Lost Nottingham: Charlie and the Lace Factory

 

CHARLIE AND THE LACE FACTORY

 

Monday 4th May 1904, Grand Theatre Radford Road, Hyson Green

Evening performance of Sherlock Holmes over, Charles Chaplin aged 15

Collar askew from a swift costume change leaves Billie the page boy behind

And cheekily slaps the final drop curtain just below King Charles head

The sun-light overhead sputters and dies leaving the stalls gloomy

As he exits through the corridor of mirrors, flickering like a film

 

He turns left on to Gregory Boulevard which is quiet now, audience departed

The half-moon illuminates the Forest park to his right, a few stars above the trees

Cold now he huddles in his thin jacket, stuffs hands in pockets and half-runs

Ahead the last tram descending the Mansfield road clatters in the darkness

A cab rattles past him headed toward Hyson Green its two jovial occupants singing

 

Then silence, just his own steps and far off an occasional cry, or clack of hooves

Latecomers emerging from the Grovesnor Hotel or workers leaving late shift

At the Mansfield Road a sudden burst of steam and noise as a train exits the tunnel

Then silence again as just Charlie and his shadow dance their way up Sherwood rise

Carrington Market is busy with late drinkers fresh off their factory shifts

The rumble of machinery echoes across the granite sets, mixes with brewery smells

 

A quick tap at the door and Mrs Hodgkinson lets him into his digs at number 100

From the back high window he looks down on the Burton and Sewell factories below

Their dark brick walls dotted with illuminated floors of workers making lace

Women on one floor tending the bobbins and un-twirling long lines of thread

Below men tending to the machines as they endlessly repeat their movements

He thinks he catches a smile from one young girl but she is gone in an instant

 

He is left hanging out of the top window watching clouds cross the moon

His only companion a rabbit hidden beneath the bed can be heard scratching

He feeds it leftover stale bread he’d been given that morning

Watches the endless repetitive machines coming and going over and over

The steady hum of machines that brought him to this place, steam and iron

The flicker of images that will be with him throughout these modern times

 

He thinks of his mother in confinement, his brother tending a bar in London

He hardly speaks except when on stage and wanders a different town weekly

Too late to play loudly he picks up his fiddle and bow one more time

And stood in the window, in moonlight, imagines himself a famous musician

He glides the bow gently across the strings, hardly a sound can be heard

He serenades the men and women below, all the world his stage forever…

 

  1. The lace factory now a care home behind imported plastic net curtains

A woman in her 80s suffering dementia suddenly remembers her mother speaking

About a night she saw Charlie Chaplin playing to the stars but no-one believed her

How one day he’d return and play one last reel for her….forever.

 

4 Comments

  1. Rooksby

    Lovely piece of writing. I currently live very close to 100 Mansfield Road and can remember the old (huge) Lace Factory. It was semi-derelict and mostly unused when I first moved to this part of town in the ’90s but was occasionally used as a makeshift venue for late-night parties (“raves”). The barber who owns the shop next door to number 100 is keeping the Chaplin connection alive and will talk to anybody about it if they ask him.

  2. shaun belcher

    Sadly Ian the barber has retired for good now although when I last in for a haircut he still had a cutting about Chaplin framed on the wall. Apparently when they renovated the house next door they found the cutting there.

  3. Dave

    Hi Shaun – bit confused here – we’re talking 100 Hucknall Road aren’t we? How long did CC stay there for in 1904? I’ve read in one place it was a week, and in another, several weeks – the time it took him to recover from illness. Looking at ‘property sold’ information, I notice that 100 Hucknall Road sold for £880,000 in December 2020 – a seemingly astronomical sum – unless it’s some kind of typo, or did the buyer pay well over the kind of market price you’d expect for a property of that size, on that road, because of its CC-related history. Was it, for example, a hotly contested auction? Is the property back as a house these days? All very fascinating – any information appreciated about this and CC’s time in Nottm, thanks, Dave. PS, did he actually perform at the Old Malt Cross in Nott’m?

  4. shaun belcher

    Yes there for a short period whilst working for Dan Leno’s Show (Leno from Nottingham apparently) and yes ill also. It a normal 3 bed terrace probably typo unless it more as has a shop below too. I only have photo (somewhere) of bill taken in shop will post if can find. I have no record of Malt Cross and think Hyson Green only but guessing there. The music hall site now has blue plaque to Chaplin and a seat is pretty grim park to be honest not richest area of town so neglected. I will take photo when down there getting dental treatment virtually on same spot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2024 SHAUN BELCHER

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