.... 23 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Apparently, the council are going to spend £5m on upgrading the Forest. A great idea on the face of it as it's a bit 'challenged' in some ways, to use the latest vernacular. They should use some of the money to post armed guards on there maybe as at a certain point in the evening it can be quite a threatening place... Not a place I feel particularly safe around. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18965711 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Improvements ???...some folk will believe anything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 They made a decent job of some sports courts they put in there a while back but the place sees so much serious crime around there. On memory there have been at least two rapes and a series of muggings around there in recent times. It's a shame because the Forest is a really useful and accessible facility Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,519 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 By coincidence, I was going to post this map of the Forest area before Stu beat me to the subject. This is 1835 but it's still fairly recognisable. On the Forest the race course is marked, as well as Cavalry Ground and Cricket Ground; Gregory Boulevard wasn't going to appear for at least 80 years. At the east end of the Forest, the Mansfield Road is only a track (dotted lines), and apparently that area was well-known as being a haunt of robbers and thieves…………so who says things have got better/worse? Interesting to see New Radford (I don't think the name stuck) very close to Canning Circus, and Hyson Green consisting of about a dozen houses 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 And how could we forget Mount Vernon.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgread1200 141 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Completely agree with the first post I would not consider The Forest to be a safe area but this would also be true of many other City area's. Maybe we need a Zero tollerance policy akin to what they did in New York. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 I climbed it a few times Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paulus 541 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 And how could we forget Mount Vernon.... Poor old Vernon, that's the reason he stopped going on the Forest late at night.......................... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
piggy and babs 544 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 funnily enough was just read a email from my friend moby who is on the forest improvements commitee asking for people to goand help paint the fencing and play equipment on gregory bul side now great idea in theory but what a time to do it first week of school holidays and good weather when all the local kids and families want to be on there playing. and weres the council money going on the paint all the rest goingon the old lodge on mansfield rd end that they have let got to ruins and now needs such a lot of work on it its going to cost a furtune,the changing rooms an toilets that will make them money from the people who hire it and the cafe the only thing that will really be of any benifit to the general public but only when its open at the moment the only toilets on this side of the forest are here and will only be used by cafe customers. they are still debating if they can afford to build new ones but how much are they spending on hiring porta loos for big events every year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Completely agree with the first post I would not consider The Forest to be a safe area but this would also be true of many other City area's. Maybe we need a Zero tollerance policy akin to what they did in New York. If a push comes to shove the Forest could have it's own PC Harwood. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 I trust they will improve the lighting too? so punters can get a better view of the working girls! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 They'll cock it up like they do everything else...make a big show of consulting the public then spend hundreds of thousands on a landscape consultant. and ignore the public completely. Arrange a trip for ten councillors to Barbados to view some parks there.Which will be so stressful for them that fortunately having their wives with them they can take in the local restaurants and beach bars to wind down. The work will commence using contractors from the other side of the country.Some token employment will be given to local tradesmen who will be required to have fluency in the Polish language. Tarmac hard standing will be removed and replaced by thousands of pretty cobbles...waste bins and seats will be removed and replaced by.............waste bins and seats. A cafe will be built which will of course be franchised to a multinational...a condition being that they will only use halal meat. The new toilet block which will only be opened from ten till three daily will have the usual male and female facilities,Plus a disabled toilet and seperate accomodations for homosexuals and lesbians. Parking will be restricted to an area at the extreme edge of the site as far as possible from the main attractions.This will be open 24/7 for the convenience of Doggers and the local ladies of the night..An automatic barrier will enable collection of the £5 an hour fee. The opening ceremony will be conducted by local dignitaries and Torville and Dean will be paid a five figure sum to cut the ribbon...and then they will repair to the council house for a banquet. A funfair will be arranged to celebrate the opening,run of course by Mellors & Co.There will also be displays by a local falconers,some strange people dressed in Robin Hood regalia and a group of Morris dancers from Huddersfield. To make the people feel secure from possible terrorist attack the constabulary will supply officers from the local armed response unit dressed like a swat team in Miami. Oh!...and a fortnight later British Gas will lay new pipelines, which will entail having to dig up a large section of the ornamental cobbles. