balloon woods

[Charlie 11]

once, back in about '74, Micky Norton took me to a party out at a council estate (?) at Balloon Woods (?). This was the weirdest place I ever went to in my entire life!

(Sorry if you live there and love it)

Mostly it seemed to be apartments and some had no doors or floors - Micky told me that folks used them for firewood! Still the party went with a bang as they say!

Now, was that a real event or did I imagine it? Do any of you remember the estate and was it like my memory?

[Bip 88]

I remember the estate very well in fact I lived just down the road from those flats, talk about a blot on the landscape.

All that’s left now is the pub, which at that time was called the Gondola, it had an upper floor with balcony, in summer you had to be born on that balcony to get a seat. To get to the upper floor you had to go up a spiral staircase which if one had had a few bevies to many you had no chance of scaling.

Some Sundays I use to go for a drink in there with the wives dad, he was a big darts fan and would always be looking for someone to play against.

It wasn’t long before the locals from the flats brought the new pub down to their level and it turned into a right rough and ready drug den.

I believe also that the flats went the same way, I heard many rumours about those flats and when they were pull down I was there to witness the official start of the clearance.

They replaced the flats with nice houses and bungalows, I have heard and witnessed for myself the sorry state these new building have got in.

There’s an old saying which goes ‘you can’t turn a pigs ear into a silk purse.

Bip.

[mick2me 3,033]

I mentioned it here before...

"You put a hog in a palace, it still remains a pig!"

Old Jamaican proverb

[katyjay 5,091]

I remember those flats. They were built on the same lines as the ones in Basford and Hyson Green. All demolished now, they were built with precast concrete sections, which apparently were very damp and mouldy. That was a lot of council money down the drain, they weren't fit to live in.

[Bip 88]

I remember those flats. They were built on the same lines as the ones in Basford and Hyson Green. All demolished now, they were built with precast concrete sections, which apparently were very damp and mouldy. That was a lot of council money down the drain, they weren't fit to live in.

I lived there well before the flats came, all that space was open grass land which I believe during the war was dug up by local residence searching for surface coal.

Before the flats were built there was a black path that lead one to the railway bridge, it was called the black path because of it’s looks, made from coal dust and cinders. It is now the road that takes one by the Indian restaurant and the houses that replaced the flats.

The wood that’s there now is a shadow of what it use to be, I should know because I played in that wood and did a little bit of courting there too.

The part I did my courting in is still there, sadly though half of it is now a car park for the Indian restaurant that has taken the place of the Gondola.

There is still a path on the other side of the woods which you get to by going by the community centre which if one follows will take you over the railway, it did once take you over the Wollaton Canal but sadly that’s been filled in now.

If one follows the path to its conclusion you end up at the A52 just before Bramcote island, [near the swimming baths] you could if you wanted cross the A52 on the pedestrian lights and take another little road just wide enough for one car which if you follow the public footpath signs will eventually take you all the way into Beeston.

Bip.

[Charlie 11]

Well! we live and learn! Thank you very much everyone!

I'm quite astonished to hear that there was an actual wood - although now that Black Ice has mentioned it, it does seem obvious! But, it begs the question - why balloon woods? Does anyone know.

As for those flats in Hyson Green - At night, you didn't go there. I alwyas thought that must have been a real problem for anyone who actually lived there!

[mick2me 3,033]

Since there was a Baloon Woods and Baloon Pub, could there have been baloon lauches up there?

[Charlie 11]

Mick I give in - what is a baloon lauches when it's at home?

[Beefsteak 305]

He's been at the sherry again

[denshaw 2,871]

When is the next full moon?

[Charlie 11]

BBC3 should have such scriptwriters. But, I do have a feeling you may be pulling the wool over my thighs.

[Bip 88]

While on the subject of the Balloon woods I did read somewhere that at the cross roads of Coventry lane and the Trowel moor road stood a tollhouse.

Bip.

[Bip 88]

More info here about Balloon House........

http://www.broxtowehundred.co.uk/trowell2.htm

[Nottingham Libran Lady 0]

Charlie, Bip & the lot of yer -

I had my teen years in Balloon Wood flats. I lived on Hartington Walk, which overlooked the railway line. I have bittersweet memories of that time.

Yes, the flats weren't built great, but there was a good community spirit. We used to have film shows in the community centre on a saturday. My mum Jean Smith was on the committee so as a family we knew a few people. There were some really good families that lived there. I miss that community spirit.

Oh, if you have the book Images of Nottingham, my mum is in that book! Along with some of the other people who were campaigning at that time. She is sitting down on the right of the picture holding a placard. In the background there is a chap called John Bishop who was some sort of social worker, helping the tenants. He was a good man.

If anyone lived at Balloon Woods during that time (I think I was there 1969-1979- I was only a child when we moved in, so forgive the blurred memory!) please get in touch with me

Carol !!

[mick2me 3,033]

Image... Dids Someone mention IMAGES?

[millsands 0]

i dont think the doors were ever used as firewood it was not a bad community on there some good people even though i was only about 7or 8. i found some inmages of the old flats on the other page of this forum but here is the link to the pictures

http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp200/m...?albumview=grid

[firbeck 859]

There are too many alternate threads but on the same theme on this forum, please could somebody in the modulator hierachy combine them so that they don't go off in a different direction.

As far as I know, Balloon Woods were named after an English gentleman who attempted to emulate the Montgolfier brothers efforts in Paris in the 18th century and launched a hot air balloon, why there is odd, you would have thought that to obtain the maximum publicity it would have been in Hyde Park, or closer to home, the Castle ramparts, perhaps he felt safe and happy in the knowledge of anonymity if he failed. What happened, I do not know, perhaps he's still hanging out over Trowell.

[Fynger 841]

I lived in the Flats for a few years..Roseland Block...right at the back..Facing the path to Moor Farm