Home Thoughts From Abroad
Jayne Sidiropoulou sent me an email recently recalling her childhood in Ilkeston. Here are a few lines from it:
"I'm a born and bred Ilkestonian, but for the last 15 years I have been living in Greece. My parents still live in Ilkeston on Brook Street where my mother has lived for 60yrs. Is it possible for you to add pictures of the lower end of Ilkeston ... Gallows Inn, Brook Street, Stanton Institute, to name but a few. I also hear there are plans to knock down the Middleton Club near The Triangle."
Well Jayne, this week's pictures are especially for you.

 

An evening walk took my wife and I towards Hallam Fields. From this vantage point on Brook Street we could see a white building on the corner of Nottingham Road and Thurman Street and the higher ground at Longfield Lane beyond.

Crossing over Nottingham Road and standing on Thurman Street, we could look back to Brook Street (extreme left) and in the same vista see the Gallows Inn (right) on the other side of the canal bridge. You can see more pictures taken last year of the Gallows Inn area by clicking here.

A little further on and from outside the Church of the Nazarene (inset), a former Wesley Methodist Church, the whole expanse of The Triangle can be seen.

We are now on Corporation Road and as we start up the gentle incline, the wooden structure that houses the Middleton Club nestles between the semi-detached properties that line this side of the road.

On the opposite side are a number of factory units, the largest being on the corner of Hallam Fields Road. This, for many years, was the home of lingerie and knitwear manufacturers Charnos, a leading employer in the town. My own mother was employed in the finishing department for well over 25 years and as a child, I attended a number of Christmas parties in the canteen but sadly, the premises now stand empty.

Our goal on this walk was to reach the Hallam Fields Sports Ground, home ground of the Ilkeston Rugby Club and where much of the first series of the TV drama about a ladies soccer team called "Playing The Field" was filmed. The ground was opened on 11th December 1937 and the building was the Stanton (Ironworks) Men's Institute. It is still known today as the 'Stute.