Author Topic: Heaton Street, Hockley  (Read 25517 times)

mikejee

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #44 on: August 19, 2018, 01:39:38 AM »
I remember visiting someone (an ex Aston student who had "left") and was living in a flat. He had bypassed the electricity meter with bulldog clips !!. Only went there once. I think some people did it a much safer way with a strong magnet, which stopped the disc going round , which meant it did not record the electricity used

astoness

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #45 on: August 19, 2018, 02:05:35 AM »
mike thats just reminded me....mid 80s people used to cut out a bit of a benson and hedge fatg pkt take out the clicker part of an electronic lighter put the cut out in the slot of a pre paid meter and click the clicker on the card and it clocked up the leccy...for some reason it had to be a benson and hedges pkt so that the clicker reacted with the gold part of the packet...dont know how but it worked...doubt it could be done with todays meters but who knows  :o

Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #46 on: August 19, 2018, 07:19:39 PM »
Illicit Meter Tampering? - Looks like someone needs to start a new Thread - Not Me - already got a record and a Yellow Card!
Peg.
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #47 on: August 29, 2018, 03:01:00 PM »
Heaton Street Shops in the 50's - I remember 2 sweet shops (they were called sweet shops but sold everything, like Ronnie Barker's Open all Hours), one just a few doors away from my house, the other towards The Flat end of the street, there was also an outdoor (off-lencense) where you could buy draft ale - you initially purchased a large brown bottle  and then had it refilled thereafter (recycling is not such a new concept). This outdoor was only yards away from where I lived and from the age of 5 onwards (the licensing laws must have been far more liberal then) I remember being sent to get our bottle re-filled, the bottle had just a cork stopper and after filling a paper label was put over the cork to deter unauthorised sampling.
I don't remember what the ale was, chances are it was Ansell's mild; like the other shops the outdoor was a converted terraced house.
I watched fascinated as the licensee used a copper funnel with a really long tube which reached almost to bottom of the bottle, this was a cleaver design as filling from the bottom of the bottle produces less froth and so the filling time is minimised, important if there was a queue.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #48 on: September 04, 2018, 04:01:52 AM »
In Heaton St in the 50s certain things you rarely came into contact with, if ever:
1. Someon who had been on a foreign holiday
2. Someone with their own telephone
3. Someone with their own car
4. Somone who had been to university (ignoring teachers)
5. Someone who had been to nursery

Good thing this has stopped: whipping your tonsils out for no good reason!.
Peg
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #49 on: September 08, 2018, 04:57:01 PM »
Making ends meet 1950s - My mother worked full time nearly all her working life, pausing only for my birth - downside was as an infant I was passed around to whoever would look after me - upside: money for the occasional luxury: for me a 3-wheeler from Centric Cycles on The Flat.
Peg
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #50 on: September 08, 2018, 05:27:24 PM »
Anyone heard of The Heath Street Fire Service? -  I developed a strong friendship with Georgie, a lad a few doors away from where I lived in Heaton St, (his parents were Italian but I thnk he was born in this country) on one occasion he gave me a WW2 Fire Warden's helmet in exchange for a box of Dinky Cars (not sure it was a good move - probably worth quite a bit today) I was delighted with it more so because it had HSFS (or HFS) printed on it, in bold white letters. I believed this to be Heaton Street Fire Service but learned soon after there was no such outfit and was more probably The Heath Street Fire Service.
Now, the nearest Heath St was just off the Dudley Rd near the hospital, if there was a fire station of some kind there, there is no trace now. I lost touch with Georgie when he left the street about 1957, in 1959 my family was re-homed to a flat on the Lyndhurst Estate, Erdington.
Peg.
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #51 on: September 08, 2018, 05:33:03 PM »
My friendship with my mate Georgie was particularly strong because we had a common interest - Go-carts, he always managed to get great wheels - I was so envious.
Peg.
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #52 on: September 13, 2018, 04:10:55 PM »
My grandfather was a master jeweller and for the last 10 years or so of his working life he traded from the front room of our house in Heaton St, his peg (jeweller's workbench) was against the window and I remember (vaguely, it was 1952 and I was aged 3) accompanying my mother to purchase gold bullion for him from Johnson Matthey in the Jewellery Quarter, she took no precautions and even more surprisingly neither did my grandfather - the house had no more than normal household security, even in those days most jobbing jewellers had a workshop like a fortress.
Peg.
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Edmund Fifield

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #53 on: September 13, 2018, 05:21:46 PM »
Peg,in 1976 my wife's Mothers friend who had emigrated to N Z 10 years earlier came to stay for 2 months.Her husband was a Rep for Marley,she had worked in the Jewellery trade before going to N Z.While she was here she asked me to take her to the Jewellery quarter to buy some Sovereigns and some stuff for polishing jewellry.We found a place and went upstairs the security was unreal.From what I can remember she wanted about 10-20 ,we were told to wait.After about 15 mins the doorbell rang and in walked 2 policemen.They questioned us for about 20 mins,wanted her passport asked why she wanted the coins.From what I remember at the time you could only own or buy  certain amount ,you would probably know.It was a bit of a experience I tell you.
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Heaton Street, Hockley
« Reply #54 on: September 13, 2018, 06:04:58 PM »
Crikey Ed, what an experience! Sounds like it was the time the only way you could legally buy gold was in South African Kruggerrands.
Peg.
P.S. Did your rele manage to buy some?
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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