RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted December 22, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2023 (edited) 16 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: PS Captain Kernow was the "Saturday boy" in Whitemans before I was, and so all of this is mostly his fault. What larks we had! We have to thank a certain hotel for that, when they sacked me 'in absentia' from my weekend washing up job, after it changed hands. I was away for just one weekend at the school cottage in the Brecon Beacons... Mind you, the previous hotel management must have been mystified when they caught me washing the whitemetal body of a Wills 22XX in the hotel kitchens. 'He's washing trains!'... Edited December 22, 2023 by Captain Kernow 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold melmoth Posted December 22, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2023 17 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: Now there's a fine idea idea... ....PS Captain Kernow was the "Saturday boy" in Whitemans before I was, and so all of this is mostly his fault. This in its entirety is a most wonderful post. Happy Christmas Simon, and Tim for that matter. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted December 22, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2023 (edited) Gosh, washing up… My first ever non paper round job was washing up at Pratt’s Hotel, 50p per hour. I didn’t wash up any trains but went off the place when I had to persuade them to pay me - wallies. Going back to Whitemans, I can report that Mr Tim Graham, who really built the business up over twenty years, (and employed CK and later on me) is still alive and well as I saw him and his wife Margaret when I dropped off a Christmas card this morning. For anyone silly enough to visit Bath, it is worth seeking out the Julian House charity shop in Walcot Street as downstairs is a wonderful bookshop, which Tim sort of presides over. Well organised, no rubbish and humanely priced, and with a transport section. He is not as “Basil Fawlty” as he used to sometimes be, in Whitemans(!) Edited December 22, 2023 by Not Jeremy Tense 2 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Doncaster Green Posted December 22, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 22, 2023 (edited) 20 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: And, for those of a certain age, they mostly all came from Whitemans bookshop in Orange Grove. Ah, Whitemans of very fond memory. What better way to wile away a lunchtime than browsing the transport titles in the upstairs room, nattering to John and trying hard not to spend too much money. (Over time I managed a complete set of the RCTS LNER Green Books). I wondered if it was something I'd done when they closed the same week I retired! John Edited December 22, 2023 by Doncaster Green terrible spilling 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted December 22, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2023 3 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: Going back to Whitemans, I can report that Mr Tim Graham, who really built the business up over twenty years, (and employed CK and later on me) is still alive and well as I saw him and his wife Margaret when I dropped off a Christmas card this morning. That's really good to hear, Simon. In fact, due to Tim Graham's generosity in allowing ex-employees to retain their '30% off new books' rights for many, many years, I probably made more visits to the shop over the years than I might otherwise have done! One one such visit, I actually met the future Captain The Mrs Kernow, who had also been employed there, full time. We met in the railway book section, located in the rather gloomy basement at the time, which she rapidly re-named 'Gricer's Grotto'... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Vectis Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 4 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: Gosh, washing up… My first ever non paper round job was washing up at Pratt’s Hotel, 50p per hour. I didn’t wash up any trains but went off the place when I had to persuade them to pay me - wallies. Going back to Whitemans, I can report that Mr Tim Graham, who really built the business up over twenty years, (and employed CK and later on me) is still alive and well as I saw him and his wife Margaret when I dropped off a Christmas card this morning. For anyone silly enough to visit Bath, it is worth seeking out the Julian House charity shop in Walcot Street as downstairs is a wonderful bookshop, which Tim sort of presides over. Well organised, no rubbish and humanely priced, and with a transport section. He is not as “Basil Fawlty” as he used to sometimes be, in Whitemans(!) Is The Bell in Walcot Street still worth a visit (or two?) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted December 22, 2023 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 22, 2023 1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said: Is The Bell in Walcot Street still worth a visit (or two?) Yes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRASinBothell Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Any updates on arrival of the reprints? I have one on order... Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 6 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6 I have just been advised by the printers that delivery should take place on January 19th. Books will be sent out as soon as stock arrives. Thank you for your patience! 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Tim Dubya Posted January 7 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 7 6 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: I have just been advised by the printers that delivery should take place on January 19th. Books will be sent out as soon as stock arrives. Thank you for your patience! Are you underwater or did you manage to launch the lifeboats in time ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 7 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 Happy to report that everything is safely above water, and copious red wine with neighbours has massively improved the outlook - churrs!! 