John Burke's Nostalgia 3rd Party Memories |
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| The idea of this page is to feature any feedback or memories that others have contributed that I haven't featured on the main pages. Please do send me your thoughts and memories. Any photos though should be no more than 800x600 in size and will probably feature at no more than 320x240. I find it useful to have them larger though as it gives me a bit of leeway to crop them appropriately. The page will be arranged as a blog - in other words, earliest contributions at the bottom! |
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Well, thanks to Margot, the young lady in the photos, we can now all go in search of one I'd never heard of before. She writes: Hello John
Here is a picture taken in about 1953 with my Dad on the North pier where he had the telescope at the time.
When I visit Blackpool and the N pier there is still the framework remaining of the lock up box under a seat next to one of the huts and when I look at it I always think not many people would know that.
I like looking at your site as I was born in Blackpool and went to school there in the 40-50's .
Kindest Regards Many thanks for the email Margot, well there we go folks - I'm on record for getting excited at "hills" that used to be called "defences" so how about a framework that used to be a lock-up box for a telescope? First one to find it and send me a photo gets a mention!
She brought her old school tie, her beret and the now infamous french dictionary, plus a photo of Larry the Lamb (read below!) I've no idea where my tie went, or school cap, but I still have the scarf somewhere I think! Someone was bemoaning the demise of the monthly update off my main website but it has now been replaced by my blog - John's Place - which gets updated almost every day and includes all sorts of rubbish...er...I mean, includes all sorts of humourous and serious topics for persons of a discerning nature! [21/6/2007] I am a member of the online community website keeping the memory of singer Billy Fury well and truly alive. They have been having a quick memory dump of old TV adverts and in one post I mentioned this site. This morning was a message from Moya, who is President of the Billy Fury Fan Club in New Zealand. Your nostalgia page is BILLYant John. Not got time to read all of it this morning but what I did read was just the way I grew up too. Laffed at t'other Grandad sitting in the chair - everyone had one of those! Your 'writings' I'm sure will be passed down the generations - well written. Many thanks, Moya, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Anyone wishing to remember Billy Fury can find a whole load of information, photos, music and video at this excellent website.
Hello John,
As with all records of this type, the value depends on completeness (it had its own designed sleeve) and in the end it is worth whatever someone would give for it! Thanks Ellie for a fascinating journey through a few web pages though! Were any readers at the ceremony or can you remember the bridge being built? Send me some memories! [18/5/2007] An email from Steve who had been looking at the Blackpool Website. Really like your site. It takes me back to being packed off for the 6 weeks holidays every year to my nan's boarding house at blackpool. Both mum and dad worked in hospitals in Manchester and this solved the problem of summer holidays. The first house she had was behind the Pleasure Beach and my earliest memories are the monorail circa 1969. After my grandad passed on she moved near to (Uncle Tom's) Cabin and I spent many an afternoon down by the boating pool. I really miss Derby Baths.. salt water and all the attendants clearing half the pool when someone was on the high board. Thanks for the email Steve - a nice memory about the attendants getting worried about divers landing on someone! I'll bet lots of other people have holiday memories from 1950s and 60s childhoods? Not all would have been lucky enough to have a few weeks in Blackpool though. Come on folks, let's have some memories of local parks, strawberry or hop picking, or hiking! And don't forget - lashings of ginger beer and sasparilla!
[29/4/2007] Another email from one-time close school chum Jackie. I checked the 6th Form page but I haven't mentioned this before. Jackie's family used to keep a lamb on the front lawn. The group of us (who are described on that page) used to fawn it and pet it and in turn it used to butt us whenever we stopped... It was called Larry and was a source of delight for a year or so, upon which it had an urgent appointment with a bowl of mint sauce... Jackie also turned up proof of a story dredged up from the memory of Alex below (see the last part of the entry for 2 August 2006) I only found the French Dictionary (minus page for rollie ciggie) the other day-must tell Alex! The crap I keep, eh? Plus a photo of Larry the Lamb before his sad demise. Ah, I can still remember those plaintive bleats - followed by a thud in the small of the back...!
