Photographs | Memories | Map
|
|
|
|
|
The shop at the corner of Cycle Road and Johnson Road is another building erected by the local firm of W.T. Norris. See Lenton Times No.14 and Faraday Road gallery. |
This is the view looking along Cycle Road from its junction with Faraday Road. For most of their existence these Cycle Road properties looked out on to the Raleigh factory premises which ran the length of the northern side of the road. |
On the north western corner of Cycle Road and Faraday Road used to be a corner shop. By the time this photograph was taken by Chris Richards in 1990 the business has ceased trading and the property was later converted for solely residential use. Also visible in the shot is the 'bridge' which used to connect Raleigh's Faraday Road site with Triumph Road complex situated on the other side of the railway line. |
|
|
|
|
|
Looking eastwards along Cycle Road from its junction with Faraday Road. The photograph was taken by Chris Blackamore in 2010. Chris provided us with his childhood memories of living on Cycle Road which appeared in Lenton Times Issue 30. Anyone reading the article will recall that Chris wasn't able to attend the street party shown in the following two photographs as on the 2nd of June he was on his way to the Wirral to convalesce after undergoing a tonsilectomy. |
This and the next photograph show some of the participants at the Cycle Road street party mounted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. |
The 1953 street party viewed from another angle with some of the participants clearly taking up a different position in the shot. The tables and benches have been set up on the pavement on the south side of the street. In the far distance will be the junction with Faraday Road and on the right the Raleigh factory building. We are trying to identify as many of the people on the two photographs as possible. If you recognise anyone not already listed let us know. |
|
|
|
|
|
In June 1989 Bill Wheatley took this shot from the upstairs front bedroom of No.56 Cycle Road. We see the entrance gates and beyond them part of the buildings which formed part of Raleigh s Faraday Road factory complex. |
When Bill Wheatley took this next shot in February 1994, from the same vantage point as in the previous photograph, the entrance gates are still with us but the Raleigh factory buildings have now been demolished and we can see a start has already been made on the estate of houses that can now be found there. |
Taken at the same time as the previous shot but looking more to the right we see that the site has been cleared of factory buildings and all that remains are the backs of some of the houses on Johnson Road. |
|
|
||
|
Panning across to the left in February 1994 Bill Wheatley s photograph shows the entrance gates just visible in the bottom right corner while centre stage is a mound of rubble that has already been colonised by vegetation with Player s bonded warehouse complex just visible on the skyline. |
William (Bill) Wheatley The Philippines
I was born at 56 Cycle Road and attended Radford Boulevard Infants, Lenton Juniors and Cottesmore Seniors [September 1954 to December 1958]. While at Cotto I attended the school camp at Pipewood what a fantastic place! It is a great pity that youngsters of today don t get a chance of that sort of countryside experience.
After leaving school I worked for ten months at Mitchell Farm Services based in Lenton on Derby Road. Then in December 1959 I joined the Merchant Navy and, once my ten weeks training at the Vindicatrix Sea School in Gloucestershire was over, I spent the next five years travelling around the world what an eye opener for a young lad. During that period I spent in the Merchant Navy I would always return to Cycle Road for my periods of shore leave.
At the end of my stint in the Merchant Navy I came back to live in Lenton and managed to get another job at Mitchells, but this time working for Mitchell Industrial Equipment also based on Derby Road. In 1970 the wanderlust got the better of me and off I went to work in the oil industry for an American company based in Great Yarmouth. After a few months in Great Yarmouth I was offered a position with the same company, working in Libya and that brought an end to my time in the United Kingdom. Over the years I worked in many countries around the world but generally managed to visit Nottingham every two or three years for a short vacation. However I have now retired and live in the Philippines it s a bit warmer here than in Lenton!
I lived the first fifteen years of my life at 97 Cycle Road which was the gate house to the Raleigh entrance. At that time Cycle Road had two shops, one being Hallam s at the junction with Johnson Road and the other one was Ball's situated at the other end, at the junction with Faraday Road. Local family names that come to mind are Blackamore, Chollerton, Gamble, Marshall, Reynolds, Oxborough, Wheatley, Clements, Randall, Sills, Siddons, Roberts and Sheard. The houses opposite the Raleigh backed onto Lenton United Cricket pitch which provided a great play area. My father was the Sunday School Superintendant at Lenton Church and also ran the Mission Hall at Manfull Street off Willoughby Street. I, and most of my friends, attended Cottesmore School on Lenton Boulevard. Many of them were also members of the Boys Brigade on Church Street which was run by a Mr Gregsby and we also went to Monty Hinds Boys Club at the corner of Willoughby Street and Church Street.
I recently read an article on famous pupils of Cottesmore that stated that Doug Scott, the renowned mountaineer, attended the Mundella School and then became a teacher at Cottesmore. I thought this to can t be right as I remember him going to Cottesmore until the 5th year and being appointed school captain or have I got this wrong?
Let us know your past and present memories of Cycle Road
Do you have any historical information or other photographs of this area? If so, email us with the details or write to us.