Ocean City, Jewell of the West..I wonder what Newell's going to make of this

HairyJ...children should be seen, not heard.

Will you ever stop interrupting adult conversation.

It's not funny and it's not clever.

Aaaaah.... The Seven Stars!

We were all around 15 - 16. "Pint of beer, please, mister." One of my mates got served a pint that had a load of flies in it so he plucked up his courage & took it back. He was immediately given another one. When he sat down with it that was also full of flies. We took the hint & left quickly....

The Blue Monkey in Higher St Budeaux was my first pint

knecht wrote:

Tamerton used to be an attractive little village (where I had one of my first pints) on the edge of Plymouth before it got swallowed by tons of modern housing. C'est la vie - as they say in Cornwall.

Me to Knecht, twas in the seven stars at the age of 14. The landlord ( Jack ) was really easy going towards younguns provided they behaved. Mind, life in the very early 70's seemed so very different compared to now.

Highwayman wrote:

knecht wrote:

Tamerton used to be an attractive little village (where I had one of my first pints) on the edge of Plymouth before it got swallowed by tons of modern housing. C'est la vie - as they say in Cornwall.

Me to Knecht, twas in the seven stars at the age of 14. The landlord ( Jack ) was really easy going towards younguns provided they behaved. Mind, life in the very early 70's seemed so very different compared to now.

Not saying it was my first pint there, not sure where that was but mate of mine was knocking off the daughter and I was friendly with her mate across the road and whislt invited upstairs we would sample the landlords hard stuff - christ he's not still alive is he!! 

Hung himself many years ago bandy.I remember his cracking daughter.

Jack killed himself in the bath with a bottle of Whiskey was what I heard? I worked behind the bar for a few years in the late seventies for Ken and Jean Stout. Ken was a massive fat alcoholic who was the funniest bloke and best host in the world or a complete nightmare. His daughter was a real stunner who worked at Brymon, must admit I dabbled a bit myself, he had two boys as well one of which was a good mate of mine. It used to be really heaving in there in those days, does anybody remember Jerry the Punchdrunk old Irish pisshead who used to pick up glasses and drink any leftovers?
Happy days.

Iggy wrote:

Jack killed himself in the bath with a bottle of Whiskey was what I heard? I worked behind the bar for a few years in the late seventies for Ken and Jean Stout. Ken was a massive fat alcoholic who was the funniest bloke and best host in the world or a complete nightmare. His daughter was a real stunner who worked at Brymon, must admit I dabbled a bit myself, he had two boys as well one of which was a good mate of mine. It used to be really heaving in there in those days, does anybody remember Jerry the Punchdrunk old Irish pisshead who used to pick up glasses and drink any leftovers?
Happy days.

I think all pubs in those days had someone like that!

We had one who would walk around and collect glasses and if you weren't careful with your pint he would put his false teeth in your glass! It caused the poor landlord a lot of trouble and a lot of free pints.

How strange. I'm going down the village (Tamerton) tomorrow night. First time for ages. Does that horsey looking woman still work the bar in the 7 stars?

She did a couple of years ago, yes she does ride horses.

My old man grew up in Tamerton he stills refers to it as a village and also remembers the old butcher walking the cattle from tavi market back to the butchers shop to be fatted up ready to be slaughtered.

We used to go there scrumping along the road to Warleigh when I was a young kid. That was easy. It was going past the witch's house half-way down the hill from the back of Whitleigh that was always difficult.

knecht wrote:

We used to go there scrumping along the road to Warleigh when I was a young kid. That was easy. It was going past the witch's house half-way down the hill from the back of Whitleigh that was always difficult.

Knecht - that all sounds very, very similar. I forgot all about the witches house! Of course it's was all BS, but when you where a kid, it was horrifying. AHhhhh - growing up in Ernesettle and Southway - Halcyon days indeed. 

This is weird going back to those days in Tamy - yes very much was a village feel. The Southway lads we knocked about with used to walk to the old station at the end of the creek and go along the track to the bridge that looks onto Warliegh house (17 arches I think we called it). Would lay under the tracks with your face inches from the rails and wait for the trains to pass over - crazy kids then!! Worst than that there is a hugh electricity pylon set back in the woods and one nutter would climb up it and swing wildly at the top - honestly the fear factor in those days at about 14/15 was off the charts!!

Bandwagon wrote:

This is weird going back to those days in Tamy - yes very much was a village feel. The Southway lads we knocked about with used to walk to the old station at the end of the creek and go along the track to the bridge that looks onto Warliegh house (17 arches I think we called it). Would lay under the tracks with your face inches from the rails and wait for the trains to pass over - crazy kids then!! Worst than that there is a hugh electricity pylon set back in the woods and one nutter would climb up it and swing wildly at the top - honestly the fear factor in those days at about 14/15 was off the charts!!

Did you use to tie crabs to the line and wait for the Gunni train to come along? We did. 

