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irk Hallam Community Academy student Bethany Clarke of West Hallam will be going to Oxford University to study Maths, following her recent A level results. She earned A*, A*, A*, in Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Her father Philip Clarke said: “We are really proud of her. It is a massive achievement. She is the only student at the school to win a place at Oxford this year to study Maths.” Other individual performances of note were: Luke Moore: A*, A*, A*, in Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths. Ryan Pigott: A*, A*, A*, in Geography, Maths and Further Maths. Chloe Jackson: A*, A*, A in English Language and Literature, Law and Theatre Studies respectively. Ryan Parkes: A, A, A in English Language and Literature, History and Philosophy and Ethics. Adam Watson: A, A, A in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. The Sixth Form’s website said: “We are delighted that so many of our students have achieved or even bettered the grades they needed to allow them to progress, either into higher education, apprenticeships or employment. It is always satisfying to see diligence rewarded and our students and staff have worked very hard for these successes. We’re proud of them.”
When Bruce Forsyth sang next to me—P16
SEPTEMBER 2017 A community publication for Ilkeston and surrounding area
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Ilkeston College of Further Education remembered– P23
www.ilkestonlife.com
‘Fanfare for Ilkeston’ is warmly received
musical composition to celebrate Ilkeston’s beautifully restored Victoria Park was loudly applauded when played by Ilkeston Brass.
the completion of restoration work thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant - after being contacted by Erewash Borough Council’s arts development team. He spoke with Ilkeston Brass members to World renowned musician and composer enable him to produce the three minute piece Paul Lovatt-Cooper (pictured) was there to see his music performed in the splendid new that best suits their instrumentation and make up. bandstand for the first time on Sunday 20th August. Councillor Mike Wallis, Erewash Borough A large, appreciative crowd were enthusiastic Council’s Lead Member for Culture and Leisure, said: “This is such a great honour for in their approval of the lively and moving Victoria Park, for Ilkeston and for Ilkeston piece, saying it did Ilkeston proud. Brass. We have had one of the world’s Paul’s agreement to produce the work is seen greatest composers coming to Ilkeston and as a great honour for the town and it is exwe are incredibly grateful to him for producpected that it will be picked up and pering a piece of music that will live forever as a formed by other brass bands in the UK and celebration of Victoria Park and its restored abroad. bandstand.” The composer’s vast catalogue of music has Ilkeston Brass will keep the musical score been performed by orchestras around the and will be able to play it during their future world to sell-out audiences at prestigious performances. venues like London’s Royal Albert Hall, Paul Lovatt-Cooper has a large catalogue of New York’s Carnegie Hall and Sydney music and has composed for Disney, the Opera House. BBC, ITV and for brass and wind bands and Paul agreed to compose a special piece for orchestras. the Victoria Park event – which celebrates
Celebrating 25 years of heart exercise Exercise for the Heart Ilkeston, a support and fitness group, is celebrating 25 years of helping people in the town with a Ceilidh Dance on Saturday 30th September. The event, with live band and caller, will take place at the Ilkeston United Reformed Church Hall at 7pm. Tickets are £10 if you wish to include a fish and chips or pie and chips supper, or £5 if you prefer not to have food. Hot and cold drinks will be available to purchase on the night but due to licencing laws you have to bring your own alcohol. Ring Carol Chilton on 07768 559899 for more information.
A youngster gets up close with an Army vehicle at the Heritage Show in Ilkeston recently. There are lots more pictures inside.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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f you don’t get a copy through your door, Ilkeston Life is available online and from various outlets including newsagents, shops, cafes, Post Offices and supermarkets in our growing circulation area. Besides Ilkeston, we are currently supplying: KIRK HALLAM COTMANHAY SHIPLEY VIEW HALLAM FIELDS LARKLANDS STANTON-BY-DALE DALE ABBEY WEST HALLAM STANLEY
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Editorial office: 1 Bath Street, Ilkeston, Tel: 07539 808390 Editor: Robert Attewell Deputy Editor: Paul Opiah news@ilkestonlife.com Staff feature writer: Patricia Spencer patricia@ilkestonlife.com Staff photographer: John Shelton john@ilkestonlife.com Advertising: Christine Chell Paul Opiah sales @ilkestonlife.com Webmaster: Adam Newton adam@ilkestonlife.com © Copyright 2017 The material in Ilkeston Life is protected by copyright. If you wish to reproduce anything, please contact the editor. While every care is taken to be accurate, we are only human and mistakes do occur occasionally. If you are unhappy with any of the content in the paper, please contact the editor in the first place. We accept news and information from correspondents in good faith and cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies. We try not to include stories which may cause distress to anyone. If you have a view on any of the articles, please write and let us know. Your letters are always welcome, but we reserve the right to withhold or edit. Anonymous letters will only be printed in exceptional circumstances.
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ISSN 2515-1231
Happy days at Andriesse This photograph was given to me by one of the ladies from the Bright Hour Dance Group. She is on the front row, kneeling down, last one on the right. I think it must have been taken around 1949 not long after Joyce began her working life with the company. When Joyce was due to leave Hallcroft School, she was one of a group of girls taken to have a look round the Andriesse factory where embroidered soft furnishings were made. Joyce told her mum she loved the look and feel of the place and would like to work there, so her mum said straight away they would go back and ask for a job for her. She got one. Things were different then, there were lots of factories opening up and plenty of work available for everyone. The Andriesse factory was ‘hidden’ behind houses on Lower Stanton Road—you wouldn’t know it was there except for a green and gold sign on the wall of the narrow access road way leading to it. Andriesse specialised in the production of eiderdowns, bedspreads, tufted candlewick bedspreads and dressing gowns. Before the girls were let loose on these bigger items however, they had to start on cushions until they proved proficient enough to move on to the bigger articles. The foreman would come round and check the new girls’ work. He would put the article on a large table and check it out thoroughly before giving it the OK. The older girls told Joyce tales of when they used to be employed in
the factory during the war, making tents, and other equipment for the soldiers at the front. They used to put notes in the pockets, hoping one of the soldiers would reply. The Smit family who owned the company were Dutch, and said to be very good employers. Joyce was taken ill at work one day, and straight away they made an appointment for her to see their own doctor. The factory was established As G Andriesse and Sons in Ilkeston around 1930. They moved a large section of the Dutch factory over to Ilkeston, bringing Dutch workers to train the local labour force. The Dutch factory was already
FOOTBALL PLAYERS IDENTIFIED I have been sent the names of some of the Ilkeston Grammar School team photographed in last time’s paper. I’m told Ronald Farnsworth is far left on back row. Dennis Straw is far right on front row. These two worked together at Rolls Royce in Derby for many years. Then Kath Trueman phoned me to give me the following names: Rex Kirkham, Brian Straw, Peter Upton, Pete Beardsley, Frank Pounder, Arthur Lowe, Donald East and Derek Henshaw. Someone else called in our office and added the names Dennis Pounder, Richard Iliffe and Geoff Upton.
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By Patricia Spencer
doing a lot of trading here in England, so it made sense to equip a factory over here to produce the goods. In 1940 the factory was requisitioned for the more essential work of producing war equipment including canvas water bags, mattress covers and the tents that Joyce mentioned. This work was carried out in temporary premises on Market Street. The firm returned to their own premises on Lower Stanton Road, in July 1947 two years before Joyce started her working life with them. The Andriesse factory was one of the first in the Midlands to intro-
duce ‘Music While You Work’ into their factories. The factory was sold, I believe around 1982 and was eventually pulled down to make way for prestigious new housing on the site. These new homes have only recently been built. It is a great shame that over the last few years we have lost most of our factory work to companies abroad. It may be cheaper, but you get what you pay for. Written with the help of Joyce Walker.
Did you work at Andriesse, or
another local factory? Share your memories in Ilkeston Life:
Patricia Spencer interviews Ashley Gething, producer of the television documentary 'Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy' on Page XX
A place to unwind and enjoy the peace and quiet Friends Ruth and Sheila from Shipley View in Ilkeston can be found every evening at their most favourite spot overlooking Shipley Woods. Rain or shine, they take their daily walk to a certain bench where they sit near the large pine tree, ponder and chat to each other and to all passersby and, as Sheila says, “We put the world to rights.” Ruth adds: “We watch all the seasons pass by from here and we love this view.”
Ilkeston Life is interested to hear from other readers who have a favourite place they love to visit. (Please send us a photo.) We know that there are many beautiful places in or around Ilkeston ... let us know where your special spot is and why.
ilkestonlife.com
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Local students are successful at Bilborough College
Work colleagues to attempt charity skydive Two local Ilkeston residents, Sarah Shelton and Jamie Gatley will be taking a leap from 13,500ft in support of Mesothelioma UK and the Indie Rose Trust. They both work at Midlands Asbestos Solutions Ltd, a local asbestos removal company based on Crompton Road. The sponsored skydive will be taking place at Langar Airfield on the 11th of September 2017 and they are jumping to raise awareness and money in order to support victims of asbestos-related cancers and brain/spinal tumors. Sarah, the wife of our photographer John Shelton, said: “A lot of people in this trade have relations or friends who have contracted and subsequently died of this disease. I feel it is important that we are supporting a charity with this connection. “The opportunity to do a skydive is very exciting - as well as nerve racking at the same time!”
September 2017
High fliers: Sarah Shelton and Jamie Gatley
Sarah’s work colleague Jamie has a close friend Zoe who lost her father to Mesothelioma, so the cause was one that is particularly close to his heart. Zoe’s mother, Sheila Hovard said “We lost a husband, dad and grandad to this terrible disease. I was so pleased to hear that a local company are doing something to stop this from happening to other people.” If you would like to support the cause by donating to the chosen charities, you can do so by donating via the Virgin Money Giving page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/MAS -JamieandSarah
Among the Bilborough Sixth Form College students celebrating exam successes was James Hickinbotham (19) of Kirk Hallam. He achieved a B in Drama, C in Performance Studies and a Distinction in BTEC Dance and has secured a place at the University of Derby to study Dance. James was diagnosed with dyslexia whilst at Bilborough, something he was unaware of before he attended the college. He said: “The courses were all really challenging but I love a challenge and particularly love performance. I’ve been dancing since the age of seven so I’m really looking forward to studying it at university.” Millie Wheeldon (18) from Ilkeston got three A* grades in English Literature, French and History. She will now study English at Cambridge. She said: “I’ve tried not to think about results day so have been just reading lots of books. I was up really early on the morning as I heard the email ping through on my phone and saw that I had secured my place. I’m really looking forward to meeting and working with people with similar subject interests and living independently too.” Eloise Rogers (18) of Ilkeston achieved an A, B and a C in Electronics, Computer Science and Physics and has secured a place studying Computer Science at Coventry University.
Half way through her A-Levels at Bilborough, Eloise had the upheaval of going into care, living semi-independently as a supported student. She said: “My results were better than I’d expected. It has been a difficult year for many reasons. I tried not to think about my results too much and on results day even though I had them emailed to me I wouldn’t look at them. I came into college instead to find out. “I was really nervous but was so happy to see what I’d got. I’ve always been interested in computers and would possibly like to go into teaching at some point. I’m really looking forward to starting university.” Principal Chris Bradford said: “Along with the rest of the staff team here at Bilborough I’m delighted that once again so many of our students have performed so well.” A total of 52 per cent of grades were A*- B, a rise of two per cent from last year, and over 23% of students on an A Level study programme gained grades AAB or better. The overall pass rate has now exceeded 98 per cent for the 13th consecutive year. A total of 671 students took A-Levels, including those taking two A-levels alongside a BTEC Diploma. A total of 623 students took three or more A-levels and 74 (or 12 per cent) of these gained three or more A and A* grades.
Bilborough College achievers: l to r: James Hickinbotham, Millie Wheeldon, Eloise Ro gers
Plans on view Proposed improvements to Mapperley Church can be viewed next month at a craft fair. The improvements are underfloor heating, LED lighting and digital audio provision. Viewing of the plans and the craft fair will held at the church on Saturday 7th October between 10am and 2pm. Anyone interested in having a stall for £8 should contact Rev Gill on 0115 932 4695 or Elizabeth Campbell on 07733 431432. Refreshments will be served throughout the duration of the event. On Sunday 8th October a community lunch will follow the morning service.
Summer Fayre All the money raised at a summer fayre at The Cedars and Larches care home in Ilkeston will go into the residents’ fund for entertainment and social activities. The event will take place on Saturday 2nd September from 11am to 2.30pm at the complex on Queens Drive. There will be various stalls, a barbecue, tombola, raffle, children’s lucky dips and refreshments. Also Long Eaton Brass Band will be playing from 12.15pm onwards.
Harvest Moon The Harvest Moon event in Kirk Hallam is taking place on Saturday 23rd September at Kirk Hallam lake, Godfrey Drive. Harvest Moon is a festival marking the traditional rural English celebration of the final harvest. It is a free family event running from 4.30pm - 7.30pm with a community lantern parade, face painting, circus skills and various stalls in attendance.
Two years of Ilkeston Life This is our 2nd birthday issue of the paper. When our first edition came out in September 2015 we had high hopes of making it a success but we didn’t know for sure how well it would go down. After all, Ilkeston already had a long established weekly newspaper and with the rise of social media, was there really a need for another one? Print is dying, experts were saying, but we have proved them wrong. Ilkeston Life’s print run of 10,000 is never enough! Thanks to you, our readers, we are still publishing a distinct paper for our community full of LOCAL content, which is what you were asking for. We have come up with some great stories, including one which went national. But our bread and butter has been YOUR NEWS—not headline material but important to you. So a big thank you to all our correspondents and readers near and far. Thank you for your letters, your articles, your photographs, your memories and your support. It was nice to meet some of you at the Ilkeston Heritage and Classic Vehicle Rally recently. Our tent on the Market Place was a hive of activity as people stopped to say hello and complete our Reader Survey, which will be useful to us as we plan for the future.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Have your say Get in touch with your views— Email: letters@ilkestonlife.com Post: The Editor, Ilkeston Life, 1 Bath Street, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 8AH
Town ‘a breath of fresh air’ I’m not new to Ilkeston. For as long as I can remember I’ve visited my grandparents on Heanor Road. I’ve stayed in every room in my mother’s childhood home, visited Victoria Park and wandered up and down Bath Street. Yet I still find intrigue and excitement in every visit to the town hundreds of years older than the country I currently reside in. I’ve grown with Ilkeston; every trip back produces something new. This time the newest addition was the train station, yet there is always a level of consistency. No matter what changes in Ilkeston, many things will always remain the same. A trip into town is not complete without a stop at the U Choose Smoothie Bar and the local candy store (sweet shop). Colorado Springs has nothing on the small town feel given off by Ilkeston. In Colorado Springs, the streets swarm with different
faces every day. There is no sense of connection, just an endless stream of people whose only commonality is the state in which they reside. It’s a breath of fresh air (both literally and figuratively) to visit Ilkeston. My granddad can’t set foot outside without running into someone he knows. Although the United States has its perks, I much prefer England. The country offers so much diversity. Small towns like Ilkeston and huge cities like London feel almost like different worlds. From testing out pubs and legally drinking, to wandering on cobble stone streets, to driving on the opposite side of the road, my Great British Vacation offered a very welcome change. I can’t wait to return and see what new adventures await. Ilkeston earned an excellent Trip Advisor score from this American.
Bring back seaside specials
Were parents consulted?
Jordan Watkins, Colorado Springs, USA
Now we have a railway station wouldn't it be nice if the rail people put excursions back on as they did in the days gone by. I can remember these happening in the fifties and early sixties, specially in the summer from both the Ilkeston Junction and the Ilkeston North stations. Days out to the seaside or other places of interest were very popular. By putting them on it would not only benefit the people it would also benefit the town and increase the popularity of the new station.
In the August issue I read that the Royal Navy visited students at Kirk Hallam Community Academy to demonstrate cooking skills and portray life at sea. Have the parents and guardians of these youngsters given their permission for this? This is in effect the radicalisation of impressionable young people and could entice some of them to become future participants in a war. Indeed, waging war against other countries is the remit of Britain's armed forces.
Bill Smith, Ilkeston.
Eddie Walsh, Long Eaton
They could have worded it better August saw the introduction of new ticket machines on the Yourbus network. Initially this seems to have had the effect of making the buses run later than previously as Gold Card users are having to get used to offering up their passes to the reading device. Gold card users tended not to have to show their cards before as drivers knew their regular customers. No doubt this will improve as people get used to the new system. One thing, however, does irk about the new ticketing. Now in large letters on your ticket are the words ‘Derbyshire Elderly’. Who thought that was a good idea? Maybe some 21 year old IT technician writing the software? Certainly not an older more sympathetic person. Surely a better phrase could be used such as ‘Derbyshire Senior’?
