The Smells of old Stamford
   

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Thread Topic: The Smells of old Stamford
Topic Originator: Mike Laughton
Post Date June 26, 2011 @ 12:03 PM
 The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford/not so good
 The Smells of old Stamford/seed shop
 The Smells/gas works
 The Smells of old Stamford/brass
 The Smells of old Stamford
 RE: The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
 Smells of old Stamford/fish & chips
 Smells of old Stamford/roasted smell
 Smells of old Stamford/Gas Works
 The Smells -old Stamfordgasometer
 RE: The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells-old Stamford/table covers
 The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford/Hardys
 The Smells of old Stamford/Cuttings yard
 The Smells of old Stamford
 Smells of old Stamford/Martins
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 Smells of old Stamford/bakery
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 The Smells/yes,I recall these!
 The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
 RE: The Smells of old Stamford
 Smells of old Stamford/Maltings
  Smells of old Stamford/Cumberlands
  The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
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 : The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
 RE: The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford
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 RE: The Smells of old Stamford
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 The Smells of old Stamford
 The Smells of old Stamford

Mike Laughton
June 26, 2011 @ 12:03 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I was near All Saints' Church the other day and senses were suddenly assaulted by the overpowering smell of curry and Indian cooking. But it seems that nomatter where you go in the town these days the overpowering scent is that of oriental cooking and Indian spices. It is so different from the scents and smells of the town in the 1950s.
These are ten of my favourite smells from my childhood in Stamford of the 1950s.
1. Fresh bread being baked from Askers bakehouse in Kings Mill Lane (this is one scent that can still be experienced today).
2. The smell of freshly mown grass from the Meadows and the Recreation Ground.
3. The scent of fresh tobacco in and around Hunting and Orlands tobacconists  at the bottom of the High Street.
4. The beery smells of hops and malt from Melbourne's Brewery and the outlet pipe in the Millstream.
5. The smell of Linseed Oil at Burghley Park Cricket Club, Hardingham's Sports Shop and Frank Illiffe's shop.
6. The smell of freshly baked ham and pork pies from the town's pork butchers (Remember Porky Wrights?)
7. The scent of Cowpats from Robertson's Dairy's cows as they made their way from Foundry Road to the Second Meadow leaving their droppings in Foundry Road, West Street, Austin Friar's Lane along the way
8. The strong incense that was used in all the churches in those days.
9. The strong smell of carbolic soap and disinfectant used in surgeries and the hospital.
10. The smell of steam trains all around the St Martin's area of the town.

Kate:  Thanks for those Stamford smells Mike.  Anyone have some more to add?  What about the smell of that deep pile carpet in the upstairs foyer of the  town cinema if you were fortunate enough to go upstairs into those top price  seats?

Roger Partridge
June 27, 2011 @ 5:41 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

You forgot the smell from the sewage works when the wind was in the wrong direction.

Also wasn't there a smell from Blackstones on certain days?

Roger Partridge
June 27, 2011 @ 5:47 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Just thought of a more pleasant smell, the seed smell in Hart's seed and petfood shop in Broad St. Also the ceiling was covered with several copies of the same 1920s dogfood ad (Spratts?)

Keith Hansell
June 27, 2011 @ 9:11 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Two more spring to mind and both unsavoury. After delivering the post to Hudds Mill this morning and returning up the lane to Uffington Road. A rather nasty smell from the remains of the old sewage works invaded the air, reminding me of walking down the lane as a boy, going to Uffington Meadows and in the days when you could walk past the mill. The other one of cause was the smell from the old gas works as you walked down Albert Road.

Peter
June 28, 2011 @ 1:51 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

The smell of the brass foundry in Star Lane.

