Hi Dabbler The Old English Gentleman doesn't ring a bell but the Midland I knew well , Vauxhall were building the new 36 Million £ extension Wimpys lost the contract and Mc Alpines took it on and moved in on the airport road with there huts for the navies ,the girls moved in from London and the Scotch took over the Midland which at that time the yanks from an airbase near by had been using and the yanks weren't happy and there was the odd garryowen! Dabbler it was Bedlam and the town at that period was like the Klondike, I was working for a firm called MCC CONSTRUCTION AT THE AIRPORT there was no runways there then just flat grass and I was in digs just beside the airport in what must have been an old army camp as we were in Nissan Huts and the canteen was manned by veterans from the war some Russian and Poles this is 1954-5 and the money was great and I remember dancing to Jonnie Dankworth at the local dancehall and Cleo Lane was singing with him, I think the hall was named after one of the Vauxhall models but it escapes me at the moment , God but they were the best of times ,Dabbler you just opened a Pandoras box! Regards Ted

Ted. Hmmmmmmmm, it's all coming out now!!!!!! I won't tell if you won't.

Ted; when I played dominoes and darts at THE MIDLAND, the landlord was Jack Ball. I believe he was an ex-footballer.
Ten years previous to that, I danced - or shuffled - to Dankworth and Laine at the Hermitage Ballroom in Hitchin.

Ted
I come back to your reference to Pandora's Box. I clearly recall this story, and the evils unleashed. I am puzzled how anything I have ever done, let alone written, could unleash evils on the world. But perhaps, unlike Ann, I am missing the point. Most irritating, since I consider my sense of humour as sharp as most people.

Dabbler Sorry There was more to my reminesing than Pandoras box I agree it probably was out of context even though this was your main point of interest that you found worth commenting on .

Kind Regards Ted

Ted; I knew nothing about which companies built what around Luton airport, nor could I detect anything in your input that suggested evils in any form.I did not enjoy my time in Luton, apart from the money I earned at Vauxhall. I still search on this forum for references to my distant past. Maybe I'm a bit nuts in my old age. I have no wish to offend anyone. I certainly would not wish to open a Pandora's Box in anybody's world. Take care. Joe

Dabbler/ Ted
The Confession box was better known to most of us as the Pandora box.
Remember the old joke about the man who, after many years abstinence from Confession returned to his place of Worship and went into the Confessional. He was amazed to find a box of Cigars, a bottle of Whiskey and a few Girlie magazines. He lit a Cigar, poured a Whiskey and browsed through a Magazine. The neighbouring door opened and the Priest entered. The man said " Bless me Father for I have sinned, but the Confession has greatly changed since I was last here". The Priest answered, " You ejit, get out immediately, you.re sitting on my side"!

Lowroader,
congratulations your posting has achieved a record with this ppsting
donald

Lowroader,
congratulations your posting has achieved a record with this ppsting
donald

Donald,
Me not understand, but thanks anyway.
LR

Lowroader
I misspelt posting, what I want to say was that this post, started by you has broken records by the amount of replies. Up until now 98
donald

Donald,
Thank you for explaining that.
I think the number of replies proves the point that there is a desire to talk about our upbringing and the areas we lived in.
It is also amusing to read about the antics of Ted and Dabbler in an entirely different subject.
Keep it going lads.
I would also point out that the KK has not posted a decent recipe in months.
I am sure Dominic is enjoying his pre-cooked meals from Tesco!!!

Afternoon Low Roader Thanks for the compliments they convince me some find it as a bit of craic and don't take it to serious and I am sure you will agree a bit of life seems to have been injected into the forum recently thanks to your self and a few of us lurkers ? Sometimes I wonder is it a seasonal thing and inspiration is lacking during some part of the year ! however keep it coming,
Kind Regards Ted

Remembrances of Hilden over 60 years ago came recently to mind.

1, To celebrate the Coronation of Elisabeth11, the workers had a "join" and were allowed to bring their offspring into the "Dark Satanic Mill". I will never forget the smell of flax, the air polluted with "pouse" and the thundering of the giant production Frames.

