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Babbington

Babbington maps

Historic maps of Babbington and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Babbington maps

Babbington photos

We have no photos of Babbington, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Ilkeston| Eastwood| Stapleford| Nottingham| Hucknall| Sandiacre| Heanor| Wilford| Long Eaton| Newstead Abbey| West Bridgford| Riddings| Ripley

Babbington area books

Displaying 1 of 5 books about Babbington and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Babbington

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Nottinghamshire memories

Growing up

I grew up in Awsworth from 1959 and left in 1986 to live nearby in Eastwood. I attended both schools as a child, all my 4 children were baptised in the local church, I played football for all the teams in Awsworth, in fact I and a friend formed the Sunday League side, Awsworth 77 as it was originally known. I still believe it runs to this day. I served on the parish council for a while, I did'nt intend to delve into local politics, I only went to get the permission of the usage of the rec's football ground at the annual general meeting. I resided at no 32 The Glebe until 1978 when I married and moved to Park Hill. I remember growing up in Awsworth where there was plenty of countryside to explore, Babbington woods, up Cossall and many more.

Fond Memories, Happy Days

I was born at 44 Main Street, better known as Music Row, in 1943 and moved to Kimberley in 1958. I have many fond memories of living there, huge bonfires on the "donkey piece", making "winter warmers" out of a tin with holes in and coal. Scrumping in Mr Wardle's orchard, it was also he who also recharged our accumulators up for our radio. Everyone had "gadda's" or made bows and arrows. No TV or playstations in those days. Grazed knees were the order of the day, and mother's spit cured all sorts of cuts and bruises, and kept hair tidy. Food was on ration with not much money around, and many a time I had cardboard in my shoes, as the soles of my shoes had holes in them, not much good when it rained though. Mr Winterbottom ruled the junior school with a rod of iron, and woe betide you if you couldn't recite your times table straight off. We had lots of fun swimming in the "cut" and making... Read more

Balloon Woods, Wollatton

Balloon Woods. Most people says it was a hell hole. Yes some parts of it was. But to a child it was good. There were more quite a few blocks. Some had four floors, these were called Tansley Walk, Bealey Walk, Hartington Walk and Peak Walk. They had areas where we could play in safety. We as a family lived on Hartington Walk in block Morestead. which was the second block facing the railway line. Here we got new friends and here we stayed till near the end. Our flat was a upside down one. The two largest bedrooms were on the lower floor as you came into the flat, with the small windowless bathroom, and a cupboard to the right. Upstairs was the smallest bedroom next to the kitchen, the medium sized kitchen was where our mother fed us and cooked. The large living room was where would read and listen to the radio. Our mother taught us to play games, some were brought from jumble sales. We would... Read more

Travelling by Hillmans

When we moved to Snapewood, neither of us could drive, our father started to take us out in a yellow and black Hillman Imp. For people who don't know, an Imp has the engine at the back. It was the first car to have an overhead cam. The day trips we took were good, with us three kids in the back. We would go to Derbyshire, we would park at Black Rock and walk up the very steep crumbling hill to see the views from the top. We walked along the paths and were able to run around, we would go to Matlock and Matlock Bath, if we stayed in Derbyshire all day we returned to Matlock for our chip supper on the way home. We didn't have any money but we enjoyed it. We took sandwiches for a picnic, sometimes sitting in the car when it rained. On many ocassions we would go to Monsal Dale. The walk from the road was good, we started to take our dog.... Read more

Balloon Woods Wollaton

My mum and me and my sister lived at Balloon Woods during the 1970s. I have nothing but good memories, we have a fab time living there, even now I feel so sad it has gone and always think about everything we did as children. We lived on Hartingtom Walk. After about 2 years our own first flat had the floods so they moved us across, still on Hartington Walk, to another flat. We had a great time, loads of fun with our mates, lovely school, Firbeck, and I wish I could go back to those times.

A Ride to School on The b5 Alfreton

On my first few week at starting Beavale Infants School I will always remember on rainy cold mornings that my mum always let me and my brothers Robert and Peter travel to school on the B5 bus, a big blue double decker. I'll always remember the red leather seats and the bus conductor with his ticket machine. At that time the the lollipop man was my grandad, Fred Beaver, who lived on Dovecote Road hilltop, he loved being among people and was a lay preacher at the church on Dovecote Road. My name was Phillip Beaver and I was only 5 years old at the time. We as a family lived on Baker Road, Giltbrook. I still have very fond memories of my childhood with watching the trains going over the old 40 bridges at Awsworth and playing in the brook down by Henry Short's yard to watch the coal lorries being loaded up while sitting on the shale hills as we only new as the shonkybanks. Mum's since passed on now,... Read more

When we Came Here

When our family, consisting of myself, Jean Pauline Smith, my mother who has since passed away (also called Jean, but her middle name is Audrey), and my sister and brother came to Bulwell, we came from the famous or infamous Balloon Wood flats, in Wollaton. We were given a three bedroom house on Hornbeam Gardens, Snapewood. It was a cold September when we looked around and going into the back bedroom, I saw the cemetery beyond. I was mortified, having only been at work for a year, I now didn't want to live so close to a graveyard. But since then I have marvelled at it. Our garden transformed from a mud hole with three layers into a lower patio area with a raised rockery. My mum started to collect a wide range of plants and her pride and joy were the heathers and oxalis/shamrocks. As I got older I contributed to the garden and we started to look at the wildlife that inhabited the cemetary and the gardens around... Read more

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