John Tyers
June 28, 2011 @ 12:43 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

The genial Mr M.Fenn was the proprietor of the seed and pet supplies shop with the old posters on the ceiling in Broad Street, Roger.  Hart & Son Seed Merchants Ltd was located further east on Broad Street on the opposite side and still has the founder Herbert Hart's name etched in the stonework above the old premises.  I worked there for a period, they were very considerate employers.  The Company Secretary and Chief Clerk was Mr Fred Andrews whose entries in the company books were in a meticulous copper plate handwriting.  In those pre computer days, if even a couple of shillings could not be accounted for, he would spend hours after closing time investigating until he found them and he always did!

Patrick
June 28, 2011 @ 5:47 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

The smell of the Blacksmiths in Bath Row when he tried a red hot shoe on the horse`s hoof.

Roger Partridge
June 30, 2011 @ 6:50 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

John, I think we're talking about the same property but at different times.

Broad St was full of Harts! Dolby's Directory (1969/71) has Harts Seed Merchants at No. 39 (next to the old Corn Exchange), Nicolas Hart (Accountants) at No. 10, and Kelham and Hart (Architects) at No. 31. According to Ken Ford, Harts took over No. 39 from Murray Fenn in the late 1950s.

Patrick
July 1, 2011 @ 5:42 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

The smell of fish and chips from Cecil Hardy`s shop in Bentley Street. The best fish and chips in Stamford and always spotlessly clean. When Cecil had to join the Army in 1940 his wife kept the shop going until he came back in 1945. Cecil`s father kept the off-licence at the corner of Bentley Street and New Street.

Paul Walton
July 1, 2011 @ 6:33 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

The smell of freshly roasted and ground coffee from the coffee shop at the top of ironmongers street.

Ray Tyers
July 3, 2011 @ 7:58 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I looked via search and no one other than the smells mentions the Gas works which for some considerable time was a feature of wharf  road.well it was when I was a child .   My father - Bernard  worked there and  remember  getting to ride the lift in the retort house and then  climbing the laddder on the outside to get to the top of the building. I also remember being posted out of the mess room window to buy sweets from a small shop opposite in gas lane -- moody's??.  The local gentlemen refered to as tramps - nimpy holmes and walter used to be given accomodation in the warmth of the pumping house. Other local characters worked there  -- omo ? the genlteman who used to use a ferguson tractor around town   wth a home made wooden cab ?.
Kate:  Yes, the gasometer dominated the skyline in Wharf Road.  Never thought we would get all nostalgic about it but I would love to see a photo of it, anyone have one in their photo collection?  Have you any photos Ray of those days when you used to visit your father down the Gas Works?

tim musgrove
July 3, 2011 @ 8:45 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

under stamford east station a couple of the photos with trucks in shown the gasometer i do have some others that show  more of it

GasWorks Stamford (aerial view) 1969

Hi Tim  Great photo particularly if you go to Slideshow.  I haven't quite got my bearings on the layout but am working on it.  Thanks very much for this. K

Gasometer Stamford, with Musgrove's lorry in foreground

TIM MUSGROVE
July 3, 2011 @ 9:37 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

KATE CAN YOU E MAIL ME AS I SEEM TO LOST YOURS  AS I HAVE THE PHOTOS SHOWING THE GASOMETER INC. A SKY VIEW
Yes Tim, I have emailed you - did it arrive?  email address kate@stamfordtown.com

Mike Laughton
July 5, 2011 @ 10:09 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Yes, I had forgotten about the Gas Works and the Sewerage Works; two powerful smells of old Stamford.
Since my original posting I have also remembered two other strong smells from childhood:
1. The strong piney smell of fresh sawdust from Miles' timber yard and sawmill in the Station Yard. (Remember Miles famous buzzer which could be heard all over town?)
2. The smell of the oilcloth table covers that were used to cover the desks when milk was served at break-time at St John's Infants School.
Kate:  Yes, well remembered Mike. those oilcloth table covers, were they sort of blue and green squares - or have I got it wrong?

John Tyers
July 5, 2011 @ 11:04 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

roger, did not know that my old employer Harts took over Mr Fenn's shop; must have been well after I left their employ.  You learn something new every day!

