News - RAF hero Edward Donald Parker's medals to be auctioned (West Bridgford)

Medals awarded to an RAF pilot from Nottingham who died during World War II are to be auctioned.


Sqn Ldr Edward Donald Parker, from West Bridgford, was given the George Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross for acts of gallantry during the conflict.

He won particular praise for saving the life of a fellow crewman after their bomber crashed in 1940.

His six medals are expected to fetch up to £30,000 when they go up for sale in Shrewsbury on 23 May.

Born in 1910, Sqn Ldr Parker completed dozens of operational flights against the Germans as part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR).

Sqn Ldr Parker received his George Cross for saving the life of a fellow crew member after being forced to crash land a Hampden bomber carrying four 500lb bombs shortly after take-off from RAF Scampton in 1940.

Also in 1940, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for completing 43 operational flights against the enemy.

He was killed in action flying a Lancaster bomber over Berlin in January 1943 and is buried in the city's 1939-1945 War Cemetery.

Derek Ainsworth, from auctioneers Halls, said the medals had featured in several auctions over the past few decades and were now being sold by a collector from Cheshire.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-17922126

Article - How railway embankment became residents' very own nature reserve (West Bridgford)

EVERY weekday morning, many of the housewives in Selby Road, West Bridgford, would be out in their aprons, waving to the steam train as it puffed its way to London.

The "Businessman's Special" left Nottingham at 8.15am, and it was something of a tradition that you waved to it as it went past, along the Nottingham Midland line that in its heyday ran parallel to Selby Road.

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   'Businessman's Special': A London train on the embankment above Selby Road in the 1930s.

Jesse Gray, a prolific builder who died at the age of 90 in 1972, built the first houses on the road, on land bought from Sir Horatio Davis (after whom Davis Road is named) in 1913.

He built 23 houses, at the lower, or south, end of the road. His son, Percy Edward Gray, later continued the portfolio with a further 40 or 50 houses, on either side of the road.

In those early days, from what is now Malvern Road up to Boundary Road and beyond, local residents recall "it was all fields".

Even when more dwellings were gradually added, there were as many allotments as houses, and the upper, northern end was an unmade road.

The last local train along the line was the 6.20pm to St Pancras on Saturday April 16 1966. Subsequently there was one express train a day until the end of April 1967, and the last freight train ran on November 1 1968. The line was finally removed early in 1969. But the embankment remains – although not without incident.

In 1984 there was a huge fire on the embankment, which had become overgrown. It was caused by a spark from a bonfire in a garden on St Helen's Road at the end of a dry spell.

Within minutes the undergrowth was in flames. By the time the fire was out, there was little vegetation left.
The only casualties reported were a pond full of fish; a householder and her son had just that morning completed the pond, and stocked it with goldfish, none of which survived the thick coating of ash that covered the water.

Ten years later, the embankment faced a threat of a different sort. The local council had a plan to level the land and build more housing.

Quite how they were going to provide reasonable access to each property was anybody's guess. The proposal caused an uproar from every house in Selby Road, and in October 1995 the council backed down, with a letter to residents saying they were not proceeding, owing to "a lack of interest in the proposal". Oh – and incidentally – they wanted £10 a year from all the householders!

"It is now our intention to regularise the use of this land by granting adjacent owners a Licence Agreement to occupy the land for a yearly fee. Any parties who do not wish to enter into such an agreement will be required to vacate the land".

So the council were having their pound of flesh. But it was cheap at the price, to maintain a vital piece of heritage, and to have created what is now known as the Green Line, a thriving nature reserve, much appreciated by all West Bridgford folk who walk along it.

More recently, the embankment has had another surge of energy, with the Selby Road Open Gardens weekends, now coming up to their fourth year.

Children who now have children of their own remember with nostalgia their trips up the embankment to the "metal factory" on the Ludlow Hill industrial estate.

Until the end of the Second World War the estate was the site of Smart's brickworks, and continued to produce bricks until the kiln was demolished in the early 1950s.

The trading estate grew up around the brickworks, with a variety of businesses including car servicing, and the famous "metal factory". This was a manufacturer of cheap trophies for sporting clubs and institutes. The "seconds" were chucked out on to the rubbish tip behind the factory, and many a house on Selby Road boasted a somewhat dented and tarnished cup or plaque brought home by gleeful offspring.

When they weren't up at the metal factory the kids were at the "nugget factory" as they called the sweet manufacturers in South Road who produced rather good nougat, and who were usually of a mind to give children a handout of "seconds".

Other residents recall the morning nursery school run by Constance Collier in her conservatory, in the '50s. And the two Misses Harrison, on the "evens" side of the road, who took in a lodger, Miss Cuthbert, and used to nip through the gate at the bottom of the garden, through the garden of the two Misses Collingtons, to catch the bus on Musters Road.

There were many single ladies around in those post-war days.

There are a great many memories of Selby Road, and as it approaches the 100th anniversary since the first foundations were laid in 1913, an archive is being put together to collate them all.

Gill and Steve Tanner are working to put together as many recollections, anecdotes and photographs as possible, from as many residents, past and present, as possible.

If you can contribute, please get in touch with them on 0115 981 2039, e-mail gill.tanner01@btinternet.com, or to see some of the information look at Selbyroadarchive.blogspot.com

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/railway-embankment-residents-nature-reserve/story-14278528-detail/story.html

Article - First female on the beat (Worksop)

AS Worksop’s first police woman Eileen Hebb had to deal with a fair bit of prejudice - mainly from her colleagues.

Most of the problems began when she started courting a fellow police officer, something which was frowned on back in the 1950s.

Eileen, now 82, was one of only 15 police women in Notts when she arrived in Worksop in 1953.

