21 February 2011

Sally, Nottingham Newspaper Seller and Pavement Artist. And Friends

Pome

Sir Micheal McMinn made a rule,
Which applied not to Scrabble nor Poole,
He said,
        Practical Christianity,
        Leeds to insanity,
& Solumnly slid off his stool.
                                          Boom Boom.

The 'Pome' and the sketch are by Sally, once a noted figure on Nottingham streets selling first the rebel weekly Nottingham News, and then selling the regular Nottingham Evening Post. I'm grateful to David Wilson of the Nottstalgia group for sending me fresh information about her, which has caused me to re-write and add to this post. A few newspaper articles using the surname Freeman for her have appeared, so we must indeed use that name.

Sally was noted by most people who passed because they found it rather incongruous to hear a female voice – I think all had previously been male – calling out 'Post' in a delicate, highly elegant-sounding accent. Later, she graduated to pavement artist, making very elaborate – and really rather clever – chalk drawings on the street around Lister Gate, Nottingham. She has long been gone, and judging by a few Nottingham nostalgia forums, no one knows where, although they certainly miss her. Rumours of her death are unsubstantiated.

The person in the idiosyncratically spelt poem and the diagram is the late Mick McMinn, who was also known as 'Luton Mick' after his town of origin to avoid confusion with a surfeit of Micks, and he was a friend of mine and a very close friend of Sally's and her partner Sam's. The drawing points to Mick's love of pool, scrabble, and alcohol, moving from upright position on a bar stool to a skeletal heap on the floor, still clutching his drink and reaching for the last letter of the alphabet. Mick told me that all of Sally's chalk drawings were about him or him and Sam, and as I've no way of proving otherwise I'll have to believe it. On several occasions, I had a drink in city centre pubs in the company of the three of them, and I remember at least one evening being with Mick, his partner Polly, Sally, and my ex-wife at Mick's house. Sally was usually quite quiet, but when she did speak it was often with a sparkling wit.

And Mick told such stories about Sally and Sam. How about their day trip to Skegness, when they boarded the train out with an empty wheelie bin, all the Nottingham folk on the coast were in generous holiday mood seeing Sally do her pavement artist routine, and of course the merry pair had great difficulty hauling the bin onto the return train as it was full to the brim with money.

Mick was obviously in awe of both of them, fascinated by their antics, and was evidently distressed when his own partner Polly barred them from visiting their house in Sneinton, although I forget why. He said that the following evening, Sally and Sam both stood on the doorstep drenched in tears and begging forgiveness. They were, of course, forgiven.

Sam, accompanied by Sally, used to sell cannabis around the local pubs, and I once went with Mick to the Sawyer's Arms on Lister Gate, where Sally expertly rolled a spliff and shared it with us: the use of cannabis was a very frequent part of their everyday lives. They were of course outsiders, anarchists in the positive sense of the word, although there was a very dark side to Sam, a man Sally seemed to worship, and I suspect that he had a strong control over the money she made from her chalk drawings. Sam was dying in the early 1990s, although I'm not sure why. I have no idea if Sally was on harder drugs, although I strongly suspect Sam was.

Why I turned down Mick's offer to see the couple at their flat is because of what Mick told me about the conditions there. It was full of cats, and smelt of them. Plus, the bath was a coal bunker and Sam at least used to bathe only when it was raining, going out naked into the backyard: Mick never mentioned Sally's bathing habits. Er, Sam used to have a huge table boulder which he'd hacked chunks out of to put his drugs in, and also kept pebbles there which he regularly threw at Sally when he was stoned and/or drunk: the living room was separated from the kitchen mainly by former glass partitions, but of course had been smashed by the pebbles.

And how did Sally respond? With love and devotion – on one occasion someone insulted Sam in a pub (then the New Inn in Carrington) because of his vile smell: Sally, when Sam told her about the insult, smashed a chair over the offender's head and the couple were barred for life. An Evening Post snippet dating from mid-October 1991 reveals that Sally Anne Freeman, 33, of Mapperley Park Drive, was found guilty of causing actual bodily harm to an unnamed person, ordered to pay £30 compensation plus £35 costs and conditionally discharged for a year. Although the very short article doesn't give any details of the assault, I'm pretty certain that the case concerned is the above incident, which Mick informed me of in about 1991.