Sue
July 7, 2011 @ 9:33 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Patrick, it was Cyril Hardy not Cecil that kept the fish and chip shop. He was my great uncle, married to Dorothy and I worked in the shop after school for a while.

Clive Hilliard
July 8, 2011 @ 12:43 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

What about the smell of Cuttings yard in Water street

Patrick
July 8, 2011 @ 2:59 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Sue
Apologies! Senior moment. Of course it was Cyril.

phil
July 8, 2011 @ 5:48 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

When I was a boy myself and Brian Jackson used to play over the road by
Martins last gate with our mates.The smell of the oil from the machines and the curls and curls of metal was ever present and can still smell it today.At the back of Martins ,near the
Essendine" coffee pot " railway was a sort of slag heap which was probably 50 yards square,It had tunnels all the way through it, with like a small room in the centre ,which we used to crawl through.Must have been mad!!Is there any one out there who remembers these tunnels?We even used discarded metal files from the works for target practice on the trunk of the Conker tree at the gate.Talk about Health and Saftey..

John Tyers
July 9, 2011 @ 4:37 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I worked at Cuttings mushroom farm for a few weeks after school in 1951 along with some other leavers, before starting our regular jobs.  Initially I thought the stench was appalling but like most things after a few days you seemed almost acclimatised to it!  There was a mess hut but in decent weather, you might find yourself sitting outside atop a pile of ordure eating your lunch.  They were decent employers and the workers were great characters; heated debates on the topics of the day and arguments took place in the mess hut but usually the foreman Albert Baker squared everybody up and told them to get back to work.  Eventually I understand the production of mushrooms was discontinued because it was more profitable to market bags of the "100 per cent Stable Manure" which was originally a byeproduct to the mushrooms.  Another of the town's minor industries which has now sadly gone, the site replaced by upmarket housing in a local area which then was lived in by well known working families in many instances, for generations.  A whole community broken up and subsequently dispersed mainly to the new council estates but a loss to St.Martin's parish nonetheless.

Clem Walden
July 9, 2011 @ 7:38 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Mike, what about the smells from the old slaughterhouse as one walked by on a hot summer day:-or the smell of the freshly cut grass on the Recreation Ground. Not forgetting Jock Marshalls bakery, and the pigsties adjacent to the old spinney. And the smell of burning stubble when farmers would set light to their fields after harvest.

Clem Walden
July 10, 2011 @ 7:58 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Tim great aerial photo of the area. One can clearly see old Chas Gray's buildings:-And the road leading to the Albert bridge:-The houses at the bottom of Belton Street still remain:- So too does the Anglian Water Authorities small pump house building (opposite the parked car) most of the garages in your photo at the bottom of Gas Street are still there. Wharf road can also be seen in the top right hand corner.  When the Gas Works was in full swing I wonder how many remember visiting to get their bags of coke? I made many trips as a young lad and also visted the railway lines at times in search of coal that very offten had fallen from the railway coal wagons. Fond memories.

lorna doyle
September 29, 2011 @ 5:05 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I too remember the smell from the sewerage works Roger. I used to work at Doll Toy in uffington road. I was in the office but the factory made dolls house furniture. It was owed by Mr and Mrs Ibbotson from Barnack. Sometimes the smell was very bad, also lots of flies in the office!!!

lorna doyle
September 29, 2011 @ 5:33 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Yes Clem I too remember going to the gas works with my dad to get the bag of coke. Dad would put it on his bike to get it home. Also remembered Mr Marshalls bakery smelling wonderful. My mum worked for him for a short time.

reg hornby
February 10, 2012 @ 1:26 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

