Nott'm Co-op Workshop, Meadow Lane


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Hi, My name is Alan I used to work in the Co-op garage on meadow lane, next to the bakery, as a mechanic and can find no information online about it. Its history seems to have been iradicated. When I started as an apprentice in 1965 the then Nottingham Co-op occupied all of Meadow Lane from Turneys Leather works down to the Lady Bay bridge, which was then a railway bridge. I worked in the workshop next to the bakery building along the side of the Trent, it was said that when the bakery was bombed the machinery on the top floor fell into the ground floor killing the people below. Some of the old Lads! said that they never retreived all of the bodies, as a young lad the ghost stories and the noises late at night made for very nervous working.

I would appreciate any information or any contacts who remember this era, I remember that the filling station was situated opposite the Cattle Market gates.

Thanks Al

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Think there is already a thread on here somewhere re this topic? Only memory of that garage was firm I worked for had a petrol account there late 1970's, we had an old Bedford HA van, a right heap, after getting stopped by police for "flapping" door skins, (had rotted right through at bottoms)! area foreman took it in saying words to effect of "whatever is needed do" head office went mad after either new engine or total rebuild of old one,plus clutch, prop shaft, and various other bits done, that prob cost more than a new van would! even more so when new propshaft failed just out of warranty! however replaced foc but that latter one too failed again within couple of years.

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  • 7 months later...

Hi, My name is Alan I used to work in the Co-op garage on meadow lane, next to the bakery, as a mechanic and can find no information online about it. Its history seems to have been iradicated. When I started as an apprentice in 1965 the then Nottingham Co-op occupied all of Meadow Lane from Turneys Leather works down to the Lady Bay bridge, which was then a railway bridge. I worked in the workshop next to the bakery building along the side of the Trent, it was said that when the bakery was bombed the machinery on the top floor fell into the ground floor killing the people below. Some of the old Lads! said that they never retreived all of the bodies, as a young lad the ghost stories and the noises late at night made for very nervous working.

I would appreciate any information or any contacts who remember this era, I remember that the filling station was situated opposite the Cattle Market gates.

Thanks Al

Eyup Al. Remember me Anthony Gavin. I used to work on Removals and we had our garage oposite the cattle market. You had a mechanic a welsh guy i think who was always singing a bit of a nutter. Our boss was called "Dodger" his second name was Oakley i think. Then there was Nev Bradley. Remember Belle who worked in the cantine on Meadow Lane. You can email me. XXXXXXXXXXXX cheers mate

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  • 1 year later...

Remember the Bombing of the Co-Op in Nottingham.

We lived on Hartford Street (just behind the London Road infant School) Pinderhouse Road. Granma Flo Astill (Nee Gilbert) B.12 May 1879 with Husband Jim Astill B.13 Apr 1879 lived at No.27, Aunty May Astill B.23 March 1909 my dad’s sister with husband Charles Baines B.9 Oct 1905 lived at 29, My dad Bernard Astill B.2 Jan 1908 and his wife Ethel (Nee Carnell) B.21 Nov 1905 lived at 31, Next door were Sid and Nelly Thorpe. The other side of gran lived Minny Barwell widow.

On the night of 8th May 1941 about 10 am the sirens went Dad being in the ARP got us all up, me Grenville B.3 Feb 1932 age 9, sisters Iris B.9 Sep 1928 age 13, Maureen B.9 Aug 1934 age 7 and Pamela B.26 May 1938 age 3. Mum grabbed the bed cloths and pillars, Iris the bag with all the bits mum kept ready, we still in our Jim Jams off we went to the shelter on Meadow Lane, although there were 3 shelters on our street (Right outside our front door) mum said they were too close to all the houses for safety. We were in the first of 3 shelters built just passed the Blue Police box on the left after crossing London Road. Across the road was a waste ground where the wood mill stocked trees ready for cutting into planks, behind them was/is the Nott’s County Football ground.

In the middle of Meadow Lane is the cattle market; at the other end of Meadow lane was the bakery about 200 yards from our shelter. We were used to this and were soon in bunk beds and asleep, I was woken by dad coming to tell mum the raid was coming over us and that incendiary bombs were dropping all over the city and she should be ready if the worst happened. The next thing there was a great whooshing sound then a big bang the shelter shook and the door flew open dad was sent flying into mum, he had his back to the door ready to go back outside. He went out after making the door shut again.

