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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Excellent theatrical prop/scenery


Tom Morgan

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Oh wow!

How exciting would that be to own?

Do you think if we all chipped in we could have it as a Pals joint venture?

I've had a rifle through my piggy bank and purse and can start the collection with £1.57, a 50p off coupon for Quorn and a button that fell of a shirt some time ago (could be classed as an antique now)

Fleur

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Guest Ian Bowbrick

Reminds me of when someone sold an American London Bridge and they thought they were getting Tower Bridge...........should have read the small print :lol:

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Do you think if we all chipped in we could have it as a Pals joint venture?

I can add 75p and 18 quality medical staples (1 careful owner, bits of my ruddy leg still attached but easily cleaned).

Right then Fleur, where are we going to put it?

If we put it down at Dover, then the Pals can use it an embarkation point for trips to F&F.

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Lee,

Milton Keynes - the place needs a bit of culture :lol:

Ian

For the love of God, NO!

We have a snow-dome (which isn't a dome ;)), an Easy cinema which is bright orange, a shopping centre that looks like a long greenhouse, another shopping centre that has an oak tree in the middle of it 'cos the developers weren't allowed to chop it down, concrete cows, a railway station a long way from the 'city' centre and a church that looks like a minature St. Paul's......MK doesn't need culture, just pulling down and re-starting!

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I’ll contribute my Nectar points vouchers and a Tesco Clubcard coupon for extra points if one buys ‘Finest’ Chardonnay.

Regret that there’s only 37p on my Boots Advantage Card at the moment, but if you can hang on for a day, I’m going to buy a toothbrush (or maybe a false beard if they have them in my colour) tomorrow, so that should at least double.

Would my second-best A level help? You could sell it on the Internet.

Gwyneth, BA Rewards Points Studies

Faculty of Air Miles

John Lewis University of the A34 Junction 19 2nd exit

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Right then Fleur, where are we going to put it?

If we put it down at Dover, then the Pals can use it an embarkation point for trips to F&F.

how about somewhere that might really appreciate it like ......... i dunno ....... Dungeoness?

Or maybe here in Oxford - most land locked county in the world ... ever (or something)

Dover would be a good idea ... so long as we never go to war again and have to take the middle section out ... I've seen Dad's army and know how much trouble that can cause!

Fleur

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Manchester-on-Sea will never seem the same again.

Perhaps if our bid is successful, it would be good to locate it in MK - somewhere for those cows to have a stroll

John

B)

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I want it!! I want it!!

For years I have been saying that the thing my hometown of Northampton REALLY needs is a pier, to put next to the lighthouse we have. I must get the Borough Council to put in a bid (after all they spend money on far more ludicrous schemes). If successful, my dream would be to stage "Oh What a Lovely War". I will hold auditions for the Pals (the Pink Trousered Pierrots!)

Fleur, I have you marked for Sister Susie (sewing shirts for soldiers)! Though your geography needs to improve - before someone from Warwickshire puts in their two penn'ort, Northamptonshire is England's most land-locked county.

Casting is still going for Kitchener (after all everyone seems to have the requisite facial hair)

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Kate you could flood the part of the race course where it dips and put the peir there, and yes i was always told that Northants was the most furthest away from the sea or something like that. Bet you went to the balloon fair last week, nearly crashed because of one of those the other day near Daventry it snuck up on me over the drift.

I am short getting fatter by the day and have a goatee, with a bit of trimming and brushing i suppose i could do FM French, but i'd rather be Robertson.

Arm.

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Arm.

That's an attractive idea, because we live just near the Racecourse, though we can watch the balloons go over in our back garden. We heard about a distracted driver crashing into the central reservation near the Watford Gap. So it was you, was it!

Do you resemble General Snow? I'm sure we could arrange for French to have a makeover...

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Kate,

I wish i knew what Snow looked like but i have been unable to track down a pic of him all i know was he was near 6' 4", so thats me out on that one being 5'8". Anyway knowing my luck i'll get the part as the horse

I was born and lived near the racecourse off St Georges ave for 21 years in Freehold street. Many a game of footie was played on the course. If i remember didn't the racecourse have army huts on it during the last war and i bet it did during the first one too? Oh no i am not that old, i remember that somebody told me.

lastly i hope the operation to have the hedgehog removed goes well, let me know when the op is and ill send you a card.

Arm.

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Dead right Arm.

The Racecourse was full of huts and military goings on in WW2. In WW1 it was the main encampment of the 53rd Welsh Territorial Division, who were billeted all over town, and given half price rides on the trams. My grandmother, then 17, was in service in East Park Parade at the time. She had auburn hair, and the soldiers used to shout after her "Ginger, you're barmy" which I think was a music hall song. The artillery made a particularly good job of churning the surface, which must have been good preparation for what followed.

As you probably know, the Racecourse is the highest point in town, and people used to go there and breathe deeply, thinking it would assist respiratory problems. But in 1914 it paid host to a unique malady called "Racecourse throat". A number of the horses caught an equine disease called glanders, and passed it on to the human population.

Last week, the Balloon Festival entertainments included camel racing (pity I couldn't get along). Appropriate really, considering the 53rd Division became very familiar with the 'ships of the desert' when they ventured East.

Regards Kate (and a hospitalised Little Ern)

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Dead right Arm.

My grandmother, then 17, was in service in East Park Parade at the time. She had auburn hair, and the soldiers used to shout after her "Ginger, you're barmy" which I think was a music hall song.

It was indeed - one of Harry Champion's songs, he of "Boiled Beef and Carrots," "Any Old Iron" and "I'm 'Enery the Eighth I am" :

Don't walk about wivout yer cady on, Ginger, you're barmy!

Get yer ‘air cut, they all begin to cry

Wiv nuffin' on your napper oh, you are pie!

Pies must ‘ave a little bit o' crust

Why don't yer join the army?

If you want to look a don you want a bit of somefing on, Ginger, you're barmy!

Tom

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Kate my right arm is fine thanks.

I also remember that somebody said true or not that the racecourse was the first thing of height that the winds from the Russian steppes hit coming across Europe , and i can well believe it given that i played some rugger and footie matches there in bad weather.

dear all,

Perhaps this a good time to explain why i use a nickname rather than my first given. No dont get excited i'm not a runaway from the institution or a robber on the run. My first name is Andy, Andrew and i hate it. Always have always will .At school i was known by my last name but in later life i have attracted nicknames some have stuck and some havent, when i signed on as Armourersergeant in recognition of my grandfathers rank i saw a brilliant name awaiitng and guess what i like it.

For the record my name is Andy Lonergan, (the last part i am proud off)

Arm.

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Tom,

Many thanks for supplying the words to this song. I have wondered for years how the lyrics ran. Maybe I can prevail upon you to sing it to me sometime.

Arm,

I keep meaning to study the Ordnance Survey map to see if local legend is true. One thing I know as a cyclist is that if you want to go out of town, the only way is UP.

An elderly lady I know remembered being taken to the Racecourse by her mother pre-WW1, when she had chesty coughs and the like. "Now", her mum would say, "you take a good deep breath. That air comes straight off the German Ocean".

Which raises another question: I presume Greta's mum was referring to the North Sea, so was the name 'German Ocean' the colloquial name for this prior to the Great War?

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Kate fails to note that Greta also walked out (briefly) with one of the actors at the local repertory theatre before he left town with a trail of IOUs behind him. she recalled "he was a right gentleman but he couldn't act for toffee". His name - Errol Flynn.

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If you've had Little Ern removed mind you don't end up with Big Eric!! :D

Are there any particular sources describing 53rd Div's stay in Northampton??

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