My family..Hornby used to live at 16 wharf road...ie.the gasworks house from 1945 to 1957 and my dad was works manager there so your dad bernard who i knew very well worked in th lab halfway down the yard..a very dark pair of rooms just past the parafin drum..ask  him about that.my dad sold bernard a little austin seven..1928..he used it to carry straw bales etc.around his plot down uffington road in the back,which he may have chopped back to make a pickup!another lab asst.was Tony Goodchild who lived up St.Martins.At grantham tech.the class used to comment on the smell of  iron oxide surrounding him,  which was used to purify the gas.
Tony was more a friend of my brother Gerald as I was a mere junior at the time.Another name from the past would have to be Ken Boyden who served all you coke buyers with tickets for the chap who filled your bags,prams,carts,etc.with coke.The weight office is still there and functioning according to Geoff Lawrence who worked with Ken.Hope you see this Geoff.so many memories!

barbara tyers
May 19, 2012 @ 5:02 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Bernard ended up forman and  was the last person to leave the works on the day it closed he often talks about the mates he worked with ie benny welden cis curtis  eric butler and others he has very fond memories of unfortunately all above mentioned have sadly passed away.

John Tyers
May 21, 2012 @ 8:11 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Reg, long time no see!  You mentioned our mutual friend Tony Goodchild.  We were unwilling army recruits together in 1953, when suddenly for reasons known only to the powers that be, he was posted to Oswestry.  We shook hands at the barracks gate and he was gone!  I gather from his sadly deceased sister Sandra that he had married a Welsh lady, had a large family and was employed as a Steeplejack, which was unsurprising as I recall he was always climbing trees when we were kids.  I met him once back in the seventies on a rare visit to the town and he had acquired a strong Welsh accent and for some unaccountable reason, he had grown very tall lol!

tony goodchild
January 30, 2013 @ 10:19 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

i remember vividly the smell of the maltings in water street where we used to play.  peter hilliard and i were good friends.  yes john tyer i am still in wales with a larger family now.  hello reg its a long time since i was in the lab at the gas works.  remember your family very well.   another memory is the smell of the chip shop in water street. got good portions there peter   hilliard  worked there i think his family owned it.  john i remember glen parva you were the first person i met when entering the gates.

John Tyers
February 1, 2013 @ 6:18 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Tony; long time, no see!  Glad you are still alive and kicking.  Happy memories of when with your cousin Stan Smith we used to play up Wothorpe fields damming the stream and such, all sadly now built over.
Incidentally I asked the Sergeant Major about a job for you at Glen Parva but it was no go and he gave me a "flea in my ear" for asking.  Remember shaking hands with you when you were posted.  We had great fun in those far off days.

Clive Hilliard
February 1, 2013 @ 9:56 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Peter Hilliard is my uncle he lives in Hull, the fish shop in water street was owned by Reg Hilliard Peter's and my father Norman Hilliard  uncle. My grandad Arthur Hiliard was the manager of the maltings in water street.

tony gooddchild
February 1, 2013 @ 11:36 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

i was a schoolboy at St. Michaels school in the late 40s. I remember vividly the smell from the abbattoir wafting through the playground and classrooms on a hot summers day.  the  smell of mown grass from the rec  was  delicious.  I  seem to recall that there was a static water tank just below the school which gave off the odour of a stagnant pond and there were objects floating in the water of unknown origin, However, these aromas were offset by the wonderful smells from the chippie just up the road and the bakery opposite the top rec from whom we used to buy a delicious hot roll for an old penny.  i was at st,Michaels from 1946 until 1950  i wonder if anyone remembers me.   I recall "scrap" and "slip"corby Nigel Dartnell  Stan Smith (my cousin)  allnow,like me, old men  enjoying life/

tony goodchild
February 3, 2013 @ 2:12 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I remember your grandparents very well . did they not have a daughter called Dawn,  probably yoiur great aunt?   we spent many hours playing in the maltings and during the winters, especially 47, we used to use the heating room where there was an open coke fire to dry the barley throughout the mal tings.   I was born and brought up in  Church  Court. happy days long gone. There used to be a grocer cum post office on the corner of Water Street that used to emit the aroma of ground coffee, wonderful .

tony goodchild
February 3, 2013 @ 10:18 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

hi John.  Re Glen Parva,  I think we should explain that in our time Glen Parva was a Military Barracks and not ,as it is today, a prison.  people might think we were a couple of old lags.   nice to reminisce.

