wow, small world.

Thanks Memories - it's always good to know that somethign I chose almost at random can mean something to someone else :)

In my memory it has only ever stood next to the Telephone Exchange - with the carpark right next to the pub. I'll ask Mum & Dad, but as they only moved to Aylesbury in the 60s they might not know about the cemetary either. In fact they only moved into the house we are in now just after I was born (1972) so they wouldn't have had any reason to pass it before then.

I took a couple more pictures for you today.

First is just a close-up of the area behind the building.
As you might know, the door in the picture has the sign Gents on it. I assume they were outside when you lived there too.
I honestly don't remember the Ladies being outside, but I did only drink in there once or twice and just might not have needed to go. Behind is the Telephone Exchange as mentioned above.

Second shows the busy junction it is on. It's completely and utterly different even to when I grew up. The sorting office is on the left of course, but they pulled a lot down to open up Upper Hundreds - you're seeing all the way down to the Vale Park. To your right is Cambridge Street, and there would have been a row of shops and the Nags Head pub.

One more to show the position.
Standing with my back to Cambridge Street - New Street runds away to the left, Cambridge Street continues down in front of us. Again, the lower part of Cambridge Street has changed enormously (I remember houses where there is now a retail park, even the Fire Station has moved). The County Arms used to stand halfway down the street, that went with the houses.

And finally...
Fading, but still there, an advert for the Aylesbury Brewery Company - long since defunct of course.

Of course you were very young when you lived there, so the chances are you would not recognise the streets around it anyway. But I thought you might still like to put it in perspective the way it is today. Hope these bring back happier times for you!

What do they sort in the sorting office, the mail?

Yes - in the larger version of the picture the Royal Mail sign on the building is quite clear - it's not all that obvious on this one.

It used to be a main sorting office, but that is done in Hemel Hempstead now - theirs is HUGE! Our little one gets the post from there and further sorts it for Aylesbury and the surrounding villages. It's also where you go if you have to pay additional postage or if you weren't at home for a signed delivery or something that doesn't fit through your letterbox.

Sundae, does the shop that sells Oddfellows Arms sell his legs too?

Thanks, SG for all these wonderful pictures. Better than a travelogue.

I'm afraid you are confusing Dominos with a kebab shop.

What is that thing?

Kebab.
Think of carving thin slices off a vertical meatloaf on a spit.
It's often lamb-based, highly seasoned.
Serve on pita, sauce with cucumber-yogurt sauce.

Looks like Gyro to me.

Right, from buster's link

Chicago Gyros. :yum:

Corrected for accuracy:
A small point of amusement - the proper contraction of kebab is 'bab.
This is also Northern for poo.
Therefore the sentence, "I was out on the lash last night and ended up having a great big bab" can be taken more than one way.

Kebabs are usually called donners though.
Damn. Just for the point of education, I might just have to have one over the weekend!

My favorite chip/kebab/pizza joint in Newcastle gives you the option of chips or salad. But they always throw that soggy-ass pita in there. Sadly neither the garlic or chili sauce taste like much, so you always have to get both for any reasonable flavor.

Ah well, Newcastle is a foreign country ;)

I've yet to reaccquaint myself with the 'babs here, but the ones in Leicester and London... you could taste the garlic sauce for two days. And enjoy the chilli sauce twice, lets put it that way ;)

My evil ex took me to his favourite kebab shop in Nottingham when we were there to visit his family. He'd raved and raved about their kebabs for ages. He even told a story (ad nauseum) about turning his saintly vegetarian ex back onto meat again just from the smell of his kebab from that shop. So we had one. It was okay. Nothing special. I guess it's all down to what you're used to.

My favourite old shop is right opposite St Josephs at the bottom of the High Street. I might get Mum & Dad to pick me one up after mass on Saturday night! But perhaps it was my favourite because the owner used to spoil me. The first of a long line of fast food outlets which would treat me by feeding me up when I quite obviously didn't need it! I think it's because even if I'm drunk I still say please and thank you and treat them with respect.

hang on....'bab' is northern for poo? Nobody told me...unless your counting Nottingham as 'northern'?

thanks for more pics "sundae girl" your a gem !.i do remember the outside gents toilets as i was often playing in the yard and locals would say hello. but ill have to ask my mother about the ladies,. was only about 3 ish when we moved on to portsmouth. i dont remember the outside scenery at all, so its realy nice to see what its like now. as you said i bet it has changed an aweful lot .
ill try and get a few more facts of mum about the pub and she willlove your pictures too . cya

Mem, I've asked my parents about the environs - I'm printing off your post for them to read.