Rob Stevenson
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Vintage fair and concert in aid of SOBS To deal with death is difficult. Imagine then, a death by suicide. Unexpected, tragic, and something you never quite get over. There are no explanations or answers to your questions. People either want to know everything or don’t speak to you at all simply because they don’t know what to say to you. I personally have lost two family members to suicide, my uncle in 2000 and my dad in 2015. More recently this year has also seen the death of a friend by suicide. It really is more common than you think. Statistics say the highest rate in the UK for suicide is men between the ages of 40-44. I talk about my loss, probably because I’m more inclined to as I’m a woman, but mostly keep is safely tucked away as people are uncomfortable with talking about death by suicide. However, once a month there is a wonderful group, SOBS (Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide), who offer support to adults who have experienced loss by suicide. All are ‘ordinary’ people who have been through an ‘extraordinary’ experience. We chat over a cup of tea, some have lots they wish to share, some say very little but find comfort in just listening and knowing that they are not alone. This group is a lifeline to more people than you can imagine. It is also a charity. SOBS National Office is based at the Flamsteed Centre, Albert Street, Ilkeston and
they hold their meetings on the last Thursday of every month between 7 and 9pm. Since the loss of my dad in 2015 I have been actively raising awareness and funds for the group and will be holding a vintage fair with free entry at the Flamsteed Centre on Saturday 23rd September 1-5pm where there will be a variety of stalls, ‘pop-up’ vintage beauty parlour, refreshments including cream teas and a raffle. Following on from that in the evening between 7.30pm and 11.00pm there will be a fundraising concert providing a variety of entertainment including appearances by Ellie Tatham, Curtis Taylor-Tipton, Laid Back and other guests. The event promises to provide a fun packed evening with food and drinks available to purchase (you can bring your own alcoholic drinks), prize for the best vintage themed fancy dress. There will also be a raffle. Tickets are just £5 each under 12s go free, you can also have free entry if you can produce your ration book! Please contact ricey.lindsey@hotmail.co.uk for further information. Only those of us who have experienced this terrible tragedy can truly understand. None of us need to suffer alone. Together we can help each other. SOBS Helpline 0300 111 5065.
Letter was not a criticism
Cancer article was helpful
I’m sorry that Susanne Birch, Ilkeston Lions Carnival chairperson has taken my suggestion that the Carnival be moved to the town centre as a criticism. That certainly wasn’t my intension. Believe me, Suzanne, I am just as disappointed as the Lions must be ass I help to run a stall every year. My main reason for making my suggestion is to ensure it takes place yearly without worrying about the weather. As Suzanne explained, the Market Place presents difficulties as does the ‘Rec’. It’s a shame that despite the great work the Lions do in organising the event, bad weather always wins the day. Keep up the good work, Lions! Danny Corns, Trowell
It was good to read the article ‘My Prostate Cancer Journey’ by the editor in the August issue of Ilkeston Life. It was good to hear the positivity in his words. I am sure men diagnosed with prostate cancer will get a lot of comfort from his words. We know from personal experience in our family that a positive belief is a real advantage towards recovery. I volunteer at the Royal Derby and spend every Monday morning helping in Radiotherapy, its great to see and help the patients with their smiling faces. Keep smiling.
Lindsey Rice, Ilkeston
Terry Stevenson, Ilkeston
Launch of Amber Valley Parkinson’s Support Group Are you living with Parkinson’s Disease? Do you need information or support? Are you caring for someone with Parkinsons? Would you like to meet other people in a similar situation? Amber Valley Parkinson’s Support Group would like to invite you and your carer to afternoon tea – free of charge. Any other family and friends please pay £5 per head towards funds. It takes place at Ripley Leisure Centre, Derby Road, Ripley Derbyshire DE5 3HR The date: Saturday 9th September between 2.30 and 4.30pm. For more information, please contact: Jackie Conn, telephone 0300 123 3673 or email kcpmm@parkinsons.org.uk
Jackie Conn
Sybil Joan Clark and Ronald Alan Brooks, both octogenarians, celebrated getting engaged last month in the Zen Garden at the Bottle Kiln, West Hallam. Ron, who has a keen interest in Asian art and culture, said it was a fitting place to contemplate their future together.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Reginald Thomas Wells, centenarian
By Patricia Spencer
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eginald or Tom as he is known, was born in August 1917. He was the third child for his dad, also Reginald, and his mum Evalina. At the time of his birth his mum and dad were the Landlord and Landlady of the Bridge Inn on Awsworth Road and he lived there until he was fifteen. As a young lad he remembers happy times with his friends playing and swimming in the Cut. However it was the River Erewash where he learnt to swim in the first place. This was also known locally as the Brook. He says he remembers starting with one foot on the cold pebbles beneath his feet. It didn’t take long before he had mastered it. Bennerley Ironworks used to cast every day at that time and the lads knew exactly when it would be and would hot foot it down there to bathe in the warm water from the ironworks. Tom went to Trinity Infants, Granby Juniors and he left Bennerley School at fourteen in 1931. He had the choice to go to Stanton Ironworks but it did not appeal to him so he went out and got himself a job at Cossall Colliery. Tom stayed at the pit until 1937, the pit sometimes only worked two or three days a week and he only earned about seven shillings and sixpence a week, it was not enough for Tom, so he learnt to drive. From then on he drove all his working life. He worked on coal bagging and general haulage at first for J. Ford Coal Merchant. In 1940 however he decided to join the Army. It was his choice he could have stayed on the coal, as his boss wanted him to do, saying it was a reserved occupation. Tom, however, would have none of it. He had made up his mind to do his bit for the country and he went into the 49th Infantry Division. For the first two years Tom was stationed in
New a/w coming
Iceland. Their unit, known as the Polar Bears, were there to transport the concrete to make a naval base to keep an eye on the movement of the Germans, to stop them using it a naval base. One day he was working when he heard a shout of: “How are you going on Ilson?” It turned out to be a friend from home. At one station in Iceland there were hot springs nearby and they used to throw all the dirty dishes, pots and pans in to give them a good wash. The British left Iceland to make way for the Americans-who then took over the running of the place. His unit got back just in time for D Day and for the first time they were thrown in to the thick of it. During the D Day landings Tom was carrying arms to the troops when he came under heavy fire from the enemy. He carried on until it became impossible and then he threw the ammunition as close to his mates as he could before going back to base. The next day he was sent to see one of the officers, thinking he was going to be in trouble for not getting the ammunition to the men. However the officer thanked him for getting the ammunition close enough for the other soldiers to find it. He had done a great job after all. He then fought on with his unit through France, Belgium, Holland, and into Germany. But like most soldiers, Tom wouldn’t say anymore about that time. He was driving lorries and transporting ammunition right to the end of the war. Tom left the army as a Corporal. In the midst of the carnage of war, Tom managed to find time to marry the love of his life in 1941 when he was on leave from Iceland, and a week before his birthday. He married a local girl, Vera Constance Roberts, who he had first met in 1938. They went on to have three children, George, Richard and Janet. After the war Tom went back to work for his previous employer at the coal merchants and in 1951 or thereabouts he started driving private hire coaches and took many people all over the country. Tom was also a keen cyclist all his life. He managed to save up a deposit to have a bike built for him. It cost eight guineas. He loved that bike. Wards of Bullwell built it for him and he paid them back at ten bob a week. He remembers riding to Edwinstow with his friends one day. He says he had a packet of Woodbines, a box of matches and a half pint of beer and he still had change, out of sixpence. ‘Them were the days!’ They went up Derbyshire cycling a lot on a Sunday. There would usually be about half a dozen of them. They would be able to leave their bikes in a pile, but he said they always took their pumps with them on their rambles. Tom has always lived in Cotmanhay and has been at his current home for the past sixty-four years. He remembers going to auction to buy the house. Someone offered £1,000.00 for it but he topped it by another twenty pounds and got it. He was fair chuffed with himself. The wages back then were about two pounds ten shillings a week. His children hardly saw him, he used to be out before six in a morning and not back until nine at night.
As the children grew up times got easier and by 1967 Tom was working for the Borough Council. Driving of course. He did a lot of work for the Parks and Gardens. He used to look after and drive round the students that came for Work Experience in the holidays. He put them through their paces. They did quite a lot of hard work. He says they never paid for a tea bag, they always used them second hand. Tom retired in 1979 at the age of sixty-two, under a scheme brought in by Margaret Thatcher to find jobs for school leavers. In his retirement he went on lots of holidays abroad, always by ferry— his wife did not like to fly. He took her back to all the countries he fought in, in the war. He also liked to look after his garden and the grandchildren. They had three children, George, Richard and Janet, eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. George was married to Vera for sixty-one years, and they celebrated their Diamond wedding with his family and friends but sadly Vera died in 2002. When asked how he felt about his life, he said,
Arena Church Survey Arena Church is looking to run a series of services later in the year focusing directly on things that members of the community have an interest in. To aid the preparation for these services, Arena Church would like answers to the following questions:
1. What is the one thing you'd want to change in your life that would make it infinitely better? 2. What makes you want to get up in the morning? 3. What makes you want to stay in bed? 4. What keeps you awake at night? 5. You have 60 seconds to speak with God. What do you ask him?
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Army and Navy: Tom and brother Graham both served their country
“I just got on with it.” Tom has had a long, meaningful and mostly happy life. He still has a lovely smile and a good memory.
The staff at the Ilkeston Life thank you for sharing your story and wish you a very happy one hundredth birthday. All people who respond Chance to win in the Ilkeston area will an iPad Mini be entered into a draw to win an iPad Mini. All answers will be kept confidential, with the exception of your contact details in the event that you win the draw (in which case the details will only be used to get the iPad Mini to you). Please submit your responses in writing to Arena Church, 1 Rutland Street, Ilkeston, or online at ilkestonlife.com/ arenasurvey and don't forget to include your contact details if you want to enter the draw!
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Coast to coast charity ride by veterans F
our veteran members of the Erewash Valley Cycling Club are riding coast to coast to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Brian Ashby and Charlie Wheatley, from Ilkeston, are teaming up with Long Eaton riders Mick Brown and Dave Vesty to cycle the 150 miles from White Haven to South Shields over three days from August 29th to 31st. The quartet - all in their late sixties have already raised several hundred pounds and hope to increase this amount from further pledges by family, friends
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and club members once they have completed the challenge. The charity ride comes in the wake of a similar challenge undertaken recently by club chairman Steve Croton who rode 900 miles across France for Cancer Research. The 61-year-old from Ilkeston raised around £1,700, despite completing the ride in pain from a cycling accident in the early stages of the two-week venture. Brian, Charlie, Mick and Dave are all regular members of the club’s popular Wednesday section which organises social rides for retired members.
Left: Coast to coast riders Dave Vesty, Charlie Wheatley, Brian Ashby and Mick Brown. Top right: Steve Croton who rode across France.
Is this our youngest reader? Photographer Roy Foulkes sent us this picture of his grandson James, aged 2 years, reading last month’s Ilkeston Life...well looking at the photos of tractors, airplanes and cars. He was also interested to see himself in the paper, alongside Bing, one of the scarecrows on the West Hallam Scarecrow Trail recently. James ‘helped’ his granddad make the rabbit scarecrow—one of many on display in the village during Well Dressings week.
Erewash MP visits thriving local nursery group
teria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at the school has been rewarded this year. Mapperley CE Primary School has been “Special thanks must go to Mrs Debbie awarded the Gold School Games Mark Farmer (leads sport at Mapperley), Erewash Award for the fourth year in a row. School Sport Partnership, Mapperley staff The School Games Mark is a Government- and parents. Most importantly the school led award scheme launched in 2012, facili- would like to thank its children, especially our Young Sports Ambassadors. tated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the devel- We look forward to applying to now applying for the Platinum Award and again in opment of competition. 2018!” Sporting achievements at the school this Rhian Lilley, development manager at Ereyear include: winning the Erewash area wash School Sport Partnership, congratulatsmall schools Sportshall Athletics final, ed the school on its achievement. every child in school participating in a wide She said “I would like to offer my congraturange of sports, whether in school or at sports festivals or competitions and children lations to Mapperley on earning their wellearned 4th Gold mark for PE and school in school have regularly led and organised sport. Mapperley have always fully engaged PE activities from daily circuits, running with the Erewash School Sport Partnership club and even sports day. offer whether it be a sporting competition, Head teacher Richard Cripps said he was festival, young leadership opportunity, delighted that the school had been recogbikeability or professional development for nised for its success yet again. staff. For a small school Mapperley achieve He said: “With a total of 56 young people so much and have represented Erewash on a competing in local inter and intra-school number of occasions, well done to all staff competitions this year, we are extremely and pupils.” proud of our pupils for their dedication to Pictured above: sporting youngsters; all aspects of school sport, including those Group picture below: Left to right- Charlie, Deryoung volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible. As part of rian, Mrs Debbie Farmer (HLTA), Hazel and Lily. our application, we were asked to fulfil cri-
Mapperley School achieves Gold again
Staff and children at Children 1st Day Nurseries were delighted to receive a visit from Maggie Throup MP for Erewash. Maggie visited company’s head office in Long Eaton before heading to one of the company’s outstanding day nurseries, Children 1st @ Derby Road to meet staff and children. The visit was prompted by the recent OBE award bestowed upon Children 1st founder Margaret Mason in The Queen’s Birthday Honours. The OBE for ‘Services to Education’ was awarded to Margaret in recognition of her tireless work in raising standards in early years education across the UK throughout her 60-year career. As well as sharing some reminiscences about Margaret’s career, the visit provided the opportunity for informal discussions about the challenges and opportunities facing the nursery sector today. The visit to Children 1st @ Derby Road in Long Eaton gave the Erewash MP an insight into what outstanding nursery provision looks like in practice. Margaret, along with Nursery Manager Kate Horsley, Senior Manager Heather Mayfield and Director Julia Mason provided the tour, during which Maggie was keen to meet the staff and chat to the children who proudly shared their activities. Commenting on the visit Maggie said: “It’s a privilege to meet companies in Erewash who are leading the way in their sector and are an example of excellence at a local and national level. I have found the visit very informative and it’s been lovely to meet such dedicated professionals and wonderful children.” Margaret who has been overwhelmed by the countless messages of congratulations resulting from the OBE award said, “It was a pleasure to welcome Maggie to Children 1st and I appreciate her taking time from her busy schedule to spend time with us. I am pleased that our local MP is keen to meet with businesses so they gain an understanding the issues being faced and see the excellent work being done by many firms in the district.” Christopher Mitchell
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
warmed them up and lots and lots of fresh flowers to smell. I love the fragrance of fresh flowers. Yes, I know at home there are other cats I can play with at home, but it’s different with him – George, he makes me feel special, he spends time with me because he wants to be with me. He’s very brave (he lives with a dog!) and he’s so Dear Diary, friendly, he’s not scared of people at I love September; I love the Auall. I can still be a little shy of tumn colours; I love how the trees change colour; and I love the feel of strangers but he happily runs up to people to get a bit of a fuss. He treading on crisp leaves. I love jumping into the piles of leaves the may be a bit younger than me but he’s so handsome, we go exploring Church’s Gardening Gang have the over grown areas of the Church gathered together and seeing them Yard, the bits where people don’t go everywhere! When there is a go, and practise our hunting skills – light touch of frost, it makes my its such fun with him beside me. paws tingle but in a fun and nice George has now met my owners, way. But there is something else I love, and some of the other cats I live with, he soon charmed them with I’ve got a special friend. I get so his friendly personality. And I’ve excited every morning (when my met his family, although it did go jailors – I mean owners - let me terribly well to begin with, because out) and I can run down the path and visit him. Sometimes we just sit I can be a bit feisty, I used to chase Kitty – the elderly little cat that together and watch the leaves falllived there, and their dog then used ing; sometimes we play chase; sometimes we go for a walk around to chase me to protect Kitthe church yard together and some- ty. George doesn’t come to Church times we play hide and seek togeth- with me – not yet, but I’ve told him he should, as no one minds if you er. Being a ‘Vicarage Cat’ means just curl up and go to sleep, while having the privilege of the Church they get on with whatever they do in Yard on my door step, as well as that special building, maybe he’ll mature trees to climb there are start coming soon, I do hope so. hedges to jump through and grave plinths to sit on when the sun’s Bye for now – Florence.
