didn't do nursery as a kid, my nan would look after me and anything I can remember about these days I will return to in the future as it has stronger links to Netherfield so will be cobbled together at a later date. But, the expulsion. to be fair it must have been a try before you buy for my mam. Of the time itself, my memory much of that of waking from a dream is of a big house in the countryside or at least a wooded area, I was in a class, we had been playing and it seems my eye was quite taken by a toy on a shelf which I wished to play with. It seems it was time to settle down and the teacher had asked me to stop what I was doing. To which for the purposes of the forum will translate into more sensitive language of "Go forth and multiply". Memory next was being in a office with my mam and then returning home for traditional slapped backside. (The slapped back side is a post all of its own). Later on down the line, my mam would talk about how she was embarrassed and how she couldn't say to the school that the real reason I would have said what I would have said is because I would have picked it up from routine arguments between my mam and dad (This is also a whole post in itself)

 

We will eventually discuss Mountford House, design of the school, it was as the name suggests a big house on Mansfield Road, from all suggestions still in existence, you had a large drive up to the school with lawn at the front, to the left just across the lawn was a summer house type building which acted as a class room. you would continue up the drive with options of going straight on and this would take you around the back to the play ground or to in front of you where you would find the garage which housed the wood work I believe I never got to experience this. But if you followed the drive around in front of the house you would have either the main front door which led into a main hall way with a class to the left which I remember to be where I learned to read with the various colourful pirates noting your progression and where we listened to lessons on the radio. To the left was where I remember the computer to be homed. It was a BBC computer and as a class I remember playing what would later become lemonade tycoon, this being the UK though we didn't have tycoons just hard working folks who ran stalls and constantly worried about if the weather would hit sales.

 

If you went passed the front door though you would come to an extension which would house assembly, dining and where you would gather to go home. For me it would be generally where my mam had forgotten or thought she would leave me, they won't mind so I would help teachers clear away until my mam would eventually turn up. A note about Mountford House, you knew you was somewhere different as an essential part of the school kit was a "Napkin ring" as we are currently, well in my mind anyway the school dinning room, I may whilst the memory is there talk about dinner times, things that stuck. "Use your fork as a fork and not a shovel" The head mistresses would go up and down the rows scalding as she went. Semolina, was my other memory, I loved it and was one of only two or three who did. We would go up to a large table at the front and I am guessing due to where it was cooked or time stood it would also get a bit of a skin as well. Jam would be whipped in to make it milk shake pink, I would have 3rds, 4ths and 5ths if allowed. They certainly didn't go "More!!!" I think to be honest it was a cheap option and they was glad to get rid.

 

We will return to the assembly/dining area when we touch upon assembly, above though on the first floor was my first class room, glazed all around and it was the introductory class, tables with Lego on it, I was left with another pupil whilst my mam went into the office to discuss fees. as this all cost money and with all the pressure it brings in life to say to a kid "I am giving you the start I never had" isn't some philanthropic wonderment it is an immense atlas stone for a child to have as a burden. My mam was a firm believer in Maggies Britain, pull yer sen up by yer boot straps, work hard, get results, don't look to others for your way in life, but as you will read in later instalments it fell apart much like Maggies Britain. Anyways back to the first day, I played with Lego, probably under threat of an all mighty beating if I did anything like I did at the first school, might explain the feeling of he is a quiet lad coming from the day. In the corner of the room was a large white paper-mache landscape which had been designed to look as though it was a set of star wars and it was where all the children could bring in their star wars figures and play. This is where the divide begun and was not to end at Mountford House, the children in the main had parents who could afford to send their children to this school next stop would have been the Nottingham High school or onto another fee paying school. So the latest toys, gadgets and clothes came easily to them for me it was a good day if I had shoes that didn't have holes in. Into the future it never made sense, it seemed my mam thought getting other folks to do her job and look after me was somehow better than how her own mam somehow failed with my mam. Reasons unknown the consequences have been endless and the themes of good intentions and devolved responsibility is going to be a running theme through these posts.

 

I made it through three years at Mountford house though, most of them on the sick, as not being in nursery before hand and my circle of contact was my mam, dad, nan and whin next door. It meant I caught, suffered with and recovered from every known and yet to be discovered child hood illness for a change up when I did go to school I would sprain my ankle playing football not once but twice this would happen in a large walled area at the back of the school. I am guessing it must have had high walls as I never recall us losing the football, I do however remember that painting goals on walls is part of a later series which could be wrote about which is daft places to play football. This wall mounted goal has a part of my front tooth and is the place which on not just once but twice sprained my ankle trying to twist and score, whilst in the playground we might as well describe the back of Mountford house, in one corner you had the wood work garage, never got to see that, maybe you have to pay before you play, then you had an open area which led up to the raised football arena, carry on and you had an out building which had the physical education area, lots of jumping from mats to mats and benches avoiding the sharks in the sea, this I loved I am not a climber though, although a very skinny and slight kid so not much in the way of gravitational pull as I have today, it seems I must have thought I can sprain my ankle just turning on the same position why take yourself off the ground only to land hard back onto it again. Then in the other corner you had two swings, obviously early 80s hard services all around and kids wanting to go as high as possible, funnily enough the only accident I remember is where there was a rush for the swings and Richard Stewart went nuts first into a corner post which was for the guard chain. See, if safety hadn't had been there he would have been fine.

