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| Kimberley's Main Street c.1913 just after Phyllis moved here |
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1909 Arrival in Kimberley - "70 years ago when I came to this village as a child of 9, things were very different, in fact there were two busy stations, the Midland and the Great Northern which were always busy either carrying passengers or goods.
Early morning they would be taking people to their work in the City of Nottingham or to drop some at the Basford Station for the factories there, Others would go on the trains in the opposite directions to either Ilkeston, Pinxton or Derby. In those days most of the factories were very busy. Our roads were very stony and the heaviest vehicles were the brewers' drays pulled by beautiful big powerful horses. The only way to travel in those days was by train if you hadn't got a horse and trap. Every shop in the Main Street was occupied and no one had far to go for anything they needed. There was 4 schools, which seemed to accommodate all the children of the village and outlying villages easily."
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| Kimberley's Midland Station, site of the old watermill. Phyllis says Kimberley's 2 stations "were always busy either carrying passengers or goods" It was built in the "Arts and Crafts" style with terracotta motif decorations. |
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| 1927 - High class chocolate shop, 16 Main Street, Kimberley. Phyllis talks about the chocolate shops in Kimberley later in this article. Courtesy of D. Edwards who says... "My Great Aunt Lilly Weekly, outside the shop she owned with her sister Kate at No 16 Main Street Kimberley. This was taken in 1927, it was then owned by G.T. Holmes Direct Fish Suppliers, In 1970 it became a printers shop." |
Blanchards Bakery - "My parents came from Kirkby on Bain in Lincolnshire, my father being a baker was one of the first men, (the other being Bill Mosely) who worked for Mr Blanchard, who first worked the bakehouse up the yard by the Wolsey factory on the Main Street. They then went to a bakehouse on Regent Street which was bigger, until Mr Blanchard had a new one built in James Street. Mr Blanchard delivered his goods by horse and cart. He had three sons."
Father's bakery business - "Just after that my father left him to start a business on his own at 70 Eastwood Road, and being the eldest of the family I helped in the bakehouse and learned the trade. I used to go out and deliver bread and cakes, even standing at the Pit-gates on pay day to sell them buns and scones. There was two pits at the bottom of Gilt Hill, one called Digby Pit and the one along the lines towards Greasley was called New London."
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| c.1910 - Eastwood Road, Kimberley (before the trams) looking towards Phyllis's family bakery business at number 70 |
1912 - Scarlet fever when the trams arrive in Kimberley - "Time crept along slowly until 1912 when Balfour Beattie started to lay a tramway track from Ripley to Nottingham. It was laid to Basford by 1913, and my sister went for a ride on the first tram, whilst I was laid up with scarlet fever, a very disappointed girl. A return ticket to Nottingham, when the trams did get to Parliament Street, Nottingham, was only nine pence return."
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| c.1913 - Phyllis talks about the many independent shops that lined Kimberley's Main Street |
Kimberley's old rectory - "Mr Hart who was our Rector for a great number of years, over forty I believe, had four daughters and two sons, one of whom was killed in the first world war, and eventually the other one emigrated. I used to deliver bread to the Rectory, and got to know the family well. The old rectory was bulldozed about 1966 or 1967, but the new one wasn't built till about four years later. It was built nearer the Main Road. It's quite near the new rectory room, which was built about 1957, but that now is called the church hall.
In those days, opposite the Rectory was a gentleman's house, and the man who lived there was a travelling salesman for the Brewery. He was driven round by a cripple in a horse and gig, and they looked very high sitting on their seats with rugs around their knees."
The Midland Station area and the tall lady - "Just below there was the Midland Station entrance, and it was a grand little place, and always kept so clean, but I'm sorry to say the railway lines were taken up to be used in the 1914 to 1918 war. The Northern Station was kept open for quite some years after that.
Just by the Midland Station entrance were two stone cottages - one housed the tallest woman I've ever seen, and the other was just the opposite, and I served them both with bread."