The Dairy of a Vicarage Cat
“I was in Satan’s Choice”
crime family and was often beaten up by his dad to toughen him up. He ran away from home and was befriended by some motorbikers. “They took me in,” Mark says. “I learned how to be a good criminal. I used to run dope back and forth for a few fellows, and by the time I was 17, I was a prospect for the Satan’s Choice motorcycle club. “As a biker,” Mark goes on to say, “I became ruthless and hard-hearted. I drove around collecting debts and selling dope.” ark Carlos wasn't nicknamed The police finally caught up with "The Hammer" by his biker Mark in Toronto on November 1, associates for nothing. “When I’d make my rounds to collect 2012. While in jail, he was involved drug debts for the gang, I would show in an altercation and got stabbed mulup with a hammer in one hand and a tiple times. Released from hospital, pair of vice-grips in the other,” Mark he was in jail on Christmas Day waitsays. “I wasn’t a very nice person, I ing judgment for his part in the affair was a liar, I was a thief. I made mon- when the institution was visited by a Salvation Army brass band. ey in the darkest of places, and I would do whatever it took to get what “One of the Salvation Army ministers threw a New Testament Answer I wanted.” Book into my cell that landed with a Mark was born into an organized
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Local Church News Nottm Road Methodist Church. Cllr John Frudd presented a cheque from his DCC Community Leadership Fund for £500 to David Shircliffe of Ilkeston Methodist Church Nottingham Road. He said: “Whether you’re into religion or not, these guys are local community focused to the max, and offer a wide range of activities for young people, the not so young, and anyone in between. A pleasure to help them once again.”
tomime Beauty and the Beast at Nottingham Theatre Royal on Sunday 9th December, 2.30pm. The church has recently benefited from an anonymous donation of £1,000.
Ilkeston Holy Trinity Church members have an opportunity to take part in a parish pilgrimage to Walsingham .from Friday 13th April to Sunday 15th April 2018. Some will also be going to the pan-
West Hallam Methodist Church. As part of the Harvest Festival Weekend there will be a Harvest Praise for the Community on Monday 25th September at 10.30am. Favourite harvest songs, light refreshments and good company are on offer in this café style event which is suitable for the elderly and less mobile but open to all. A free event! The church is also taking part in the Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on Friday 29th September, 10.00 am to 12 noon. Coffee & Cake and a ‘bring and buy’ stall will be helping raise money for the Macmillan cancer charity. The church is on High Lane West (adjacent to the Bottle Kiln, DE7 6HP) and is well served by week day buses from Ilkeston and Derby (Black Cat, No. 11 and Y59) - alight at Mapperley Crossroads. Friday October 6th at 7.30pm will see the return of Story Café when the guest artists will be Sally Watson and members of the Torkard Ensemble with a wide range of music, songs and personal stories.
thud on the floor,” he says. Also included in this book were the Psalms and Proverbs. “I’d never really read the Bible and I picked it up where it had opened at Psalm 51, and I started reading: ‘Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against You, and You alone, have I sinned. I have done what is evil in Your sight’ (New Living Translation). Mark had had thoughts about God in the past but had come to the conclusion that either He wasn’t there or He didn’t care, otherwise He wouldn’t have let his dad be so cruel to him. In a lightning flash, Mark realised that whatever had happened to him as a child—the abuse, the beatings— was not his fault, and he felt an overwhelming calm come over him. Two hours later, a guard came up to Mark and told him that all
charges against him were dropped. “That doesn’t happen—ever!” Mark explains. “You usually have to go in front of a judge for sentencing.” Still under confinement for his previous charge, Mark was in the prison’s common area two weeks later reading his Bible when he received a telephone call from Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug and alcohol treatment and recovery centre located north of the city. Mark eagerly jumped at the centre’s offer. “There was nobody telling me that I could never be saved because I’d gone too far and done too much. These people showed me true love, and I was taught that God loves us all.” There, he started soaking in theology and faith like a sponge. “I didn’t want to waste my time,” he smiles. “I wanted to get right with God. I learned that God’s greatness is incredible and that the Bible is the truth, because I sat there at Teen Challenge for six and a half months tearing it apart looking for a loophole—because there had to be one, right? But I couldn’t find any.
Are you sick of being an addict? Are you tired of trying and failing to get free? Teen Challenge is a Christian organisation that works with people, especially younger adults, with addiction problems. Again and again over the last 50 years, we have seen the love and power of Jesus set men and women free of drug and alcohol addictions, and enable them to stay free.
Local church news, events and Christian comment Queen Street Baptist Church. Faith and Light, a ministry for people with learning difficulties takes place on Sunday 10th Sept., 2.30pm. Activities include crafts, short worship time (theme: Noah), improvised band, tea and cakes. This monthly get-together is led by Alison Atkins and Pat Sharp. All welcome.
My favourite Hymn or worship song Let us know your favourite for next month’s issue. news@ilkestonlife.com
“I know for a fact in my heart that Jesus lives, that God is real and that miracles happen. And I am living proof of that.” After graduating from the Teen Challenge program, Mark needed a place to live and a job. The staff at Teen Challenge found him a room and a job, installing fire and security systems in banks. “Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humour?” laughs Mark. Now sober and happily married, the father of one’s self-appointed job is spreading the good news of God. Besides being part of the Teen Challenge program, Mark rides with Bikers for Christ, a Christian ministry for motorcyclists, and helps The Salvation Army with their prison outreach. “When you see the miracles performed at Teen Challenge and through the Army in prison, you know miracles happen every day.” Mark says. “I have a duty to do what I can. The good Lord let me live this life so I can tell my story and help others.” From Salvationist magazine, Canada, (abbreviated).
Church but not as you know it Activities, music and a simple meal for you and your children Get messy
Or call in any Tuesday between 11am and 12.30pm at the U Choose Smoothie Bar, top of Bath Street. Or any Thursday in the hall at Queen Street Baptist Church (off South Street, behind where the Co-op used to be) between 10.30am and 1.30pm. Free lunch at 12 noon. Come along and find out more. ILKESTON The Journey into Faith page is brought to you by members of the local Christian community and with occasional inspiration from
and
Our Daily Bread
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here Saturday 9th September: Ilkeston URC (Green Spire) 4 - 5.30pm Saturday 30th September: Sandiacre Methodist Church, Butt Street 4 – 5.30 p.m. Theme: Giving Thanks. If you like Messy Church, how about trying the Toddlers Service at the Green Spire church (URC). It’s upstairs (entry from Wharncliffe Road). It is always the first Friday of the month, 10am It’s like Messy Church but only half an hour and specially for families with very young children. Drinks, biscuits and toys to follow.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Rainfall
The day ended on a downside as I got ready to leave Finding a damp patch on my coat You could call it a secret pastime When the weather turns to rain once and down my shirt sleeve Overwhelmed by the sounds and more This close secret I’ve kept inside me sights I could see I hadn’t noticed the drip from the Comes to life has the rain starts to roof land on me fall
Here, to show man the right way to live. The trouble is man’s to busy to see. And time for God he’s reluctant to give. If only they could see as I see, In the tree’s and the fields below. The tiny petal on the smallest flower, And the intricate detail of each flake Thomas Hosker I would always dash for the greenof snow. house At the first sign of any oncoming The sea that’s held back by a boundrain ary of sand. Where I’d sit and enjoy that special The sun, moon and stars out in feeling space, When the glass keeps me dry from the busyness of the tiny ant, the rain And the vein in dead leaves, just like lace. Rain sometimes plays tricks from time to time There’s silence now, death’s at the Stopping and starting when it can’t door. make up its mind What love radiates from this man. A sparrow on a branch, that’s me. It starts with the odd spot, making a Nesting time it was. A heart-rending cry went out “Tis thud on the pane The day was a typical spring morn- Finished. Then a split second later comes a The debt is paid, man’s forgiven, ing. deluge of rain free from sin.” When I was looking out for dry grass. Oh, how precious is mankind to his Adrenaline kicks in as the rain intensifies once more A soft warm nest for my young was Creator. When the costly price of sin He paid Giving me this warm feeling I find my plan, hard to ignore As I scoured the land for my needs. in full. Raindrops now appear to be in a A crowd had gathered at the top of a Oh, if only I had not been born a Sparrow. frantic race hill. Then I too would share salvation Twisting and turning down the glass Food I thought, much easier than with you all. at a pace searching for seeds.
A bird’s-eye view of the Crucifixion
As time passes by waiting for the rain to abate The glass that surrounds me slowly begins to condensate Leaving misty glass window frames standing side by side Where I’d practice my doodling while time passes by
They’re bound to drop some crumbs here and there. As they gaze and gloat at His fate. To think some are here for sheer pleasure. This mankind is sure in a state. I hear some say He’s the Son of God.
Anne Brown, West Hallam
The Poet The poet sits beneath the tree Penning his latest words His mind is full of pictures The sky is full of birds.
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Your Space Do you enjoy writing creatively? Lots of local people do, so why not share your poetry, stories, songs, sketches, limericks, memoirs, humour, etc., with other Ilkeston Life readers? Preferably send by email to poems@ilkestonlife.com. Alternatively, drop in/post to The Editor, Ilkeston Life, 1 Bath Street, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 8AH.
The poet writes of nature, Breathing in the sweet country air The noise of a distant tractor Is all that he can hear. The creatures of the field Do not fear the bard They know he will not harm them He holds them in high regard.
Calm and gentle and caring Saving souls, easing fear The people were not alone But gathered by the angels Into the arms of Jesus. Their families and friends and The nation too left to mourn Because of the selfish arrogance of men.
The poet loves this quiet spot And spends a long, long time Creating colourful word pictures And lines that beautifully rhyme.
Ann Hooker
Robert Anthony
In among the grass I lie, sparkling white with a golden eye, Small and beautiful, some call me a weed, what an insult, a weed indeed! Many a girl when sitting down, has linked my flowers to make a crown. Whoops! Here comes the man with the mower again – goodbye.
Oh God Why? Angels were there That terrible night When the tower block burnt And the people died Grannies and Grandads, Mums and Dads Children and babies too Angels were there I saw them in a vision That night
The Daisy
J. Paige
DINING OUT: LATINO Latino Mediterranean Restaurant is located in the heart of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, approx five miles from Nottingham’s city centre. Since opening in 2002, Latino quickly gained a reputation for providing exceptional dining experiences. The cuisine offers something to satisfy all tastes and palates. The bar area is perfect to meet friends and to peruse the menus, prior to dining.
Appetizers and starter choices include Marinated Olives (black and green olives marinated in garlic and herbs), through Mozzarella Tomatoes & Basil, to Deep Fried Whitebait and Oven-Baked Garlic Mushrooms. Main courses have Chicken, Fish, Pasta and Salad dishes, in several adaptations and styles, plus Chef’s Specials, that include Beef, King Prawns, Lamb and Pork, etc. ‘Sizzlers’ are very popular, with Chicken, Beef or King Prawn cooked in a salsa sauce with onions, peppers, olives, mushrooms and chilli. Succulent Fillet Steaks (all served with French Fries) include Pizzaiola, Rossini, Diane and Al Pepe variations. Greeted by Tony (Proprietor), all visitors and diners are warmly welcomed, with the pristine table settings and ambience adding to the dining experience. A chosen starter of Smoked Salmon, which was very flavoursome and had good texture and presentation, made an excellent commencement to the meal. The main course selected, of Sea Bass (with vegetables), in lemon, garlic, white wine, cream and tarragon, came being cooked and presented to perfection. The tastes and textures in this dish complement each other, wonderfully – Compliments to Chef! Desserts are always tempting and so they are at Latino’s, also. The Homemade Tiramisu certainly does not disappoint, with the blended flavours doing justice to this popular selection. Floater Coffee, to finish the dining occasion, is presented perfectly, with the tastebuds appreciating complete enjoyment, to the end. An impressive list of drinks, with quality wines, from global origins, that includes champagnes and sparkling choices, has many which pair with the cuisine, splendidly. All dietary requirements can be catered for, plus celebrations and events accommodated with ease. Definitely a restaurant for returning to. Gift vouchers are available – perhaps surprise someone special? Booking is advisable, particularly at popular times. Latino Restaurant 25/27 Chilwell Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1EH Tel: 0115 877 0000 Email: latino.tony@yahoo.co.uk www.latino-restaurant.co.uk
When responding to an advert, please make it known you saw it in Ilkeston Life. This enables the advertiser to see the value of using our pages to stimulate business and involvement.
As always, Enjoy!
Trevor Langley
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Tommy’s Dog Short story by
Tony Butler
“I
t’s old age,” the vet said, shaking his head. “Sixteen’s a good age for a dog.” He gently patted Patch’s head and was rewarded by a gentle lick on the hand. “His heart beat’s erratic and I’m sorry, but he won’t last much longer. Would you like to take him home or did you want me to...” “No way!” Twelve-year-old Tommy, said. “You’re not putting him down! We’re taking him home. Right, Ma?” He looked at his mother anxiously and to his relief she nodded. “That’s right, Tommy,” she said. “You take, Patch, out to the car, while I settle up here.” Tommy lifted the small Jack-Russell terrier of the table and clipped on its leash. “Come on boy. Good dog,” he said. Sitting in the car and waiting for his Mom, Tommy wiped unbidden tears from his eyes. It’s no use blubbering, he thought. Patch is going to die; everything dies, just like Pa and Scamp. Pa had been driving home in the pick-up with the dogs, Patch and Scamp, up front in the cab alongside him; when a drunk, driving a red Suburban, shot a red light and smashed into Pa’s truck. The Suburban’s exploding gas tank had incinerated Tommy’s Pa, Scamp and the other driver. Patch had somehow escaped through the pick-up’s shattered windscreen. That had been three years ago, almost to the day. At first, whenever Tommy and Ma visited Pa’s grave, Patch had acted real strange, whining as though he knew that his former master was somewhere around. It was crazy but that’s sure how it looked to Tommy. Now when they visited Pa, they left Patch at home, because the old dog couldn’t walk too well anymore. It was better that way too, because apparently some folks were complaining about a people being allowed to take their dogs along with them on their visits to the cemetery. That night, following their return from their visit to the vet Tommy, was woken up by the sound of Patch barking excitedly outside of the bedroom window. Glancing at his bedside clock, Tommy saw that it was five minutes until mid-night. Peering through the window drapes, bright moonlight revealed Patch, dancing around on the front lawn and barking excitedly. Tommy opened his bedroom window and leaned out. “Quiet, you stupid mutt,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. “You’ll wake, Mom, and all the neighbours, making that racket.” Patch seemed to be grinning up at him and danced around faster, his excited yelps becoming louder. Tommy sighed, he’d have to go down and get Patch back into the house. It was only while he was slipping on some clothes, that Tommy wondered about Patch’s remarkable recovery. He hadn’t danced around like that for over a year or more. Being careful not to disturb his mother, Tommy crept downstairs and opened the front door. “Patch,” he called quietly. “Good boy, Come here Patch!” The dog, white except for the black patch over it’s right eye, danced around in circles in front of him. “Stupid mutt,” Tommy mumbled and
stepped onto the lawn towards the dog, which pranced further away from him. Tommy frowned this was weird, unless - unless Patch was trying to tell him something? As though it could read his thoughts, Patch trotted to the far side of the lawn and then after turning to face Tommy again, it barked twice. Pulling the front door closed, Tommy walked across the lawn towards his dog. Patch trotted twenty yards down the street before stopping, waiting. Patch led Tommy down the street, past dark, unlit windows of silent houses, past the hardware store and other shops and out onto the highway that headed north and towards the city. Convinced now that the dog was definitely taking him somewhere, Tommy hurried after it. Away from the town’s streetlights, the night became much darker despite the full moon. It became a place of dark shadows cast by the trees, which in this light seemed somehow menacing and to have become long limbed creatures of the night. The sudden rustle of bushes or in the foliage above his head, as he passed by startled him constantly, making him flinch and scaring him. He wanted to turn around. Flee back to the safety of the house, of his nice warm bed, but then Patch would bark again, calling him on. It wasn’t until he saw the white tendrils of mist rising from a deeper layer that carpeted the ground ahead of him, that Tommy realised where the dog was heading. “He’s taking me to the bone-yard,” he whispered in disbelief. “He’s taking me to the cemetery!” Fighting back his dread and ignoring the stiffening of the hairs on the back of his neck, Tommy stepped into the, chill of the enfolding mist. Patch stopped, staring straight ahead of him and when Tommy drew level, the dog growled low in its throat. Ahead of them the mist had become a thick swirling fog. It was so dense that Tommy could see less than a yard in front of him. A dull glow emanated from the blanket of grey, a glow that grew brighter even as he stood there transfixed. Then as then the fog rolled away, there and about twenty yards in front of him stood a young man, who looked vaguely familiar. By the man’s feet and standing looking at them was a small white, Jack Russell, terrier. Patch gave an excited yelp and dashed towards them just as the fog closed in again. As the dog disappeared into the fog, Tommy found his voice. “No, Patch!” he cried. “Here Patch!” He called again and again but there was no reply and suddenly Tommy knew that Patch was gone for good. “No!” he cried. “No! Patch, come back, Patch! Please, Patch come back!” Nothing, - just the cold, silent mist swirling about him. Sobbing now he turned and ran blindly back the way he’d come and collided with someone. Someone warm, who gathered him in her arms hugging him, kissing him and saying his name, over and over again. “Mom?” He looked up into her tearstained face and she nodded, sniffing away her tears. “You had me really scared, running away like that,” she said. “You shouldn’t have come here on your own and in the middle of the night. It’s a good thing that I heard you shut the door and came after you. I’m sorry about, Patch, but he died peacefully in his basket, in his sleep.” “Patch, dead?” Tommy looked at her in shock. “But he can’t be dead, Mom! That’s not possible. It was Patch who led me here. He ran into the fog just a minute ago. He went towards that man and his dog.” “No, sweetheart, he couldn’t have and what man are you talking about…” She broke off and her saw her staring over his shoulder in shock. Turning he saw the glow and the fog
rolling aside again. The same young man stood facing them and around his feet two dogs now danced. One of the small white dogs had a black patch over one eye and Tommy, heard his Mom gasp. She hugged Tommy so hard that it almost hurt, when the man raised an arm and waived. He was smiling. Then as though they too were made of mist, the man and his dogs seemed to dissolve and were gone. Mom was laughing and crying at the same time with tears streaming down her face. At last Tommy understood. “That was Pa! It was, wasn’t it Mom? Patch and Scamp too!” “Yes, son,” she said. “That was your, Pa, just the way he looked when I first saw him.” “That’s why Patch brought me here. He wanted me to see that he was OK. That he was happy to be with, Pa, and, Scamp again. He doesn’t want me to be sad because he’s died.” Mom looked younger too now, he realised, younger and happier as well. She stood and put her hand on his shoulder. “You’re growing up fast, Tommy,” she said. “Let’s go home.” “I want to bury, Patch, in the garden, Mom. Somewhere he knows, 'cos It wouldn’t be right us not knowing where he is.” “We’ll do it together, in the morning,” she said. “We’ll find him somewhere nice, and in the sun.” THE END
Aberdare Written when Welsh mines were closing When the mines were once so busy and the slag heaps were the view. When the town was choked with coal dust and only weeds just grew. When boys grew up to men, working ’neath the soil. Down in the deepest depths, quite content to sweat and toil. When early every morning, they left with box and jack, and wives they left behind them, knew not if they’d be back. And when their work was over, for a bath they used a tub. Their only entertainment was a night out at the pub. When as kids we swam and paddled in the river, not the sea. When we made a feast of bread and jam, when we sat down to tea. When all the playground was just street corners, lit up by pale gas light, And with my brother a brave cowboy chased Indians through the night. This place is now a memory, this place I know so well. One by one the mines are lying idle, around us factories swell. And now both men and women, each day they can be seen. Every evening going off to work, returning later clean. This town at last is living and putting up a show. In what were once dull corners, beds of flowers grow. We are no longer classed a black spot, a place to dread and scorn. But a place to rank up with the best, the place where I was born.
