Author Topic: Trying to trace Alison from Sutton Coldfield who was a reggae fan - 1969-70  (Read 4209 times)

Angela58

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Message to Alison.
If anyone knows who I am referring to, please could you let her know about the following, thank you.

I went to the same school as you for about a year in Sutton Coldfield (1969-70) and I spent a week with yourself, and your parents for a week's holiday in Barmouth which I loved.  I liked the horse Queenie too!  You were a good friend during that year at school, and you might have heard that I moved to London at some stage.  Apologies for not contacting you after I moved.


In the summer of 2013 I thought I saw you near the Bullring and the Birmingham indoor market.  I soon realized who it was and for a moment I thought you had recognised me, and had mentioned to the man you were with that you knew me.  I was with a man at the time as we were enjoying many aspects of Brum during that particular week, and in some ways it was a trip down memory lane.  I looked for you when the penny had dropped, so to speak, but I could not find you anywhere.  My friend looked for you in the indoor market as well!


Anyway, if you would like to get in touch, great as I would love to hear from you, and wish
to put the record straight about something.
I hope you are keeping well and enjoying life.
If you do not wish to contact me, fine.
However, I wish to let you know that I am living in the south, and have packed a lot into
my life so far.  I think you might be surprised. 


Best wishes,
D.S.

Angela58

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Clues which might help me to contact Alison


1. I was recently reminded of some event which happened 46 years ago which included an account of a couple who separated after a long marriage.  Some pennies were definitely dropped because of this as I believe when I added it all up, 2 + 2 seemed to make 4.
2. I recorded a song at a booth in the Bullring in 1970!?


Thank you for reading this and sorry it is rather cryptic.

Angela58

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Some further clues:
When I was 12, I didn't like needlework that much but could just about pin a hem without pinning a pin on something other than the material itself or someone.  The teacher knew I wasn't that interested in her sewing class but did not attempt to stitch me up.  46 years later attempts by other people in a particular sewing department could be perceived by some as a 'stitch-up' to coin a phrase (10 pennies worth approx!) by making obscure connections with something that happened in 1970/71 when the matter in question was definitely dropped. No-one presently has ever spoken to me in person about any of it, and the couple who separated are not around to confirm the actual outcome.  I know what I think about all of this, and I am not alone with such an outlook.


I hope the above is of some help and might help to shed light on some or all of this.


Best wishes,


Angela


townie

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I would love to be Alison as I would love to know what your rattling on about, so far ive got 2 people split up, you recorded a song in the bullring, you can add up because 2+2 does equal 4 and you've dropped some pennies and the year is 1970. At least me and Alison have something in common we are both reggae fans. O0
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Angela58

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 :) How do Townie, lol after your reply!


It is a long story and you would probably like Alison a lot as she is lively and clever.  She loved 54-46 was my number by Toots & The Maytals due to the symbolic meaning of it all.


I know it does sound like a difficult code to crack and only she and maybe a couple of others would get it, and the penny would then definitely drop.  I have another bit of going on below which might help to solve the mystery and it is done in a story form as I liked writing stories at school, and do so today. Alison I believe would get the story.  It might or might not make a box office success though!  You might even think I have been watching too much of the recent tv series, 'Line of Duty'!  I used to also like The Sweeney and Minder.
The story is as follows:-
Set sometime in 2015
No crime has ever been committed by the main character of the story who we will call Pat, yet one person implies something to get another person into trouble after a conversation she had at a bus stop.  A full scale investigation takes place but the bus stop conversation was not ever verified with Pat.  The accusation concerned led nowhere.


Due to a bus stop conversation setting the scene for something that spiraled out of control, further accusations are made by someone which also did not work out either.  The majority of the community stand by her but are told not to divulge anything to her, but Pat has heard most of it from her flat which some people might consider amazing. Pat alerts a very good friend who supports her in all of this, and various key people are alerted so that they know what is going on.    She moves from her home as this had already been planned anyway, and returns to the area she had been living in for many years, and tries to get on with her life the best she can.