In the meantime - back to kebabs :)
I was holding out pretty well... then my sister, niece and nephew came over this afternoon. They had all had kebabs for lunch. Well, it's half term.

That was it - it was meant to be. I got Dad to drive me up before dinner - Mum succumbed as well, although she had chicken, while I had that old standby, the donner.

Perry, you were right. The garlic had some pungency (I can taste it now) but the chilli didn't even raise a tingle. The sausage and chicken casserole I made last night had more heat and flavour!

Anyway, documented below.

1) OOOH! The anticipation!
2) 'Babs on plates - mine is closer to the camera.

And the yumminess transferred to my plate, ready for the second stage of its journey.
Bellybound.

Chav food ......
I thought people only ate Kebabs at chucking out time when pissed
:rotflol:

I know, I know.

It's received wisdom. People have often said to me, "... like kebabs - you can't eat them sober...!" only to have me reply, "I do. I like them!" Which sorta leaves them nowhere to go ;)

I figure they're good enough for half the Meditteranean countries, they're good enough for me!

Although I woke up with kebab mouth (it's the raw onions) and am now doing very meaty farts. TMI? Sorry.

Hey, I love kebabs too, and I don't drink.

I've been wracking my brain about this, and I still can't remember. What is the slang term for people from Sunderland?

Can't help you there chick. They're all Geordies to us soft Southerners :)

Okat - a couple for Mem.
Photos of photos; sorry, don't have access to a scanner these days.
Thanks to my Mum who trawled through all of her Old Aylesbury books to find them.

Pic 1 - Caption: St John's Church, Cambridge Street, opened in 1883 as a daughter church of St Mary's and demolished in 1970. The site was bought by the Post Office for an extension of the telephone exchange and its car-park.
Pic 2 - Caption: Pictured in 1947 is the Cambridge Street junction with New Street. The pub on the corner is the Oddfellows Arms.

And one more.
Caption - St John's Church of England School celebrated its 100th anniversary in July 1956 by dressing in the style of clothes which would have been worn when the school first opened and having a procession around the town.

This picure is taken outside the telephone exhange (see the lawn outside) along New Street and the pub in view is the Nags Head. At the end of this street and to the left is the Oddfellows Arms, although the angle of the photo does not show it. What it does show, however, is the church.

Mum & Dad don't remember the church or the school (being Catholic and living on the other side of town at the time) but Mum worked as a cleaner in Tindal Hospital after I was born, and many of her fellow cleaners were Italian, because of the Italian POW camp set up nearby during the war (the men stayed, and sent for their female relatives). She remembers a cleaner called Louisa and both her children went to the school. She was older then Mum, and although staunchly Catholic, the convent I went to was still a private school, and the Catholic school my niece and nephew went to were too far away in a time when poor people couldn't afford cars.

I've reached the end og my Oddfellows observations. Hope you enjoyed them. Stay around for the other topics. This is the best forum on the internet in case you didn't know.

The sky was blue today - not a given in England - so I went out and played with my camera. All pictures are from the Alfred Rose Park on the Elmhurst Estate in Aylesbury. It's what we call a Council estate, what you might call The Projects. Many homes are now owner occupied (like my parents') but the centre of the estate is still a a poor neighbourhood. Not the poorest in town though, and certainly not dangerous.

Alfred Rose left this piece of land for the benefit of the estate. There isn't an awful lot that can be done with it. But it holds happy memories for me. And it's a good place to go just to hear birdsong - you can't hear any of the main roads from here.

There used to be trees in a strip all the way across the park. And bushes and undergrowth. We used to run wild there, only steps from the real world on either side. Sadly, in later years, so did drug addicts and possibly paedos, or at least the fear of them. Still, the remaining trees at least show some of the climability that we rejoiced in.

Oooooooooooo! I love that tree! It just needs a big full moon caught up in its branches!!

More climbing trees.
And I probably did.

And spring is coming.

Now here I am playing with my panoramic setting.
Bear with me, it's new to me, and exciting.

Pic 1
Looking up the hill to the top of the park. See what I mean about not much can be done with it? It used to have a pitch 'n' putt 9 hole golf course, on which my (late) Uncle Charlie would thrash my Dad twice a year when he came up down London. No more, no more. I have always craved one of the houses at the top of the park though.

Pic 2
The bottom of the park from the bench I was sitting on. It looks washed out because of the direction of the sun. It's the more useful end of the park, with football pitches, a cricket ground and to the left the community centre where I went to playschool (kindergarten).