Jean Jones
Jumpers for goalposts When I was young, The summers seemed long and always warm, We'd play football but never do anyone harm. The grass freshly cut, our voices rang loud,
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Our jumpers for goalposts, thrown on the ground. Five-a-side turned into so many more, With our screams of 'foul' as we hit the floor. Our clothes always muddy like our second hand boots, As we kicked the ball over fences and roofs. Skateboards arrived, now they could be fun, You didn't have to walk when you could run. A ramp made from bricks, a broken up board, Our designs seemed safe but were dangerously flawed. Fishing with one rod shared between three, Casting the hook into every single tree. With the sun beating down, we'd stay all through the day, Society was much safer in those days anyway. And BMX bikes would fill up the streets, Trying out tricks in stunned disbelief. Grazing our knees on the ground so hard, Yet there was fun to be had in everyone's yard. Building sites not locked and never secure, Finding glass pop bottles left on the floor. We'd all run to the shop with three bottles a piece, To trade in the deposit for sweets we could eat. Yet we never caused trouble, we had more respect, We didn't ever steal or ever wreck. And as the sun disappeared and the sky grew so black, We'd head off home with our jumpers now on our backs.
© Steven Michael Pape 2017
Hammer the scammers There goes your phone again The fourth time today If it’s that same man again Do you let him have his say? He will say he’s ringing from your bank And something has gone wrong Because he sounds so genuine You won’t realise it’s a con. If he asks you for your details Do not give a single one If you do he’ll raid your bank account Your hard earned savings will be gone. If he keeps on ringing Tell him you know it’s a scam And before you put the phone down Tell the man to scram. Read my poem again and again Until the message sinks in Then as far as Mr Scammer goes He will not ring again.
Peter G
Swallows in the sky Swallows in the sky Blossoms on the trees Were they there when I was young? I don’t remember these. Daffodils and tulips Bluebells in the wood Were they there when I was young? I’d remember if I could. Snowballs, bonfires, conkers Saturday film shows Marbles, snobs and whips and tops I do remember those.
Peter G
Be an early bird— Your Space fills fast.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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Donkey races remembered
ed up with huts on the ground ting took place. It was a fantastic which became betting shops. The day and great fundraiser for local event was opened by a well-known charities.” comedian of the time- I can’t re“One of the best do's Ilkeston ever member his name - and the donkeys were ridden by local children, who had” is the way Syd Meehan described a Donkey Race Day at the loved it. Hundreds, maybe thouGallows Inn playing fields over 50 sands, came and made it one of the biggest events the town had seen." years ago. It was organised by Ilkeston Round Table. Syd’s daughter Gill Soulsby added Can anyone remember it? The pho- on our Facebook page: “Jimmy Thompson from the Pinky and tograph below shows group chairPerky TV show opened the event man Mr Meehan (suited) standing next to the Mayor (wearing the larg- and my friend Marie Stephenson er chain of office) and all the help- and I dressed up as Pinky and Perky. I recognise Ron Brooks, ers on the day. Jeff Green, John Mercer and I think “I don’t know how we got away Eric Abbott. Mum, I think, ran the with it,” he commented. “The don- ‘Tote office’ where I think the betkeys arrived on a lorry and we end-
Chris Taylor and his award for Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety
Employee wins award for making pipe-laying safer A Stanton Bonna employee has won an award for his commitment to health and safety and in particular for two inventions which make life safer for handlers of heavy precast concrete pipes. Chris Taylor, Quality Control and Site Support Technician from Stanton Bonna, won an ‘Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety’ award for his passion and commitment to safety, in particular his initiatives in developing techniques and products that reduce or in some cases eliminate the contractor risks when handling and installing precast concrete products. The prestigious British Precast Best Practice Awards event 2017 was held on Thursday 29th June at the modern Marriot Hotel in Leicester.
This annual gathering shines a light on the wonderful work done on a daily basis by people and companies to improve safety and efficiency in the workplace. Awards include those for Health and Safety, Sustainability, Innovation, Project of the year and Outstanding Contribution to Health and Safety. Two of the products that Chris has helped develop were also finalists in the Health and Safety category: Stanton Bonna Gully Hook – designed to reduce risk when lifting, handling and installing a Gully unit. Can be used when Gully is laid down and found to be safer, quicker and easier than traditional methods. Stanton Bonna Pipe Pusher – designed to eliminate the need for men in the trench during pipe installation. This innovative piece of equipment can be attached to an excavator via a quick coupling system and can be adjusted to the pipe size. Stanton Bonna is based locally on Littlewell Lane, Stanton by Dale.
Twenty-nine people have reviewed Ilkeston Life newspaper on our Facebook page. Our average score is currently 4.7 stars out of five. Thank you.
Wrong picture In the article Official Opening of Ilkeston Station in last month’s paper, we inadvertently put in the wrong picture of railways expert and writer Godfrey Holmes. We apologise for this. The real Godfrey Holmes is pictured here. The correct picture did appear in our online edition.
Cubs enjoy their weekend at Rand Park Farm
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already gone we had the run of the place. After supper the cubs tackled the Play Barn before coming back in at 10.30pm to do some badge work. The cubs really didn’t mind getting up Fifteen Cubs enjoyed the time away at 7.00am in order to feed and muck along with four adults and two young out the animals before they had their leaders. The long wait was well worth own full English breakfast. it, it was an amazing experience. We arrived at 8.00 pm after a noisy bus We helped milk the cows and then journey as they were all so excited. On bottle feed the lambs and calves. Eduarrival the cubs were shown their bed- cationally we learnt why farmers kept poultry and cattle and even had a go at rooms and had the health and safety butter making. Saturday morning we talk before being let loose on the Adventure Playground. As the public had went off site on a hike to Wragby
he Kirk Hallam Cub Pack had a fantastic time on their residential weekend at Rand Park Farm near Boston, reports Diane Harris.
where we enjoyed a picnic lunch before an hour’s private hire of the swimming pool. Even the non swimmers gained a little confidence in the water when not being splashed by the able swimmers. During the afternoon we had a go at Archery and some of us braved the ‘Skyrider’. After a wonderful three course tea, the cubs had time on Pedal Go Karts. Saturday night saw an earlier night for all so we could once again get up at 7.00am to do the farm chores. All weekend photos were being put on our
Facebook page so parents could see what we were doing. A message came through on the bus coming home from one of the parents thanking the leaders both adult and young for giving up their time and sleep. “The cubs have made memories that will last them a lifetime. I’m sure they will remember this camp until they are old and grey.” Scouting is open to boys and girls from the age of six, there is a Scout group just around the corner from your home. We are currently needing volun-
teer leaders for our Scout and Beaver sections so come along and join the adventure enabling more young people to enjoy what scouting as to offer, Don’t be shy walk through the door and see the smiles and what you could also get out of being a volunteer with the 21st Ilkeston Scout Group, please contact Group Scout Leader Diane 0115 932 9979. We also need adults not only as leaders but helpers or administrators. For any information on how to get involved or where to find us please get in touch.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
TV comes to my house I–
Local writer’s book debut
n Ilkeston writer has produced her A first novel – a supernatural horror story for adults.
n the early 1950’s a new piece of furniture was being introduced into people’s homes
TELEVISION.
Of course in those days TV was in black and white and only had one channel – BBC. Our household consisted of my father, mother, myself and my grandmother. Grandmother was a lady who did not like change. She enjoyed her radio programmes, i.e. Mrs Dale’s Diary and the Archers and while these were on I had to be very quiet. Grandma was adamant we didn’t need a TV. However she went to stay with her sister and brother-inlaw – that’s my auntie Ada and uncle Ernest. Well, guess what they had purchased, yes a TV. Grandma was hooked, therefore on her return, a TV was installed in our lounge. It was a 17inch model, quite large for those days, and was rented from Rediffusion. Not long after, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation took place and was televised to the nation. Being one of the few families in the street to possess a television, the neighbours were invited to our house. We converted the front room into a cinema, all the chairs facing the television and we children cross-legged on the floor. In the beginning of TV it was only 5pm for children then closed until 8 pm when adult programmes began. Of course TV’s broke down now and again as things do today, so I expect younger people are wondering how an engineer was able to find the cause of the fault if TV hours were so limited. During the hours in between, a test card was displayed; this consisted of a picture of a young girl in the centre surrounded by blocks of patterns which I assume allowed correct focusing to take place. During programmes, I can remember that occasionally there were interludes when short films were shown. I never understood if there was a breakdown or they were filling in time. One film showed a potter at his wheel, another showed up a speeded up express train making a very fast journey – steam train obviously as it was the 1950’s. Time passed and eventually a new channel was introduced, ATV or commercial TV as it was known. Once again
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grandma was against this new intrusion into our lives. Once again visiting Auntie Ada’s she became hooked on a programme: ‘Emergency Ward 10’. It was a programme about hospital life – I think this is where I became interested in becoming a nurse! So on her return we now had a choice of two channels to watch! Whilst writing this account, I wondered what grandma would have made of today’s television, not only in colour, but numerous channels to choose from and people owning TVs with 50 inch screens. Now programmes are available 24 hours per day.
Barbara Hird Taken from ‘Glimpsing The Past With An Eye To The Future’, published by St Luke’s Church, Stapleford. Available from U Choose Smoothie Bar, Ilkeston.
Marilyn Lucia Carter Keates says her tale, Child of the Heathen, is set in 1968 in Alberta, Canada, where she lived for ten years between 1969 -1979. She told us: “I have a lifelong interest in Native American history and mythology and I wanted to incorporate this into the book. While I was there I made many friends among the Cree Indians and also worked with them for part of the time.” Since the death of his parents, eighteen year old Cree Indian, Deacon Pierce has been raised by his white adopted mother and his Cree grandmother. Deacon's life is changed forever when his father's terrifying past is revealed, and he begins to suspect it may be linked to the mysterious deaths in the town of Maskek. There are repercussions for his family and his best friend Clayton in this tale of dark love, hope and betrayal. Child of the Heathen is published by Rogue Phoenix Press, a company in America. Marilyn is launching the book on her birthday, 1st September, at the Seven Oaks Inn and Restaurant, Stanton by Dale. She is a member of the Ilkeston Theatre Company and is interested in all things supernatural.
Marilyn writes under the name Lucia Carter Keates
Last month’s solution is on Page 16 She also attends the Gothic weekends in Whitby. Marilyn says: “The price of the book is set by the company. From me and from Rogue Phoenix Press they will be £6.50 per copy. They can also be ordered from Amazon at 14.99 dollars (£11.36) and from Amazon.co.uk at 9.99 dollars (£7.57) These prices are for the paperback copies. I won't know the ebook price until after the release date.”
worked in a factory in later life while her husband stayed working down the pit. He used to take coal out in the morning, Did you read the poem Aberdare on page 9? have a couple of hours rest then work down I recently spent a few days in Wales with a the pit at night. good friend and she found this old poem her One day, the men on the night shift were asked to work in the day. Jean’s husband mum had written years ago. Her mum’s refused and stayed on his regular shift whilst name was Jean Jones. She was born on the rest of the men did as they were asked. 22nd December 1921 and died in 1998. There was a terrible accident in the mine My friend found the poem amongst some and they were all killed that day. He could old papers. It will resonate with any old miners who are still around in our area. My not believe he had lost all his mates. He was devastated and felt Someone must dad was a miner after he came out of the Army, as were his brothers and most of his have been looking out for him. friends. He hated the job. Apparently, the men only ever took jam or Coal mining was dirty and dangerous but it cheese sandwiches down the pit as everything went off or tasted funny. I am sure the put food on the table. So when pits were starting to close there was anxiety and hard- old miners in Ilkeston would be able to add more about that. ship in the Welsh valleys. Patricia Spencer Anyway, Jean, the writer of the poem,
The story behind the poem Aberdare — See Your Space.
How it works. People telephone CAP on a freephone number 0800 3280006 requesting help. The local debt centre manager with a support worker visits the enquirer in the privacy of their own home and collects all the financial information. On receipt of all the details CAP analyse the problems, recommend a way forward and seek the client’s agreement. A support worker will offer support to the client until they become debt free.
MUSIC TUITION
Tune in to your local radio station
Piano or Singing Lessons—Ages from 6—106 Based on Heanor Road Kids Piano lessons £12.50. Singing Lessons £25 per hour. Email ilkeston.academy@gmail.com telephone 07956 682718 or find us on Facebook:
Ilkeston Academy of Voice and Piano Ilkeston Adult Choir Tuesday nights at 7pm.
Great songs just for Erewash
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
tudents from Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise AcadOrmiston Year 13 S emy displayed their stunning
students display their impressive artwork
International students and local universities By Denny Taylor Denny was an A-level student at Sandiacre Friesland School, set to begin studying Meteorology at university this September. He is also a political activist of the Labour party and a keen writer, with a strong interest in the environment.
Many universities rely on their overseas students to help balance the budget sheets. With a hole in student finance that has existed since time immemorial, universities have constantly been looking for new ways to expand and tap into new revenue streams. While UK students can only be charged up to £9,250 per year, overseas students, according to TopUniversities.com, can be charged up to £35,000 per year1, making them a tempting cash cow for poor universities to tap into. The London School of Economics and Political Science, more com-
monly known as the LSE, has the UK’s highest proportion of foreign students, ranking in at 70% 2. The University of Derby meanwhile has only 8% foreign students3, according to their website, meaning they don’t rely on international students to help balance the books. While other universities would likely struggle should international students fall drastically in number, it is unlikely to financially affect the University of Derby in a significant way. Universities can often be a big boost to the local economy of small towns and cities like Derby. Many residents are employed directly by the university, and many more are in jobs that exist due to the boost brought to the local economy by the university - all those students have to shop somewhere! If the number of students at a university decreases, the cash flow of that local economy that is partially
dependent on the university will reduce, and the local economy could suffer, maybe even resulting in job losses. Under plans laid down by the government, overseas students are set to be included in the immigration figures, despite them coming to temporarily study, and not be permanent residents. Add that to the government’s desire to reduce net migration and the likely effect on EU students desire to come due to Brexit, it is likely to slash the number of overseas students choosing to study in the UK. While this will have many effects, one of the most significant will be reducing the fees earned by universities that have a high proportion of overseas students. Universities like the LSE listed above will likely struggle. However, with only 8% of students coming to Derby arriving from overseas, the University of Derby is unlikely to struggle. On the other hand, 1 in 4 students at the University of Nottingham4 are internationals, while at Nottingham Trent 1 in 10 students5 are from overseas, meaning Nottingham’s universities are far more likely to struggle than Derby, should the number of overseas students reduce over the coming years. Nottingham Trent and the University of Nottingham are far more likely to find the need to tap into new revenue streams, whereas Derby is set to have a financially sustainable future. Denny chatting with Alistair Campbell, journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, at a Sandiacre Friesland School event last March.
artwork at an end of year exhibition. Year 13 students’ BTEC National Extended Diploma Art and Design coursework was on show alongside A-level Art work. Some students also found out their BTEC results including Maxine Clay, 18, who achieved three Distinctions and will go on to De Montfort University to study Fine Art. She said: “I’ve also just been told that I’ve got a scholarship from the Unite Foundation which basically means that all of my accommodation is paid for throughout my course which his great news. It’s something that is only awarded to 70 students across the whole university.” Amelia Harris, 18, is going on to Loughborough University. She said: “For part of my coursework I looked at the differences between urban and rural. We were given a theme and then it was up to us to interpret it.” Georgia Hallsworth achieved two Distinctions and a Merit and is going to the University of Derby to study Fashion.
