Going Public in 2012

As more information comes in, people ask what I am going to do with the fascinating information that is coming to light. 'You should write a book' being the most common idea.

Book, website , Kindle or publish on demand are all in the distant future, but a small exhibition at Selby Road Open Gardens 26th & 27th May 2012 - 2-6pm and at the Diamond Jubilee Street Party will be possible.

In case you are reading this and live or have lived on Selby Road and are still shy about contacting me I thought I would try and reassure you. The following information fits onto an A4 sheet. Similar sheets for each family will follow the same template and can be easily displayed.

I have been privileged to have been told some great personal histories and have much more information to work through. However the next stage is to create the simple A4 introduction sheets like the one below. If you can help create a sheet like this, I would be grateful. If you have any more stories or even brief memories about the people who lived in our houses PLEASE do get in contact.

Sample A4 sheet.
  83 Selby Road                                                                                         Richard Foster
 1954-1980

Father: Walter John Foster : born 1909  d.1970

He had always been interested in photography and lectured on aerial photography while serving in the RAF. He became Chief Overseer of the Photo-processing Dept.of the Nottingham Evening Post and the Guardian Journal. He was a colleague of Frank Baker at No.78 Selby.

Mother. Ethel Marion Foster [nee Parker]: born 1907 Leics. d.2003

Before her marriage she worked as a shorthand typist for the Chief Accountant of the Leicestershire Evening Mail.  She kept house for her family which included her parents who were living with them at No.83.

After 1970 she worker as a  'Find the Ball' or 'Spot the Ball' competition checker for the Nottingham Evening Post.

Son: Richard:  born 1948 Chesterfield   was 5 years old on arrival at house. The move brought him into the catchment area of Jesse Gray Primary School. 

Sharing the house: Mr Thomas and Mrs Hattie Parker, seen with Richard aged 2.

Sledges on Selby Road -past & present

From past resident: John Wrigley-[No.49]
Distant memories tend to play many tricks but I seem to recall that winters, generally, had several days[if not weeks] of snow- sometimes to a depth of many inches or several feet in 1947. Sledges would be taken out of garages, the runners polished and those with painted names 'touched up'-mine was of fairly solid construction and called "Bacchus".

The very young were encouraged to start sledging on a modest slope between Sherborne Road [opposite the original no.9 Sherborne] and a gap leading into Musters Crescent.    Later we progressed to a longer path between Malvern Road  [opposite Haileybury Rd] and Sherborne Rd [ending with a hump adjacent to a vegetable patch cultivated by Mr Quine of No.9] Then to another path between Malvern Road [to the west side of the two or three free standing detached houses and almost opposite the ARP post at the junction of Malvern and Musters Roads] down to yet another hump at the junction of Sherborne and Musters Road and thence down the rough road surface of Musters Road [assuming no vehicles in sight!]

The ultimate slopes were on Musters Road, either from the hill just north of Spinney Wood, through the gap in the hedge, dropping onto Musters Road, crossing Boundary Road, down the rough road slopes with allotments on the west side,perhaps as far as Malvern Road with an extra shove- but a long drag back for subsequent runs.

Or on Selby Road [from the Malvern Road pillar box to anywhere between No.43 or 31-there was a greater possibility of traffic on this road than at the top of Musters Road.
One of the joys of sledging was to be provided, at someones home with a cup of Bovril!
Much of 1947 was not ideal for sledging because of the depth of snow.[see Winter pictures on earlier blog]

John Wrigley as a boy, living at No. 49 Selby

Distant sledges on Selby Road , February 2012, note: the lime trees have been lopped
By Tony Waltham

From past resident: Betty Sales nee Baker [No. 78]
We had a brilliant sledge and when it was snowing and impacted we sledged down past no. 48 -where it levels out. In that kind of weather the milkman's horse could not get up the hill, and stayed at the bottom while the milkman brought the milk up.

From past resident: Rosemary Child nee Gibbs [No.116]
In the winter during the week my sister Helena and I would sledge on an empty plot on Malvern Road. At weekends we would take Father up the Spinney and sledge all together there.Selby Road was an unmade road above Sherborne.

One day only: view at bottom of Selby Road towards junction with Devonshire Road.

View uphill from outside No 11.

Photos by Tony Waltham

Portrait Gallery: meeting people from the past.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and Good health in 2012.

Here are a few of the past residents of  Selby Road with a little information about each of them. We know of two more Grammar school teachers from the pre-war era but have no photographs yet. 

 We are still looking for information, please help us if you can.

Meet the Neighbours

Denise Blunt  No.39 Selby Road  1960s

Published Poet in 'The Lady' Magazine

The Powell Family     3 Selby Road  1957 -1973

Mr Jim Powell was the East Midlands Establishment Officer for the

Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food.

Mrs Sylvia Powell was a dinner-lady at Jesse Gray Primary School.

 Mr William Norman Bradshaw          
Head of Maths & Senior Master, West Bridgford Grammar School
First owner of 107 Selby Road       1935-1966

The Bradshaw Family: William ,daughter Elaine, wife Sarah [Sissy]

During WWI Sissy and a friend formed the Advance Club in Nottingham 'to get girls off the street' [out of prostitution] Sissy taught the making of lingerie. The Advance Club later became Clarendon College.

Elaine became a teacher of Domestic Science.

Miss Forbes       

Head of English & Senior Mistress at West Bridgford Grammar School.

'She was a formal rather prim person with a sense of humour. She came from Aberdeen and returned there after her retirement. She lived at Number 4 Selby Road with Miss 'Becky' Bake.

 Ernest Frederick Gisborne

Number 19 Selby Road 1914/15-1920s

Warehouse Man [In charge of warehouse] for Trivet's Lace Makers, Trivet Square, Nottingham

The Lace Trade went down in the1920s and Ernest was made redundant.