Kathie, you are very welcome. It prompted the thought that whilst for Americans the fifties may be summed up by memories of a white picket fence, the equivalent in England may well be a collection of slightly warped dry wooden poles, loosely strung together with wire... In fact I have some old 8mm footage of my great grandfather getting a splinter in his hand from just such a fence somewhere... Found a photo of the house - an old coaching inn in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire. [17/10/2006] An email from Keith Taylor: It's particularly interesting to me since I was at Heywood Grammar School
(1953 - 1960). I just got back from a HGS reunion which was held at Heywood
Cricket Club. I stayed up in Heywood for an extra day and ... took some pictures of places which I had last photographed back in the 50s. I had then a very basic Box Brownie which my
Uncle gave me. A roll of 620 film ( eight exposures) + the d&p was way
beyond my pocket money so I had to pressure my parents and grandparents for
a sort of "arts subsidy". Even so there are only a few pictures from that
time, and none at all of School I know the feeling... and what photos there are, are never dated or say where or who or when! I had a quick zip through Keith's "Tumbleweeds" web site and there's lots of interesting snippets there based around Warsash between Portsmouth and Southampton. If you want to know how to run a fridge to keep beer cool on an allotment with no electricity then this is the place to find out! Good times.... and thanks for the memory jog. [29/9/2006] The same day I received an email from Ann Eaves who was writing about the Blackpool pages, though her subject matter was relevant to these pages: The important centre of my life was the Church of All Hallows. In those days everything revolved round the church. The first Sunday of every month was Church Parade and we used to parade in church and have our banners blessed.
Probably the highlight of the year was the May Queen celebrations and the visit of the travelling fair. To a little girl it was magical. The lights,
colours, music and rhythm were a wonderful spectacle. We played rolling pennies, ate big pink and yellow clouds of Candy Floss and sticky rosy red toffee apples. The more adventurous went on the hobby horses, revolving tea-cups or on the dodgems. Dads were urged to try and knock down coconuts and win one to take home. They were still fairly exotic in those days.
Anyway he arrived with a huge box of slides, photo wallets, strips of black and white negatives and so on, with all sorts of stuff on... Some brilliant memories amongst them - and a load of other stuff to wade through!!! [2/8/2006] Jackie Waters writes that she has been reading her diary from 6th form days. In emails we were talking about the language of the day. I had written: Talking of language, I remember the saying "Groovy Baby". There was a lad in the year above us called Browning so of course he was nicknamed "Gravy". I remember Alex and I introducing him to you and Jan one day, saying "This is Gravy..." Both of you immediately said in perfect unison "Booby!". I'm afraid we lads all looked blank at each other until one of you explained it! Jackie wrote back: I was reading my 1970 diary at the weekend and what do you think I found - a reference to gravy booby, which you had reminded me about the other day. That was well spooky!! Everything was "fab" or "yuckified" or going the ABC. Alex came up with another memory of 6th form days which I remembered immediately on reading it: I remember one afternoon when everyone had run out of fags, two or three of us collected all the dog ends and tried to make a new ciggy using a page out of somebody's French dictionary. Bloody Hell, it tasted VILE! That's an understatement - it was stronger than a Park Drive untipped! [28/7/2006] My brother, Frank, remembers a trip to Weston-Super-Mare in the old 1959 Reliant 3-wheeler. This elation was short lived as, at the next service station where we pulled in for our
parents to catch up, [27/7/2006] My best mate from school days, Alex Dyson starts us off by contributing a confession... I couldn't wait to drop woodwork in the fourth form even though it meant another two years of Alec Crier, in art. We used to get a crack (from Chisel, the woodwork teacher) with a piece of wood for even looking in the wrong place, yet when we were boiling the glue kettle one day and I set fire to a pile of wood shavings when he went out, he never even noticed. I was crapping myself because it really took hold and the air was thick with smoke when he came back, but he must have been preoccupied with some really important matter, like someone holding a pencil in the wrong way... |
[21/7/2007] Aha!!! My regular readers will know I love 
[15/7/2007] I met up with Jackie today at one of 
[2/6/2007] An email from someone who had been looking at my web pages on 
The record is shown above right and is one of a number of 78rpm records commemorating speeches and events. The Tyne Bridge was a marvel of its age, the BBC have a number of short silent films 
And Jackie has sent me a photo of the wantonly damaged French Dictionary but I picked it up at my work desk and trying to forward it to home hasn't worked so you'll have to wait a week or so before I can put it up here as I'm away on a course all next week! Ok it's here! And only a mere 12 days after I got it...
[12/3/2007] An email from Kathie Schroeder:
[29/9/2006] I had an email from Nick Bennett who wrote:
John thanks for your web site it was fascinating for me. I spent the first 18 years of my life in Bispham. I went to the local junior school - the old one built in 1832 and my job of which I was very proud was to ring the bell. It took me a good few goes to get the rhythm right!
[9/9/2006] In a rash moment I asked my brother Frank if I could borrow his photos from our childhood and teens. I, of course, have loads of photos of him so I thought he must have loads of photos of me!
Driving south on holiday in the Reliant van, I wouldn't say that the engine had seen better days but we cleaned one set of spark plugs up as we drove
along, ready to change them as they oiled up - which wasn't too long after
finishing cleaning the spare set. We had the open motorway in front of us
with not a car in sight. This might have had something to do with the
motorway being down to one lane due to roadworks, but we were chuffed as
little mint balls to see 60 mph on the speedo at one point.
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