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 This is 1835 but it's still fairly recognisable. On the Forest the race course is marked, as well as Cavalry Ground and Cricket Ground; Interested to see that the cricket ground has a stand too. Notts County Cricket club made their debut in Brighton that same same year and were formalised as a club a few years later in 1841. This also from Wiki. I take it they are referring to the Forest: 'The earliest known reference to cricket in the county is the Nottingham Cricket Club v Sheffield Cricket Club match on the Forest Racecourse at Nottingham on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 August 1771.' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,878 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 The Forest racecourse? Was this for horse racing, seem to recall some connection with the Grosvenor pub nearby. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Looks like it Den, according to Wiki anyway... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Recreation_Ground 'Nottingham Forest Football Club first played their games on the Forest after their formation in 1865, hence the club's name. The Forest was also home to Nottingham's racecourse before it moved to its current location at Colwick, south east of Nottingham. Cricket was also played on the Forest, long before the land was enclosed and either side of the two World Wars.' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 From Nottinghamshire History...Robert Mellors. Race Course. The Nottingham Racecourse, on its first formation, was four miles found, and extended into the parishes of Radford, Lenton, and Basford, being on forest waste ground before it was enclosed. About 1730 it was reduced to two miles. In 1797, on the enclosure of that portion of the forest which appertained to Lenton and Radford, it was all but utterly destroyed. In 1798, another course was made, in the form of spectacles, or a poor figure "8." This, however, gave a bad view of the sport, and an oval form 11/4 miles in extent was made in 1813. This was closed in 1892, and the grand stand demolished in 1910, after a lifetime of one hundred and forty-two years, and now the forest has become a great recreation ground, with provision for cricket, bowls, football, and other sports—a distinct advantage to the city, and especially to the district, Originally extended all the way to Alfreton Road. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,519 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Quite a few Picture the Past contributions on the subject http://www.pictureth...009525&prevUrl= http://www.pictureth...007152&prevUrl= http://www.pictureth...007150&prevUrl= Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 It's easy to orient your self with that middle pic CT. Looking approximately south-east St Andrew's Church on the junction of Mansfield Rd and Forest Rd in the background.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jackson 301 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 It would be a good idea if so much out of the £5million (Forest project) was held back to improve on the area of Noel Street (opposite the Forest) where Dame Laura Knight, famous Nottingham artist once lived. There is a blue plaque placed high up, somewhere on the front of a scruffy, insignificant dwelling but more should be made of this historical fact. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Then of course there's the other traditional use of the Forest... Come a walk round Goose Fair with me Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fynger 841 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 The fair aint what it was...where's all the sideshows gone....BOO !! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Interesting to note the 13 windmills along Forest Road on your map Cliff ton...two at least that were relocated..one at Sneinton and one at Newton near Gunthorpe...both still there. Three others are marked at North Gate/Nottingham Road Basford and another the top of Talbot Street. I note with interest that at this time it was still green fields from the windmills down to the town in the Sherwood Street area. And fields of Barley waved in what is now Forest Fields. It was in this area while building what we know as Beech Avenue,that a hoard of Roman coins were found...astounding as the Nottingham area has very little in the way of Roman finds.Makes you wonder if there isn't a Roman Villa somewhere in the area that will be unearthed one day. Brick kilns too on Magdala Road...that's a new one on me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Wonder where in relation to the area 1960 ish those windmills were on North Gate?seems an odd location as to the south a load of high land Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 I thought that...don't know much about windmills,but would have though the top of a hill would be the ideal.I guess the guys that built them knew something we don't. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taxi ray 170 Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 The city council are proposing to spend 4 million pounds on Highfields park as well, according to the NEP today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.