Not in the park. Shots from a council estate.
Everyone who lived here originally - and almost everyone up until the '80s - lived in Government sponsored housing. These estates were built to house low income workers. Included in such estates were a doctors' surgery, a pharmacy, a pub, a school and a row of shops, including a launderette. A sports' ground and/ or a park was also a given. Wide open spaces - greens - were part of the plan, even if they all ended up with signs saying "No Ball Games".

The first shot is on Hilton Avenue. It might not look like it, but it's really steep! My sister, our next door neighbour and I used to ride down it endlessly in the summer holidays. I started the dare of putting my feet on the handlebars... Idiocy of course, but until I went to Alton Towers it was the biggest thrill I could fathom.

The second pic is Elmhurst Road, which we live off. We're tucked away down a path, but at night I can hear the lorries shake the house. It's part of the ringroad round the town (the A41). We learned traffic skills very early.

thanks for more oddfellows pics and its history sundae girl. i remember tindal hostpital very well. i had my tonsils out ages abour 3 and screamed the place down .... didnt want my mum to go , remember it like yestyerday. strange how some things stay so vivid in your mind from 40 years ago .

cant wait to show mum these great old phototos sundae girl , especially the church next to the oddfellows .
i always remember that church towering over the yard wall when i used to play in the yard.

Looks like a great place for a rugby pitch.

This takes me back
 

This takes me back, I lived and worked in the Odfellows when I was 18 back in 1989, I don’t know how much longer it lasted after that time as it was pretty much on its last legs then. It was tenanted from ABC brewery by a former drag artist who lived and ran the Prince of Whales as well, which was out of town. We ran it as a ‘Gay Friendly’ pub and had some really crazy times. Apart from memories the only thing I have left from the pub is my Rock-ola juke box which was in the side bar along with a pool table and dart board. I remember the cellar was huge with an old area for storing barrels and wine. It was interesting that it had the old entrances to three tunnels down there, one you could still get along, that just went across the road to the Nags Head I think it was called, the others we inaccessible but I remember an old punter telling me that one went to another pub along the road and the other went into town. I think the pub even back then had a preservation order on it due to the windows? Up stars was a simple flat with two bedrooms one in the loft, a bathroom and a sitting room that held more than its share of after hour drinking parties. I could go on. I think someplace I have a photo of the bar if anybody is interested. Oh and yes the Ladies and Gents was outside, I remember both had a drain cover that we removed at the end of the day and just used a hose to clean the mess out. Sorry Ladies no loo rolls in those days.

Welcome to the Cellar, Mike. :D
I'd like to see that picture.

Welcome to the Cellar Mike! Nice to see a fellow Brit:)

did you experience anything paranormal - noises, sightings ,cold spots etc. in your stay there .were the spiral stairs there to the upper room. i hated them !!very eerie and our dog wouldnt go up them like the celler he hated too.
my mum told me stories of the history of the celler that had been handed down from landlord tol andlord that the celler was known to of have witchcraft practiced down there in the early years of the pub. they say dogs can sence the paranormal ande he wouldnt dare go down there.
i do vaigely remember the celler being very very big. why did they have these tunnels. what were they for .
t

So memories I take it you spent some time there to, when was that if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m not sure but I was told that the tunnels all linked up under the town church. And that they were used for the population to get to ‘sanctuary’ if needed? I did have one regular who was a cab driver, (aren’t they always) who told me that when he was a boy the vicar had told him that under the church they had cells that were used by monks at one stage, and that they went of into tunnels. I hate to think what the church got up to in cells if this was true.
I remember the stairs as been very narrow, the ones that went to the loft room were a real pain. This was the domain of the manager’s son. As for the celler’s, yes they were creepy, hardly any light, and with the smell of very old pub celler.
As for anything paranormal, it would be difficult to say, as my whole time there was very strange. I learnt a lot about life there, and a lot about drinking, I lived there a while working as assistant manager, and the manager did not serve coffee with breakfast he served a double Vodka and coke, the day then went on like this, rack up the bar, open the pub, at least 4 doubles over lunch. Close. Sleep till five, another drink, opens at six….. Yes you got it more to drink. Close at 11, the curtains that is. And then carry on drinking until 2 in the morning with any punters that wanted to stay. He was a heavy drinker and expected those around him to do the same.
Oh I can remember one place that used to get me twitchy; there was a door that went of the bathroom into a hay loft that was over the big side gate. I left a lot of my stuff in there, Cine films, projector, records, all kinds of stuff. It was easier that rummaging around in the dark when I left the place.
I will try and find the photo of the bar, I'm sure I still have it somplace.

