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Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 2:07 pm
by warringtonrhino
I attended the fire at the school, from Stanks Fire Station. The fire was believed to have been started by candles left burning by intruders.

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 2:50 pm
by gchq
harrym1byt wrote:
Thu 27 Aug, 2020 1:13 pm

That burnt down and was replaced.
Just up the road from the school resided the local celebrities Keith and Viv 'Spend, spend, spend' Nicholson.

Going the other way up Main Street at the very top was the dentist - his daughter, Pamala Racin, was the original Barby-Doll! (Hey, we were both six years old...)

Across the railway line were the slag piles left over from coal mining, then covered in gorse bushes and for a six year old a great place to play.

A bit further along was a house in the middle of a field. If we could encourage the dog, happily lying in the garden. to crawl under a hedge we could return said 'lost dog' for a reward of one shilling. Given that a box of matches at that time cost one farthing this was quite a reasonable addition to any pocket money. In addition to that I would go to the local barbers on High Street on Saturday morning, sit in the queue until I got to the front and then sell my place in the queue to some hurried person. It would probably take most of the day, but quite a good earner nonetheless.

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 2:56 pm
by harrym1byt
They had a home built, up on Garforth Cliff. Viv was quite friendly with my first partner.

Do you know/ remember Olga and the zoo?

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 3:05 pm
by gchq
harrym1byt wrote:
Thu 27 Aug, 2020 2:56 pm

Do you know/ remember Olga and the zoo?
Doesn't ring any bells. It's strange but I can remember a lot of things from the sixties, but struggle with what happened last week :-)

I remember being given a bag of sugar and going to find rhubarb growing wild to dip into the sugar.

There was a garden nursery between where we lived and Main Street, a real 'Bill and Ben' layout - great place to play

Of course, in those days. kids looked after themselves without Child Services turning up.

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 3:17 pm
by harrym1byt
She was one of the local celebrities, I'm surprised you never came across her or the zoo. It was at the junction of Main Street (not the correct name for that bit) where it met Selby Road. just at the far side of the road there. They ran a big article on her, her family and the zoo in a national magazine a few weeks ago. She has been on TV a few times too. She used to have pet Lions wandering round the house and chimps and in the (Lord) Gascoigne. She is still alive, but doesn't get out much, a bit frail.

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 4:16 pm
by gchq
harrym1byt wrote:
Thu 27 Aug, 2020 3:17 pm
She was one of the local celebrities, I'm surprised you never came across her or the zoo.
It looks like Olga was after my time there - I lived in Garforth from 1961 to around 1963. According to this article Olga set up shop around 1970
In the 1970’s she applied to open a children’s amusement park and zoo in Garforth at her home. Continuing to work with Chihuahuas, she also trained parrots, geese, a Shetland pony and chimpanzee. The family also owned a lioness called Lisa who would accompany them on trips around Garforth and even visit the local pub.

Re: Telephone numbers circa 1972

Posted: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 4:38 pm
by harrym1byt
That's Olga :-)