John Tyers
February 5, 2013 @ 5:13 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Was it not some kind of prison in those days then Tony?  Re your old mates, sadly Nigel Dartnell top link ex loco driver and also former Glen Parva inmate is no longer with us.

Clive Hilliard
February 5, 2013 @ 8:15 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Tony
Dawn was my auntie, I used to go and stand in front of the huge coke fire, if I remember my Grandmother used to dry the clothes by the coke fire in the winter. I also remember the huge baths of water inside the maltings. My mother used to help out in the fishshop also she used to help out sometimes to fill those huge bags of barley when it had been dryed out. Was the shop on the corner of water street called Cumberlands. Also there was a place that sold or cut logs next to the fishshop

Roger Partridge
February 7, 2013 @ 5:37 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Clive, you are correct the grocer's was for many years Cumberlands, but in the 1960s became Coleys.

BTW, I vaguely remember from my early schooldays a Barry Hilliard and also a Malwyn (?) Hilliard. Are you any relation.

Clive Hilliard
February 8, 2013 @ 10:15 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Roger
Barry is my brother I also have another brother called Richard we used to live up the camp then moved to Glen Crescent, is the other name male or female as I have a lot of cousins in Stamford.

Roger Partridge
February 9, 2013 @ 6:59 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Clive, Malwyn is male. I've a feeling he may have lived in Bath Row at some time. I think the reason I remember him is the unusual name. Haven't seen Barry since I left Bluecoat, well over 50 years ago.

It's surprising how many people lived on The Camp. We lived just down the road from it, but this was after it closed.

My late godparents Geoff and Eunice (Paddy) Blake lived in Glen Crescent for many years.

Clive Hilliard
February 13, 2013 @ 9:49 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Roger
Was it Marcel Hilliard who lived in Water Street and worked at Blackstones.

Roger Partridge
February 14, 2013 @ 7:12 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Clive

I don't think it's the same person. I've just checked on Genes Reunited birth records - there was a Malwyn J Hilliard born Stamford 1949. He would have attended either St Johns Infants or Bluecoat Primary, or even both.

Clive Hilliard
February 18, 2013 @ 10:12 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Roger
I don't know anyone with that name, he would be the same age as Barry I am two years older and went to St Johns Infant and  Bluecoat.

Roger Partridge
February 19, 2013 @ 6:03 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Clive

According to 192.com he still lives in Stamford.

I was also at St Johns and Bluecoat, but only remember Barry from the Bluecoat. We were in the same year.

MAGGIE BRANNIGAN NEE LANGE
March 29, 2013 @ 11:16 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi reading your post has really bought back memories as I remember all those smells. I lived in Stamford for over 50 years and especially the remember Ken Roberts and his cow sheds. I lived in the little row of cottages that his cow sheds backed onto on Empingham Road and can remember him herding them to his further up Empingham road where there are now flats. I always used to go and buy milk fresh from the dairy for my mum who was Jean Lange. This site is certainly bringing many happy memories for me.
Kate:  So pleased you are enjoying sharing the memories Maggie and adding your own for others.  Its the little things that take us back.

Roger Partridge
April 13, 2013 @ 7:23 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Maggie. That part of Empingham Road/Foundry Road seemed very "rural" all those years ago. As well as Ken Roberts' dairy, there was Broom's riding stables at the top end of Foundry Road and an old stone barn further along (now converted to a house).

Towards the bottom of Foundry Road, where St  Gilbert's School and Waitrose now stand was a large area of undeveloped land (allotments?). Further up Empingham Road past The Hermitage (then a large house set well back in wooded surroundings) was a paddock stretching back to Roman Bank. Usually there was a horse or two grazing. The paddock was built on in the late 1960s becoming Sherwood Close.