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She said: “The theme for my Alevel coursework was Jamaica and I looked at slavery and how it’s progressed to what it is today. I have Jamaican heritage in my family so I just thought it would be interesting to use it as my inspiration because it means something to me. I thought it would be good to find out more about the culture. I experimented with painting and distressing fabrics and that was inspired by thinking about how slaves were mistreated. “For my BTEC coursework I looked into Greek Mythology and the Greek God Poseidon, the God of Water. I tried to make fabrics look like the sea. I covered one dress in mussel shells, which meant my dad had to eat a lot of mussels.” Sarah Griffiths, Art teacher at OIEA, congratulated the students. She said: “This was the result of two years of hard work for the BTEC National Extended Diploma students. They’ve done an amazing amount of work and they just flourished throughout the course and made lots of progress. They used lots of different materials and techniques. Some went down the fashion and textiles route while others focused on fine art and graphic illustration.”
SUMMER/AUTUMN EVENTS
and learn more about this beautiful cemetery and other local groups who will be preSaturday 2nd September: Cedars and Larch- sent; listen to Ilkeston Brass whilst enjoying tea and cakes. es Care Home Summer Fayre, 11 till 2.30pm. Stalls, BBQ, Tombola, etc. Long Tuesday 12th September: Tunes on the Hill, Eaton Brass Band 12.15pm. Victoria Park, Ilkeston, 4 till 8pm. Live music and a DJ. Saturday 2nd September: West Hallam Village Show at the Village Hall. Fruit, vegeta- Monday 18th September: Argos Ilkeston 12 bles, flowers, floral art, bakery preserves, hour Spinathon at Rutland Sports Park, 7am crafts, photography, largest sunflower, art till 7pm in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. and children’s classes. Full details on webMonday, 18th September: Friends of Bensite: www.westhallamvillageshow.com nerley Viaduct monthly meeting, 7pm at Saturday 2nd September: Sandiacre & Risley the Gate Inn, Awsworth. All welcome. Gardenholders Assoc. Annual Show at Thursday 21st September: Sandiacre History Cloudside Junior School, Stanton Rd, Sandi- Society meeting, 7pm at Sandiacre Methodacre. Open to public 3pm. ist Church, Butt Street. AGM and Talk by Dr Saturday 2nd September: Friends of BenAnne Featherstone: Ilkeston’s Theatres and nerley Viaduct Workday. Details on FaceCinemas during First World War. book or from, Kieran Lee on 07823 536941. Saturday 23rd September: Harvest Moon Wednesday 6th September: RSPB Wildlife event, Kirk Hallam Lake, Godfrey Drive, 4.30 Information Stand at Kirk Hallam Lake, to 7.30pm. Lantern parade, circus skills, 11.30 am until 4.30 or 5.30pm (weather face painting, stalls. dependent). Take this rare chance as the Thursday, 12th October: Friends of Straw’s RSPB visit our lake and find out more about Bridge quarterly meeting. 7pm in the Bowls our local wildlife. Get involved with the Pavilion, Victoria Park. All Welcome. RSPB ‘Give Nature a Home’ campaign. Monday, 16th October: Friends of BenSaturday 9th September: Stanton Road nerley Viaduct monthly meeting. 7pm at Cemetery Autumn Fayre, 1 till 3pm. Come the Dew Drop Inn, Ilkeston. All welcome.
Argos Ilkeston Spinathon participants: Sarah Blank, Louise Gregory, Charlotte Hilton, and Michelle Normans with gym team officer Rosie Watson. Donate at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/michelle-normans1
The Way We Were
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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Dressed in their Sunday best A Sunday School Anniversary celebration at Bath Street Methodist Church, April 1962. Included in the picture is Mr Bernard Shaw, choirmaster. Photo submitted by Marina Charlton.
Rolls Royce Darts Champions But who are the forgotten players?
Photos: John Shelton
Several names have now been supplied for this photo of the Production Planning and Control Department darts team, winners of the Rolls Royce Inter-departmental League. But two others are still missing—can you help? Back row ( l to r): Keith Severn, Brian Parker, Daryl Poynton, — , Ron Straw, — , Brian Cairns. 2nd row: Stuart Mays, Danny Corns, Terry Whittaker, John Mallon. Front row: Ted Brett, Gordon Barker, Brian Eaton. It is believed the event took place at the Jolly Colliers pub on Cotmanhay Road around 1962-63. Photo submitted by Terry Whittaker.
Above: Another page from the Trade Section of the Ilkeston & District Directory of 1965/66
Light traffic days—Stanton Road, Ilkeston in 1916
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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All in a good cause: From the Newdigate to Skegness
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t 6 a.m. on Saturday July 15th thirteen cyclists, dressed in matching blue T shirts, wheeled out from the car park of The Newdigate on High Lane to start a 96 mile (or so) sponsored ride to Skegness. So what motivates a person to give up their Saturday lie-in and subject their body to such unnatural stress? For some it was a case of euphoria after a few beers in the pub with their persuasive mates! Others saw it as a personal challenge. Some didn’t give it much thought at all. But a common motivating factor was that it was for a good cause namely to raise money for the Ilkeston- based charity: Ben’s Den. Some of the group had done this route before and knew what they were taking on. Others were on their first sponsored ride and, in one case, the cyclist had bought her bike only eight weeks earlier. Without the services of a Dave Brailsford to whip the team into shape, training schedules varied but the more conscientious (or maybe the ones who needed more practice!) trained regularly on Sunday mornings , heading out to cover 30 or 40 miles on local roads while the rest of us were still turning over for an extra half hour in bed. These sessions often ended at The Nutbrook Café where a bacon sandwich helped to restore morale. On the big day the weather at the
start was perfect: cool but with no wind and hints of blue sky to come. Apart from the odd, light, refreshing shower the weather stayed good all day. At the head of the peloton as they cycled through Ilkeston was a weird four-seater contraption called a Bus Bike, engineered by members of the team as a novelty. It was also called The Death Trap by those who rode it because it was extremely difficult to steer or stop. This was its maiden voyage and maybe its last. It took four very fit young men to keep it under control and they were fighting it all the way. A recovery truck tailed it, warning other road users to give it a wide berth. The other riders followed at varying distances behind the Bus Bike with no protection from the overtaking motorists intent on beating them to the coast. The 96 mile route had been plotted in advance but some last minute decisions introduced a few variations. One group did a detour through Calverton after taking a wrong turn in Papplewick and blamed it on GPS equipment failure. Another group, seeking to escape from the perils of the A17, turned off on a minor road which, after 6 miles, led them back to the A17 in more or less the same place. Thus total mileage for the run varied according to who was navigating. It was established, however, that by the time they reached the finish everyone had completed more
than a hundred miles! There were recovery vans and a back up team to help if needed but the ride was remarkably trouble free except for some minor problems. The only puncture was dealt with very efficiently at one of the re-fuelling stops where the team stoked up on healthy snacks provided by The Potato House of Ilkeston. A bad case of cramp delayed one of the groups for about half an hour but after some remedial massage, and encouragement from his mates, the rider got back in the saddle and completed. Other knee problems were sorted out by an emergency application of Voltarol. Stops were kept to a minimum because, as one member of the team put it: Getting going again is hard. In Skegness they were welcomed by a crowd of friends and family boosted by customers from Wolfies Wine Bar who cheered them on their two celebratory laps round the Clock Tower. How did they feel? Elated certainly and maybe exhausted but overall a great sense of achievement. For some, getting out of bed so early on a Saturday morning had been the worst part. For others, it was the perilous stretch along the A17. One rider said that the last 17 miles seemed so interminable he began to doubt the mileage signs. All agreed, however, that it was the support and banter from their team mates which kept them going and the knowledge that their efforts would raise a considera-
Chris Brown, Simon Hughes, Dean Hill, Russ Henshaw ble sum of money to help families with seriously ill children. And their advice to others thinking about taking part in a similar event: Just do it!
in 2003. They have used the money raised through various sponsored events to buy and equip holiday caravans in Mablethorpe. They currently run four caravans which are offered free of charge to families with seriously ill children so that the family ***** can enjoy a break from what can The thirteen riders would like to thank their brilliant support crew who often be gruelling regimes of treatment. Money is constantly needed were with them throughout the day not only to provide more caravans and also all the generous people but also for routine maintenance. whose sponsorship enabled them to raise approximately £9,000 for Ben’s If you would like to make a donation Den. to Ben’s Den, or you have ideas for future fundraising activities, you can Ben’s Den is a registered charity founded by Tracey and Darren Parker read more about the charity on the to celebrate the life and spirit of their website: www.bensden.com. son, Ben, who died from Leukaemia B.E.W.
PARIS—ILKESTON CYCLE RIDE FOR ALZHEIMER’S As we were approaching our print day, George Trueman was preparing to cycle from Paris to Ilkeston—420 miles in two days over the August bank holiday weekend. If you would like to support him and raise money for the Alzheimer’s charity, his just giving page is https:// www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/george-trueman
It’s written in the stars
My arms hurt after drinking my bottle of water today. ...It was an Evian. John Allen
ARIES ~ 21 MARCH – 20 APRIL Your original thoughts and ideas could well be focused on a self-help plan – possibly a pet project in the area of selfcare: food, diet, health, etc. You can see new ways to make use of the status quo. This could mean a special work situation for you. Good luck Aries! TAURUS ~ 21 APRIL – 21 MAY Partnership matters, and relationships of all kinds look to be in focus this month, Taurus. Work related and other business deals should run smoothly. GEMINI ~ 22 MAY – 21 JUNE You may well be having some strong feelings about the possessions of others. Your normal, intellectual outlook and approach could well have an emotional edge this month. CANCER ~ 22 JUNE – 23 JULY Travel matters look to be on your mind this month. Holiday plans, maybe, or your broader interest in the subject. Starting an evening class in the Autumn term, perhaps? LEO ~ 24 JULY – 23 AUG Taking care of business is where it’s at this month, Leo. Time to use your powerful mentality and great energy to pursue your cherished dreams. You have no trouble putting your feelings into words.A gift to use wisely! VIRGO ~ 24 AUG – 23 SEPT Turning at least one of your top dreams into solid reality, is your personal challenge this month. Serving others through a group project of some kind – is what you’d really like to achieve. You’re a natural leader Virgo!
LIBRA ~ 24 SEPT – 23 OCT Your talent to understand the problems of others and ability to show the best way forward, could be your top card this month. Your understanding attitude will always impress! SCORPIO ~ 24 OCT – 22 NOV Very personal issues seem to be under the ‘Astro-Spotlight’ this month, Scorpio. The way you feel and think about certain things, may take up much of your precious time. SAGITTARIUS ~ 23 NOV – 21 DEC Keeping it ‘Short and simple’ is the way you like it to be. The same goes for money. Lavish spending sprees may be OK for others -but a sane and sensible purchase, without expensive frills, is your way. Don’t be talked out of it! CAPRICORN ~ 22 DEC – 20 JAN Your ability to put the feelings of others into words could well be your ace card this month. Play it well ~ and get yourself a well earned pat on the back! AQUARIUS ~ 21 JAN – 19 FEB Thoughts, ideas and issues regarding your home and security, could well occupy your mind this month. The importance of feeling safe and secure in your situation could well be your priority now. PISCES ~ 20 FEB – 20 MARCH Your creative juices could be fired up this month, and any ideas you get for a dramatic tale should be worth serious consideration. An opportunity to read for children could make their day ~ and yours! Richard Servante
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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A conversation with Ashley Gething, much travelled film-maker and directing. Ashley now lives in London with his wife and three children. His wife is a drama commissioner and was very privileged a few weeks ago to be able to talk to makes decisions about what we Ashley Gething, the director of the watch on TV. One of the programmes she commissioned was acclaimed TV documentary Dione of my personal favourites, ana, Our Mother: Her Life And Legacy. Amongst his other credits Downton Abbey. are documentaries about Richard Over the years in his career he has III, Donald Campbell and of met many famous people: actors, course, Our Queen at Ninety, last politicians, and scientists amongst them, but of course the most fayear. Some of you may know that Ashley mous person has to be Queen Elizais an Ilkeston boy. However, I was beth when he directed Our Queen at Ninety. still very nervous about phoning him. I need not have put myself through that stress, as he was lovely They were very to talk to, really down to earth. Ashley started his school life at brave to go public Scargill Primary School and then with their story went on to study at Trent College. During this time he lived with his parents in High Lane, West Hallam Ashley has had to learn most of the to begin with and then Longfield other roles to be a producer and Lane, Ilkeston. director, as he has to be involved in He worked for BBC Radio Derby every part of the process of making for a while and cut his teeth, so to a documentary. For example, he has speak, doing a three minute piece had to learn how to direct a camerafor radio every day. He then moved man, and says all the basic skills for to television work with East Midthis he picked up in our area. He lands Today in the early 90s. He has to know more or less everyone has also worked with John Craven else’s jobs to be able to tell them on the BBC’s popular Countryfile what he wants from them, so that he programme. can get exactly the result he is lookAshley has travelled all around the ing for. world many times and has been to Sometimes the required skills are just about every continent, living in complex, and he has to deal with all Australia in 1999 for a while. the rules and regulations, including political correctness and royal etiIn 2000 he was making documenquette. taries in London, both producing
By Patricia Spencer
I
David Potter’s Music Corner
Looking at the local and national performing arts scene, past and present. There are times when you discov1 er just what a small world this is and I had just that experience myself
a short while ago when I got into conversation with a lady by the name of Judith Smith following my recent article on Nottingham’s Dungeon club back in the 1960’s. I’ve had a fair bit of feedback and contact with your memories of those halcyon days and nights but I was especially pleased to hear from Judith because she had actually worked there. Sniffing an opportunity to dig a bit deeper on this one your intrepid reporter did just that and embarked on a tale that started in Ilkeston and ended up in Rome. The story starts with Nora Heskett, daughter of a former Ilkeston Mayor and Mayoress Heskett in the 1930’s (see picture) beginning her own family which included Judith who attended Cavendish School. Work in the Dungeon club kitchen led to a quick promotion “front of house” promoting Chicken and Chips in a basket to the hungry clubbers (and I can personally testify how good they were) and this eventually extended to other clubs in the circuit at Manches-
The Queen at Ninety took four months to complete. Ashley said it is always a complex jigsaw process to make these documentaries and until he sees the finished product he never knows what the end result will be. All the basics he has learnt then come together in the finished piece of work. Ashley says he has an amazing job! He counts himself lucky to be in this profession. He makes on average two films a year and has to travel a lot for each one. He never knows what it is going to be next as he covers anything from history, religion, art and drama, usually a new subject every six months. He said, “You cannot get bored in my job.” Ashley says his life has been amazing, and he puts this down to the help and support he always had from his mum Sylvia and his dad David. When he thinks about it all in quiet moments and he wonders why and how he came to be in this profession, he puts it down to his dad sitting down with him to watch documentaries such as The World At War. This obviously gave him his interest in history and also the medium of television. Ashley and I spoke about the Princes, William and Harry. He said they were very brave to go public with their story. They were very open and candid; they loved her so much and this came across in the proThere’s been a plethora of films, 2 plays and presentations around over the past year or so based on vari-
From Ilkeston to royal circles: Ashley Gething gramme. They wanted everyone to share how they felt about her and to show the real Princess Diana. It was so sad when they talked about cutting short their last phone call to their mum. But they were not to know then that they would never see her again. They were aged only twelve and fifteen when she died twenty years ago. I watched the programme with tears in my eyes for the boys at the loss of their mum. She died so young
07842 821912 or by emailing: lindawoodroffe@live.co.uk It promises to be a fascinating and ous events, anniversaries and stories entertaining evening and, I hope, the concerning the Great War of 1914-18 first of many such more to come. and very interesting they’ve been too but it’s very refreshing to hear of the Another date for your diary this month is Sat. 23rd Sept. at the Flamsubject being approached from a steed Centre on Albert Street, Ilkessomewhat different perspective. ton. Between 1.00 and 5.00 p.m. “So Long, Farewell” (we’ll be back there’s a Vintage Market( free admisbefore you know it) is an innovative sion), with stalls all now fully piece of work in word and song creat- booked, followed by a concert at ed by Linda Woodroffe, a resident of 7.30pm to 11pm featuring a whole Belper Folk Club. It follows the story host of varied local entertainment.(£5 of, not only those who went to war, and under 12’s free). More inforbut those who were left behind and mation from reveals an insight into their determiricey.lindsey@hotmail.co.uk nation , emotions and the aftermath Finally..the great “PA or not to PA” when war was over. debate rumbles on so recently I did a The production involves the regulars little experiment at one of our local ter, Sheffield and Birmingham. at the club together with guests Keith venues. Politely declining its use “Tempted by the bright lights gleam- Kendrick and Sylvia Needham. almost 100% of the audience gave me in’ darn t’ Landan she ‘as gorn” It’s being staged at the club’s usual their full attention and participation (lawks a’mercy governor forgive my venue (see picture) at The Old Kings and clearly heard everything I said. attempts at a Cockney accent;.it’s one Head, Days Lane, Belper, DE56 1NP I’ll leave that one with you…. of my party pieces) to work in the PR on Thursday 28th September at 8pm. davidilkeston@gmail.com or 0115 Tickets are just £5 and are available industry including a stint at the Na930 6534. (or can be reserved) from Linda on tional Film Theatre meeting and greeting the likes Michael Cain, Peter Sellers, Paul Newman, John Mills, and Charlton Heston. How’s that for an impressive piece of name dropping…I doubt she’d have come across that little lot in Ilkeston. Several upward moves later Judith is now happily established with her own family in the eternal city of Rome successfully running her own business and, I’m happy to report, one of the growing band of regular avid Ilkeston Life readers around the world who just can’t seem to let go. How does that saying go? “You can take the girl out of Ilkeston but you can’t take the Ilkeston out of the girl.”
when she still had so much to give. The boys should know that many of us loved her too, for her humanness as well as her caring and compassionate nature. Ashley sought to convey this in his documentary. I think everyone will agree the programme was a great watch and a fresh and revealing glimpse into the world of royalty and the Princess who touched the lives of millions.