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| These 2 pictures show Nine Corners and the old Rectory where Phyllis used to deliver bread to before the trams arrived in 1913 |
Hardy and Hanson's Breweries - "From there we go up a steep stony road to come to Hardy's Brewery, and round to the left we see Hanson's Brewery. They had their own well, and no other water was used in the brewing process. The breweries owned all twelve public houses in Kimberley, and to this day there are still eight old ones and one new. Travelling up Hardy Street as it was called, there were rows of old stone cottages until we came to Hardy's Farm as it' was called, where they grew the barley for malting at the brewery. As a girl I remember watching the grain coming out of a shoot after it had been through the mill to be carted away and then at other times it would be hops which made good manure for the farmers. At the opposite side to the farm was about eight nice bay-windowed houses, then at the top was a Co-op shop, long since closed."
Alma Hill area - "Then straight ahead was Alma Hill, with quite a number of cottages and one or two bigger houses also a few new ones being built. That was the end of Kimberley in that direction, and turn back to where the Co-op was, and turn left onto the Boulevard where there was quite a lot of bigger houses. on the left, and now the other side has been taken over and since the first world war council houses have been built. Then on that same side we have Norman Street, where quite a number of houses were occupied by teachers. In fact two of the teachers who taught me lived there."
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Main Street, Kimberley - "So now we will travel back to the Main Street, opposite the old Rectory, and wend our way up to the shopping thoroughfare. First we came to a biggish garage which housed the first loco the breweries had and it did make a noise. Then there was about thirty steps to climb if you wanted to get to Station Road, then on that road we have the Nelson Hotel, and quite a number of stone cottages, and also Donnelly's woodyard and they were also undertakers, but I'm sorry to say that is closed down. Now back to the main street. One biggish house stood at the side of the shops then we come to a cottage perched at the top of about twenty steps a bit further up; a friend of mine live there for a time until they had a house built at Swingate."
Great Northern Hotel - "Now, next we come to the Great Northern Hotel which was divided into two parts - the bottom part on Main Street and the top on Station Road. As a nickname, it was called the Pig and Whistle. At the end of that building was the station steps and in those days everywhere was so clean and the gardens were a picture, especially the station ones. The station is now used as a wood yard. Going up an incline to the right of the station was a row of cottages, which are still there, and always kept in good repair, then still on Chapel Bar as its called we come to another public house, the Cricketers Rest, then one or two bigger houses, and the one at the end was our Doc, Doc Percival. Now his house has been demolished to make room for a car park."
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| c.1913 Nine Corners, Kimberley Main Street. Phyllis talks about the old Rectory (on the right), the Great Northern Hotel (Pig and Whistle) (on the left) and the Ripley Rattler trams whose recently laid tramlines can be seen here. |
Toll Bar area - "Turning right we're now back in Main Street. Now this was actually the Toll Bar, and there was a small bank, next came a bakers shop and their house. They were built of stone and looked quite small, but they brought quite a family up. The next was a double paper shop, then a little sweet shop, and up a few steps at the end was the bakehouse. That row, I'm sorry to say, is all demolished, and is replaced by a flower bed and toilets."
Main Street - "Now shall we cross over up the Main Street. The first on the left is the Gate Inn, then we come to a family butchers, really firmly established until a few years ago, when the family died all except for a grandson who is a doctor in the vicinity. Next we had a bootmaker and a china shop, then our chemist, Mr Green his son took it over until a few years ago, when he had to retire through ill-health. Next we had another paper shop, then came a drapery and outfitters, after that we had another butchers, then a barbers and the next was a double-fronted drapery shop. It was run by a Mr Carrier and his sons and daughter until the early thirties, when it was closed - now it is turned into a bank."
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| c.1915 - Kimberley's Main Street with tram lines looking towards Nottingham. The war memorial and the Lord Clyde pub (now called The Dog) along with its distinctive railings are still there. |
Primitive Chapel - "The next building was the Primitive Chapel, now that is a supermarket. The next was the Sunday School room belonging to the chapel - that has also been demolished and quite a fine library is built which also took the ground on which the YMCA stood. Next we had a row of shops where you could buy almost anything: shoes (a Miss Shawcroft owned the shoe shop, which is now a chip shop), sweets, greengroceries, and a Miss Lilly had a shop next she sold all kinds of things: milk, bread, xxxx, and even wallpapers. Now the next was Miss Huckerby's pork and grocery shop; her brother had a bigger shop at Ilkeston and used to bring all her supplies. Just one more sweet shop, then a private house."
