The marvellous Lickey Hills

[roy one]

that would be about 1950 i think the only McDonald we new had a farm and he done well, hi hi the first hamburger i ever had was a wimpy in new street and i never had a coke until a flatbed truck pulled up out side our school and they gave the lot of us school kids a coke each that would be about 1954 or 55

 but i still remember it well and some times we go up the lickys and i think about being a kid there its much the same the blueberry's the log steps the pine trees the smell of the trees in the woods kids running in the trees

[jasper14]

I remember the Wimpys as well........
Have never had a Coke / 7up or that other one, can,t remember the name

Is the British Breakfast Cafe still these, opp Co op I think ? Bull ST ?

[Jill]

This is how I remember the Lickies.

A Day at the Lickey Hills.

We’re off to the Lickies for a family day out,
We travel by tram, how it shakes us about,
I’ll probably be sick, I usually am,
But that’s one of the hazards of going by tram.

When we arrive we rush to the fair,
Have a go on the swing boats, the wind in our hair,
The dodge ‘em cars next then off to the shop,
For a packet of crisps and a bottle of pop.

Watch candyfloss made; it appears from thin air,
Gossamer threads like fairies hair.
An enormous pink cloud, delicious to eat,
No calories to count, just a wonderful treat.

Hills to be climbed and woods to explore,
Trees and flowers and insects galore,
Look very closely, face in the green,
See all the details not normally seen.

Grass stained and dusty we return down the track,
It’s been a great day but it’s time to go back.
Now sleepy and quiet, little said,
Soon be home and straight into bed.

[Telstar]

Lovely poem Jill.....  Used to have a great time up there running about ...... My mom would bring a picnic of goodies with us and we'd make a day of it ...... It was a holiday atmosphere and adventure for the day...... We used to sometimes go to Tewksbury for a week camping and fishing then over to Ireland for the remainder of the summer....

It was the lovely, magical Lickies though, that I remember and the sun always shone .....

You could be sure of the weather as it was the same as where you lived before you set off .....

It would be ...... " If it's as good as this tomorrow we'll go the Lickey Hills! "

I haven't been there in 40 years ...... The old photos is how I remember it, with the tram lines still visible.... The lovely old bus shelters and Bundy Clocks that all blended in and added to the sense of occasion ......

It has probably been spoiled like everything else ..... I haven't seen any modern photos ...... But I've yet to see anything modern that is an improvement, or sympathetic, to the beauty of what went before ......

A day out to the Lickey Hills are cherished memories for those that were there......


Telstar

[Jill]

Hi,

Thanks and  yes, happy memories.  Will reply to your email  shortly - in the meantime give my love to your mom.

Jill     

[tramp]

The Lickey Hills....will always mean...

.....a day out with granddad at August Bank Holiday.  First, Roy's doorsteps. dripping and jam (main course & pud), two pop bottles of water with salt and sugar (once rationing eased) in ''Camp'' coffee.  Then walk to Stratford Rd and almost any bus into town to get in the queque for the 72 tram that took a good half hour, and then rattling down the Bristol Rd to THERE.  Six or seven hours up and down and round the hills was a different world - it was absolute freeedom as 1. I'd gone  with granddad - not them, so no half-bro moaning around (g/dad wouldn't listen to  his ''mithering'') - and he didn't stop me going off where I wanted.   It was such a rare experience to be on my own in the trees and hills that it was a unique segment of life - the fact that it only came once a year with g/dad enhanced the value and the memories of those trips.   I think it was the only time g/dad got to himself too.

[Phil]

Here's a couple of sights from the Lickeys that we should all remember. How many of us spent our few coppers tram fare home in the arcade and had to walk all that way home. Boy was it a trek, I did it several times.

Phil

[roy one]

hi Phil iv done that a few times  and a few mates   all the way to Angelina street got down to pebble mill then into cannon hill park then  down to the river Rea then come off the river Rea up by the  flicks by woolworths then home it takes all most four hours

[Phil]

Roy

I must have had shorter legs than you, because it used to take me longer than that.

Phil

[tramp]

Phil and Roy,

I only did it twice...I felt quite good after the first, so a couple of weeks later I walked it both ways.......that's why I joined the army, all I could do was walk without thinking, or moaning at the end of it....   A good curse, but that's different

[roy one]

phil  but i was only 7 at the time  and my back side was just off the pavement mom walking pace was my running pace and like most kids of that age you stop on the way to mess about plus on the odd time i slipped in the river Rea it all ways was wet and slippery to my cost but i was a kid having fun