The Probus Club of Ilkeston Meeting - August 2017 The meeting of our Club this month was again well attended. This year, to date we have welcomed 5 new members to our fold, and we wish them many memorable lunches and events for the future. The presentation this month was provided by Marye ArnettClark and her assistance dog Tilly. The Arena Church provided us with a delicious meal, served by their professional and amiable staff. Marye is confined to a wheelchair, but would hate to be called disabled. She is able to lead a full and active life and frequently drives around the country in her converted vehicle, giving talks at meetings like ours and at various shows and events. To do this she relies on the support she receives from her Labrador Tilly. Marye and Tilly have been together for about three and a half years. Two years ago Marye approached Dog AID (Assistance in Disability ) to help her train Tilly to the required standard to be classified as an Assistance Dog. Dog AID's mission is to empower the less able; by supplying the pet dog owner with a trainer to help give them the knowledge and skills to train their pet dog to become a qualified Assistance Dog. Marye gave us a demonstration of the type of assistance Tilly can provide, including undressing, giving alarms, getting laundry from washing machine, and fetching her mobile (an essential piece of kit in the event of a fall or injury). What was remarkable was the level of bonding between Marye and Tilly. It was obvious that Tilly enjoys every moment of her work.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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All my yesterdays working on the railway By Roderick Fowkes
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ike so many other boys of my generation, I wanted to be an engine driver; two boys in my class had applied successfully for the position of engine cleaner at Toton Motive Power Depot. My dreams were dashed in 1956 when I went for a medical at Derby station. So much depended upon having perfect eyesight and I was extremely nervous. Fearful of failing, I became confused over white, yellow and orange colours flashed in different sequences, gradually getting smaller in size to simulate signals at various distances. The examination comprised tests for ordinary and colour vision. There was also an ingenious book designed by a Japanese professor called Ishiara. It contained various pages incorporating a number interposed in coloured dots, the number being identifiable by someone with normal colour vision. Those with defective vision may see different numbers or no number at all. Forty-eight hours later my apprehension was realised. The caller-up from Toton was the bringer of bad news. I opened the letter with trepidation, half expecting the worst. I had not attained the required colour vision level and was therefore unsuitable for the footplate grade. It was truly the darkest period I had known; I probably wept at the time. The lifetime ambition to be an engine driver was over; I had failed at the first hurdle, and later it turned out to be all the more poignant that my two classmates, who had been successful in joining the footplate grade as cleaners, left after only a short time. The consolation of being offered the position of junior porter, which at the time I did not take up, I don’t recollect why, was of little consequence. Just what type of work did I now want? Still reeling from the disappointment of a lifelong desire to be an engine driver, I went to work for Jones Stroud, a textile firm in Long Eaton.
After almost five months in the wilderness, help was at hand, and it came by way of a porter at Draycott & Breaston station. I still had a yearning for the railway and kept in touch with happenings locally in the shape of wee George Mellors at the station. A likeable fellow, George rode the station bicycle in a very uncertain manner when he was delivering parcels between trains; he was also renowned for his rendering of Draycott in his high-pitched falsetto voice when a train arrived at the station. One day, he was helping me mend my bicycle when he mentioned that there was a vacancy at Trent for a junior porter, a position I had earlier turned down. This opportunity could not be allowed to pass; I applied for the job, was successful, and began my thirty-nine-year career with British Railways on 14th January 1957. I reported to A.W. (Tony) Smith the Stationmaster; he explained the role of junior porter general-purpose relief, rate of pay 63 shillings (£3 15p in today’s money) per week and the signal boxes at which I would be relieving at as a control reporter: Sheet Stores Junction, Trent Station South Junction, Toton Centre, Stanton Gate North Junction, Ilkeston South Junction and Beeston North. As Trent was my home station, time spent travelling to outlying signalboxes would equate to a walking time of 20 minutes to the mile, unless a train service was available. It was extremely remunerative to relieve at Ilkeston South Junction on the early turn, realising 4.5 hours extra pay. There was no shortage of characters in the signalboxes, whether regular or relief men, at Ilkeston South Junction, Arthur Cox suggested that a greater yield of potatoes could be achieved by earthing them up at planting time whilst his colleague Walter was heavily into ministerial matters. At Stanton Gate, an altercation between the signalman and the Yard Foreman very nearly came to fisticuffs. It was on the down No. 2 goods line between Trowell Junction and Ilkes-
ton during the early 1950s that Westinghouse Brake Trials were conducted with empty 16-ton fitted mineral wagons, these trials also ran to Bedford. In addition, the Toton-Brent fully-fitted test trains sported a variety of express motive power – ‘Britannias’, ‘Royal Scots’, ‘Jubilees’, Stanier Class 5 and BR Standard Class 5 locomotives. A spell at Toton Centre covering a vacancy was, to say the least, interesting. With contra-rotating shifts between signalman and control reporter, one either loathed working alongside the redoubtable Bill Butler, or, strangely enough, as in my case, enjoyed it. Perhaps one week in three was sufficient, for at times working side by side with Bill resembled something more akin to a pantomime. He could be a cantankerous individual and had a love-hate relationship with quite a few drivers. Bill liked nothing more than sliding open a window and thrusting out a red light to stop an engine with incorrect lamps. This was brought about when an engine off a train that had drawn onto the Up arrival line, was released for the depot or one of the Down yards. After reversing on the independent line the fireman would be too tired to get off the engine to changeover the lamps. Geoff Wall always saw it as a relief when his week with Bill ended; back to more tranquil surroundings with either Jimmy Trigger or the placid George Bailey. Bill’s father had been a signalman and was also reputed to have been an obstreperous individual. Like father, like son. Fog in those days was, “a three-way killer. It chokes you. It chills you. It blinds you”. The old-fashioned yellow pea-souper fog whose density did not lift for days on end was potent in the extreme for old people and those with breathing difficulties. During the war years and the period after, the Toton area was chronically ‘on the block’, notably on the Up side, with acceptance on to the reception roads funereally slow. William ‘Bill’ Webb (pictured), a driver at
Toton spoke about going out to relieve a train somewhere on the Erewash Valley line, sitting on the engine until he himself was relieved, often without the engine moving any significant distance, only to find when signing on for his next turn of duty that he would be relieving the same train, albeit somewhat nearer the marshalling yard. It was claimed by more than one driver, “I didn’t buy my house just by driving trains – it was waiting on the Up Goods line on the Erewash Valley”. Driver William Webb’s fifty years of service at Toton motive power depot was only briefly interrupted for a time in the 1930s when he was put back to Derby for a short spell. “Foreman,” said Driver Webb, “I’ve an hour to do if you want a bit of a job doing.” “You could have had a position like this one Bill,” replied the foreman when signing his ticket; to which the driver retorted, “Not likely, my job lies in tearing about the iron road” – this remark had often been the prelude to several interesting reflections of Bill’s footplate career. Bill’s three brothers, George, Rowland and Jack had all been goods guards at Toton. Indeed, their father was a driver at Toton and their grandfather was a signalman at Long Eaton Junction until he was 70 years of age and his name purported to have been indelibly impressed inside the clock in the signal box. Many years later, Rowland was my shift clerk in the Down Hump Room at Toton. At his home and later in a residential home, Bill fondly recalled his foot-
When Bruce sang next to me
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was sad to hear the news of Bruce Forsyth’s death on the 18th August. He was a true professional and a favourite TV star for many people. London born, Bruce began his career at the age of fourteen in the middle of World War Two. He entertained the American troops stationed over here for the Red Cross. He went on to do a spell at the Windmill Theatre where he gained a lot of experience leading to the show he will always best known by my generation, forSunday Night At The London Palladium. I remember going to see him in Bourne-
mouth in 1971. He was playing at the Winter Gardens along with Moira Stuart, Ray Alan and Lord Charles. Bruce would only have been 43 at that time. He sang, danced, played the piano and joked his way through the evening’s entertainment. At one point he came down into the audience and along our row of seats. He stood in between me and my husband to sing a whole song. It was amazing. He was such a talented entertainer. After the show I went backstage to get his autograph. I will always remember him walking very quickly towards me. If I remember right, he was wearing flared trousers, a very colourful shirt and a wide grin. He was tying a scarf around his neck. He signed my programme, chatting away all the time. He was very relaxed and happy to talk to everyone. Bruce had 70 years in show business and was a patron of many charities, including children’s ones. We all know he loved his golf
and apparently he loved Bourbon-two fingers-with ice. He was married three times, Wilnelia being his last wife and according to his friends the love of his life. Bruce was a National Treasure who lived life to the full. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998,and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours. He will be very much missed by all his fans. The Angels will now have the honour of his company. God bless you Brucie.
Patricia Spencer
plate experiences, in particular with the mighty Beyer-Garratts, a locomotive that he positively revered. As he explained, he liked nothing better than running bunker-first, where he could sit with his feet up without smoke and steam enveloping the cab and obscuring the sighting of signals. Some fastidious drivers however, did not agree and they would insist on the engine being turned before working the train. As there was no turntable on the system that was large enough to accommodate these locomotives, they had to be turned on the triangle at Trent, or at Cricklewood at the London end of the line. These are some of my many memories of working with real characters with their own real stories on the local railway scene.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Chaucer School in the 1940s-50s
Local Walking Groups Where they’re going this month
Erewash Ramblers
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haucer Infant and Junior School was where all the children from the Station Road area went. It was split into three parts - a nursery section and girls section were on the Chaucer Street side and the boys section was set on the Cranmer Street side. It was a big school with several hundred children attending and like most state schools of that era pretty strict and regimented. A bell would be rung to mark the end of playtime or to start the day and everything stopped dead, not a sound. Then a whistle would be blown and everyone would hurry to their various form files, and process into assembly, or to their various rooms, all in silence. When all the girls were out in the playground playing their different games, the noise from them all was pretty terrific with the boys out on the other side of the building in a separate playground adding to the noise. Miners, many of whom lived in the terraced houses surrounding the school, would be working shifts and would be in bed during the day. It must have been something of a relief for some of them when that bell went to stop the noise! Although they must have got used to it, if they were anything like our dad; after a shift down the pit, he was that dog tired he wouldn’t have noticed a bomb going off! Yet he was always up at the crack of dawn even when not at work. If my sister and I tried to stay in bed a little longer at the weekend though, he would be down in the kitchen early in the morning banging on the ceiling with the broom handle, “Come on lets be having you,” he would shout, “Do you know what time it is?” ‘Yes’, we would think, ‘blooming early, leave me alone!’ Bang, bang, bang went the broom handle on the ceiling Miss Hawley was the Head Mistress and very strict, you would tremble if she wanted to see you. Well, being a little nervy, I would. Her sister was also one of the mistresses. My Mam was once taking a net curtain down and re-
RARE POST CARDS FROM THE PAST These post cards from the collection of Ged Munro show St Mary’s Church before the Cantelupe Centre was added and a map of Derbyshire highlighting places of interest; Ilkeston’s claim to fame being: Hoisery, iron and concrete pipes are made here.
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Chaucer Girls School circa 1949
placing the garden cane being used for a curtain rod. “Here”, she said handing me the cane, “take this to your teacher and ask her if she can use it.” Being a naïve girl, and that used to doing whatever I was told, I took it and presented it to my form teacher. “My Mam said can you use this,” I said, proudly handing her the cane. “Oh, how kind of her Betty,” she replied, “hold your hand out you can be the first to try it.” It was a shock, I held my hand out, but she had a sense of humour and only gave me a token tap. When I went home and told Mam, she laughed and said, “serves you right you daft apeth, I didn’t really mean for you to take it, now get it back I need it for this curtain!” The caretaker, Mr Horridge always seemed to be shovelling coke down the stoke hole which was used to heat the school (not very well) blithely ignoring the screaming, shouting girls racing madly around him. It was a good school and we were all mostly well treated by the
female staff. I was glad to have been born a girl at that time though and going to a girls’ school, after hearing some of the stories the boys would tell; they had a much harsher time of it. It was quite legal and normal for teachers and parents to beat their children within reason, and many did. Not in our house though. Our Dad was a softie, although Mam’s tongue could be like a cat o’ nine tails when she lost her temper. Once a year the local newspaper, The Pioneer, would display awful NSPCC photographs of children from all over the country in their shop window at the bottom of Bath Street; children who had been so badly beaten they had to be taken into care. Those images would be thought far too graphic to show today’s public. I remember looking at them with Dad. “Those poor, poor children,” he would shake his head and say. Painting and narrative by Betty O’Neill
SANDIACRE & DIST. PROBUS Monthly Walk – Thursday, 3rd August 2017 Sandiacre and District Probus Club met for their monthly walk on Thursday, 3rd August 2017 at the ‘Mallard’, Heanor Road, Ilkeston. The small party of six walkers led by member Peter Flint set off into the area of Shipley Country Park. The Park itself covers an area of 600 acres and is an area of woodland, parkland, hills, lakes, trails and an abundance of wildlife with 18 miles of footpaths. The route took the walkers past the area of the dormant site of Britannia Park. This park was opened in 1985, and closed after a few months being re-opened as the American Adventure Theme Park in 1987, this again being closed in 2007. Adjacent to the redundant park notice was taken of the Shipley Woodside Pumping Station 1847 – 1961, this being a remnant of the Woodside No. 3 shaft and is utilised as a minewater control pumping station, the original headstocks still remaining. The walkers carried on into the Shipley Country Park noted for several lakes from its mining past, and walked adjacent to the old Shipley Hall grounds, a hall developed by the Miller-Mundy family in the 18th century. Returning to the ‘Mallard’ for lunch, the walkers were joined by a further 15 members and their wives for a splendid lunch, a carvery lunch in some cases. Peter Flint was thanked by Walks Co-ordinator Peter Hope for organising a fascinating walk and a fine lunch venue. Thanks was also given by Club President Peter Barber especially to the Mallard staff and interspersed with several comical stories.
