Family, 1974

By shendy1 Comment
And to wrap up 1974, here is the section that the family will have been dreading - the most interesting photos of them from the year. We'll start with Mother, looking surprisingly cool in her shades and the evening sun - she's watching the Caswell Ladies Cricket Team. Me at the Borough Show in Abington Park, tucking into a hot dog. I think this is The Brother with my father on the dodgems. One from London - cousin Chris, me and The Brother. What's that? The hair? Yes, I know - you have to remember it was the 1970s. Me at Midsummer Meadows outdoor swimming pool. Those of you from Northampton who are old enough to remember it will probably have the same memories as me - that water was always bloody cold. No idea where this was taken, but I'm guessing that the heat of the top that Mother had knitted got too much and I needed cooling down a bit......
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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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Beckets Park

By shendyNo Comments
Starting off 1973, pretty much all of which is from the summer. These two sets are both from Beckets Park in Northampton. First up, the raft race in May '73 - was it organised by the Rotary Club? Seems to ring a bell. Anyway, first up are the Friends of the Earth - presumably thought of as a bunch of hippies back then, before they became so much more mainstream. The second pic appears to include the Mayor, in a suit, complete with chain, sat on a raft. The third one is the Nene Valley Mountain Rescue crew - presumably not a particularly busy organisation, given the lack of hillage in the area. I'm impressed by the last one - they seem to have built quite a good double scull! The second batch are from a boat rally in August. I do like the barge that's been converted into a replica battleship, and look at the size of the crowd!...
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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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