Tied up in Notts

It's really interesting to find an old newspaper.

I come across them a lot with the most common places being under a carpet, stuffed up a disused fireplace or amongst the dust and forgotten items in a loft space.

The old broadsheets are packed with interesting information, not just the main headline stories of the day but more so in the small print columns of items being sold, services being offered and local reports of who did what, to whom, when and sometimes why.

I have kept a four page sheet in my personal archive which was published by the Nottingham Evening Post on Friday the 30th August 1985.

I will explain why the now yellowing document has been quite a prized possession a bit later on but as a snapshot of the day it is a fascinating record.

Here are just a few things that featured 34 years ago.

There was quite a lively entertainment scene at that time and I was fortunate to be a temporary citizen of Nottingham for the first half of the 1980's being a student at Trent Polytechnic and made the most of opportunities to see top bands and artists at such venues as Rock City, Theatre Royal, The Royal Concert Hall and in clubs and other venues.

Rock City was very atmospheric and over a short few weeks it hosted gigs as diverse as Womack and Womack, Spear of Destiny, The Waterboys, Prefabn Sprout, The Cult, REM and The Fall.

Just up the road at the more civilised Theatre Royal were Ken Dodd, the Drifters, The Rocky Horror Show and a good selection of Plays and Thrillers including Dennis Waterman and Rula Lenska in Same Time Next Year.

The newly opened Royal Concert Hall  had Bucks Fizz, Billy Connolly, Nils Lofgren, Jasper Carrott, Elton John, Squeeze, Gary Numan and The Syd Lawrence Orchestra.

If you fancied a night out at the cinema the films showing in late August 1985 included Rambo First Blood Part 2, the first Police Academy, The Care Bears Movie, A View to a Kill, The Killing Fields and Harrison Ford in Witness.

Being, at that time still the centre of a Coal Mining area there was always a chance to see a Colliery Brass Band in a smoky Welfare Club.

Eating out was a good social thing to do and in this friday edition you could plan a weekend's activities around food. A Three course traditional lunch could be had for £3.95, A Greek Evening with half a bottle of wine for £9.50, a Chinese four course meal from £1.70 and an Italian Lunchtime special £2.60.

The pages in my archive also include car sales, either brand new stock from Main Dealers or classified ad private sales. Most exotic is a Classic Pontiac Trans Am of 1970 vintage and 350 BHP at £4000. A 1985 plate VW Golf GTi was £7500, a new "C" reg Lada Riva 1200L was £2695, a Rover 213LE at £6490, ex- demonstrator Vauxhall Senator at £9995 and a sporty Opel Manta GTE Hatchback at £6595.

I was an impoverished student and could only gawp at these models whilst driving around in a 1966 Mini that I shared with my sisters.

It seems that a reliable builder, like today, was an issue some 34 years ago with 42,000 complaints according to Government Statistics. The practice of DIY was much more popular with many adverts for home improvement materials and projects. It was possible to purchase and have supplied and fitted a set of eight double glazed windows for £1800 plus VAT although these were likely to be the forerunners of UPVC such as softwood, hardwood and aluminium. The sought after product of a neo-Georgian interior door with a solid brass handle was available for £46 plus VAT. Other popular DIY items included Yorkstone for fireplaces and alcoves, leaded windows, olde worlde beams and, strangely, Home Brew Kits.

The usual competitions were also to be found in the newspaper pages. The Jackpot for Spot the Ball was £8750 for an entry of just £1 for 220 crosses on a photo of a match between Notts County and Wimbledon. The area around Nottingham is very picturesque and for those not DIY'ing there were plenty of activities such as rambling, camping and caravanning and angling.

As for the reason for having this historic extract?

One of the pages has a column dedicated to the local cycling scene. There is a report on a 25 mile Time Trial which was organised by the cycling club that I had joined in the first year of my student life.

It reads as follows;

Peter Thompson (mis-spelt surname) emerged as a surprise winner in the inter-club championship with an excellent 1-1.25 in a rare appearance against the clock

Some things are just worth keeping.......................................................