A seated Sally selling (or rather reading) Nottingham Evening Post.

I noticed this fine shot of Sally which Dave Armstrong has very kindly given me permission to reproduce here. It's a lovely photo of her, with the apparent incongruity of the flamboyant hat mixed with the duffel coat accurately capturing the way she was. And her face registers the timidity, the fragility behind her eccentricity. A superb portrait of a remarkable woman.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for this nice post 111213

Anonymous said...

Umm.

Anonymous said...

thanks for this tips

Unknown said...

This poem is about my dad

Unknown said...

I randomly had Sally pop to mind remembering as a child admiring chalk art 'pomes' in town with my parents - thanks for the background info!

Dr Tony Shaw said...

And thank you for the comment Alan.

Anonymous said...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/304093506435867/ she has been mentioned in this group - Toni

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Thanks for this, Toni! I wasn't aware of the group, which I'm now awaiting approval to become a member of.

Lesley O'Hare said...

...and this on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/78104432@N07/sets/72157645446726534/

Michael McEvoy said...

Thank you Dr. Shaw. Your blog on Sally was very interesting. She has always intrigued me. I'm trying to gather images of her for a portrait and your post has gave me a better understanding of the subject for my future painting.
I must apologise as I used some of your notes and Sally's sketch in a recent post with a face book group. Should you wish, I can remove it.
Warm regards,
Michael McEvoy

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Thanks for the comment, Michael. No, don't remove anything: the more people are aware of Sally and her work the better. She'd obviously be much better known had she been active in the internet age: there are still many blank areas online, and unfortunately Sally is one of them.

Cheers, Tony

Unknown said...

What was Sam's surname?

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Good question. I don't think anyone knows.

James Scarborough said...

Wall's surname was Freeman,a nicer lady you couldn't wish to meet,never had a bad word about anyone or anything,greatly missed.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tony, Have you found anymore out about Sally? I used to talk with her when I went in to town, but started working abroad in the late 80's and didn't see her again. Is she still alive? I had heard she had died. I tried sending you an email, but there was a problem. I always thought she was a talented, intelligent and pretty woman and have thought about her on numerous occasions. Regards Andy

Anonymous said...

I have now realised that you have to approve all comments. If yu want to contact me directly regarding Sally, my email address is: andyroach@rocketmail.com
Regards
Andy

Peter Mann said...

In view of your biography of Sally, what is not known is whether sally is still with us even though we no longer see her pavement art featuring McLusty and her ubiquitous 'pomes'.
Word on the grapevine was that she had passed away. Are you in a position to confirm or deny this situation?

Dr Tony Shaw said...

This is not a biography of Sally but comments or observations about her. I'd have liked to write much more on her, although Mick McMinn (now dead) didn't think it a good idea, so he withheld information: at the same time, most of what he did tell me isn't too, let's say 'pretty'. But that 'grapevine' is merely a ragbag of suppositions best avoided at all costs, although I can't imagine her ever surviving without her partner, which in itself means little as it's only a personal supposition. Someone asked me for more information about her, which I gave by email, although I suspect that that information (for whatever reason asked for) was far too much more than they wanted to know, which I assumed from that person's non-response.

The internet is generally assumed to contain a huge wealth of knowledge, which is certainly true, although there still exist gaps, and the 1980s for some reason seem particularly full of those gaps. As far as I know neither Sally nor Sam had anyone to fill in the spaces, and perhaps they'll never be known. However, the biography of the fascinating Nottingham character Sophie Curly (Joan Aderney Easdale) by her granddaughter Celia Robertson (reviewed elsewhere here) might give a slight hope of fresh information about Sally by unknown others: it's very odd to think that I probably know more about her than anyone else.

Ian Plenderleith said...

