Ron Salvin was born in Ousebridge Cottages which once occupied the land opposite the Royal Oak Pub (now known as the Inn for A Penny). He moved around the area throughout his life, eventually settling at St. Chad’s on Conway Road, and never wandered far from his roots!
He was one of the first pupils to attend the newly opened Priory Road School, when the headmaster was Mr Douge. Ron recalls his name was the second one on the opening register. Later he was educated at Chandos Street School where he remembered being taught by Mr. Richards (father of the late David Richards). On leaving school he was employed at A.L. Marshall’s, a firm which produced conveyors and whose factory was at the side of the Carlton Drill Hall.
In 1944 Ron was called up to the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards, spending a lot of his leave at Musson Snooker Hall, now the Burton Road Community Centre/Phoenix Boxing Club.
Conversations with Ron depicted a very different view of Gedling in past times to the Gedling we know now. He recalled Sid Dunkin, landlord of the Royal Oak, with its long front bar and tiny side room. Ron vividly recalled feeding monkeys that were kept at the back of the Royal Oak (so famous were these monkeys that this section of Burton Road was known as Monkey Parade!). At this time an open dyke ran where Burton Road now runs, and nearby air-raid shelters were constructed for war-time.
In 1936 the Ritz Cinema was built on the Site of Barratt’s garage (now the Willowbrook Care Home) and the first film shown starred Gracie Fields.
Ron also recalled the “twopenny’ rush on Saturday mornings at the cinema.
Sporting All-Rounder
A sportsman of some repute, Ron was always extremely modest about his achievements as a sportsman, playing in ‘sensible’ times, when the football season ended on cup final day, and the summer was all about cricket. Ron performed with some distinction in both sports. As a youngster he followed the fortunes of Gedling All Saints,combining watching football with apple scrumping on Jessop’s Lane. As a player, he was a goalkeeper, playing initially for his school team, Ron recalled his first game played at Poole’s Farm on Arnold Lane, a sloping pitch and against local rivals All Hallows. During the war he played for Netherfield Rovers in the war-time league, but after the war he played for Gedling Colliery, then one of the best amateur clubs in Nottinghamshire, playing in Division One of the Notts Alliance League, who for at least three seasons were virtually unbeatable. In the 1952/53 season they were the proud winners of the Notts Senior Cup beating Sutton Town at Meadow Lane in front of 8,500. In the same year they won the Notts Alliance Knock-Out Cup and also entered the FA Amateur Cup (now known as the FA Vase) and at their Plains Road ground, they overcame Yorkshire Amateurs in round one.
Gedling Colliery Football Club 1950s – Back Row: Peter Stainwright, Jack Harper, Eric Lawrence, Ron Salvin, Walter Kirk, George Wileman – Front Row: Arthur Nutt, George O’Dowd, Joe Kay, John Riley, Eric Martin
Their reward was a match with the mighty Pegasus, a team made up of players from Oxford/Cambridge Universities who at the time were the cup-holders. The match is much documented and was won by the holders 6-2 in front of a huge crowd. An even bigger crowd was in attendance when Gedling Colliery took on Bishop Auckland, one of the greatest sides in English amateur football, at Plains Road in 1956. Ron once trialled for Nottingham Forest, but as a footballer he will always be remembered for his appearances with great distinction, in goal for Gedling Colliery.
As a cricketer, Ron started his career playing for ALMA (AL.Marshall’s Factory Team), a team he captained in the 1950s. However, he will always be associated locally with Carlton Cricket Club, which he captained in the 1960s. As the club historian Ron traced the club’s history back to the 1860s when it played on Blackhill Drive, though Ron played all his games for Carlton C.C. on Burton Road. In Ron’s time the club played in the strong Notts Amateur League. An all-rounder, his highest score was 144 for ALMA against the RAF Toolroom at Bulwell Hall Park. An attacking batsman, the then owners of properties on the other side of Burton Road can testify to Ron’s prowess as 6s rained down from across the road. He batted right-handed but bowled left-handed medium paced and was likened to ‘Deadly’ Derek Underwood in style. He was also one of the best fielders in the league.
A father-figure and role-model to young players, after captaining Carlton C.C., Ron later became club secretary. He was also part of the committee which supervised the Cooper’s Cup Cricket Tournament -the cricket competition,which was held for forty vears in the area, where local teams competed in a knock-out tournament for charity – raising thousands of pounds in the process. Such was his family’s dedication to sport that Ron even met his wife Shirley while she was scoring for ALMA C.C. They were married at All Hallows in 1957.
Ron’s memories of playing on Burton Road were legion, including some ‘odd” memories like no cricket being allowed on Friday nights while Carlton Fire Brigade practised after draining the dyke of water. Also, he recalled Sunday games having to stop promptly at 7 pm in order that outdoor Sunday services could take place.
Burton Road ‘cricket field’ looking from the railway towards Burton Road, photographed in 1962 by Stan Francis
Retirement
When his football and cricket playing days ended, Ron joined Mapperley Golf Club and then Carton Bowls Club playing on Oakdale Drive. He was secretary of the Bowls Club and later president of the Carlton Senior Citizens’ Club.
On January 30th 2018, Ron sadly passed away and the area lost a giant among local sports people: a man who played top-class amateur sport in an age which is sadly long gone, an age where fair play and decency were paramount, where you played to win but shook hands with your opponent after the game and your ‘well played’ to them was heartfelt: a true Corinthian to whom local sport should be greatly indebted.
This article is reproduced (with permission) from a book titled Gedling: A Sporting Village Part 2. Published in 2019, it features 14 other sporting stories from the area. The author Neil Kendrick can supply copies for £5. Email him at neildragon21@hotmail.com