Lord Clyde - "Now we come to the Lord Clyde public house. Still on the main road, next we had our other doctor, Doctor Northwood, after which it's houses, the Kimberley Sergeant's house among them, until we get to Noel Street and opposite we have the Methodist Church which has closed this year, 1979. That leaves only the Wesleyan and the Baptist."
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| c.1900 - Dr. Northwood on newly built Norman Street being driven to appointments by his groom |
Chapel on the hill - "At the side of the Methodist Church, we are on Broomhill Road, which leads to the cemetery, standing on a hill with a little chapel on the top, now used as a Garden of Rest, Now looking towards Nottingham there's quite a number of prefab houses built after the first world war, and they're still occupied. The we have the Stag Inn, and more houses, until the next village of Nuthall.
Shall we now come back to the Methodist Church. I remember as a girl there was quite a number of beautiful gardens, now the Wolsey Factory have built have built a new department, but between that and Factory Lane we have the 1914 to 1918 war memorial. I think the factory which is on the other side of the lane has been altered a lot since I first saw it seventy years ago."
Factory Lane - "Now we'll travel up Factory Lane, once again beautiful gardens, until we came to the Girls' School, and joined onto that was the Infants' School, just around the corner was the entrance to that, on High Street. Opposite the Girls' School was an undertaker's yard, and business is still being carried on by his youngest son. Now, just above there was another baker who used to deliver bred in a three wheeled bread basket like I did. I always remember that family - they were all so tall and I wondered how they could possibly get into the bakehouse there, it looked so small."
High Street - "Now we'll come back to the top of Factory Lane and wend our way along the High Street, to start off on the left was quite a number of stone cottages and the Highland Laddie public house, now altogether missing. Further on still on the left, more stone cottages and I remember a very big double fronted shop who used to sell all kinds of goods, but when I took their bread I had to go to the back door, and had a number of steps to climb, a bit tricky in winter time. On the other side of the road was some better class houses, brick built, and a little china shop. Then we came to St Paul's Church, now a factory. We're now at James' Street, the bottom end being at the toll bar."
Holy Trinity church - "So, we'll finish out walk along High Street past a lot of stone cottages on either side of the road until we come to Church Hill, which, as a child, I was told it was Kettle Bank, because it was so steep. On the one side was a small farm and just below a gentleman's house, which I can remember being built. Now on the other side is the Holy Trinity Church, and on the opposite side was the Church schools which have been taken over. I was confirmed at Holy Trinity by the Bishop of Southwell, who was bishop of the Diocese. I was also married there in 1921. Now we will go back along the High Street and pass the Horse and Groom, another public house long closed down, and I'm told all the stone houses which stood in that yard are all down. Its some years since I was up there."
James Street - "Now back to the top of James' Street, which in my early days was always busy; it had a small power station and the bottom part of St. Paul's was used as a Labour Exchange. Also there was plenty of shops, including the Co-op who had a grocery department on the left hand side, and a drapery and gent's outfitters on the right, and most busy they were. James' Street had high class chocolate shops, and also several hair dressers and barbers. Also towards the bottom end was a nice fish and chip saloon, and a tripe shop. The other side was a paper shop, but for my first few years I remember it as a butcher's shop. Next we have the Queen's Head, one entrance on James' Street, and the other on Main Street."
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| Woodcock's butchers, one of about 7 that Kimberley once boasted! |
Main Street again - "There's a few more shops on the Main Street, which I would like to mention, starting from the little bakery I've already mentioned, then next came the Saddlers, then a high-class shoe shop, then crossing by Regent Street we had Mrs Sheldon's drapery shop. Then came a fish and chip saloon, a Mr and Mrs Butler and their daughter. Below we next had a really fine chocolate and tobacconists, then a milliners, the Miss Lilley's. Next came Mr Braddock, the boot and shoe repairer, then a corn shop and a jewellers, and a dentist who came each Friday. One more sweet shop."
James Street - "Now we are back at James' Street. Now just a few more below the Queen's Head - first a blacksmith, who was kept very busy in those days as such a lot of horses were used, and we hardly see any today. Then we had a high-class butcher - it was only a little shop, and the owners lived away. The post office came next, and we have the post office in the same shop today although its been moved a time or two I believe. We next had the Midland Bank, then Hunters Stores, which also did a good trade then, that's now closed down. Their goods was delivered by horse and cart, and I'll always remember the piebald pony. The next shop down was Brailsfords the clothing and pawn shop. The next was a kind of junk shop, until two ladies came from the little shop below with greengroceries. Next one below Orchard Street was another shoe shop; run by a Mr Jones. Miss Weekly had the next one, and sold bread and cakes, baked by Donson's the baker from Ilkeston. A little greengrocers next, then our own pork butcher, Mr Henshaw - he came about 1914. And last was a corn and oil shop, run by a Mr Alton."
