ilkolad 9 Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 is it still open?. we would spend hours canoeing up and down the University lake when we were young uns! .. fit as a fiddle, and we thought nowt of it! the last time I went was in the 80's with the missus and kids, and we hired a rowboat.. after sculling around 25 yards my brain was starved of oxygen and my back and shoulders began to seize.. after that I decided it would be nice to see some of the sights, and slowed it down to a more leisurely pace, IE: coasting. there was also a paddling pool right at the very end where the kids would splash about.. I notice its been closed for some years now and weed infested.. council cutbacks? vandalism? .. who knows.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 The short answer is yes. They have replaced the old building which had the band stand on the side with a new building mainly made of glass, it's called The Faraday building, i have posted a picture. B) Regarding the paddling pool at the top end about 5 or so years ago there was talk of selling that corner off and building a Hotel there. At the time there was a public outcry and they scrapped the plans..has it is now it's just overgrown but i do think there is plans afoot to do something with it, but i don't now what, maybe someone else may know.. B) The lido at the other end as also been demolished and turned into a art gallary. B) I too use to go to Highfields when i was a lad, on the boating lake and in the lido. My mum who just lived down the road on Dunkirk road use to go there as well when she was a young lass.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 B) Picture of the old Lido as i use to know it, Below.. :o B) Photo from the Lenton Times. B) Lenton Times Web Site Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 B) The Lido as it is now, looking towards University Boulivard, it's best seen from the other direction looking towards the university buildings... :D B) Photo from the Lenton Times, Lenton Times web site. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted March 11, 2005 Report Share Posted March 11, 2005 :D I cut through the Uni grounds yesterday on me way to the Queens Hospital taking me mum to get the all clear after her Cataract operation and noticed they are doing some more building work in the grounds of the boating lake next to that new place the Faraday building. Don't know what's going up but it looks like they are extending the Faraday building...will try and find out and let you know when i do... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ilkolad 9 Posted March 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2005 glad to hear your mo's ok bip!.. never realised there was access through the uni to the hospital, I'll have to give it a go some time.. I remember back in the sixties before the hospital was built, there was a road that lead from roughly where the Wollaton park gatehouse is on Derby road, to where the Dunkirk flyover is now.. working on the co-op bakery delivery at the time, we would come down this road, and travel over a small humpbacked bridge over the canal into Gibbons street / Montpelier / Chain Lane / Ednaston etc. before travelling down uni boulevard and finishing off in Beeston. all whilst holding a bakewell tart in one hand (she didn't mind) and steering with the other! - grand daze! :D ilko.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bip 88 Posted March 12, 2005 Report Share Posted March 12, 2005 B) ilkolad Posted on Mar 11 2005, 06:56 PM Â glad to hear your mo's ok bip!.. never realised there was access through the uni to the hospital, I'll have to give it a go some time.. B) Thanks Ilko, the eye is ok now, they have put her on the list to have the other one done. When they have sorted her eyes out we start on her hearing.. :D B) I cut through the Uni because you can't turn right into Queens of Derby road, also it avoids the queue's on University Boulevard in the rush hour.. The cut through brings me out at the bottom of the Fly over and i can enter Queens off the A52 which means you pass under the main entrance pass the A&E into the multi story car park... With the wife working at the Uni she gets a car parking pass which allow me to get through the security checks....I think if you tried to get through without a pass they would stop you from doing so... You could always Blag it and see what happens...they would only turn you away.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Nottingham City Council is celebrating after receiving the news that its £3.2m bid to develop Highfields Park has been successful. http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/pressoffice/2015/01/07/successful-funding-bid-to-improve-highfields-park/ http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/pressarchive/index.aspx?articleid=29176 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mercurydancer 1,104 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Highfields lake has a special memory for me. There was a raft race around the boating lake and being young and daft, but also very fit, I decided to dress as a schoolgirl with a blonde wig, a rugby ball for my bust, a short skirt and frilly knickers. I must add I was not alone in this enterprise as three of my mates were dressed accordingly. Honestly I dont dress as a schoolgirl that often! The raft overturned as soon as we boarded it and never really managed anything like buoyancy. We decided to kidnap someone from the lake side and put them on the raft, and then with two of us pushing the raft from behind and two from in front, dragging it by ropes, all swimming furiously, we won the race, only to be declared invalid as we were swimming. I also nearly broke my neck jumping from one of the bridges onto a competitor raft, not realising the the rugby ball would hit me in the face when I entered the water. I also had a snorkel and mask and set myself up as a human (well schoolgirl) torpedo to the other rafts. The park was packed for the race, and many children there, some of whom may have needed psychological help afterwards. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tony1 118 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 The last time I rowed round the lake was with the wife and kids, in the drought summer of 76' The fantastic summer had produced a glut of water voles and they kept swimming to the boat to try to get in. Unfortunately, ignorance prevailed and we started thrashing at them think they were rats.We learnt to identify the difference after that. Since then they have become almost endangered. (probably still running away from the loony with an oar for a weapon.) Prior to that, the lake had always had a special place in my heart. Around 1954, my big brother was on leave from the navy and he always took me somewhere. One day we went to Highfields and he rowed round the lake. He was always my hero and it was pure magic for me. He passed away about 8 years ago, but I still remember that day as if it were yesterday, even down to the man who took the money and the allocated the boat. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StephenFord 866 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Highfields lake was one of my regular Saturday or Sunday morning excursions with my dad when I was 3 - 4 years old. Always half an hour on a rowing boat. This destination was rotated with Wollaton Park, Trent Bridge (and a rowing boat on the Trent), the Castle, Victoria station (platform tickets were only 1d !), and occasionally more exotic places - like Woodthorpe Park, Arnot Hill Park, or Broxtowe Woods - no, don't laugh ! And, of course, if money was really tight - Melbourne Park - which didn't involve bus fares. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BilboroughShirley 1,120 Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 I remember when I was in the 6th form at Bilborough Grammar when we went on a visit to Nottingham University. We were told not to go on the boating lake. Only one group did and they fell in. When friends who did not know Nottingham came to stay with us my dad would take them on his sightseeing tour of the city. This always involved a stop at Highfields an a walk through the park. At Easter 1970 when my boyfriend stayed with us my dad took us on the tour. As we walked through Highfields park past the lake a group of lads were out in a rowing boat on this freezing cold day. They started messing about and then as the boat started to sink their language got worse and worse and louder and louder! This was the last time I visited the park. My husband and I still laugh about this sometimes. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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