This was 02.0 pm 9th May 1941. The Co-Op clock stopped at this time. The next thing about 02.20pm the door opened and a man came in, he was covered white all over, had no cloths on, had no hair and could not see, dad was helping him, then sat him down and ask mum to look after him as there were many more like him to come in. Mum took us from the two bunk beds and pushed us through into the next half of the shelter telling me to look after my sisters whilst she and my sister Iris did what they could for the men. I was looking at what was going on when Iris came and said mum wants your Pyjamas and sisters nighty’s for bandages some of the men had broken arms and legs, by this time most of the people had come through into this side of the shelter or gone to the third one. An ARP and police sergeant had taken over and was telling people what to do. Dad was on the floor with one of the men’s head in his lap trying to clear his face with a cloth from mum and talking to him, but the man just shook and shook. By this time there must have been seven or eight men in all sorts of condition with people trying to help, the ambulance men were going round looking at them and telling the helpers what to do (By this time I was back into the first side)

Mum saw me and told me to give her my trouser bottoms, like a flash I was back through the hole. Later I found from Dad that the man he was looking after, pleaded with him to go see his wife and tell her was still alive and would be alright and gave dad his address. The men were all taken away by ambulance and we went back to sleep, when the all clear went at about 04.30pm and we went home. Dad walked to the man’s house and told his wife that her husband was in the hospital, he was alive but that was all could tell her, she lived in Carlton. We found out later that the shelter had moved back a foot on its foundations with us all in it. It was reported that 48 bakers and 1 Home guard were dead and 20 hospitalised. Dad was told that two bombs went through the roof down three floors and exploded in the basement doing the most appalling damage; a third hit the confectionery dept.

I understand from what dad said the men used to go down to the basement after the shift ended. Whilst this was going on Granma Floe and husband Jim were still in bed, Jim said if he was going to die it would be in bed, the Germans had not got him in the first war so bugger them and never used the shelters at all, though on this occasion he woke to find a burnt hole in his pillow and found a 2in bit of shrapnel in the second pillow, it had proud of place on the mantels shelf for years. Though Floe did moan about having the window replaced. I understand there is a plaque commemorating the men in the Wilford Hill cemetery. Dad later volunteered to go to London with the ARP to help where he could; he had to get permission from Ericson’s Beeston where he worked on bomb sights, this was given at no loss of pay. He was away for about three or four weeks when he came home he would not talk about the things he had done or seen only that the people who robbed the dead and stole from bombed houses should be shot on the spot.

I also remember watching the dog fight between a spitfire and German fighter over West Bridgeford, I was on Felton Road on the way to Trent Bridge Boys School with my mate when we saw a pilots helmet in the front garden, later it turned out to belong to one of the fighter whether the head was still in it we never found out.

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Welcome to Nottstalgia, grenuk. It was worth coming onto this Forum just to read your post. I found your post really interesting because I spent the first sixteen years of my life living in Grainger Street, off Meadow Lane. Like mick2me stated, a great first post and it showed the horror of war and what the people went through during those times.

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Wow great first post .

There is another first hand memory of that night here :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/21/a4438721.shtml

I can't see any newspaper reports of the raid , maybe withheld but there is this mention of the inquest some 9 months later

IDENTIFICATION OF BODIES. an air raid on Nottingham last May. The coroner said that he was satisfied that Conner was on the premises of the Co-operative Society's Bakery, Meadow-lane, and in the shelter when it was hit, and that he was killed. He therefore recorded verdict that, of the raid, and did not. return the following morning. MISTAKE IN IDENTITY. Dealing with the claiming and identifica tion of bodies following theraid, the coroner referred to one which had caused, he said, more difficulty in this case than would appear, Society's bakery and subsequently identified a Mrs. Culley, senior, as that of her son. It was duly buried, and some days elapsed before all the bodies from the Co-operative bakery were recovered and the actual body of Mr. Culley was among them. An exhumation, Society's bakery, stated that Conner went to work there for the first time on night in May. He turned up on the second night. Mr. Church had said that he actually saw him in the air raid shelter, wearing dark brown suit. Church was close to the entrance of, on a raid. As long as private funerals are permitted there are likely to be mistakes. OFFICIALS' DUTY. " It for the officials to take care that no claim to identity is permitted or accepted unless it is so clear that there can be no doubt about it. I, Nottingham raid, and it only to day that I feel justified in recording a verdict that Conner is dead People claiming identified bodies must have the interests of other people in mind, and not claim those bodies until they are absolutely satisfied the identity Nottingham Evening Post East Midlands, England 03/01/1942

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  • 1 year later...

Eyup Al. Remember me Anthony Gavin. I used to work on Removals and we had our garage oposite the cattle market. You had a mechanic a welsh guy i think who was always singing a bit of a nutter. Our boss was called "Dodger" his second name was Oakley i think. Then there was Nev Bradley. Remember Belle who worked in the cantine on Meadow Lane. You can email me. XXXXXXXXXXXX cheers mate

Hi Anthony, didn't know many removal men, but i remember Big Nev, Alan Parker and Ron Oakley, the mechanic you mention I think was an looney Irish man called Terry Coulter, always singing and laughing. I went back to the Co-op after leaving in 1974 to go to NCT, and was made redundant in 1994, I then went to th AA workshop on Blenheim Industrial estate working on the same trucks for the Co-op as I had done at Meadow Lane, there I met Alan Parker again, working as a shunter in the Co-op distribution centre on Blenheim estate.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Litcho and antigavin