More about Erewash Ramblers from Yvonne Ashby on 0115 930 4054. Sunday 3rd September. 10.30am. 10 miles. Lose Hill & Hollins Cross. Meet at Hope car park, P&D. SK171835, S33 6AA. Leader Dennis Salisbury. Wednesday 6th September. 10.30am. Short walk. Church Wilne. Meet car park opposite church. SK448318. Leader Sandie Jones. Thursday 7th September. 10.30am. 6 miles. Hulland Ward Area. Meet Hulland Ward village hall, Dog Lane. SK249474, DE6 3EG. Leaders Jacqui & Royce Drew. Saturday 9th September. 10.30am. 5½ miles. Constitution Hill. Meet at car park behind Draycott chip shop. SK442333, DE72 3LZ. Leader David Bricknell. Monday 11th September. 10.30am. 7½ miles. Stanley/BaldockMill/Locko. Meet at Bluebells Ice Cream parlour, Brunswood Farm Park. SK406374, DE21 7TL. Leader Brian Marshall. Wednesday 13th September. 10.30am. Short walk. Hemington/Lockington area. Meet Station Road, Hemington, off Ryecroft Road. SK454282. Leaders Fay and John Blackburn Sunday 17th September. 10.30am. 8½ miles. Stanley, Broomfield & Morley Mound. Meet layby, A608 near Morley Hayes. SK397422, DE7 6DG. Leader Brian Marshall. Wednesday 20th September. 10.30am. Short walk. Macmillan Walk. Meet Blind Lane, Breaston. SK459335. Leader Brian Marshall. Wed.20th September. .Evening Social. 7.30pm. “Bennerley Viaduct” - presentation by Kieran Lee. West Hallam Village Hall. Thursday 21st September. 10.30am. 6½ miles. Mapperley Area. Meet at Newdigate Arms, West Hallam. SK443421, DE7 6HW. Leader Brian Marshall. Saturday 23rd September. 10.30am. 5½ miles. Dale Abbey and Locko Park. Meet at Dale Abbey, roadside parking. SK436389, DE7 4PP. Leader Audrey Pilkington. Monday 25th September. 10.30am. 6 miles. Below Baslow Edge. Meet at Baslow car park, P&D. SK258721, DE45 1RU. Leader Dennis Salisbury. Wednesday 27th September. 10.30am. Short walk. Trent Meadows. Meet Trent Meadows car park, Long Eaton. SK501329. Leader Sandie Jones.
Ilkeston Rambling Club More about Ilkeston Rambling Club from Jim Cresswell, 07747 419380. Sunday 3rd September: Park at Heath Road J29 M1 for the start of a 10-mile walk leading towards Bolsover (lunch). Leader Clive Unwin. Thursday 7th September: Club social evening at the Poacher, South Street, 7.45pm. Sunday 17th September: Park at Melbourne for a 7 -mile walk with lunch at Breedon on the hill. Leader Clive Unwin.
Long Eaton Rambling Club Sunday 3rd Sept. Parwich Circular, 9 miles. Meet 9.00am Long Eaton Town Hall. Sunday 10th Sept. Ilkeston Circular, 8 miles. (Part of the Amber Valley & Erewash Walking Festival) Meet 10.00am Drummond Road car park, Ilkeston. Thursday 14th Sept. Stanton by Dale Circular, 8 miles. (Part of the Amber Valley & Erewash Walking Festival). Meet 10.00am Breaston Cemetery car park, Longmoor Lane. Saturday 16th Sept. Shardlow Circular, 8 miles. (Part of the Amber Valley & Erewash Walking Festival). Meet 10.00am Trent Lock car park. Sunday 17th Sept. Thorpe Circular, 9 miles. Meet 9.00am Long Eaton Town Hall Sunday 24th Sept.- Spondon Linear, 8 miles (Bus Back) Meet 10.00am Long Eaton Town Hall. All walks meet in Long Eaton to car share to keep travel costs to a minimum. Many more events and activities are organised throughout the year, including day trips out, weekends away and holidays. So come and join our friendly club on one of our forthcoming walks. Full details can be found on the web site above or alternatively you can phone John for more information onIlkeston 0115 849 5813. Life, August 2017
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ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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ello fellow gardeners…
Welcome to Septembers’ Life in the Garden. As summer draws to a close, Autumn is waiting in the wings to put on its performance and what a show it always is! In this month’s issue, look out for details of my next coach trip to Ness Botanic gardens, Catch up on our last trip to Barnsdale gardens and make a note of some jobs to keep you busy in your garden throughout September. Happy gardening everybody! Continue to feed and dead-head hanging basket and containers and they will keep flowering till the first frosts. Now is the time to buy and plant spring flowering bulbs. Plant hyacinth and amaryllis bulbs for forcing for an early display. Fill gaps in borders with autumn flowering plants such as Sedum, Aster, Chrysanthemum and Japanese Anemones to extend the colour to the end of the season. Keep Camellias and Rhododendrons well watered at this time of year to ensure that next year's buds develop well.
den party is returning to Ness and will be taking place throughout the gardens. The garden party will feature a host of gardening gurus, including Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness, Anne Swithinbank, James Wong, Matthew Biggs, Pippa Greenwood, Roy Lancaster, and many more. This is a unique event and will include two huge recordings of the BBC's flagship gardening radio programme. This is your chance to meet the GQT team face-toface, watch demonstrations and take part in a whole range of activities. There will be time to explore the gardens at Ness. Ness is situated near the English and Welsh border on The Wirral, near the city of Chester. They occupy a site of 64 acres overlooking the Dee estuary. The Gardens evolved
Life in the Garden by Arthur Kilpin Bulley (1861-1942), a wealthy cotton trader from Liverpool. Arthur began to create the garden in 1898. After his death, In 1948, his daughter, Lois, gave the Gardens upon a conditional Trust to the University of Liverpool. It promises to be a fantastic day out! With a full day ahead of you, your day starts off with a Breakfast roll and a hot drink from the Seven Oaks Inn, Stanton By Dale which is where the coach will depart and it will be £30.00 per person this includes breakfast, coach travel and entrance into Ness and the BBC event. Places are limited
Visit to Ness Botanical Garden and BBC Gardeners’ Question Time anniversary party Join me Gardener Steve on Saturday 16th September for a day trip to Ness Botanical Gardens on Merseyside and also this year marks the 70th anniversary of BBC Gardeners' Question Time, which first broadcast in 1947. To celebrate, the annual summer gar-
The Barnsdale Gardens coach party
These reserves are adjacent to each other and are easily accessible on foot from Ilkeston town centre or from Straw’s Bridge car park. Between unny intervals between the pass- them they provide a variety of habitats that support many of these coling clouds warmed things up enough for dragonflies, damselflies ourful insects. and butterflies to show themselves Jim and his party saw the following on Sunday, 30th July, in the three on their walk: Local Nature Reserves down in the Dragonflies: emperor; brown hawker; Nutbrook Valley. Jim Steele, But- southern hawker; common darter (see terfly Conservation Officer for photograph right); black tailed skimLowland Derbyshire, led a group mer. around the Straw’s Bridge ponds, Damselflies: common blue; blue Manor Floods and Pewit Carr. tailed; banded demoiselle.
The Friends of Straw’s Bridge
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West Hallam Amateur Gardening Society Steve Lovell from Lincoln was the guest speaker for our well attended meeting in July. His lecture was entitled 'Garden Features, Paths to Pergolas ' and his intention was to give an insight into garden design by looking at key garden features and how to pull them all together. He certainly managed this, providing us with a wonderful visual journey around many beautiful gardens. We learned that the main considerations when designing a garden are the local climate, water table and terrain. When planting choose a colour palette, strong or muted and research plants so that individual specimens don't take over the garden and make sure that they are suitable for the location. Place feature plants in strategic points in the garden and try to suggest something beyond the garden even when there's not. Sometimes it can be hard to estimate how many plants to use when planting a new border ie plant intensity. Steve recommended a 3 year plan to allow for growth so that the borders don't become overfull. Maintenance is also a factor to bear in
mind, we were even shown one garden with artificial grass! Garden structure can be created from hedges, topiary and shady arches. Formal planting can also create structure and his presentation illustrated how planting can be used to mimic architecture. Steve's main interest is in the plants used in garden design, but he showed us how styles of path, and stone, used for hard landscaping can transform a garden. Steve is enthusiastic about wildlife too, which he opined, should be catered for in all gardens by planting nectar rich plants and providing insect havens, such as log piles. Fencing has replaced hedges in many modern gardens and this should be made hedgehog friendly by making small holes in the bottom of concrete panels thus enabling these lovely little creatures to travel between gardens on their nocturnal forages. We all enjoyed our visual journey and were enthused to make more of our own gardens. Our next meeting will be on Monday 18th September when Rob & Diane Cole will talk about Garden Styles, How to do things differently. Sue Morris
Butterflies: meadow brown; gatekeeper; ringlet; comma; peacock; red admiral; large and small white; green veined white; holly blue. By the time you read this the annual bat walk will also have been held, weather permitting. Bats don’t like cold, wet and windy weather either! The next meeting of the group has been arranged for Thursday, October 12th at 7pm in the new surroundings of the recently refurbished bowls pavilion in Victoria Park. Come along and find out what the Fosbies get up to. More information on Facebook or www.friendsofstrawsbridge.co.uk
Jeff Wynch
By Steve Walton
and very popular so early booking is advised. For more information or to book your place, You can call the booking line on 07413 408751 or email infoblueskiesthelimit@gmail.com or myself at gardenersteve24@live.co.uk. Me and the Blue Skies The Limit crew look forward to hearing from you soon.
Our first garden trip to Barnsdale Gardens and Gates Nursery On Saturday 15th July our first garden trip took place organised by Blue Skies the Limit events and adventure along with me the host for the day Gardener Steve and twenty three keen gardeners set off by coach from the Seven Oaks Inn, Stanton-by-Dale and headed to the beautiful Rutland countryside. After a hearty breakfast roll and a cuppa we were all ready for a great day ahead of us. Our first stop was Barnsdale Gardens just outside of Oakham. Barnsdale Gardens were designed by Geoff Hamilton, who presented BBC Gardener's World from 1979 and from the mid 80s at Barnsdale until his death in 1996. The 38 individual gardens which include a rose garden, Japanese garden, rock garden, knot garden, kitchen garden, bog garden and orchard are now all cared for by a team of qualified horticulturists overseen by
There'll be plenty of chance to meet our gardeners and bamboozle them with your gardening queries; you can also have a go at bulb planting, sowing sweet peas and rocket, onions, pansies and wall flowers. You can also see how to shake the seeds from sunflowers and take some home. There'll also be artists on board: make large paper flowers with Cathy, have a free family photo with Jon and try out his camera obscure or add to Dave's poetry
Geoff’s son Nick Hamilton who some of us got the chance to chat too as we strolled around the gardens. Throughout our time at Barnsdale we also had chance to browse around the nursery with them selling many of the plants seen in the gardens and for those wishing to take a break from the beautiful sights it was too the tea room for light lunch and refreshments. It was then time to depart Barnsdale and head to Gates Nursery and Garden Centre a 15 minute drive to Cold Overton, Oakham for the last hour of our day trip where time was spent browsing the large plant area, gift shop and pet centre and with many of us visiting the coffee shop for a cup of tea and a slice of cake!! After that it was everybody on board and off on our journey back home to the Seven Oaks and it was a great day which was enjoyed by all. Already looking forward to the next! If you enjoy visiting gardens, flower shows, botanical gardens, stately homes and meeting new people and want a great day out, why not book on our next coach trip which is too Ness Botanical Garden and the BBC Gardeners’ Question time summer party on Saturday 16th September. You’ll have an interesting day.
The Common Darter male dragonfly. Colour: orange-red when mature. (Females are pale yellowbrown.) Length: 38-43mm. Flight period: usually July to October. Photo: Ruth Cornock
bunting. If that sounds too exhausting, just chillax in the garden, drink tea and watch the grass grow. Whatever you choose, it's all free. All welcome We hope to see you on Saturday
Wash Arts CIC welcomes the public by offering a free fun three hours of inspiration at Arena Community Garden on Heanor Road site in Ilkeston on Saturday 9th September from 12.30 to 3.30pm. All ages are welcome.
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9th September from 12.30 to 3.30pm at Arena Community Allotment on Heanor Road, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 8DY.
Stella Couloutbanis
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end a birthday greeting Thank someone Congratulate someone Announce a birth Announce a death Remember a loved one in your local community paper DEATHS
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Congratulations and best wishes Mum and Dad on your 60thWedding Anniversary, 7th September. Love from Michael and Heather.
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You left us very quietly, You simply fell asleep, We’ve missed you at the dancing group, But for you we do not weep. We know you are in Heaven, We know you will have a plan, You will be teaching the angels the Tango, And, knowing you, probably the Can-Can. From everyone at the Bright Hour Dance Group. God bless you and keep you.
John Arthur Minchin
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Joe Meakin August 8th 1984. Gone but not forgotten, Forever in our thoughts. Loving Daughters, Anne, Jennie and families. xx
Sheila Wilson It’s been eleven years since we walked hand in hand together and I felt the warmth of your hand in mine. I thank Heaven you came my way. Love forever, husband John.
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Passed away 29-08-1994. A devoted husband and dad, who would have been a wonderful granddad. Still held as close within my heart, despite the passing years. A thousand precious memories, a thousand unseen tears. Love always, Trixie xx Love, missed, remembered forever by Colin, Mandy, Graeme, David and Kirsty.
Passed away 31st July 2017, aged 91 years. He will be forever missed and always in our hearts. From your loving family—wife Vera, Susan, John, David, Denise, Kerry, Lisa and Natalie and families.
Kenneth George Smith
Passed away peacefully on 4th August 2017 aged 79 years. He will be sadly missed by wife Celia, children Andrew and Lucy Ann and grandchildren Oliver and Emily. He will be in our hearts forever. xxx
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Treasured birthday memories. 18.9.71— 6.6.08. From the day you were born to the day you died. Locked within our hearts forever. Also remembering Grandad Bill, 23rd September. Loved and missed. Mam, Dad and family.
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ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Record 8,000 drawn to 5th heritage event Sunshine swells the crowd on the big day Erewash Partnership chief executive Ian Viles, organiser of the Ilkeston Heritage and Classic Vehicle Show, on Sunday 13th August, said: We are delighted at the success of the show, helped, no doubt by the good weather. We have a reliable estimate that more than 8,000 people attended over the six hours that the show ran. People of all ages thronged the Market Place and surrounding streets in a similar way that they do for the historic Charter Fair. It is now an established event in the town's calendar. We have had many favourable comments about the exhibits - the historic cars, buses, tractors, motor bikes, military vehicles, and steam engines – plus other attractions which made it a great, free day out for all the family. Hopefully, businesses in the area and the various stalls benefited from the bustling activity. I would like to thank the sponsors and the volunteers for their contributions and hard work leading up to and on the day. Photos by John Shelton. There are more on our Facebook page.
18 Ilkeston Life, March 2017
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ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Making news by Clare Smith
Clare Smith, or Miss Chambers as her students at Sandiacre Friesland School knew her, was exceptionally good with slow learners but could connect with all youngsters – and staff. She was a friend, encourager and confidante to both pupils and fellow teachers. The following is another extract from her book, I Did It My Way, subtitle: In the Days when Teaching was a Joy, published in 1998. Clare lived in Corporation Road, Ilkeston until she moved to Scotland in retirement. She died in 2007.
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orld Cup fever spread in 1966 and soon reached Room 2. Quite by chance there were fifteen boys in one of my groups, the same number as the foreign teams left in the competition, England being the sixteenth. So I suggested that each boy chose one of the teams, not only to follow their progress, but also to study the country it was representing. Choice was fair, each boy selecting a slip of paper bearing the name of one of the teams. Then, with my help, letters were written and posted to the Embassy of each country asking for information. I included a letter which explained the project and expressed the hope that they would be able to help. We scoured the sports pages of newspapers, cutting out all items referring to the World Cup and the boys noted when “their team” was featured on television. Information from the Embassies began to arrive, much to our delight, but we were completely unprepared for the response from Chile. It was Steven Tawiah who had drawn that team from the hat, not very thrilled at his choice. However, shortly after he had
written his letter to the Chilean Embassy in London, he received a reply from Senor Guillermo Castro, the Second Secretary. Senor Castro also sent Steven a beautifully illustrated book about his country. Then letters and cards began to arrive from all over Chile, as well as photographs, football-club pennants and other gifts. It was very exciting but we couldn’t understand how this had come about. On making enquiries, I discovered that a reporter from a national newspaper in Chile was in England to cover the World Cup. His name was Senor Pedro Fornazzari. Senor Castro had shown him Steven’s letter, whereupon Senor Fornazzari had sent it to Santiago where it was featured in his newspaper. As a gift, he sent Steven a copper plate bearing the Chilean coat-ofarms. Letters continued to arrive, all with such colourful stamps, which made a wonderful display on the classroom wall. Photographs of Steven and his mail appeared in two local newspapers, illustrating lengthy accounts of our project. Naturally the other boys were somewhat envious as no other embassy had responded in such a spectacular fashion.