Well now there's a coincidence... I've been doing a lot of walking over the last week, and one of the walks I did took me through Broughton Crossing, home of the old Prince of Wales pub. It's now The Dog House as you can see. Shame - it's an ungainly name for such a lovely looking place.

We (very occasionally) used to go for a drink there when I was a child. It was more of an excuse for a walk to tire us out (it's about a five mile round trip from my house). Because it had/ has a large garden, it was a lovely place on a summer's evening.

Sadly the walk was not as pleasant as I remember it. The road is so much busier than I remember, even from 10 years ago. The country lanes are rarely quiet any more, and as there are no pavements (sidewalks) for half the route and the speed limit is 60, I spend a lot of time jumping onto the muddy verge.

Still, there are some lovely cottages that way and I did my best to capture them for y'all.

First, for Mike - The Dog House from the side and front.

Picture 1: Broughton Crossing is just a wide place in the road.
There are about 8 cottages and a pub, but they're cute little things.
Sadly, the 21th century need to drive - especially in the country - does make them a little less picturesque!

Picture 2: Further along the same road, now into the village of Bierton, a more substantial place. It's mostly along a main road, which stops people thinking of it as a village proper, and many drivers speed through in the belief they are still in Aylesbury and there is nothing to see. I prefer to stop and smell the gardens from time to time!

Picture 1: Literally opposite the picture above is a park. My sister, my next door neighbour and I used to cycle up here sometimes. It was much better than the Alfreed Rose because it had a proper playground. Also, because it was out of the way it was always empty, and had the sort of exciting things that were banned elsewhere. Barrel rolls, a very high slide, polished to a terrifying gloss over the years, and a rocking horse.

Only the horse remains, the rest has been tamed and replaced. But the horse... if you get on the back when some big boys are on it, you will be clinging on for dear life. You WILL leave your seat at the peak of the swing. Well, you did when you were a skinny little girl, can't say for sure now.

Picture 2: The Eagle pub. No, not a casualty of the smoking ban - this has been a house for as long as I can remember. It's funny to think just how many pubs this part of the world used to need though...

Picture 1: Another conversion, this one in my lifetime. The back of the Wesleyan chapel, including graveyard.

Picture 2: The front. It's now offices.

Picture 1: This house is in the top right of Picture 1 above. I've just always liked the look of it. Perhaps because I knew when it came into view that we were at the turnoff for the playground and therefore nearly there! It's on the corner of Brick Kiln Lane, so named because... well, we can't always be quaint. It is olde worlde though.

Picture 2: Another chapel which hasn't stood the test of time. Baptist this time, but sgain, this one was desanctified in my memory. It's funny to think just how many churches this part of the world used to need though ;)

Picture 1: This pub is still a pub. The Red Lion - incidentally the most common pub name in Britain. It's a lovely pub inside, all real-fire-smell and heavy slanting sunlight and low uneven ceilings. It used to do really good food (it even had real napkins) but I haven't been in there for a good ten years so I can't make any promises. Send me £20 and I will review it properly for you ;)

Picture 2: And almost directly opposite, a church which is still a church. I wonder if there is a connection? And I don't mean a tunnel under the road either! This is St James the Great. My Mum's friend goes here. I sued to live near a church in Leicester that was St James the Lesser. Poor chap.

I thought you might like to see some thatch.
This is still a working farm, although it doesn't smell as much as when I was a child.

I used to dread going past it because the yard was awash with muck, and I connected it in my mind with a terrifying Child Safety film about a kid drowning in slurry. Honestly, it was a grim and frightening place to me, I actually remember the sun going in every time we went past.

The cows used to graze in the field across the road, and come across twice a day for milking or stabling, or whatever you do to them ;) They'd have a job now - the road is so busy.

Photos show the farmhouse and yard, and looking back at the farmhouse to show some of the old outbuildings.

And finally, just a couple more from Aylesbury itself.

Picture 1: One of the locks on the Grand Union Canal

Picture 2: The New Zealand pub on Buckingham Road. My abiding memory of this pub is being in there the day we came back from a festival. It was early afternoon and it felt terribly decadent. Someone told a joke and Johnny laughed so hard his elbow slipped off the table and his finger went up his nose. He withdrew his bloody finger and said in horror, "I've speared my brain!" I laughed until I hurt.

Picture 1: The cemetary. I was there with Mum, putting some pots plants on graves of friends.

Picture 2: The bottom of Parson's Fee - part of the conservation area in the centre of town.

Picture 1: Top of Parson's Fee. With Mum.