Maws Lane and Lawn Mills area - "There was some really lovely walks around Kimberley in those early days, but quite a lot have now been closed to the public. I lived in 8 Maws Lane until I married, then went into no. 1 Lawn Mill Road 1921 until January 1978 when I had to leave thro' ill health after losing my husband. We had eight busy shops in that area, and now all but two are closed down."
1930 - Public transport - "By 1930, although the trams was running every fifteen minutes, motorised vehicles were trying very hard to get permission to run on the same route. Trolley buses had a try, but didn't last too long. First one little company would try, and then another would take over thinking they could do better. Then Williamsons of Heanor started, and the tram company started with some awkward looking Guys(?) and Leyland buses. Eventually, they got better buses, and ran the trams off the road in 1932 or 1933. My husband was a tram driver from 1918 till nearly the end - 1932 he finished. The buses don't do so well now, as folk have their own cars."
Bread deliveries for dad - "When I was nine years of age [1909], I began to deliver the local bread for my father, and as time went on I had more to do. I left school October 1913 to look after my mother when my baby sister was born. The school attendance officer called to see why I was away, and my mother told him I'd been looking after her, and he said don't bother to send her again as she'll be 14 soon."
Running the family bakery business - "After that, my father went to Olney in Buckinghamshire to help his sister's husband who was ill, and mother and I had to manage the small business on our own. I learned to make a big batch of bread, 10 stone of flour at a time. Then the 1914 war broke out, and the man who used to deliver our flour was called up, being a naval reserve man, and two little boys used to bring our flour by horse and dray, but they couldn't carry it, so I use to get the bags on my shoulder and carry them into the bakehouse. I soon got used to it, and really liked making bread and smalls. Mother was the right hand man when she was well enough. When baking day came round for outsiders, which was Friday, they used to bring their bread to be baked in our big oven, and we would have practically an oven full."
1914 WW1 - "During the 1914-18 war, the Zeppelin raid on Bennerley and Stanton Ironworks, and one night my sister, who is six years younger than me, and I was coming from Giltbrook after delivering an order, when we saw some searchlights all around, and came running home. On the way, a warden called and told s to get home and into the lowest place we had because there was a Zep raid. I looked up and there was one overhead and it seemed almost the length of Maws Lane. Anyway, it passed over us and made its way to Bennerley and Stanton. They dropped bombs all around Bennerley but none direct, and we had seen al the furnaces on as we came home from Giltbrook."
1914 Worklife - "I will now tell you more of my work in 1914-15 and 16. I had a lot of bread and cake rounds to take over, and went as far as Strelley Broad Oak three times a week, Watnall twice, and Awsworth and Babbington twice, and Giltbrook once, all local and most shops in Kimberley each day.
My father was called up in 1917, and I got work at one of the Meadow Dairy shops which had opened in Kimberley, Main Street. I just delivered bread and cakes in my dinner hour, and my mother managed the rest. I remember one Good Friday we made 900 Hot Cross Buns. I didn't come back to the baking trade, but stayed on at the Meadow Dairy until I married. I was assistant for ten months, then managed until I left."
Chilwell explosion - "While I worked there, we heard a terrible explosion it really shook Kimberley and later heard that Chilwell had been blown up, and there were many dead, even some of our customers who worked there. We never knew if it was arson or an accident being as it was war time. Such things were never printed. In my early days, it always seemed extra dark at night, walking under the railway bridges, but they are down now."
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| 1 July 1918, at 7.10pm, a catastrophic explosion tore through the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire. The blast killed 134 workers and injured 250, the biggest loss of life from a single accidental explosion during WW1 |
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| Phyllis talks about Sunday School and church festivals and parades (Courtesy of P Bailey) |
1945 Post war years - "After the second world war, building started with a vengeance at the back of the Miners' Welfare on Eastwood Road the council built a large number of houses and bungalows, the entrance to same being from Awsworth Lance and Digby Street."
