Abington Park 1976

By shendy3 Comments
Some shots from Abington Park in the summer of '76 The wonderful Gallone's ice cream vans, still there to this day. Is the ice cream as good as it was? The council obviously had more money than it does now, and there were various entertainments put on in the park during the summer - these are some Belgian flag wavers and a Scottish band with a drum major (or perhaps minor judging by the size of her). These are the Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band - I know the name, but really don't know much about them apart from the fact that they came from Northampton, were a folk group and were named after a Northampton beer. Very hard to find out anything about them on t'interweb. And one of me, probably eating a Gallone's. And yes, the top is home-knitted....
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Me, 1975

By shendyNo Comments
And to wrap up 1975, some pics of me. I simply cannot understand why my modelling career never took off. From the Masque thing at Easton Neston. I don't know why I'm in costume as I don't recall being in the play. And yes, those are tights. Another home-knitted jumper there I suspect, plus my favourite very 70s tracksuit....
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Northampton

By shendy1 Comment
A selection of pics from Northampton in 1973 One of the stalls on the Market Square Traffic chaos at the old Banbury Lane level crossing - now replaced by a bridge. We used to go out there and watch the trains fairly often. For many years I thought there were no trains on Sundays because that's what my parents told me - presumably so I wouldn't bug them to go out there on Sundays as well... Not the sort of thing you stumble across in a field too often... Some from the Borough Show in Abington Park. The building work in the Town Centre continues, with the public still not suspecting how awful it's going to be. A summer evening at the pub - the Britannia on the Bedford Road. One from the front garden at home, showing the cherry(?) tree in blossom - it just *look* 1970s doesn't it? And one final one - dear god what the hell are those trousers??? Putting a 5-year old boy...
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Summer 1973

By shendy2 Comments
Pics from our summer holiday in 1973 - a trip up north, which will have been to stay with my father's parents near Hull. We went a bit further north, as well. The Transporter Bridge in Middlesborough - to be honest, until I saw this I never knew I'd been there. A couple for any Dr Who fans out there - an exhibition in Stockton-on-Tees. Not sure whether they supplied a sofa to hide behind. One of me and the Brother with our father - no idea where we are! A great piece of 1970s fashion sir! Skidby Mill near hull - I remember going there several times - pretty sure it was a functioning mill. Ah yes, a quick google and here it is. These last two show a fairly uninspiring set of workings and a bloody great hole in the ground. This building site became the Humber Bridge - there are some more pics to come from 1974, but I've never seen the bridge...
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Northampton Early 1973

By shendyNo Comments
What a vibrant, exciting place Northampton must have been in early 1973... Who am I trying to kid - it was the early 70s! Anyway, there was a lot of building work going on in the town, with the old Chronicle and Echo building being demolished and replaced by that modern invention - a shopping mall. And we ended up with the Grosvenor Centre, attached to a bus station of such monstrosity that in 2005 Channel 4's "Demolition" programme shortlisted it for the worst building in Britain - beaten out only by such excrescences as Cumbernauld Town Centre in Scotland. Then there was the construction of the multi-storey Mayorhold car park, and the modern looking Saxon Inn hotel. And I almost forgot the Carlsberg brewery! I always understood there had been a fire while building it, but I did some googling to find out more. The modern brewery is on the site of the old Phipps one - they were bought out by Watneys, who were then...
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Last 1972

By shendyNo Comments
As we move into 2012, here are the last photos from 1972. These first ones are from the Caswell Christmas Party - Plessey put on a children's party each year, something I remember fondly. And yes, that's me with Santa. Remember that this is 1972 and they've got a video camera - you can tell it was a technology research centre! These others are from the family Christmas in Rugby - to be honest, I can't remember this or who the relatives there were - it's obviously my father's side of the family as we're with his parents but other than that, no idea. I know the front row apart from the gentleman on the left, but don't recognise the back row at all. I expect Mother and/or Auntie Susan will be able to shed some light on who they are....
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