Charlie 11 Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 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? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 I mentioned it here before... "You put a hog in a palace, it still remains a pig!" Old Jamaican proverb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlie 11 Posted December 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted December 15, 2007 Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 Since there was a Baloon Woods and Baloon Pub, could there have been baloon lauches up there? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlie 11 Posted December 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 Mick I give in - what is a baloon lauches when it's at home? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted December 15, 2007 Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 He's been at the sherry again Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,877 Posted December 15, 2007 Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 When is the next full moon? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlie 11 Posted December 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2007 BBC3 should have such scriptwriters. But, I do have a feeling you may be pulling the wool over my thighs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 More info here about Balloon House........ http://www.broxtowehundred.co.uk/trowell2.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nottingham Libran Lady 0 Posted July 26, 2008 Report Share Posted July 26, 2008 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 !! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted July 26, 2008 Report Share Posted July 26, 2008 Image... Dids Someone mention IMAGES? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
millsands 0 Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 860 Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 I lived in the Flats for a few years..Roseland Block...right at the back..Facing the path to Moor Farm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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