She said: “When I started courting Frank, they didn’t like it. They were going to split us up by sending him to Arnold and me to Carlton but in the end he left the force and took another job.”

At five foot four, Eileen wasn’t the biggest police officer on the beat either.

But it didn’t deter her from tackling the same jobs as the men.

“I did everything the men did except nights, although they would call me out at night if there was an indecent assault or something where they needed a woman present,” said Eileen, of Long Lane, Carlton.

Originally from Mansfield, she went to police college there in 1952 at the age of 21, after convincing her dad it was what she wanted to do.

“My dad asked me if I was sure I knew what I was doing by joining the police and I said yes, so off I went.”

She spent three months there with 14 other women who were then assigned to stations around Notts.

Eileen - whose maiden name was Armstrong - went first to West Bridgford for six months, and from there to Carlton near Nottingham for a further six months, which was where she says she had the only really frightening experience of her police career.

“They had old air raid shelters in the streets and one night I saw a policeman heading to a shelter. I asked him what was going on and he said something was happening in the shelter and he told me to go home.”

“The next day I discovered he was in hospital after being hit over the head with a cricket bat. His face looked awful when I saw him.”

Eileen then moved to Worksop where she earned £5 a week, while her husband Frank earned £6. Her uniform was navy blue and consisted of a skirt, jacket, hat and a handbag, the strap of which was secured through an epaulette.

She was assigned the number 13, which never worried her because she wasn’t superstitious.

She particularly remembers one inspector who she says was resentful of her and made her walk all the way to Shireoaks and back.

Eileen remembers stopping a drunken cyclist who was weaving all over the road outside the police station on Potter Street, who got the shock of his life when he was hauled in by a woman.

She also recalls directing traffic and seeing a police officer watching her.

“I didn’t know what he was doing but he turned out to be the superintendent who was carrying out an inspection. When he saw me later he said ‘Armstrong, you did a good job out there’.”

After getting married and becoming a mother, Eileen left the force and ran a grocery store on Sandy Lane with Frank for ten years.

She then took up a job as a store detective for the former Co-op on Eastgate. “I had two fights in the street with shoplifters but I told them that I paid for my shopping so why shouldn’t they?” she said.

From: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/local-news/first_female_on_the_beat_1_3859911

News - New library plan not good enough (Notts Libraries)

CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to reduce opening hours at libraries across Ashfield say a council rethink to inject more cash into the service is still not good enough.

Huthwaite Library had been earmarked to have its hours cut from 19 to eight hours – but Nottinghamshire County Council has now proposed to set aside extra funding to take it back up to nine-and-a-half.

The news has been given the thumbs down by villagers and the Huthwaite Community Action Group, which took part in a two-hour read-in ‘protest’ at the library as part of national Save Our Libraries Day on Saturday.

Sutton West district councillor, Ray Buttery, said the small extension to opening hours would not make any difference and fears the library could eventually close.

“If the hours are cut so much people will not bother coming,” he said. “Once the footfall goes they will close. Elderly people will not want to jump on a bus and go to Sutton.

“I just wonder if it will stay open on a Saturday. All the councillors have surgeries here on a Saturday and if people are working during the week the only time they can get to the library is at the weekend.

“We have a children’s reading corner here. They need to have reading books because computers just are not the same.”

More than 50 people – including Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero – attended the read-in on Saturday and Coun Buttery said it had been a successful event.

“Lots of people came and some took out 18 books to emphasise the fact that the libraries should not be shut. It was a brilliant morning and everyone was together – that is what it is all about.

“Many people signed a petition, which we have given to the county council. Now we have to wait and see.”

Annesley Woodhouse, Jacksdale, Selston and Skegby libraries would also all have their hours reduced – but not by as much as had been expected due to the county council setting aside more than £70,000 for libraries following a public consultation.

But Ms De Piero, who is also Shadow Libraries Minister, dismissed the cash injection and pledged to keep up the pressure on Ministers to do more to save libraries.

“These cuts are directly as a result of budgets set by the Tory-led government in Westminster,” she said. “While I understand that difficult decisions have to be made, I have a particular issue with how Nottinghamshire County Council is distributing these cuts.

“The council says it has listened to feedback from the community but Huthwaite Library is still having its hours slashed by 50 per cent. At the same time, Ken Clarke’s rather more affluent constituency of Rushcliffe seems to be faring better – the council is spending £4.9m there on the library in West Bridgford.”

Under previous county council proposals, the annual book fund was reduced from £1.6m to £387,000. This has now been revised and 25 per cent of the fund restored, taking it to £793,000.

Added Ms De Piero: “I’m also worried that halving the book budget will mean libraries are left with older books on the shelves. Libraries need investment to stay alive and thriving, and new books draw people in to libraries – people who can’t necessarily afford to go out and buy the latest bestseller.”

The county council’s assistant head of libraries Philip Marshall said it was heartening to see the strength of feeling among folk who ‘valued their libraries so highly’.

He added: “We appreciate their concerns and also their right to publicly protest against the reduction in library hours.

“However, you’ll appreciate that with the severe financial pressures the council is under, we’ve had to make some tough decisions – we need to make savings of £87m next year, reinvesting £42m of that largely in services for the most vulnerable.

“Regrettably, libraries have had to take their share of the impact, but unlike many other local authorities, we have no plans to close any of our 60 libraries and we are still investing in capital projects including the £3.4m refurbishment of Mansfield library.

“We have consulted the public on options for library opening hours and listened closely to that feedback. Recognising their value to the communities they serve, we have lowered the reduction in opening hours for 28 of our smaller libraries and also put money back into our fund used to buy new books.”

From http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/new_library_plan_not_good_enough_1_3063962