Backtracking 4th April 1964

Amongst the stories to make the news back in April 1964 were a house fire in Bulwell as well more developments and complaints about the poor weather in the area.

The stories included Bulwell woman Elsie Payne and her 17-year-old daughter, Gilda, are awakened by the smell of BURNING in the early hours at their home on Fitzroy Terrace off Greasley Street.

While fire ravages a downstairs room, Mrs Payne and Gilda are able to clamber to safety down a LADDER which, by amazing luck, has been left at the side of the house.

Gilda dashes BAREFOOT to call the Fire Brigade from a public phone-box. Sadly, a pet dog, Judy, dies in the blaze, the cause of which is being investigated.

Girls are banned by Notts County Council from wearing STILETTO HEELS at schools in Hucknall and the rest of the county.

Members claim that these are doing an appalling amount of damage to fine school FLOORS.

The council’s sites and buildings sub-committee chairman, Alderman F.N.RUDDER, says: “In future years, the council will be thanked for its long-sightedness in perhaps spoiling the appearance of a fine pair of legs but helping to preserve a good pair of feet.”

“What an EASTER!,” the Dispatch reports. “Not for many years has the weather for the holiday been so consistently unpleasant for Hucknall and Bulwell people.

“From Good Friday onwards, there was an unchanging pattern of overcast sky, a chill wind and an intermittent DRIZZLE.”

Nottingham City Council agree to buy about 65 acres of land between the Northern Cemetery and Blenheim Lane, Bulwell, for a price which works out at £1,000 an acre.

Most of the site comprises BLENHEIM FARM and forms one of the last large undeveloped areas of land in the city.

Land at the corner of Broomhill Road and St Albans Road, Bulwell, which has previously been earmarked for a nursery school is instead to be used for building NEW HOMES.

A house on Factory Lane, Bulwell, is declared UNFIT for human habitation.

Nottingham City Council decide to rehouse the tenants living there and to demolish the old bulding.

Hucknall and Bulwell Labour MP William Whitlock hits out at a wait of between 18 months and two years for people needing a HERNIA operation.

He says: “It looks as if the hospital service is becoming an EMERGENCY-ONLY scheme.”

Nottingham City Council decide that a lock-up shop at the junction of Cinderhill Road and Leonard Street, Bulwell, can be used as a MOTOR SHOWROOM.

Members had previously turned down the proposal because they thought it would have an ADVERSE IMPACT on the area.

Notts County Council announce the proposed removal of a 30MPH speed limit on the section of Moor Road between Hucknall and Papplewick,.

WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE -- groups of children from two Bulwell schools go on CONTINENTAL HOLIDAYS during the Easter break.

One, from Blenheim Secondary Girls’ School, travels to SAN SEBASTIAN in Spain and the other, from Highbury Secondary Boys’ School, visits RHINELAND in Germany.

In a talk to Bulwell and Basford Rotary Club, Dutch student Bob Gerritsen says the COMMON MARKET could be ‘very beneficial’ to member countries.

He is very much opposed to keeping people out because this would mean forming a BLOC such as ‘the Communists, America and the Commonwealth.’.

A letter-writer to the Dispatch, calling himself JOHN BUNYAN , stresses a great and growing gulf between conventional religion and young people, which is a grim reality that must be recognised.

Choristers from different churches join forces to present Bach’s ‘St John’s Passion’ at the WESLEY Methodist Church, Bulwell.

The band of Hucknall Salvation Army Corps have the honour of leading congregational singing at William Booth Memorial Hall in Nottingham on GOOD FRIDAY.

The sensational Frankie And The Trendsetters and, by popular demand, The Fabulous Futurists entertain at the Co-operative Hall, Hucknall. Admission is FOUR SHILLINGS.

Eight girls who have completed a basic sewing course at the William Hollins hosiery factory in Hucknall are presented with BLOUSES they have made.

An advert in the Dispatch reads: “Are you looking for a new well-paid hobby? Then join the SOUTH NOTTS HUSSARS, Bulwell -- your own TA regiment.”

Hucknall Round Table plan a SUMMER CARNIVAL on the lines of highly popular pre-war events.

Two Trent buses take 120 members of Hucknall Old People’s Social Centre to the first performance of ‘THE GOOD OLD DAYS’ at Nottingham Playhouse.

NAMES -- Bulwell-born actor CONRAD MONK joins the cast of the popular BBC TV programme, ‘Compact’.

Conrad’s parents live on Nansen Street and he is a former pupil of Highbury Secondary Boys’ School, Bulwell.

A first reserve for the Cambridge University crew at this year’s Boat Race, CHRIS FIELDEN, of West Bridgford, is married at St Mary’s Church, Bulwell, to PAULINE HOULT, of Riverlyn, Station Road, Bulwell.

SPORT -- Bulwell Church Institute member TONY MATTHEWS wins both the British Youth Billiards and Snooker Championships for the second year running.

He is presented with the gift of a new CUE CASE by Institute president Tom Martin, who describes him as one of the best young players the ‘Stute’ has ever produced.

Despite a HAT-TRICK by Arnold, Hucknall Colliery Welfare football team lose 5-3 at home to fellow championship contenders Bulwell West End in a Bulwell and District League match.