Shakey bridge we called it, one of my mates was lying under the tracks one day when Someone pulled the flush on the train, not pretty. I did a handstand on the top of one of the arches for a bet once and I found a monkey in the woods at Warleigh point, it had escaped from a place on the other side of Plymouth, when I told everybody down the pub they all thought that I had been on mushrooms. Sad thing was that they had a report out on the news later that I missed, one of the unbelievers from the pub phoned in and copped £100 reward, bastard.

Wow, this is just incredible - we are talking 45 odd years ago for me and you lot know it too!!  

Yep - Shaky Bridge for us also. We were on it once coming from Ernesettle and the railway police came along. They took our names & addresses. Nothing followed from that except we were all frightened about what our parents would say. Not sure but I think we were about 9 yrs old at the time...... and that's over 50 years ago  

Crownhill/Widey was my territory at that time. Most vivid memories are playing football against and getting beat by Trevor Francis and his mates............ jumpers for goalposts of course. Failing most of my GCE's because revision went out of the window in favour of a particularly accommodating young lady and a wheat field. Asking my dad what I should drink if they'd serve me at the bottle n jug at the Tamar.......... his advice was to try brown split. Marched in for the first time with a mate and he said he'd have a half of what I was having. A pint and a half of brown split' I spluttered, in my deepest voice.
The barman's response,'What, all in the same glass ?' 

knecht wrote:

Yep - Shaky Bridge for us also. We were on it once coming from Ernesettle and the railway police came along. They took our names & addresses. Nothing followed from that except we were all frightened about what our parents would say. Not sure but I think we were about 9 yrs old at the time...... and that's over 50 years ago  

I knew my memory wasn't that bad - 17 arches!! 
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/pictures/Railway-bridge-Warleigh/pictures-19576082-detail/pictures.html

Tringreen wrote:

Crownhill/Widey was my territory at that time. Most vivid memories are playing football against and getting beat by Trevor Francis and his mates............ jumpers for goalposts of course. Failing most of my GCE's because revision went out of the window in favour of a particularly accommodating young lady and a wheat field. Asking my dad what I should drink if they'd serve me at the bottle n jug at the Tamar.......... his advice was to try brown split. Marched in for the first time with a mate and he said he'd have a half of what I was having. A pint and a half of brown split' I spluttered, in my deepest voice.
The barman's response,'What, all in the same glass ?' 

Although you have a few years on me - we used to go round the back of the Tamar nick the empties and take em round to the off licence attached to the pub. also did my paper round from Algars just up from pub before and after school at Widey Tech around 1970!! Lived in Warwick Avenue Whitliegh about that time!! 

Oh my god - I was dragged up in Ernesettle and all these places were my playground. Shaky bridge, Ernesettle woods (we used to light fires there - oh dear), scrumping somewhere down the lane from Whitleigh to Tamerton, and add to that the Agaton fort. In the days where we summer holidays were a real swallows and amazons experience - and when we'd disappear at 9am and not come back until tea time. Skipping, rounders, spot, two-ball, hide and seek - no telly or stupid internet to distract us....

Have we got two Shakey Bridges? Only I could swear that was what we called the one at Camel's Head (the one that's now 'unsafe' for pedestrians, but perfectly safe for fully-laden eight carriage trains; nothing to do with being able to see into the nuclear submarine place, obvo).

Budo mehd, innit.

I think you're right Peggy - we just called ours at Ernesettle that maybe? There was a proper footpath on the one at 'budo wasn't there? We used to play regularly on the train line - jeez - how we were never killed I don't know

mannameadbabe wrote:

Oh my god - I was dragged up in Ernesettle and all these places were my playground.  Shaky bridge, Ernesettle woods (we used to light fires there - oh dear), scrumping somewhere down the lane from Whitleigh to Tamerton, and add to that the Agaton fort.  In the days where we summer holidays were a real swallows and amazons experience - and when we'd disappear at 9am and not come back until tea time.  Skipping, rounders, spot, two-ball, hide and seek - no telly or stupid internet to distract us....

........doctors and nurses, I may know you? My mate Vern lived in Tamerton but he was an Ernessetle bhey and we used to knock about in those parts as well.
I think all the bridges were shakey, I've heard the Ernesettle creek one called that as well. We used to scrump apples up Warleigh Lane and behind the Seven Stars garage at the bottom of Milford Lane, before Badgers Holt was built. Badgers live in Setts not Holts BTW planners.
Another good crack was stealing strawberries from Luke's, we either did it from the top of Southway and across the valley or from the Tamerton end which was more tricky cos you had to get past the farm, there would be about forty kids in there some nights.
Lord Roboroughs Pheasants used to take a bit of a hammering in the winter as well.

Ernesettle woods & Whitleigh woods were our playground from our posh area of West Park. And if you were brave you used to walk bent double through the tunnel under Budshead Road to get from one to the other.

I went back to visit Ernie woods a few years ago and was disappointed to see that they've made it much much smaller.

And as for the fort at Ernesettle - we found a couple of ways into it. Both of them a real scramble through narrow man-hole cover & a window (I think).

They've probably got computer programs of it nowadays.