Kev Earl
August 16, 2013 @ 3:14 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I would have on my list of  old Stamford smells from 60's and 70's  the aroma of cured meats and cheese from the Maypole store in high street and a similar scent mixed with fresh coffee as you entered Kelhams mini market in St Mary's street.
Kate:  I loved going in that Kelhams mini market - you could buy a slice or two of different salami and bits of cheese to try.  Thanks for reminding me Kev.

Clem Walden
August 17, 2013 @ 8:39 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clive, would you be related to Ray Hillard and Mick Hillard who lived in Water Street? I was at school with Mick he also had another brother Peter I believe and sister who's name I fail to remember? Of course the school days I recall would have been 1944 to 1954. I attended the old Fane infants school. The Blue Coat that was then in All Saints Street. And the old St Michaels on Recreation Ground Road.

leon peasgood
August 26, 2013 @ 10:01 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

hi ,just found your site very good, I was born in Stamford 1949 .we lived at no7 water street right next to cuttings my father had chickens that ran all over the manure
many thanx
Kate: Hi Leon.  Glad you found us.  Keep coming back as we are adding stuff on a regular basis.

Clive Hilliard
August 26, 2013 @ 8:39 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem yes they are my uncles they had two sisters Win and Dawn

Clem Walden
August 28, 2013 @ 10:09 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clive, I remember Dawn but I can't recall Win? But feel I must have known her?  I would often go up to Burghley Park with Mick, Peter and my cousen Jeff Dunthorn who was a good friend of Peters. Jeff recently passed away. But his sisters June and Barbara still live in the Town. I also spent many happy days fishing and drinking with Ray. He was card? We had some great laughs. I Have some old film footage of Ray standing up on a boat when we was rowing across river Ouse at Huntington he very nearly drowned us all? I believe Ray was a little older than me? Think Peter was as well. Mick was more my age. Anyway thanks for recalling my fond memories of your uncles and their parents.

Clem Walden
August 29, 2013 @ 10:32 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Tony Gooddchild, I remember you at St Michaels. Although you were perhaps in the second or even third year when I started. The other boys I remember when I was there were all Locals I recall. Pete Frear.Mick Steel.Roy Wyman.Charlly Revel. Mick Plant.Reg Goodwin.Ron Fuller.Jimmy Barks. Danny Exton.Mick Hedgley.Mick Lee.Martin Jefferies. John Laughton.Malcolm Helstrip. Colin Barker. Ray Medwell.Arther Lilly. Ray Barlow. Ronny Bryant.Ted Sandell.Brian Jackson.and your cousin Stan Smith. Do you remember any of the names I have mentioned? Do you remember me? I was the good looking one? Was Gaffer Nibblet the head? Did you ever stand under the clock in the mainl Hall? Or get the cane? Was Mr Dillly. Joe Sparks. Beaky Barlow teachers when you were there?  Hope you are OK Tony kind regards.

Roger Partridge
August 30, 2013 @ 6:38 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem

I think Ray Barlow worked at Dolbys' for a number of years.

Clem Walden
September 1, 2013 @ 6:20 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Roger, The Ray Barlow you mention did work at Dolbys'and his Brother Albert worked at Potters. I drink with Albert most Friday nights and several other old friends "Friday Night Reunions" one could say? The Ray Barlow I mentioned worked at Blackstones "I believe" and was one Stamfords teddy boys. Ray is still about and I often see him in and around the Town. Many of those names I mentioned saddly are not with us anymore. But those that are; I do see from time to time. I really only mentioned all those local boys names and various teachers as Tony Goodchilds posting asked "If anyone rememberd him" He mentioned a few names himself. So I thought I would add my name and a few more he may remember who were also at St Michaels School when he was. But thanks for reminding me about Alberts brother and "Dolbys' your posting brought back memories of Barbara Taylor who often played the piano in the old Scotgate Inn. Her husband Jim Taylor worked with my Dad at Martins that was on the Ryhall road. Fond memories.