2017
Connections are then made with pennies Pat found in 1970/71 to suggest a most 'taxing' time is ahead of her 47 years later due to a conversation she overhears. Once again, no-one ever verified anything with Pat but she has alerted a few people she knows about this.  In reality, her life has mainly consisted of obtaining some qualifications and having jobs.  Recently Pat hears something relating to 1970 to suggest she could be a mafia type of person as an adult and so forth, and Alison might hold the key to that time to some extent.  Pat liked art at school but all of this is like a profile which is contorted and biased.


Enough of the story.
I am considering returning to live in B'ham in a few years time so watch out!
A friend and myself stayed there a few years ago, and we had a ball.
We enjoyed one of the pubs along Broad Street, and I would definitely buy
meat from the Indoor Market to hear, 'Would yow loik some lamb chops me darling?  Yow've got the very best here'.


Tarra a bit, and hope this clarifies some aspects of what I am trying to tell my old friend.
I hope you understand some of it more that you did.


Angela58

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I am going to put this in one of the chapters of the book I am writing:
Pat was sitting quietly at home very recently when the peace was invaded, and it felt like an invasion of her privacy as well.   A nearby conversation could be heard:

Male voice in one vicinity:  It is hardly the crime of the century, is it?

Female voice:  The police are saying that because she found some pennies she could be capable of a major crime now, 46 years later.  Comment:  There’s something not right about such profiling.

Young female voice at another location, also nearby:  She took pennies and now she is frightened of being caught.                                                                                                            Facts:  No case to answer for from something that happened in 1970/71 as the matter was dropped very early on.

A male voice. Seemingly level headed man enters flat.  I have just heard her have a heart to heart with her man, and she explained to him about the phone box.  She found the pennies and thought she would buy some sweets.


Young female voice:  That is no excuse.


Slightly older female official voice: Have a heart, just imagine if you were going to school worrying about your mother all day due to the domestic situation.  The family were struggling financially by all accounts.                                                        These were not the exact words though but they convey the meaning.  This was most upsetting for Pat to hear about the couple's separation discussed many years later, and she knows what was said.  Pat knows how certain people's minds' work though and it is not pleasant.  Whoever you are, Pat is thinking, you have no right whatsoever to divulge such personal information to neighbours or anyone.  She knows it is inappropriate, against the law, and irrelevant.

Slightly older official female voice:  Look she turned her life around and her mother and herself moved.  She went to a good school then, and she used her experiences to help people.  At some place she lived fairly recently, most of the community liked her as she didn’t judge some of the people.

Pat is thinking that whoever the female official is she does not have the right to refer to a time 46 years ago, an event about pennies found.  There is the Breach of Data Protection Act for a start and some other law too but the matter was dropped in any case.  A former friend appears to have been contacted and she might have had a conversation with an official.  She, Pat believes, had the best of intentions but thinks her former friend has been betrayed.  Someone is clutching at straws.


Sometime later, one of the voices connected with these people, said words to the effect, ‘I did not know she was going to be angry about all of this.  The police said she was shy’.  Pat is thinking that you thought because a person is described as shy that you could get away with all of this.  There was also talk on one occasion from a female officially sounding voice conveying information about Pat’s relationship with her male friend, some jobs, and how she is a strong person underneath all that. 

Pat made you aware she knew of that particular conversation as she spoke in an audible voice in her own home. Pat knows that you advised the female official concerned that she knew about this, and you were worried about Pat's reaction, plus you were most embarrassed that she had heard this particular conversation.  The female official advised you, words to the effect 'Do not worry about it. She will just write to a few people to get it out of her system'.  Pat thinks that due to this unprofessional response that you think it is a 'cop out'.  Pat has drawn her own conclusions about someone or a few more clutching at straws, as well as an issue with some job she had last year.
The people who are causing all these problems for Pat have not ever introduced themselves.  Understandably Pat does not wish to engage with such people.