Edith May Gisborne [nee Sissons]

Number 19 Selby Road, 1914/5 -1931

When Ernest Fredrick was made redundant in the 1920s he went south to find work. He was never heard of again. Edith May and her two young sons, Walter & Gerald took in paying guests to help make ends meet.

Winters on Selby Road

Were you "Dreaming of a White Christmas" or dreading it? 

Selby Road gardens and embankment.2010

Photo. Gill Tanner

Here a few reminders of what happens to Selby Road in winter.

Selby Road under  ice 1983

Photo: Tony Waltham

Nos. 107 & 109 Selby Road

Winter 1947

Photo.  Elaine Bradshaw

If you have any photographs of Selby Road, at any season, that you would like to share, please contact me. 

Revisiting the Past

In November 2011 four past residents have been invited to revisit their childhood homes on Selby Road.

The Gibbs family left  "Kirmanshah", No. 116 Selby Road in 1964.
After 37 years Helena was interested to see that the porch tiles, that she had scrubbed to earn her pocket money, were still looking good. She also showed us the corner of the kitchen where her mother had raised day old chicks with a wrapped stone hot water bottle to be their mother.
She visited her old bedroom and heard about the children who had last used them.
Her thank you note says "It was so nice to visit "Kirmanshah" and know that the house is looked after and loved by the present owners."


The Foster family left  No.83 in 1980.
No. 83 was greatly extended by Clive Rice, Nottinghamshire Cricket Captain 1979-1987
and Richard had been curious as to how the house had changed inside. 31 years later he found out.
He enjoyed the visit as he felt very welcome and could answer questions about the house and garden. His old bedroom had the bed in the same place but his fitted wardrobe had gone.
He felt "It has not been spoilt at all, and was extended for comfort not to add value." He is now drawing plans of the furniture layout in the old house.

The Gisborne family left No.19 in 1931.
Gerald visited his old home after 80 years. His son came with him and saw the house for the first time.
The old tennis court now has a house built on it and the railway embankment is overgrown, but parts of the house were familiar. He talked about the paying guests that had lived in the house with his family. Visiting his old bedroom he told how an earth tremor had caused his door to open in the middle of the night, and frightened him.
 He said, "You have no idea what an impression this has made on me, being transported back over 90 years. It has been lovely to relive this little corner of my life."

The Teasdale family left No. 9 in 1973.
Visiting No.9 for the first time in 38 years Robert found much the same but it all felt smaller. However the house had been run as two households, his own family's and his grandparent's. Two kitchens, two back doors. These had been altered for a single family.  "We all got on pretty well, don't remember any rows."

Frank Baker's Paintings

Frank Baker moved his family into No. 78 Selby Road, a brand new house in 1936. He was the Art Editor of the Nottingham Evening Post. He is listed as a commercial artist in the Kelly's directory. As the house was being built he had a studio built over the garage. This had a drop down/pull up ladder so that he could retreat to paint and not be disturbed.

Walter Foster moved his family into No 83 Selby Road in 1953. The two men worked together as Mr Foster was Chief Overseer of Photography at the Nottingham Evening Post.

When he was being interviewed Mr Foster's son produced a folder of Frank Baker's watercolour paintings. He asked if Frank's daughter would like the paintings back. She was delighted to be offered some of her father's work.  He handed over the paintings and they had a long talk and are meeting again.
    
Here are a few paintings from the folder.

More about The Archive Project

At the beginning of the year we collected information about Selby Road from the Kelly's & Wright's Directories* held in the Nottinghamshire Archive. These covered the period 1913-1956. We were able to present a huge spread sheet showing the head of household for every property, as it was built and included in the Directory, at the Royal Wedding Street Party, [about 200 residents attending] and at Selby Road Open Gardens 2011. The latter raised £3,329:52p for Friary Drop-In the local Support Centre for the Homeless.

*Note: These Directories document the people living in Nottinghamshire in a similar way to a telephone directory- but started before the invention of the telephone.You can trace people by their name, road or business.

In October  we leafleted Selby Road about the Archive and put a small article in Local News, a local free paper. To date we have had 20 direct contacts from past and current residents. In  addition we have had other 11 contacts passed on to us from christmas card lists and the sending on of leaflets. Today we had a contact from a couple who moved to Bristol some years ago. We are now working with the electoral rolls to find out the names of everyone on Selby Road who was eligible to vote since 1956. These records allow us to add first names and the record of wives, servants and children over 21 and later 18 to the Archive.

We still need contact with anyone who has lived or lives on Selby Road, or had relatives or friends here even if was only for a short time . We have 132 houses and hundreds of occupants to track. Please help if you can.

Personal stories will be added to this blog only when they have been double checked and cleared for publication.

During WWI for the first time it was possible for people to vote in Elections [If they were male and over 21] even if they were not living at home.  At this time there were only 10 houses on Selby Road and the following residents were listed.
The Absentee Voters List -Rushcliffe Division 1914-18
Selby Road
No.11  BOYES            Robert William        Sec. Lieutenant        2nd Leinsters
No.17  BERRY            William Ernest         86720 Cadet 3rd Battalion Machine Gun Corps 20
                                                                                      Officers Cadet E. Company
No.2    NEWTON        Frank Oscar
No.7    JONES             Frank Ernest           75368 Sapper D.D. Signals
No.1    BUTTRUM       Frank Peet             Acting-Sgt. Royal Army Medical Corps.

Sadly Clifford Prosser [No.15] lost his life in this war and is commemorated on the War Memorial. See previous post.

No 19 Selby Road in WWI

Owned by the Gisborne Family

Archive information provided in this post by Gary Wood  and Gerald Gisborne.