2, One Sunday , returning from Church with my aunt Nellie to find the front street in a state of alarm. The Printing Dept. which was situated at the top gate beside the orchard was in flames and police, fire brigade and dozens of voluntary fire-fighters from the surrounding houses were fighting the fire.

3, Being evicted from our house in Bridge Street after my father leaving the mill´s employment and going to work in the Blackstaff mill in Belfast. Until we got a flat in Lawnbrook Drive we had to return to sleep at the Locks with my great uncle Ned. That was a horrifying experience having to walk up the tow-path in darkness thinking about such terrifying experiences as "the guttie slipper man", ghosts and banshees.
Those were the days my friend

donald

My Mum came to Lisburn from Limavady to be Nanny for the Gorden family. Jeannie Bartley was her name. I have lovely photographs of Kathleen Gorden's wedding and the write up in the Whig. The great and the good were there and all the females' outfits were described in detail. Mum was friendly with Mrs Spence (maybe she worked for them as well) I remember visiting her in Tonagh when they moved there . My Mum was married from Gorden's home in Finaghy now a nursing home. Margaret

Donald, "dark satanic mills" was proven by your family's experience in being evicted when your father left the mill's employment. Christian charity - where was it? I, too, remember a family being evicted from their house in Huguenot Drive, probably for being unable to pay the rent. It was a rainy day and I recall seeing all the furniture sitting on the pavement. Horrifying to think of that now.

Low Roader et al (except Dabbler). Since my two sons left us in peace almost 4 years ago, my cooking has been drastically reduced. I still make sausage rolls every week (about 3 doz at a time), the occasional apple tart and of course my own jam. Apart from a couple of pasta dishes and the normal dinners, that's about all the cooking I do. This morning I'll be making more sausage rolls but they'll not even reach the cooling rack before Dominic has snatched two in his hands, risking a burn, but his appetite outweighs any risk. When I think back years ago to when I was working full-time and had the 4 children at home, I remember every single Friday night, after dinner, I used to stay in the kitchen and bake a large madeira cake and a large sultana cake. These were always a definite but sometimes I cooked a savoury pie as well. I wish I had that energy now, or the inclination.

Ann
then, as you know the employees were dependant upon their employer for existence, housing and education. Before my time but I remember hearing that shops were also owned by the companies and if the employee needed food for his family he applied to the wages office and was issued with tokens to shop there and this was deducted from his wage on pay day.I mentioned it here before, in the early 50s when the employees only had one week´s holiday ( the twelfth week ) they had to appear on that Friday and were paid out.Being sacked or leaving employment meant you had to vacate the company owned property.
Granted,some employers such as Barbour were generous sponsoring things such as, schooling, recreation and health care but some ruled in other things with a somewhat heavy hand.
I remember the houses in Huguenot Drive where you lived being built in the late 40s, the 41s lane then went directly down to Grand St. It must have been around 1948 bas my mother was still alive and my brother was in a pram and I walked beside.
donald

Hi Barney, you may already know but my Dad, Sammy Lynn died of cancer in 2003. I think I actually remember you in Galway coming to the Galway Arms pub, he bought a pub further up the town after that and called it the Golden Pheasant after a pub somewhere outside Lisburn. Another visitor was not from Hilden but Brendan McAllister who I think worked in Caldwells pub on Chapel Hill.

Hi Paul I remember your father slightly but a cousin of mine Larry Close recently deceased always held your father in high regard and I understand visited him and your Mum a few times ! Would you remember Larry ? Regards Ted

Sammy Linn played football for the Boys Club team.
Nice bloke.
LR

I think I remember Larry, was he a big man and may have had a limp ?? if he is the man I am thinking of I think he worked with Sammy on the railway.

He also spent a short while playing professional in England, I am not sure who for but I think it could have been Blackburn. Came back and played for Portadown for a while.

I can't remember his father, died when I was very young. They lived in the second or third house on the top of Bridge Street. Also had a sister Maragret how moved to Oxford.