Picture 2: Royal Bucks Hospital. It was a real hospital when I was a child - with an A&E, a maternity ward (my sister was born there) and an ENT department, where I spent a lot of time. It's been closed down piece by piece - it's a physical rehab centre now. When it was first built it was the first hospital thats design was heavily influenced by the ideas of Florence Nightingale.

I'd forgotten about this. One of my close friends was a regular in The Nag's Head, and he used to crash there sometimes. He told me about the tunnels too, although I was never really sure whether he was just having his leg pulled. That answers that I guess!

In fact, thinking about it, something of the sort was mentioned when I had a tour of St Mary's church (when I was in the Brownies). Too long ago for it to be anything other than a vague memory though.

my mum and dad were landlords thyere in the early to mid sixties. my memories of the place start at around at the age of two/three ( about 1966/67)
i used to love the jukebox on loud and a drink called hubbly bubbly- a lime fizzy drink.
i take after my mum and dont drink but my father was the total opposite . my mum said he always had lock ins which seems to be a bit of a tradition of that pub - very heavy drinkers indeed.
i remember once i had this toy gun and it was so loud and looked so real. i aimed it at the locals and starting fireing it and they all shat them selves... i can imagine the names they were calling me under there breath, lol.

Hulcott, Bucks
 

Some more from our walking.
We got Dads to drive us out to the hamlet of Hulcott. It was a 2.28 mile walk back according to Multimap. We assumed this would give us our 30 mins recommended exercise per day.

Well.... it did - but not by much! It only took us 40 minutes. We both assumed it was further in terms of walking because it is out in the country. In fact, we've been out for far longer just around the outskirts of town.

Still, at least part of the walk was in proper country surroundings, and I took a few pics for you too. Hulcott is very small, but is off the main road (via a one car track) so it has escaped any modernisation. The school and church would have served all the farms thereabouts.

More from Hulcott.
As tweens, we used to cycle to the church. Our next door neighbour wasn't Christian, but it was a fun ride, and at the end of it a cool (temperature) destination. The church was generally open, but if not you could collect the key from a local cottage.

At the time I was a devout Catholic, and cogniscant of the fact that this would originally have been a Catholic church (it has pre-14th century parts) long before Henry VIII split with Rome to marry his whore. Although the history interested me more than the schisms even then. There is something about being in a building devoted to worship for 6 centuries that would probably move me even still. Oxymoron intended. (rather clever I think)

Wow Sundae... I love all these pictures. Please keep going...

St Osyth
 

Town planners in the 60s - may they be damned for many reasons - used the name Quarrendon for a council estate. I was born there. My sister went to Quarrendon Secondary School (supposed by many to be little better than Borstal, but she disproved that) amd I've just heard my nephew is bound there too.

But the well was in what is now known as Bierton, and is there still.
Well and village pump and Mum. You can work out which is which ;)
If you look at the first pic then turn slowly to the right you will see what is in the second. I tried panoramic but it didn't work as well as two separate ones. And Mum kept moving.

What a beautiful day for a walk in a beautiful location.

Wow - I would love to have a view like that to see while walking! Absolutely beautiful.

One and the same? :haha:

Back to modern Britain.
Other posters, and me of course, have mentioned the dire future of British pubs. There are many doom-sayers in this country who don't believe they will survive another 20 years. RUBBISH! I say. Unless alcohol becomes illegal there will always be pubs, and people to drink in them.

But pubs do have to work harder. I got these menus for Mum & Dad (esp the over-60s one) because I know how much she loved going out for their 41st anniversary lunch. And they are in the key target group - people who wouldn't go into a pub during the week or during the day.

Excuse the shakey camera work on the first pic. It was a much smaller menu and I was trying to sneak a photo while eking out a diet coke.

Anyway - here for your information.

Dani, I missed your post previously re poo and bab!
I'm going by The League of Gentlemen of course. Given their diverse Northern credentials, I stand behind my claim. But of course I accept that it's not a common term in your neck of the woods.

We had a conversation about polite (children's) terms for farts when I worked in Asda in Leicester. Even people born and brought up in the same city had very different views. One lady would never let her son say "trump" while another thought that "pump" was rude. We said "pass wind" when I was growing up, which they thought was dead posh. They didn't realise that it came from Nan who only went to school til she was 12 because she had to look after her younger brothers and sisters...

great pics, Sundae! You live in such a picturesque town...

what is weird is how often peas show up on the menu... I don't think I've ever seen "peas" listed as a side in America...weird, huh.

Is a "hand held burger" a burger that's been hand shaped???