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Blidworth
Blidworth maps
Historic maps of Blidworth and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Blidworth maps
Blidworth photos
We have no photos of Blidworth, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Mansfield| Newstead Abbey| Mansfield Woodhouse| Hucknall| Sutton-In-Ashfield
Blidworth area books
Displaying 1 of 5 books about Blidworth and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Blidworth
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Nottinghamshire memories
Ravenshead' My Memoirs' by David Palfreman
I have recently produced a 28 page booklet with sketches and photographs of my memories of childhood days growing up in the area now known as Ravenshead, Notts.Copies of this booklet are available for customers to read at Nottinghamshire County Library in Glaisdale Nottingham or at Ravenshead Library. Further copies can be ordered by e-mailing Ravenshead@southfieldmill.plus.com at a cost of £3-99 inc. p.&p. My memoirs describe how life was during the war and post war years and highlights the type of people and the pastimes of those living in the community at that time. The booklet also contains personal sketches of mine which have been created from memory and compares them with current day photographs clearly showing the changes that have taken place over the years.I hope you might find my contribution of some interest should you wish to pursue it further.
Scout Camp
The 79th Boy Scout Group of which my father Bert Lacey was Scout master for on a number of years used to take us camping on a farm close to Farnsfield, I think it was called Combes Farm. We would get there down a lane off the Ollerton Road. If any none remembers this camp site please let me know. As far as I know my paternal grandmother came from Farnsfield, a lady by the name of Alice Bonser who married a Mr Lacey and moved to Netherfield.
Mansfield Market
I have some lovely memories of Mansfield market place. My dad, George Fisher, my mum, Margaret, and my lovely Uncle Johnny stood the market for many years. My grandad started the business many years before selling fruit & veg. I spotted the picture of Mansfield and was amazed to see the photo of my grandad next to his wagon. If you look carefully you can see the name Fisher on the side of the wagon. I was about 12 when I used to stand the market, we now sold tinned food,such as Chatka crab, salmon, tuna, tarentella tomatoes and good old-fashioned Camp Coffee. We had queues all day long and this learned me from a very young age to add up! The winters seemed to be a lot colder then, I can remember my dad having to put ta arpaulin from the stall to his van to protect customers from the heavy snow. Many a time did we have to take a different route home to Nottingham because the roads... Read more
My Time in Harlow Wood
I was in Harlow Wood Hospital on and off for about 3years, first in Ward 1 which was a boys' and men's ward, it was also called Portland Ward, and Sister Langton was in charge. I was about 10 and when I first went in I was surprised that they had school every day. Then I went into Ward 9, Sister Williams was in charge there. Both sisters were brilliant and looked after me really well. I am now 65. I think the the picture on the website is Ward 2 which was the girls' and women's ward, behind that was Ward 1. You could see the main road from both wards. Mr Jackson was the top orthapaedic surgeon.
Nursing
I was nursing at the hospital from December 1952, and the photo that is shown is of the old Nurses' Home, which you went into in your second year, or when on night duty in the part of the building at a right angle on the left. This meant that you had a single room instead of sharing. All the sisters also had rooms in this building as did Matron. The posts in the foreground are around the tennis courts, indicating that the picture is taken from the main Mansfield-Nottingham Road, the A60. Happy days. Why did they have to close such a highly respected place?
It Was A Miracle
I entered Harlow Wood in December 1939. I was 3 at the time. I left 3 yreas later unable to walk but cured of TB. I was under a Mr Campbell, the orthopaedic specialist. When I returned fro frequent checks. I remember he always greeted my mother and me with the words "Here comes the miracle boy". Thankfully I have had a full & happy life and God willing have a few more miles to cover yet.
Farming From Horses to Electronics.
My grandfather G. A. Smith took the tenancy of Springs Farm on Edingley Moor in 1931, when I was six months old. A builder by trade, and a sergeant in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry during the First World War, he farmed entirely with horses and the hand-graft of his sons and daughters, not to mention his wife Aggie. In 1934 agricultural depression was at its worst and he went back to his trade and his son-in-law, my father David Butler (Jack) Watts took over the tenancy. The farm was then part of the Hexgreave Estate. Jack, a champion ploughman from Derbyshire, brought an old Fordson with him to supplement the horses, and was able to start farming with a contract with the new Milk Marketing Board. The farm then had its own watermill, and by gradually adding labour-saving machinery and another tractor Jack was able to get established. I was eight when the war started, and in August 1940 the farm was straddled with about 180 incendiary bombs, possibly jettisoned... Read more