Bath Street from St Mary’s tower, photographed by John Shelton
All of them except one had received helpful information, pamphlets etc, the exception being the boy who had chosen France. As you can imagine, I was extremely annoyed. France, our nearest neighbour and a country very close to my heart, was the only one letting us down by not replying. So I said to Ian, the boy concerned, “Who is the most important man in France?” “The President,” he replied, “Correct, so we shall write to him,” I said. In my letter I told President de Gaulle exactly what I thought of his country’s representatives who couldn’t respond to a child’s request. To our delight a large envelope arrived at the top of which were the words “President de la Republique.” A senior secretary wrote to say
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how much the President regretted the manner in which we had been treated and assured us that information was on its way. It was a very successful project and we all learnt a tremendous amount. We enjoyed it too and we followed the teams with great enthusiasm. I have never been a fan of football, but I astounded my husband with my “know-how” and could even describe a team’s strip before they took to the field. Of course it was the perfect, dream-ending when England won the World Cup. I couldn’t have chosen a better finish to our project. Rivalry was forgotten and we were all shouting and cheering for our own team on the day of the Final.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Gina and Joseph entertain
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keep your eyes and ears out for them. Their confidence and genuine love for what they do shone throughout as the U-Choose Smoothie Bar provided the perfect setting for this magical little moment. Gina performed an hour slot with her stunning vocal causing all to halt their coffee drinking to Paul Opiah listen excitedly, with Joseph accompanying on the guitar. Gina began with her compelling, emotional original song, ‘Let me down.’ She explained how this song was her response to her parents’ divorce. But the song doesn’t imply sadness at all, instead, it has an angry edge full of excitement and momentum. Gina’s writing style is unique to her quirky, energetic personality, with a punch and grit to her sound similar to that of Pink and Jessie J. Perhaps the most intimate, moving part of the gig was when she performed her original song ‘Runaway’, a song that illustrates the struggles of young homeless women. Every lyric seemed to be so carefully thought out as to respectfully tell the story of the people society has ignored. This was a poignant moment where a young girl makes a profound political statement, very encouraging to see indeed. Gina’s performance also included a range of covers from Drake to The Verve to her incredible cover of Eminem to end her slot. Her versatility within this set was outstanding, however, she truly stamped each cover with her own flavour. Each song held a new twist to capture an ever growing audience. I highly congratulate Gina and Joseph on their performance and hold it as a true example to what the people of Ilkeston can achieve. We Gina and Joseph Atkins wish them all the luck for their bright future—
n a Saturday morning recently, the U-Choose Smoothie Bar, Ilkeston was treated to the musical talent of Gina and Joseph Atkins.
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Sandiacre History Group
WHAC Animal Charities Family Fun Day
The next meeting will be the AGM which will be held at Sandiacre Methodist Church Hall, Butt Street on Thursday 21st September 2017 at 7.00pm. Refreshments will be available following the AGM and before Dr. Anne Featherstone gives an illustrated talk entitled For Those Leisure Hours: Ilkeston's Theatres and Cinemas during the First World War. There is a £2.50 charge for visitors who are most welcome. The group holds 5 meetings per year at Sandiacre Methodist Church and a Members’ Social Evening in December at Sandiacre Cricket Club on Longmoor Lane. A varied programme of talks has been planned for the forthcoming year. Members also receive two Newsletters per year. Annual membership costs £10 per person or £15 for two people at the same address. Sheila Hickingbotham
On Saturday September 2nd 2017 we are hosting a family fun day in Stanley Village Hall (DE7 6FF) from 1 to 4 pm. We are working together with Stanley resident Mel Harrison who was moved by the BBC Countryfile programme which featured a Derbyshire farmer who was a vegetarian and wanted a permanent home for his herd of 70 cows. Mel wants to raise money for Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk, who took the cows in has permanent residents. Hillside currently have over 2000 animals in their care, from rabbits and guinea pigs, through cats and dogs, goats and pigs to horses, cows and donkeys. We at WHAC have supported Hillside for many years, and we gladly agreed to work with Mel in organising this event. There will be something for everyone – quality bric a brac, homemade chutney, pickles and jams, jigsaws, raffle,, homemade cakes, kodihoral games, spin the bottle, adopt a teddy, and much, much more. Admission is £1 which includes unlimited drinks of tea/coffee, with children admitted free of charge. Please come and join us – we can promise a fun afternoon and we would love to see you all. For more details please phone 0115 932 5789. Barbara Goodchild
New pub/restaurant for South St Vincent Bellini has successfully applied to Erewash Borough Council to convert a property on South Street Ilkeston. The Pick ’n’ Mix shop will become a pub and restaurant. The sweet shop has been there since 2011. It is not yet know what the new venue will be called. Planning documents say seven jobs will be created, one full-time and six part-time.
Reflections of a Vet
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itting in a café garden recently, I overheard a group of mums discussing dogs, specifically relating to interactions with their children. In this popular local dog-walking area, where dogs are allowed into the café, most of the dogs were off-lead and nosing around each other – apart from the one who kept wandering off to roll in something smelly! One of the parents asked that the dogs be put on leads, which they were. The children then went off to play, out of sight of the parents. Although I wasn’t deliberately listening in, it was difficult to miss the conversation unfolding at the neighbouring table. One of the mums mentioned that someone had recently not pulled their dog away when their child approached it – “and it was one of those staffies”. The conversation then turned to what types of dogs they would consider having when their children were older, on the basis of their having heard that they were good with children. One suggested Labradors as the “only breed that’s okay around children”, then another mentioned Westies and Border Collies as they’d heard that they are “nice dogs”. I was so tempted to interject, but didn’t think that it would be polite to, particularly as I was getting rather annoyed! As a vet I deal with a lot of dogs of varying temperaments, and would consider that I’m pretty good at judging how to handle a particular dog. I have quite a few nervous dogs that come to see me, or ones that are generally regarded as not “good” with people. Quite often, dealing with these dogs is a matter of showing the dog that I’m not a threat, but in some cases it’s also important to show that I’m not scared of them – nervous animals are often more worried when a person appears to be low in confidence around them, as nervous people are unpredictable! As parents, I think it’s really important that we teach our children how to interact with dogs, as children are often very keen to get close to them, and we should ensure that they have guidance of how to do this safely. Of course, I’m not advocating that children just go up to any dog that they see, but by knowing how to approach a dog (with permission from the owner) in a way that the dog won’t see as threatening, we could potentially de-
crease occasions when dogs (particularly out in public) will respond negatively to a child. When I was 25, I discovered that my mum is terrified of dogs. Growing up, I knew that she didn’t really like them, but it wasn’t until I was an adult, and newly qualified as a vet, that she admitted how scared of them she is. I’m very grateful that she managed to not pass this fear on to me – I wouldn’t be very useful as a small animal vet if she had! The mums at the café understandably wanted to avoid the risk of their children getting bitten. I’d agree that having unknown dogs loose in an area where there are children is not a good idea. I think the thing that worried me most, though, was their thoughts about certain breeds being safer than others, and also that one had allowed their child to approach a dog that was on a lead and perceived that it would have been the fault of the dog owner if the child had been bitten. Pulling a dog that is on a lead away from an approaching child is more likely to cause problems than if the child does not approach an unknown dog! In my experience, although obviously bull terriers have very strong jaws and could potentially do a lot of damage, the vast majority are extremely happy to interact with people. That’s not saying that I would entirely trust a dog with a child – but that is true of any breed. I really think that as a society we need to try and teach children how to interact safely with other species – and how to respect them. Hopefully we then would avoid children and animals getting into situations where one of them becomes scared and so minimise the chances of injuries. As to the breeds mentioned? I’ve known some very nervous Westies, and would regard Border Collies as needing specialised homes, as their extreme intelligence requires a lot of mental and physical stimulation. And as for Labradors, the one scar that I have from a dog bite was from a Labrador, from when I was a child – I followed a dog when she was wanting to get away from the large group of children at a family party, and she nipped me. I was old enough to know better and was told so by my parents!
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
Ilkeston College of Further Education A SHORT HISTORY By Danny Corns
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ith the Ilkeston College of Further Education reaching the end of its life on the Field House Estate in December 2013, I thought a personal memory of its early years might be of interest. The college had been in planning for many years and even talked about prior to WW2. I started work as an apprentice fitter/turner in the relatively new Stanton Ironworks Training Centre in January 1951 aged 15. All apprentices were granted day release of one day per week which included two evenings per week theory and practical training. The first building in which I started my City and Guilds course was an old printing works on Pelham Avenue (the building is still there) with belt shafts in the roof and bits of old machinery still dotted about. To show how primitive the conditions were one half of the room contained my class whilst in the other half were the first year National Certificate students all in the same room with two teachers talking at the same time. Talk about confusion. The National Certificate students were generally budding draughtsmen and technicians who didn't require the practical skills we needed. This was during the morning with the afternoon lessons taking place in the
Co-op clubroom on Albert Street, for some reason. Other classes were spread out all over the town e.g. Hallcroft and Gladstone Institutes, Bennerley Institute for the evening classes with the day classes situated at Langley Mill, Stanton Training Centre, Wilsthorpe Training Centre amongst others. The foundation stone (now annoyingly lost in the recent demolition) was laid on Friday July 7th 1951 by Cllr Mrs Rigley and was attended by many local dignitaries including Jack Longland, Director of Education for Derbyshire. During his address at the opening ceremony, Mr Longland expressed his thanks to Stanton Ironworks in providing the use of their foundry in the training centre for moulding apprentices from other companies. The unofficial opening of the college took place on September 14th 1953 when many students arrived for their first day, myself included. With the initial cost being £500,000, the first
stage of a 9 year project, it was the first of 20 such colleges to be built in Derbyshire. On Thursday 25th June 1954 the college was officially opened by Ald. Gladys Buxton. Also in attendance was the Mayor of Ilkeston Ivan Straw along with the architects Gee-Walker Slater of Derby. Also present was Jack Longland who said: "We believe that schoolboys and girls should learn in happy conditions and they learn to be happy while they are working. But there are still many cases in industry of boys wasting their time mashing tea for older and idle workmates when they should be improving their trade." MASHING CAN It was obvious that Mr Longland had never worked in industry. It was a mashing can full of tea on the hour every hour at Stanton which every young apprentice had to learn to make; without it we couldn't have carried on. Eventually Ilkeston College and
Heanor Technical College were sharing the many apprenticeship courses with the coal-mining apprentices being based at Heanor. The local youth employment bureau was also situated at Ilkeston College. Two football pitches and a cricket square were laid and later tennis courts, although I don't believe they were ever fully used. In 1959 Derbyshire County Council commissioned an all metal sculpture by Willi Soukop, a well known London sculptor of Moravian extraction. The 10ft high sculpture had a cast iron body with an 8ft copper wing span and was made at Stanton. It was designed to symbolise Industry and the Flight of Knowledge. To say this was controversial is an understatement and it was said to have cost around £2000. Ilkeston never quite took to it, but Mr John Lally, art teacher and headmaster at Gladstone Boys School and a founder member of the History Society said it was revolutionary. The main complaint was "it will go rusty" which of course the cast iron body was meant to do. I am still trying to trace its whereabouts after its disappearance some 30 years ago. I've always wondered if Antony Gormley, the creator of the Angel of the North had seen our sculpture first. They are very similar in style. In 1966 the Heanor and Ilkeston Colleges amalgamated and in the same year this new South East Derbyshire College acquired for the Whitfield Storer library, which contained between 8-9000 reference books, a very famous painting called The Buzzard by Leslie Worth.
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This painting was 24'4" by 4'4" and was about seven years ago moved to the Heanor Campus Library and now needs re-housing again due to a major renovation. I believe Ilkeston has lost one of its most important facilities since the campus's closure in 2013. For many years it was available to the WEA for courses as diverse as archaeology, genealogy, geology, flower arranging and cake decorating; courses to suit shift workers and housewives alike. If a tutor could get 12 persons to attend a class a course would be run. I joined the History Society as a result of meeting members on an archaeological course. The Civic Society held many of its ‘Owd Ilson’ evenings there. English Sinfonia, Spanish dancers, the Hogarth puppets, and the famous 1970 Kingfisher film I remember seeing there; also Leon Goossens, the oboe player, along with poets such as Edmund Blunden gave performances at the college. The Mormon records were available for family historians with the college even having a creche at one time. Times change I know but I doubt the many courses and facilities on offer to the general public at our old college are available at the new. There are extensive archives of the Field Estate College available for use in the reference section of the Ilkeston Library. There is a full history of the college to be written particularly as it is an important part of our local history.
Sport defensive mix up and just before half time it happened again. This time Heath Hayes took advantage. Jake Humphries was the scorer after he latched on to a misplaced back pass to Ilkeston’s keeper on 44 minutes. Ilkeston started the second espite finding themselves in the Midland League Division 1 follow- half with a purpose but Heath Hayes were defending resolutely and looking the winding up of Ilkeston FC, the fans turned out in force to ing dangerous on the break. Ilkeswelcome the NMG’s new residents Ilkeston Town FC. At Uttoxeter, ton’s best chance came following a visiting Ilkeston supporters broke the home team’s attendance record determined run by defender Roon their own and the following week an impressive 583 fans turned up maine Graham which took him as at the NMG for the first home game and 437 for the second far as the six yard box but Heath Hayes managed to scramble the ball Sat 5 Aug 2017—Midland Football League However Ilkeston held on and out for a corner. Heath Hayes were Division One stunned the home crowd with a dealing with everything that Ilkeston last minute goal by Chris Shaw Uttoxeter Town 1 tried and they were making chances who scored direct from a free kick of their own with Regan Smith strikIlkeston Town 1 twenty yards out. Ilkeston’s trav- ing a post. The game was settled on Not surprisingly, Ilkeston’s newly elling fans were delighted to start 76 minutes when Mitch Teece found assembled team lacked togethertheir campaign with an unexpected himself clear and slotted home conness in their opening game. With point ’that felt like a win’. fidently. Ilkeston tried to rally but only three friendlies behind them, never really threatened to score. The and over 20 players tried, they Sat 12 Aug 2017 - Midland Football Ilkeston team looked dejected as nevertheless earned a draw with a League Division One they left the field compared with the late goal. Ilkeston supporters arHeath Hayes players and coaches Ilkeston Town 0 rived in numbers giving Uttoxeter who were elated with their victory in Heath Hayes 2 their biggest gate ever. Early on front of a 583 attendance. Billy Bennett hit the Uttoxeter bar After all the hard work that went with a header. Ilkeston went on to into preparing for Ilkeston’s first Sat 19 Aug 2017 - Midland Football League have penalty shout denied but it home game it all went wrong on the Division One was the home side who took the pitch. Manager Steve Chettle reIlkeston Town 2 lead through Matty Redshaw (21 fused make excuses but it is clear mins.). The second half followed that the team put together at short Coventry Copsewood 0 a similarly frustrating pattern for notice need time to gel. Ilkeston A brace by Alex Marshall enabled Ilkeston and the home side aphad plenty of possession but failed Ilkeston to record their first win. peared to grow in confidence as to create enough chances. Heath Before kick-off Coventry topped the Hayes were well organised and will league table but they were rocked by the half progressed. Uttoxeter could easily have snatched a killer no doubt feel they deserved their Ilkeston’s flying start. First, Covensecond to finish the game as Ilkes- win. Half way through the first half try keeper Dale O’Donnell had to Ilkeston nearly went behind after a save smartly from Montel Gibson ton searched for an equaliser.
ilkestonlife.com September 2017
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Matchman’s roundup of Ilkeston Town FC matches
Fans get behind Chettle’s new Robins
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Wheelchair tennis trio chosen for England team Three Derbyshire youngsters have achieved success at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships held at Nottingham recently. Joshua Johns (12 yrs) of Borrowash won the boys consolation singles event. Dahnon Ward (11 yrs) of Kirk Hallam won the boys singles event. Abbie Breakwell (14 yrs) of Long Eaton was runner up in the girls singles event. All three are members of Ilkeston Tennis Club. All three have been selected for the upcoming National School Games England U18s Team. Pictures: Above—Dahnon with officials of the British Open Championships; Dahnon in action on the court. Below: The successful Derbyshire trio: Dahnon, Joshua and Abbie.
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Celebrations as Alex Marshall scores for Ilkeston against Coventry Copsewood. Photo: Scott Fletcher
but then he was beaten by Alex Marshall on just four minutes. Copsewood fought back and were passing the ball well but Ilkeston’s defenders were keeping them at bay. Ilkeston looked the more likely to score and Coventry’s keeper was the busier saving well from Marshall, Walker and Gibson. A minute before half time Coventry thought they had equalised through Chris Wilson King but he was just offside. Ilkeston deserved their lead but Copsewood started the second half strongly and that man Wilson King found the net again only to be denied a second time for offside. To
compound Copsewood’s disappointment, Ilkeston swept upfield to score a second with another well taken goal by Alex Marshall on 55 minutes. This came at time when Coventry were starting to get on top. Copsewood then twice went close in quick succession, both shots being blocked by defenders. Ilkeston keeper Curtis Hall then had to race out of his goal to clear. His clearance went to a Coventry player who’s shot towards goal had Hall scrambling back to pull off an excellent save. Ilkeston also had chances but there were no more goals and Ilkeston took the points.