© 2006-2012 John C. Beresford

personal

early years

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I was born in Nottingham, England on November 24, 1956 and stayed there for 18 years, living with my parents and maternal grandmother in (the Edwalton end of) West Bridgford.  In those days we lived on the edge of rolling pasture land that stretched from our house all the way to Gamston.  We could see Tollerton aerodrome and watch the light planes flying around at weekends.

I well remember those wonderful sunny summer Sundays when we would climb up on the outhouse roof (all those houses have single-storey flat-roofed outhouses for storing garden equipment.  Somewhat in the fine English tradition of a shed, but made of brick rather than wood and attached rather than at the bottom of the garden.  So not really a shed, then) with a couple of deck-chairs and sit all afternoon watching the annual air show.  The Red Arrows' bomb-burst used to break right over the field at the bottom of our garden!

In the early 1990s redevelopment of the Gamston and Lings Bar areas led to the construction of over 750 residential properties, a hospital, public house (the Goose at Gamston), school and large supermarket.  What was once a view of sylvan rolling fields broken only by small copses and woods is now just like any other suburb and a lot of the magic of the place that I enjoyed as a boy has gone.

School

At the tender age of 4, I started at Edwalton County Primary School, or Eggs, Chips and Peas as we called it (ECP - geddit?).  I attended from 1961 to 1964.  I was so pleased when looking around their website to see that the school is still thriving over 40 years after I left, and still maintaining their farm.  We never had a farm while I was there (according to the website it's been going for nearly 30 years) but I'm sure we had a rabbit or two.  Now they keep chickens, pigs, sheep and goats as well as rabbits and guinea pigs.  I wonder if they still have time to play kiss-chase?

In 1964 I moved on to one of West Bridgford's separate juniors - South County Junior School - where I stayed until 1968.  Amazingly this school does not yet have a website.  Although an old school, it was well equipped, having its own manual printing press and a stage in the main hall with a full set of theatre lights.  All this equipment saved my sanity in my final year there. My birthday being in November, I had in fact started school life a little earlier than most.  When what should have been my final year in South County rolled round, I wasn't old enough to sit the 11-plus.  Other areas had a more enlightened policy (I was to learn later, when I found myself attending UMIST with a guy who had taken his "A" Levels at the age of 17), but for Rushcliffe to sit the 11-plus you had to be, well, 11.  The upshot of this was that I had to stay at South County (while all my friends left for "big school") and repeat the final year.  Had it not been for the fact that I got to spend quite a lot of "lesson" time setting the type and working the printing press to produce programmes for school concerts and plays, and was also put in charge of the stage lighting for all the school productions that year, I would quite likely have gone mad from boredom.

In September 1968 I started at West Bridgford Grammar which owing to the prevailing Government education policy became West Bridgford Comprehensive School the year after, joining forces with the Lutterell Secondary Modern, which later became a College of Further Education.  Funnily enough, at the time of writing, this school doesn't have a permanent website either.  What's wrong with Nottinghamshire schools?  They seem to be stuck in the 20th century!

Favourite subjects were always English and the sciences. I couldn't wait to get past the third year (what do they call that these days...Year 9?) so I could take separate science subjects instead of the bland "General Science."  What I didn't realise was (a) the timetable restrictions would mean I had to drop music and (b) how much I would come to regret that in later years.  It didn't matter much to me at the time, but now that I'm approaching my 50th birthday without ever having learned to play an instrument, it is one of my biggest regrets.

My fascination with science, especially human biology, led me to the conclusion that I should try for a career in medicine, and this drove me to my choice of 'A' Levels: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  OK, maybe Physics was a mistake (it was always my weakest science), or maybe it had something to do with our absentee Physics teacher, but that was the only subject in which I did NOT attain the requisite B grade which Sheffield University had told me I needed to study medicine with them.  This left me in the midst of a scramble for a university place through the UCCA clearing scheme.  With no clear idea what best to take, I settled for the "least bad" option and in October 1975 I left Nottingham for the high life of Manchester, to read Biochemistry at UMIST.

Nottingham

No story about life in the city or its suburbs would be complete without a link to Nottingham Forest Football Club, a team which I followed regularly only for about 3 years (when on vacation from Uni), but which many of my best friends still avidly support.

Although I never had any great interest in rugby (especially playing!) I include a link to the West Bridgford Rugby Club, simply because although they've now moved to a new clubhouse, they used to be based at West Park Pavilion, which is where I spent most of my Saturday evenings in the mid-seventies.  Discos there were loud and crowded, and fuelled by soft drinks, crisps and chocolate ... which I guess sounds pretty anachronistic now, but was fun at the time!

Whilst we're on the subject of sport, I should mention Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.  Not that I ever went there, but I should mention it.  That link takes you to the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, which is effectively the same thing :)

Another famous local facility is the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.  I enjoyed many a happy Sunday afternoon walking around the boating lake and watching the practice sessions.  By now you may have recognised my aversion to actually participating in sport, so you won't be surprised that watching was as far as I got...although I did go kayaking on the River Trent a few times as a lad.

Once I discovered the delights of the hop, you'd often find me and my mates starting the evening in Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, widely accepted as the oldest pub in the UK.  This excellent ale house nestles at the foot of Castle Rock in the city centre and used to boast a fine pint of Marston's Pedigree, although friends tell me it's not as good as it used to be since the brewery was taken over.

Obligatory Robin Hood link.  Please don't bother me with tales of how he really came from Kirklees (the administrative district where I lived until May 2000) or didn't exist at all.  If you come from Nottingham, you grow up with the Robin Hood story. You dream of finding Maid Marian and rescuing her from the wicked sheriff.  You don't want to hear about a different reality (although I've chosen a Robin Hood link that gives, shall we say, a more balanced view of the legend :o))