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roller rink springhill 1968

P

Pete

proper brummie kid
Hi my name is pete i can remember doc he was the DJ. Ralf. Assistant manager & Clive Preston he was the manager John stokes worked there. I went there 5 nights a week can anyone remember the barrel Jumping. it was such a shame it closed it was a great meeting place for everyone. love to here from people who went there
 
I used to love going to the roller rink in the 60's. I remember Doc Linsey and Les Ross. I remember how Les would put on an L.P. so he had time to go to the loo and always forgot to change the record speed so it would play too fast and sounded like the chipmonks
 
hi pete and patricia i was gutted when the rink closed down and i was definately going there in 1968...used to go at least 5 nights a week and yes pete i can remember the barrel jumping .also remember less ross and frankie the dj.s..frankie moved to australia and is still a dj over there...there should be a thread for spring hill rollar rink on the forum with photos of it although they made need reposting as we lost all our images when the forum was hacked last year...later on today i will see if i can find it and repost any pics i have..

lyn
 
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pete and patricia scroll down the main page to the theatres cinemas and rinks section i have just brought the spring hill rollar rink thread to the top for you...there are some pics on it..

lyn
 
Doc was a very good friend of my husbands he tells me many tales of what they got up too....lol
 
hi does anyone remember my grandfather his name was bill lowe known to everyone as dad he started the night the rink opened as the car park attendant and worked every night till he died (cant remember how many years) many are the nights he walked home to kingstanding because he gave his bus fare to some young lady who had lost theirs or sneaked them in when nobody was looking as they hadnt got the admission price but oh my god did those young girls and lads look after him christmas birthdays he always came home with carrier bags full of presents his face covered in lipstick in all the time he worked there he never had a minutes problem the regulars looked after him like their own fathers and of course i got in every night for free got my favourite skates saved for me and a free drink what a way to grow up all in all one of natures true gentleman and be it a humble job in retirement i am extremely proud of him edd
 
hi edd sorry but i cant recall your grandad but what a lovely man he must have been..you are right to be proud of him and thank you for your memories...great stuff

lyn
 
Hi lyn nice to be able to talk to other people from the good days at the roller rink can you remember many people. Did you live local when you went skating. i still do a bit of skating. did you go to any of the day sessions? theres lots to talk about Halloween nights when we would all go down the cellar and it would be dark the lads would try to scare the girls I got on well with doc when he was in charge he paid me to repair the skates that was broke so i was able to skate when the ring was closed Hope to hear from you pete
 
hi pete have you seen the pics on the spring hill rollar rink thread ??..had the time of my life at the rink..i went mainly to the night sessions and even though a tad under age afterwards we would sometimes go to the summer hill tavern accross the road or the pub a bit further up on the canal..can you believe it the name has slipped my mind for now but it will come to me...yes i lived in villa street at the time..used to jump the no 8 in nursery road...mates i remember are carol miller..mary moore..the close brothers..dillon..steve and richard..george burton..john foxhall..the number of my hire skates was 121..where abouts did you live...oh you said you still skate..would that be rollar and if so where do you go...

lyn..
 
phil as you say you have posted the 67 link before but i had not seen the one about being in the barrel...absolutely wonderful footage of the old rink...great to see the stage and the bar in the clip...

cheers

lyn
 
Hi lyn. Just to let you know i lived on lodge rd when i went skating. yes i still skate at the tower ballroom its on the 1st and 3rd of every month its starts at 9 oclock and its on till late its all ages the bar is open and you can have a drink. I had to boy new skates my old ones seen better days
 
Hello Wendy. My name is pete. I worked at the roller ring when doc was manager he was a nice guy it was very sad when it shut down i lived in handsworth my self greenhill rd just of rookery rd. I new john stokes he worked there as well he would do the odd jobs i did a lot of skating myself i will say by for now
 