Building boom towards Watnall - "The prefabs put up after the first world war, which should have been for ten years, are still standing and occupied. Everywhere one goes now, buildings are in progress. Where the stone cottages were in Hardy Street they have built some very nice bungalows and all the brewery gardens have been taken over, and I'm told that between there and Watnall will be quite a lot of private houses. The Watnall side was where the RAF station was during and after the war, and all that land has been built on. The ground where Watnall Hall stood was bought, along with the Hall, by a builder, and all that ground has been taken up with big houses. On Alma Hill, the council have built quite a number of bungalows and flats, and on the Maws Lane side are some nice bungalows and also a new public house [the Golden Guinea and now the Coop since c.2020]. I'm told that when its fully built up there will be over 300 houses. We used to have a garden near the brewery, and I'm told that all the fruit trees and also the plantation nearby is being felled to make room for 80 houses, making a road right across the fields to come out in Maws Lane. It looks as tho' they will be cutting through the top end of the Park. The public will be disappointed, they quite enjoyed it there, and it was quite convenient for the children in that locality."
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| 1940 - bottom of Maws Lane looking towards Awsworth before all the houses were built |
Gas lamps - "I remember when a child we had gas lamps in the streets, and well until after I was married, the lamp-lighter would come and light them just as it was getting dark, and we'd hear him come tramping along around 11 o'clock to put them out. There's nothing like that now, all electric and set to go off and on by clock work."
1915 Cloverlands - "I forgot to mention the Cloverlands, the home of the Hanson's, the brewers. Its situated at the top of Newdigate Lane, and was taken over during the first world war and the family went to live at a village called Oxton, the other side of Nottingham. The bridge built over the railway line, just before you turn into Cloverlands estate, I remember it being built before the old one was taken down. I should be about 15 or 16 then. Now there's quite a big estate on the Cloverlands ground, and also an old peoples home and flats for pensioners."
1978 Widowhood - "I became a widow in October 1978, and have left Kimberley to live at Riddings, Derbys, owing to ill health. I'm quite near to one of my daughters, and have a nice little house, and I have another daughter living in Humberside, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. I am very happy here, and all the folk are friendly. I'm told the house my husband and I live in has been completely modernised. We lived there 58 years, and were the 4th tenants; I think the house was built late 1800's,' and the brickwork was very good and stood the test of time."
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Ray's friend Alan Wilson ex chair of DHL Society
 | Alan Wilson 1974-86Born in Nottingham, Wilson won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music at the age of 17, where he obtained his ARCM and LRAM diplomas. He attended several composition classes with Nadia Boulanger and on a further scholarship went to the Amsterdam Conservatoire to study the techniques of early keyboard music with Gustav Leonhardt. He soon became widely known as a keyboard player with early music groups such as the Consort of Musicke and the Noyse of Musitians. |
From 1974 to 1986 he was Director of Music at the University Church of Christ the King, writing much music for the Church Choir, which toured frequently in the UK and Germany. He began to receive commissions and wrote the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music. After leaving the university church, he became Director of Music at Queen Mary College in east London and at the famous "Bow Bells" church of St. Mary-le-Bow, and founded his own choir, the Alan Wilson Singers. He regularly directs and composes for BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service. Wilson’s compositional style is influenced particularly by early baroque music and by contemporary popular and folk idioms, while remaining closely linked to the Anglican choral tradition. At the heart of his Communion settings is a strong desire to bring choir and congregation together as equal participants in musical worship. His four popular settings for Rite A range from the cathedral-like Mass of Light to the simple congregational Mass of All Saints and the exuberant rock-mass Mass of Regeneration. His interest in the keyboard extends to the experimental sounds of the modern synthesizer and he has been a driving force in the use of synthesizers in church worship. The Magnificant and Nunc Dimittis, scored for choir and organ, had an optional synthesizer part, and Wilson went a step further in the Mass of the Holy Trinity (another commission for the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music) by writing for two synthesizers and using a range of sounds and effects not previously heard in the cathedral. Wilson’s popular series of morning and evening canticles Christus Rex and his four volumes of Seasonal Carols are his thoughtful and highly effective answer to the changing styles of musical worship. from the josef weinberger website in 2004 | |
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