Childhood sounds


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Funny enough I'm just planning a route up your way for next summer (As I'm typing this, I've just took a break from my 'research' !)

Flight to Aberdeen , pick up hire car, then all the way up the West coast , across the top to Cape Wrath (hopefully), then down the East as far Mull, then back across to Aberdeen and flight back to Manchester, all told in a week to 10 days

Let me know when and we can get a pint together whilst you are in the area. Formerly Watten Station, Highland Railway; B870 at the level crossing by Loch Watten, 1 mile north of Watten Village. On Google earth as Watten Mains - although that is the farm at the top of the road some distance away. I don't know how they got it wrong but we get many B&B people turning up thinking we are the Mains B&B. They all look surprised when I say "Ah, you have a SatNav don't you" <g>

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I remember when we'd moved to Bestwood Village when I was 14, I'd lay in bed with the window wide open listening to the night sounds of the village. There was a slipping screaching conveyor belt on th

That could be my memories coll0410. A different colliery village, but the same sounds. Not a Mackemsons bus but a Butlers Brothers Bedford OB bus, The B8 ran through the village but it was only M

Jill This should bring back some memories of Sunday lunchtime  

Yes, my house. The gravestones are in fact edging stones from teh rear of the old platform, dug up when gardening. They are set N,S,E&W and can be used as a large sundial. Caithness is a county full of Neolithic and Bronze age stone archaeological remains so they are not out of place here.

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Looking on Google earth there's 3 "Brochs" (Iron age artifacts) near you Compo, one about 300 yards up on the left, and the other is up the road to the end, turn right , then left (B870) and it's just over half a mile on the left. Then a little further on to the right is another called "Gearsay Cairn"

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There are also remains of a medieval monastery and a Crannog within a short walking distance. The county is full of such stuff but unlike the Orkney Isles it doesn't make a big tourist thing of it.

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I remember when we'd moved to Bestwood Village when I was 14, I'd lay in bed with the window wide open listening to the night sounds of the village. There was a slipping screaching conveyor belt on the pit screens, a compressor coming on & off load, a Mackemsons bus pulling away from the pit baths stop, a Midland General Bristol Lo-Decker B8 bus pulling away from the bowling green at end of Park Road, a coal train chugging & clanking on the railway lines to Hucknall, Linby & Colvo pits, the boozed up boozers coming out the Top Pub (Bestwood Hotel) & Welfare shouting "GOODNIGHT, SEE YOU TOMORROW!" Then remember how late it was a say "Shhh, you'll wake up the kids!" We were already awake though. Then I'd drift off to sleep listening to a fading Radio Luxembourg on the 2 transistor TRF radio I'd built from my electronic constructors set I'd got for my 14'th birthday.... Now all I can hear is the M1 roaring away over over the fields....

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As a kid in Netherfield with my bedroom window open I could hear the bells of Holme Pierrpoint (spelling) church.  One of the earliest sounds that sticks in my memory.  I was probably three or four years old.

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A sound I dreaded from my childhood down the Meadows was when someone shouted "I'VE TOLD YOUR MAM WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" As I knew Mam would be waiting for me to administer a biffing. I'd sneak in the house hoping not to be noticed but I always was & got my just deserts...

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On 8/10/2019 at 9:04 PM, colly0410 said:

I remember when we'd moved to Bestwood Village when I was 14, I'd lay in bed with the window wide open listening to the night sounds of the village.

That could be my memories coll0410.

A different colliery village, but the same sounds. Not a Mackemsons bus but a Butlers Brothers Bedford OB bus, The B8 ran through the village but it was only MDT buses that came to the canteen, the odd Lodekka but mostly AEC Regents The first pit hooter of the day often woke me up to do my paper round and a few years later when I started work

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My childhood memories of sounds mainly relates to the roar of jet engines being tested by Rolls Royce at their research and development facility at Hucknall aerodrome. There was no thought or consideration for Hucknall residents - they were just expected to grin and bear it. There was no attempt at silencing these huge engines. They were there naked on a test pad. They could often be seen from the end of the runway spewing out huge flames and noise.

 

It was years later that I found out that these engines were what turned into the Harrier jet (Flying Bedstead then) and the RB211 which powered the Tristar and I believe derivatives of that engine are still in use today.

 

My childhood memories of smells are that of the stink from the burning slag heaps of Hucknall's Bottom Pit. These were locate only a few hundred yard from where we lived. Again there was no thought or consideration for Hucknall residents - they were just expected to grin and breathe it.

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On Bestwood estate too Jonab we could hear the Rolls Royce engine testing,,

At night we could hear the Steam engines, shunting and clanging,, and even with the windows closed we could smell coal burning,,

Jonab,,by way of interest for you,, one of the new roads off the Hucknall by pass is called Harrier way,,

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One sound I remember was when we moved from Denman St  down to Kennington rd, opposite Players bonded warehouse. The family moved during the day and because we still had stuff in the house I stayed behind, to follow on at night. When I went to my new bedroom, I was nodding off and I heard this almighty roar outside. I got up and looked out the window and saw in the dark this giant monster breathing fire and smoke complete with hissing of steam ! It was only next day when I found out that the major rail line to Scotland was 150 yards from our house. It was on the supposedly the sharpest bend in England, just out of Radford station. After that I found them fascinating, all the different steam locos.

I would be just coming up to 14 at the time.

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We always referred to the stretch of line between Radford and Trowell as 'The Branch', but yes, it was one of the main lines between St Pancras and Edinburgh / Glasgow, via the Settle & Carlisle line.

The other of course being via Trent Junction and the Erewash Valley line.

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When we went to my grandparents at Radford, standing in their back yard you could hear steam trains on the line which went past Bobbers Mill. At the time, I never actually worked out where it was coming from or where the line was, but just hearing trains from the house seemed a bit exotic.

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Little John in the Market Square, striking the hour when weather conditions were right.  Shipstones horses gaining speed up Bobbers Mill Road, on their way back to the brewery with an empty dray.  Salvation Army band marching along Alfreton Road on Sunday mornings.  Workers Playtime and Housewife's Choice on the radio.

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