Pete said:
Hi lyn. Just to let you know i lived on lodge rd when i went skating. yes i still skate at the tower ballroom its on the 1st and 3rd of every month its starts at 9 oclock and its on till late its all ages the bar is open and you can have a drink. I had to boy new skates my old ones seen better days
Click to expand...

thanks pete i didnt know about the rollar skating at the tower..sending you a private message

lyn
 
Pete said:
Hello Wendy. My name is pete. I worked at the roller ring when doc was manager he was a nice guy it was very sad when it shut down i lived in handsworth my self greenhill rd just of rookery rd. I new john stokes he worked there as well he would do the odd jobs i did a lot of skating myself i will say by for now
Click to expand...

I will ask Michael more he is in hospital at the moment but this may make him think on my next visit.
 
I was a regular at the Roller Rink during the 60's as much as 7 nights a week.
Remember John Stokes doing the barrel sit in on the car park.
Alan Eagles took over as deputy manager,he was the son of my primary school headmaster.
Worked for a while at the Tower Ballroom then moved to the Roller Rink.
Shame when it shut down.
 
Hi all. My name is Fred Horton. My dad used to be the night security guard at the roller rink. He looked after John Stokes when he was in the barrel, John was kind enough to let us use his car which was an Austin 1300 whilst he spent i think was a month up there. My dad was on duty when one night some one tried to saw through the pole the barrel was sitting on. I was only 11yrs of age but had the privilege of going into the control room and flashing all the lights to the beat of the music. The huge Tannoy sound system was the best sound ever. My dad also said that the rink was haunted and some nights you could see images of horses on the rink, as there used to be a circus on that site years ago. My dad was named Harry but everyone called him John i never understood that. I was never a good skater but the speed sessions and the barrel jumping always made it a night to remember and i so wished i could have been that good.
I will add other memories at a later date. I would love to see any photo's if anyone has some. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Best wishes Fred
 
hi fred welcome to the forum and what great memories you have of the rollar rink..i spent all my spare time there and was gutted when it closed down...please post more..if you go to the spring hill rollar rink thread there should be some pics one of them shows the outside of the rink..


lyn
 
HI YES ;
Pete ; i used to live around the corner from it but never ever used it mainly because i could not ice skate;
my two mates billy and phil hollond used to do the skating around there they lived next door to us ;
and my ;or should i say our old mate ;[ mossy and his girl friend whom was a gorgeous cracker ;]
at the time was always found down there ; if he sees this answer by me he may had abit more and it might make him smile ;
mossy like me was a local lad from around the block ; i also have a friend now is older and was part of the ice skating team
he is phil ; and he come line dancin at our club the rocklands in reddich pete is getting on abit but he occasionionaly comes on here
nd we have spoke about the roler in those days and about the barrells he knows you all whom was in the team ;
pete says he does have much time now to come on ; infact he asked the wife last week do i still on the forum ;
owing to his wife not being to good ;
pete used to live up by lozells i beleive and by padmores the old bilaird table seller that used to be wimps the bakery ;
well; as i said i never used the place butnow i have mentionioned it and i hpope that mossy as sen this and i hpope he as abit of a smile over it as he will recall the girl it was ; i know her name mossy but i think i should not name her on the forum ; only you know it will be ;
mossy those were the days ; you always beat me to that door way ;no matter time we got there you beat me ;
have a good day every body best wishes astonian;;
 
wow bernie can you thank your sister..i was going there in 69 and now i know how much it cost me...
what was your sisters name when she was going to rink..


cheers

lyn
 
Hi my name is Peter this is great i went there about 5 times a week and on sunday afternoons what is your sisters name and where did you live i came from hockley I still do some roller skating at the tower ball room would love to hear from you
 
Hi both my sisters name was Christine Wright then she would have been about 15 at that time we lived in Small Heath and I think she would have used the Embassy much more than Springhill she probably went now and then but would not have been a regular . The card's something that has been tucked inside an old box that I thought may be of interest to regulars around that time
 
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