First of the Summer Wine

[toodlepip]

I have to reply to myself, I should have tried the pilot first as nature intended, lol, that was what I was looking for with the Koala bears.
Have still not found the one you were talking about with the song and the radio though.
--- Okay, I have, The Great Indoors. I never saw this scene before, had me rolling on the floor as well !

 

[yorkshire puddin]

I just wished this could have gone on at least for a couple more series,In my opinion it was so very well done,loved the incidental music and the costumes,plus the innocence of the gang compared to the streetwise kids of today.I noticed the water trough near the co- op store where the gang work is a very clever bit of false scenery as in reality that bit of wall is actually a modern garage with a metal up and over door.

 

[Marianna]

By the way when did we stop buying lino?

I'm about to order some, in roll form, for my kitchen, mud room, pantry, powder room and bathroom remodeling project. It's made by Forbo Flooring under the trade name Marmoleum in Assendelft, the Netherlands, and in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. The floor coverings retailer a couple of miles down the road from me sells and installs it.

It began to loose popularity in the 50s. I don't think it ever went off the market, but it was certainly a niche product for a long time. It's been back for a while now and it's marketed as the environmentally responsible alternative to vinyl. I'm using it because of the offgassing from the plasticizers in vinyl flooring.

Marianna

 

[Marianna]

I've been re-visiting First of ... after having seen it only once right after the DVD sets were issued. It's been long enough that it was almost new again except for the very last episode.

I have only that one left to watch and I'm reluctant to do so because it ends so sadly, apparently on September 1st, 1939. I began to feel apprehensive when the date 'August 1939' was shown. Now the apprehension has changed to dread, knowing what those carefree youngsters are going to go through, that one of them was most likely killed and that all of them will be permanently scarred one way or another.

Marianna

 

[Sheree]

First of...

I absolutely adore First of...! I like everything about it but, especially, the music! I watch it, even, as a pick-me-up.

 

[Marianna]

... it ends so sadly, apparently on September 1st, 1939.

Marianna

Correction — Sunday, September 3rd. I had forgotten that it took Chamberlain a couple of days to send Hitler the ultimatum demanding that he cease hostilities against Poland by 11 AM or Great Britain would declare war on Germany. The invasion was on Friday the 1st, Dilys and Brad's wedding was on the Saturday (apparently in the afternoon, or the Co-op staff would have been working) and the declaration of war came on the Sunday morning while the boys were wandering the canal towpath grousing about everything being shut down on Sundays.

A couple of my mother's friends/colleagues were in Europe at the time. One, a kindergarten teacher, had spent the summer in Poland visiting relatives and was about to leave in order to be back at home for the start of the school year on the 5th. She was trapped by the invasion and had an awful time getting out. I believe that she never saw any of those relatives again. The other, a high school language teacher, was visiting Germany to polish her accent. Soon after I moved to a house near hers, she told me that she couldn't imagine that there would be another war with Germany until she woke up one morning to the sound of marching under her hotel room window and saw a contingent of Waffen-SS goose-stepping down the street. Then she knew that war was inevitable and she rescheduled her departure to get out of there right away.

Marianna

 

[Marianna]

Near the end of one of the episodes, might have been 'The Great Indoors', the boys pass a war memorial and Norman comments that it's nearly full — they'll have to start a new one. That was like a kick in the solar plexus, knowing how close the start of World War II was.

It prompted me to take a look at the names for both wars on the Holmfirth war memorial http://www2.kirklees.gov.uk/community/warmemorial/memorial_details.aspx?mid=29 that stands in the front garden of the Holme Valley Memorial Hospital to see how many names used in both Summer Wine series were of local origin. There's a Batty and a Clegg. There are also several soldiers named Battye. There's an Earnshaw, but I already knew that was probably a local name from Earnshaw Kay, the real estate agency.

Quite a while ago my interest in Summer Wine locations broadened to a general interest in Holmfirth local history. I wonder where Summer Wine will lead me next!

Marianna

 

[barmpot]

I'm about to order some, in roll form, for my kitchen, mud room, pantry, powder room and bathroom remodeling project. It's made by Forbo Flooring under the trade name Marmoleum in Assendelft, the Netherlands, and in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. The floor coverings retailer a couple of miles down the road from me sells and installs it.

It began to loose popularity in the 50s. I don't think it ever went off the market, but it was certainly a niche product for a long time. It's been back for a while now and it's marketed as the environmentally responsible alternative to vinyl. I'm using it because of the offgassing from the plasticizers in vinyl flooring.

Marianna

Yes linoleum has always been available often in a mid brown plain shade (this particular colour used for lino cuts amongst other things) and it always struck me as a very durable if slightly unexciting floor covering. However getting it through your average high street store was not so easy. Seemeed it was retained for heavy duty commercial use primarily. If you search for it on web often throws up vinyl!

 

[Marianna]

Yes linoleum has always been available often in a mid brown plain shade (this particular colour used for lino cuts amongst other things) and it always struck me as a very durable if slightly unexciting floor covering. However getting it through your average high street store was not so easy. Seemeed it was retained for heavy duty commercial use primarily. If you search for it on web often throws up vinyl!

The color/pattern I've selected looks as though it was made to match the Silestone countertop that I chose. It's fairly neutral because I don't want to make a big color or pattern statement in anything that durable, but it's far from unexciting. I'll make my intense red color statement in fabrics and accessories.

Marianna

 

[barmpot]

Correction — Sunday, September 3rd. I had forgotten that it took Chamberlain a couple of days to send Hitler the ultimatum demanding that he cease hostilities against Poland by 11 AM or Great Britain would declare war on Germany. The invasion was on Friday the 1st, Dilys and Brad's wedding was on the Saturday (apparently in the afternoon, or the Co-op staff would have been working) and the declaration of war came on the Sunday morning while the boys were wandering the canal towpath grousing about everything being shut down on Sundays.

Marianna

Yes there is a certain poignancy about that episode: the world for them was changing. We get the impression that possibly Sherbert did not survive the war. Also in, the novel, there was a reference to some of their number who ran smack into world war two - Don Naylor lying somewhere in Africa. And he comment "I don't suppose it was a large proportion of our class register that they transferred later to the war memorial.



I think it is the hallmark of good comedy that can use these sad themes as well as any other (as done with Compo's death episodes).

 

[barmpot]

Near the end of one of the episodes, might have been 'The Great Indoors', the boys pass a war memorial and Norman comments that it's nearly full — they'll have to start a new one. That was like a kick in the solar plexus, knowing how close the start of World War II was.

It prompted me to take a look at the names for both wars on the Holmfirth war memorial http://www2.kirklees.gov.uk/community/warmemorial/memorial_details.aspx?mid=29 that stands in the front garden of the Holme Valley Memorial Hospital to see how many names used in both Summer Wine series were of local origin. There's a Batty and a Clegg. There are also several soldiers named Battye. There's an Earnshaw, but I already knew that was probably a local name from Earnshaw Kay, the real estate agency.

Quite a while ago my interest in Summer Wine locations broadened to a general interest in Holmfirth local history. I wonder where Summer Wine will lead me next!

Marianna

Lot of local names utilised: Blamire not that uncommon and there were the Simmonite Sisters who rallied. The only names that I have never come across in real life are Utterthwaite and Sibshaw.