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 8 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: Happy to report that everything is safely above water, and copious red wine with neighbours has massively improved the outlook - churrs!! Just seen a video of the water at Pultney wier, never seen it that high before... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 7 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 It was pretty impressive, I didn't go into town but the Toll bridge was closed to traffic. Batheaston lake looked pretty. But the old mill looked less inviting than usual... 1 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRASinBothell Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Glad to hear the books will be in shortly. We used to live in Batheaston, on London Rd, just a short walk from Bathford Halt and Bathampton station, both now alas long gone. Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted January 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 Nothing new for the Old Mill I fear... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold franciswilliamwebb Posted January 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 You’d think they’d hook up some kind of pump to that water wheel 😉 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 7 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7 It does go round in "normal circumstances" and it is connected to a big circular section of the dance floor that it gently rotates. Or it used to, I am pretty certain, although thinking about it it all sounds very unlikely. It is a bit of a "rum" establishment one way and another, 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 8 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8 I do wonder how the flood relief scheme, installed at Pultney Weir all those years ago, must be coping dow. It looked as if the whole installation was under water!... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 8 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8 Hopefully we won't see a repeat of this, though... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 8 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8 I think the Avon through Bath is actually pretty well managed, with water being controlled and allowed to flood on to water meadows either side of the City. I just walked back from town and the river level is looking very "normal". I think the relevant powers/authority are doing an effective job round here, with the express purpose of not letting Bath flood as it used to when your picture was taken. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRASinBothell Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Was the picture from the early 1960s? My first Hornby-Dublo loco came from the Bath Pram & Toy Shop (near Bath Spa station), and I recall a photo in the local paper shortly after I got it, showing swans looking in the window as they swam past. Gordon 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold melmoth Posted January 8 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8 3 hours ago, GRASinBothell said: Was the picture from the early 1960s? My first Hornby-Dublo loco came from the Bath Pram & Toy Shop (near Bath Spa station), and I recall a photo in the local paper shortly after I got it, showing swans looking in the window as they swam past. Gordon Wild Swans? 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Not Jeremy Posted January 8 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8 4 hours ago, GRASinBothell said: Was the picture from the early 1960s? My first Hornby-Dublo loco came from the Bath Pram & Toy Shop (near Bath Spa station), and I recall a photo in the local paper shortly after I got it, showing swans looking in the window as they swam past. Gordon Yes, it became Eric Snooks, when the aforementioned owner (of Bath Pram and Toy Shop) took a large retail unit in the shiny new Southgate development and moved his business there. It was temporarily domiciled in what was the Plummer Roddis block while building work went on, I think. Our very own Captain Kernow started his kitbuilding career making up models for display in the new shop, as I recall. The shop subsequently contracted a bit then split into two, the modelling branch of which shut down not long afterwards, with the "main shop" moving to large-ish premises by the side of Marks & Spencer. Eric Snook (an enterprising fellow and one time mayor of Bath) eventually died, after which "Mr Basil" moved the shop into a sad little place in one of the corridors, where it petered out into oblivion relatively recently. No model shops left in Bath now, and Wild Swans are no longer seen in Southgate. We have, of late, had quite a lot of Wild Geese round these parts though! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Tim Dubya Posted January 9 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9 I remember when the trains moved to, now what is Moss, in Lower Borough Walls/St James Parade (depending upon the angle of attack). Then it all moved up to the Golden Cot (?) and we were left with The Modeller's Den, now that's long gone. Any retail therapy needs to be carried out in either Midsomer Norton (Signals) or in Frome, at the mighty, mighty Frome Model Centre. Bath does need a model shop but the extortionate rents mean that's not going to happen any time soon ☹️ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 9 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9 32 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said: Bath does need a model shop but the extortionate rents mean that's not going to happen any time soon ☹️ Does anyone recall the model shop (was it run by the Dimmocks of Graham Farish fame and was it in an old barn?) at Chantry Mead? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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