 

Back inside and up the stairs from the main hall you had various rooms, and it was just rooms with a black board on the wall at the front, only one room was different, it actually looked like a class room, with an amphitheatre staggered seating to a large black board in front, this is where I can remember where we did our times tables, you would stand up and try to do a personal best of 8s or 9s etc with an arduous feeling of listening to someone crash and burn as they got muddled then know you were up soon. As for learning, the only thing I remember enjoying and so I guess is why I remembered it is doing lessons where you would be given a passage and then a series of questions and you would have to find the answers from the passage. Looking back it developed a need in me not to take in everything I need to and so potentially miss what might be important and also find myself always trying to dash to the answer and being impatient if it isn't forthcoming.

 

Back downstairs for assembly it would be held in year rows youngest at the front until you got to the oldest at the back, hymns would be on large banners rolled up and stored away in a side passage, one of my favourites was "All things bright and beautiful" It was broken down into sections with different age groups singing different lines. I would like to write about this more eloquently but this is all I find in my head at the moment.

 

The last section about this school is sports we had at least two days it seems at the nearby Goose fair site I believe we walked there, none of the high viz stuff of today, it was where I wore my first set of proper studded football boots, I even made it onto the school football team, which I am thinking by process of elimination (size of school, age of children eligible, take out the girls) I wonder if we had enough to muster a team. One day I scored a glorious goal from the half way line, it was as most things are in my life not planned, it seemed I had the ball at my feet, so what else but just kicked it and it flew into the top corner, it would have been grand but it seems we won 8 nil, so it all got lost in the moment. We did a lot of running around the goose fair site which seemed to be in training for a run around Wollaton park, and this is where one of the few names I remember Jonathan Williams his mam was a teacher in the summer house on the front lawn as I recall, the other name was Ben, he was one of the only kids I went to go and see, one of the lets try and get me socialised with folks experiments. His family introduced me to the salt grinder at a table, amazed I was he also had a large television with computer games system which for those days was futuristic, I believe and this could be my memory making it up, his dad developed or worked with computers.

 

I think this is more than enough for you to suffer now. I will see what responses this gets and where my memories and thoughts lead me next.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Your mum clearly wanted the best for you, MH.  As a former teacher myself, it's very revealing what comes out of the mouths of young children; often phraseology straight from 'discussions' between their parents at home. This sheds more light on a child's family background and relationships than the parents could ever realise. Although you can't allow it to go unchecked because children are great copiers, it can be dealt with sensitively and privately. Many times, sadly, I've witnessed young children being hit across the head for innocently repeating in public language they had heard their parents using at home and which the child didn't understand. 

[Messy Hessey 15]

On 8/1/2023 at 1:10 PM, philmayfield said:

 Did Mountford House have the rather showy black, white and green striped blazer?

Blues and greys were my remembered colours, I had a blue blazer and cap, with grey shorts. School photo I turned up for had blue shirts I recall.

[philmayfield 6,141]

Those colours might have been Waverley school.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

I think the overriding colour of the Mountford House uniform was blue.

 

Incidentally, Steve Spencer who was the sports teacher at Salterford during my time there was a former Mountford House pupil.  I'm not sure of his age (although younger than myself) or whether he may have been at Mountford House along with MH.

[Stuart.C 491]

I've very familiar with Mountford House, not because I attended but because my Mother in Law was the cook in the 60's 70's 80's and my Wife also worked there.
Mrs Chaplin was the Principle and Miss (name to be added when my memory kicks in) was the Head.
I also knew the pupil named above and his Mother, Father, younger brother and younger Sister, who now runs the Nursery there.

 

The "Summer House" at the front was formerly an air raid shelter.

[Cliff Ton 10,468]

49 minutes ago, Messy Hessey said:

Serendipity, has a strong influence over my life, so lets go with the flow and it seems that Mountford House is to be the starting point and this Oo ar yer thread a place as good as any other to home my thoughts. It is not just the audience asking who are you? But the writer that of them self.......................

 

Great post MH, and almost certainly the longest post anyone has ever made on Nottstalgia.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

14 minutes ago, Stuart.C said:

also knew the pupil named above and his Mother, younger brother and younger Sister, who now runs the Nursery there.

Lovely bloke, Steve. Great sense of humour and a joy to work with.

[philmayfield 6,141]

Hearthrob of the lady staff!

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

I wouldn't say that but he was always cheerful, smiling and extremely pleasant. The same could not be said of all, said she being uncharacteristically diplomatic. 

[Stuart.C 491]

34 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Lovely bloke, Steve. Great sense of humour and a joy to work with.

 

To avoid any confusion later, I didn't know Steve, I was referring to Jonathan

[philmayfield 6,141]

29 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I wouldn't say that but he was always cheerful, smiling and extremely pleasant. The same could not be said of all, said she being uncharacteristically diplomatic. 

I can guess to whom you may be alluding. I did get a bit of inside info as my wife, a former teacher, used to teach crafts there for half a day. She wasn’t paid for it!

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

No surprises there, then.

[philmayfield 6,141]

I'm told that the headmistress taught not at Mountford but Greenholme.

[Jill Sparrow 10,307]

Quite possibly. There were former Mountford staff at Salterford, I'm sure. That means, then, that Steve was a Greenholme pupil and not a Mountford pupil.