Pat has concluded that it is a smear campaign because you could not find anything else on herself.  What next?  Maybe make something of nothing out of liking reggae music?  Make something of nothing about liking Les Dawson and Ken Dodd?

Pat knows the above happened, and she has not been watching too many Columbo episodes.
That’s about it really for part of that chapter. Can anyone recommend a publisher as I am more than half way through a book?  I am just going to catch up with local and worldwide news.

Blessings and love to B’ham. :)
 
 

Angela58

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Just one more thing I need to add to part of that chapter and it is this:
Pat thinks there must be someone behind the female official who came round divulging the so called information that she had no right to do.  She thinks she is probably just obeying orders and does not grasp that it was wrong.  Pat further considers that the people responsible should be suspended from their duties as well because what they have done is a disgrace to an organisation which is deemed an asset to the UK.  She considers that maybe that’s how some people get their kicks.
One of her friends thinks that the people involved have very little to do, and that it is wasting taxpayers’ money.   Pat considers, ‘Where else have you done your worst?’
End of chapter.


I am very glad to be reunited with B’ham via this website as I have fond and some nostalgic memories of the place.  Aside from the novel I am writing, I can’t wait to visit the place again as I like to hear the accent and enjoy the B’ham jokes as they are great.  The south has many good points though and I definitely like many aspects of it.   It does not matter that some people might not be interested in the novel I am writing but I am illustrating a B'ham connection.   :)

townie

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Angela I hear Jackanory is coming back to our screens LOL. By the way are you still at the bus stop?


townie. 
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Spud

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I await the next Instalment of this saga with baited breath. Just remind me are we still looking for Alison ?  Call me old fashioned but do you think her surname might be a bit of a clue. :o
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

Angela58

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How do,

Thank you for your replies.
Spud, I didn't put Alison's maiden name down due to Data Protection, and she is most likely married now in any case.

Alison does exist, and it is only herself and a couple of others who can crack this code contained within the explanations and story. 

I don't mind Townie that you think my story is far fetched, that's ok, but Alison will be able to help solve the mystery.  If she were to read that chapter I wrote, as well as some of the other messages, the penny would drop I am sure.

I can say that she went to a school in Sutton Coldfield and went ice skating sometimes.
I have tried tracing her on the internet using her maiden name but without success.  Other songs she liked were Monkey Spanner and Bad Moon Rising.  She may have done a course in Glasgow in Orthopaedic Nursing as I am sure I heard she went there when she was 16 to do this.  She must have returned because I saw her a few years ago near the Bullring and Indoor market, as mentioned.  I know it was her.

I really can't think of any other way of contacting her and I did look to see if there was any forum just for Sutton Coldfield.  We need a detective such as Columbo to solve this, going around making out he is shy sometimes and half daft but in reality he is a genius.  Peter Falk was brilliant in this role.

Anyway, the actual book itself already has about 20 chapters and some of the above will be included in it but in a different format. I don't mind you laughing at the content at all!

Tarra a bit
Angela

Quote
There are more things in heaven and earth than this world dreamt of





Phil

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Angela

Nobody thinks your story a bit far fetched,  incomprehensible to most maybe. The idea of putting a thread like this on the forum I would imagine be in the hopes that you might make contact with your lost friend. In my opinion the chances of your friend seeing your posts herself are very slim.

Members of the forum usually make a post such as this in the hope that another poster or even a visitor to the site might know the person you are trying to trace and make contact with you through the site and pass on information, but with no information other than a few cryptic messages the odds of that are very slim.

Although we are very conscious of the data protection act and ask for all current private information to be passed via the private messaging system I don't think for one moment names on their own are covered by the act.

You may of course carry on as you are, but I think that you will find assistance or offers of help in your search for Alison thin on the ground.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.


 

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