I recall Nev Bradley very well indeed! He was my boss at Ascot Road for many a year. Big gruff man with big sideburns, but he had a heart of gold, and if you worked, he would respect that. Smoked like the trooper he was (I think senior NCO in a Guards regiment - I would love to know more) Nev could be astonishingly accepting of things. There was a driver called David, who was a transexual. This is going back to the early 80s, where things were not as they are now. I quite liked the bloke, and he was very very like Quentin Crisp in appearance. Some of the drivers couldn't accept it but I had no problem with it, but David was a lazy so and so, leaving me to do the heavy lifting. He was taking drugs to do, well, what the drugs do. As he knew I was not going to take offence he showed me his breast development every Saturday morning. "Nice t*ts Dave" I used to say. Not that I wanted to see that after a Friday night on the Shippoes. David underwent sex change surgery and became Dawn. Nev was one of the first to go and see him in hospital and wish him the best, and to see if he was ok. Sorted out a job for him too. There was another driver who was a bully. He was bent too, selling washing machines recovered from houses where we delivered new machines. I wanted nothing to do with it. Not that he offered me anything anyway. This driver could be violent too, and gave me a slap a few times. Until one time, in Hucknall Co Op yard, he hit me and I kicked seven bells out of him. He went straight to Nev. Nev spoke to me and got my side. Now that is unusual. Many bosses dont to that. They accept the first thing that comes into the office and act on that. Nev didnt. He did give me a fair rollocking for reacting as I did, but understood, and it finished in his office.

Nev's main pleasure in life was his horses.

My dad worked with Nev at Ascot Road and made sure I got a Sat'dy job. I loved it. Another Sat'dy lad was a good mate and we both became nurses. To this day we greet (on email) each other with Nev's morning greeting - "Get that sh** swept up!"

Now the Ascot Road depot is Collin's warehouse, and sometimes I pop in, just to see where I swept the sh** up!

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  • 6 months later...

Hi Anthony, didn't know many removal men, but i remember Big Nev, Alan Parker and Ron Oakley, the mechanic you mention I think was an looney Irish man called Terry Coulter, always singing and laughing. I went back to the Co-op after leaving in 1974 to go to NCT, and was made redundant in 1994, I then went to th AA workshop on Blenheim Industrial estate working on the same trucks for the Co-op as I had done at Meadow Lane, there I met Alan Parker again, working as a shunter in the Co-op distribution centre on Blenheim estate.

Yes Big Nev Drove our van. He was a big bloke with dark curly hair.He had been in the guards and also a police man. yes Terry the mad Irishman. I went out with Moira Lowe who worked in the office. Nice to here from you.

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Litcho and antigavin

I recall Nev Bradley very well indeed! He was my boss at Ascot Road for many a year. Big gruff man with big sideburns, but he had a heart of gold, and if you worked, he would respect that. Smoked like the trooper he was (I think senior NCO in a Guards regiment - I would love to know more) Nev could be astonishingly accepting of things. There was a driver called David, who was a transexual. This is going back to the early 80s, where things were not as they are now. I quite liked the bloke, and he was very very like Quentin Crisp in appearance. Some of the drivers couldn't accept it but I had no problem with it, but David was a lazy so and so, leaving me to do the heavy lifting. He was taking drugs to do, well, what the drugs do. As he knew I was not going to take offence he showed me his breast development every Saturday morning. "Nice t*ts Dave" I used to say. Not that I wanted to see that after a Friday night on the Shippoes. David underwent sex change surgery and became Dawn. Nev was one of the first to go and see him in hospital and wish him the best, and to see if he was ok. Sorted out a job for him too. There was another driver who was a bully. He was bent too, selling washing machines recovered from houses where we delivered new machines. I wanted nothing to do with it. Not that he offered me anything anyway. This driver could be violent too, and gave me a slap a few times. Until one time, in Hucknall Co Op yard, he hit me and I kicked seven bells out of him. He went straight to Nev. Nev spoke to me and got my side. Now that is unusual. Many bosses dont to that. They accept the first thing that comes into the office and act on that. Nev didnt. He did give me a fair rollocking for reacting as I did, but understood, and it finished in his office.

Nev's main pleasure in life was his horses.

My dad worked with Nev at Ascot Road and made sure I got a Sat'dy job. I loved it. Another Sat'dy lad was a good mate and we both became nurses. To this day we greet (on email) each other with Nev's morning greeting - "Get that sh** swept up!"

Now the Ascot Road depot is Collin's warehouse, and sometimes I pop in, just to see where I swept the sh** up!

I worked on the removals many years with big Nev. He was a big blustering man but so kind. He had been a Grenadier guard and also a policeman. I went back to visit him early 80s at Hucknall . I live in Denmark so I lost contact so would love to know what happened to him. Cheers.

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