June 18, 1981, just shy of 16, I travelled from Lincolnshire to Trent Bridge for the first day of the first test between Australia and England. During the afternoon and evening sessions I was intrigued by a young female newspaper seller who walked around the periphery of the pitch with a sing-song call of "Post... Eee-vening Post". I can remember the melody and her lovely tone to this day. A section of moronic, beered-up cricket fans started to mimic her, but she seemed bemused and unperturbed by their bellicose echoing of her curt but rhythmic Post-poem. She just kept on walking and calling. Today, almost 40 years on, I decided to google her and came across this blog. Many thanks for that. I really, really hope that she is still with us.

Dr Tony Shaw said...

And many thanks for this memory Ian. If you'd ever been with her socially I'm sure you'd have been even more impressed by Sally. I could add a lot more about her to this blog but I think it's best kept as it is: she was a lovely person.

Trevopr Millington said...

I remember her from 79/80 we had the Honeycoombe Cafe in the West End Arcade on our return from Australia till our return in 1981 she would come in with the other newspaper sellers from around the square.Like most we were fascinated by her as she seemed out of place,it's strange how she keeps coming back into our lifes after all these years.

Anonymous said...

I've shared this in this thread https://twitter.com/ronmanagernottm/status/1406151881890611202?s=19

Dr Tony Shaw said...

There is no proof that Sally is dead, in spite of comments online. However, as I've said before I can't imagine her surviving without her partner, who certainly died long ago. Simply for the sake of history I'd like to record a few things of what I didn't add about Sally, of why I positively refused Mick's invitation to me to go to her flat on Magdalla Road. And I shall do so, although I don't feel quite ready for it. No information I have, I have to add, is any criticism of Sally.

Anonymous said...

Understood entirely. It's one of the drawbacks of the internet that falsehoods and speculation get spread and repeated as facts.

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Exactly - it's like Chinese whispers on a grand scale.

Hugh Briss said...

Thank you SO much for this information. I’m making an animated film set in Nottingham in the 1980s. Naturally I ended up coming across this and like some sort of Hitchcock zoom she instantly broke into my nostalgia feelings and woke everything up. I would love to own a piece of her work and hear absolutely everything anyone knows about her. I’m a fellow artist and she is my current muse, but this blog is the closest i can get to information or images. Any help, information, pictures or stories (I’m not easily put off) would be absolutely amazing. HughBriss88@protonmail.com

Dr Tony Shaw said...

And thank you for this Hugh. Email to follow.

Dr Tony Shaw said...

And why is it so many Nottinghamians remember Sally but not Sophie Curly, an equally colourful character? https://tonyshaw3.blogspot.com/search?q=sophie+curly

Anonymous said...

I used to walk from Broadmarsh to my job in H.M C&E on Talbot street at about 8 am and would often pass her starting her drawings in the pavement.

Sadly by the time I left work at 5pm and walked back to the bus station she would be gone and the drawings erased.

Tho I always remember her on her knees. Voluminous dress and a floppy straw hat. Her tiny little hands always heavily coloured with chalk dust.

Thankyou for jogging that memory.

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Pleased to be of help. Memories are often precious and help to keep people alive, if they are or not.

Anonymous said...

Tony, I recently posted on Nottstalgia a new found photo of Sally discovered in the news archives.
It confirms her name as Sally Freeman. There is also a court case mentioning her full name as " Sally Anne Freeman" and gives her age and address.
Despite being a relatively common name there are few records of anyone if that age in the UK deaths. She could be still alive or may be she married ? Maybe she went abroad ? She's certainly a puzzle ! Link here to photo : https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/913-painter-girl-newspaper-seller/?page=2

Dr Tony Shaw said...

Thanks for this Anonymous. Court case? Could you send me a copy of the article plus the other information so I can alter my post, and I'll also include the information I've so far withheld? I can't imagine her marrying, but then who knows? Cheers, Tony: anottsquair@hotmail.com

Amanda Bostock said...

I have just received a Christmas card from my very beautiful cousin Sally Freeman. She is very much alive and absolutely gorgeous.

Andrew Cooper said...

That's excellent news!