Roger Partridge
September 2, 2013 @ 7:52 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem
I think Albert Barlow also worked at Dolbys for a time. There was quite a bit of staff movement between Dolbys and Potters. Potters seemed to have made more money as Mr Potter lived in Barn Hill and drove a Bentley S2 Continental Convertible WRP 111

clem walden
September 3, 2013 @ 4:15 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Roger, You are correct re-Albert and there certainly was various staff movement between Dolby's and Potters. That Bently you mention I remember well it was "green" Les Potter was a nice guy and I remember doing quite a lot of work at his house in Barn Hill and at the printing works. Interesting to note when we first started doing all the electrical works for J.E.C. Potters about 1960s several of printing machines were DC and In the corner of the left hand side as you entered the works stood a very large DC rectifier approx 6ft x 3ft. We eventually removed and replaced this with modern equipment which  was only  8"x 8" It did exactly the same job. Warner Pond was amazed and I remember him saying to me "That old DC rectifier has been there as long as I have."  Norman and I attended the 100 years celebrations of J.E.C. Potters in 1980. The business was started by a Dudley man named Mr John Edward Cartwright Potter in 1880. Previous to Potters occuping the Blackfriars Works it was occupied by the makers of the "New Pick Car" I have quite a lot of historical info on J.E.C. Potters. They were a very successful local businees.
Happy memories recalled.

Betty
September 4, 2013 @ 6:15 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem,  Just been reading about Ray ad Albert Barlow.  Albert did work at Dolbys at the same time as me in 1959-1960.  Ray Barlow I don't think he worked at Blackstones I seem to think he worked at Martins,  correct me if I am wrong.

Roger Partridge
September 4, 2013 @ 6:44 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem
That's a very interesting post about Potters. Warner Pond was friends with my parents and didn't live far from us when we were in Reform St. He and his father owned a lot of houses in Reform St/Torkington St/zebra Cotts. He drove around in an old Ford 8 Y-Type for several years. I suppose he's no longer with us.

steve ward
September 5, 2013 @ 3:06 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

This is slightly off topic to smells of Stamford but regarding the JEC Potters comments i served my apprenticeship there in the 70's and Warner Pond was my first boss in the Monotype Casters Dept (a skill long since overtaken by technology). i also worked with Albert Barlow who was a compositor and a very nice bloke (as the vast majority who worked there were). Albert lived in Highlands Way in those day which is where i also spent a lot of years.

Steve Ward

Roger Partridge
September 6, 2013 @ 12:52 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Steve - I don't think this is so off topic! I am sure you'll remember better than me, but printing works had their own specific smell, certainly Dolbys' did. Outside you probably wouldn't notice it, but inside you certainly did.

The printing industry has changed so much since the 1970s. Certainly in the 1960s Dolbys' still had some "Original" Heidlebergs, one of which dated back to the beginning of the 20th Century, and may still have had one or two in the 1970s.

I couldn't remember which Barlow brother lived in Highlands Way.

Clem Walden
September 14, 2013 @ 3:07 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Betty hope you and yours are all OK. I was not aware you worked at Dolby's? But then again back in those good old day's I never really  bother where anybody worked? As long as they worked? Ray Barlow incidently worked at Blackstones,Arthur Lyons,Casselloids and the Brickyard. So Gerald informed me. He also told me you made a flying visit last week re;-the Burghley horse trials. Shame you could not have stayed a little longer it would have been nice to have seen you. How's Gigs? Remember me to her and give her my regards next time you contact her. I often think it would be nice to have a 50s  reunion with all those that we spent so many happy days with. I have mentioned this  several times to the boy's but the problem is getting such an event organised? During our regular Friday nights drinking sessions the past is generally the topic of conversation. Your brother and I still have reasonable sound memories about those days and  we do have a good laugh? Anyway Betty look after yourself Pamela sends her regards.

Clem Walden
September 15, 2013 @ 5:28 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Steve, you mention you served your apprenticeship in the 70s at J.E.C Potters and worked with Warner Pond in the monotype casters dept. I personally don't remember you. But feel sure you must have been present on occasions throughout the 70/80s when I would call in to see Warner Pond  during the times when my employees were carrying out various electrical installations or repairs to machinery.
Do you remember Allen Shields  Jeff Cuttforth,Peter Wooton,Valerie  Crowson,Doll Crowson, Paul Bullard,they all must have been there when you first started. You mention Albert Barlow and I can tell you he still lives in Highlands Way. By the way regarding "smells" all printing works back then did have a very unique smell. Fond memories.

Steve Ward
September 16, 2013 @ 10:11 AM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem,

Yes, all of the names you mention i remember along with Derek Wade, Jeff Wheeler , Ray Croft, Terry Wooton, Bob Helstrip and others. The bindery women were ferocious with their comments and certainly knew how to put cocky teenage lads in their place! Tony Laughton also worked there and in those days i knocked about socially with him, his brother Yati, Johnny Gardner, Paul Wakefield, Dave Fox and many other lads. i can also remember your firm doing work at Potters (would Jimmy Laughton have been one of them?).

Steve

betty
September 16, 2013 @ 7:52 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem, Just to let you know Gigs is coming over from Australia in May and I am planning to see here so if possible I will try to arrange for us to come to the pub on the Friday Night. Regards to Pam

Roger Partridge
September 17, 2013 @ 7:07 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem and Steve

Ray Croft was another who had worked at Dolbys. I remember my father, Ray and myself going to a closing down auction at a printers in Birmingham in the mid 1960s

Clem Walden
September 18, 2013 @ 3:07 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Steve I remember all those names you mention and many more. Yes Jimmy Laughton was also one of our employees.We  did  have a very large labour force operating from our various branches within  Stamford/Pboro/Leicester and London. We sold the Company and our business interests  owing to my partners ill health. Norman Steemson my life long partner and friend died on the 3rd of September 1997 and sadly the Company we had both formed in the 1960s and sold in 1994 had ceased trading prior to his death.

Clem Walden
September 18, 2013 @ 3:59 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

HI Clem
I have sent the message to Betty.
Kate

betty
September 25, 2013 @ 8:08 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Clem I will be in touch message has been sent on to Australia  Thank you Kate

Mark Steele
February 14, 2014 @ 2:31 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

I attended St. Georges on Wharf Road from 1955 to 1957 then returned to Canada. St Georges playground was within the walls and there was a sheltered but otherwise open urinal trough just inside the gate to the left. On a warm days we avoided that corner.
The tar that formed the playground surface was sticky when warm and we poked at it with any stick we could find. It had a not unpleasant smell somewhat of carbolic.
Most pleasant was the bottled milk we got for lunch, room temperature and rich and soothing.
There were a lot of coke fired heaters in the 1950's and the air was thick with soot that shook your nose! I'm dating myself but the coke delivery lorry was coke fired, as a budding engineer I wondered how it worked!
Of course the meadows in spring were a source of great pleasure.......

Barbara Hilliard
October 14, 2014 @ 5:40 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Dawn was also my auntie she was my dad's sister

Clive.Hilliard
October 20, 2014 @ 9:13 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Barbara
How are you it is a long time since I have seen you.
Clive

Barbara Hilliard
December 6, 2014 @ 7:49 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi clive it was in my grans funeral i must of seen you last . My dad (jack ) was your dads brother nice to hear from you . Barbara

Clive Hilliard
December 8, 2014 @ 11:03 PM Reply  |  Email  |  Print  |  Top

Hi Barbara do you still live in Caernarfon.