Author Topic: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.  (Read 1745106 times)

nechellite

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2453 on: July 14, 2012, 04:43:11 PM »
 Hi pudding,
Re your post #2434
Do you know when the photograph which included Dunton Road was taken. I moved to Dunton Road in 1958 when I was 11 years old and lived there for 10 years. The tar works you mentioned was The Midland Tar Distillers and their works ran not only along the bottom of Dunton Road but down one side of it; the side which, in your photograph, appears to be waste ground. The entrance to the site was in Mount Street, the gates being almost opposite Needham Street. Storage tanks similar to those shown in your photograph were also to be found running down the back of the houses on the right hand side of Dunton Road as you stood in Mount street looking down Dunton Road…..in the area of the apparent waste ground in your photograph.
The house in which I lived was one of the ones with a better view in that from the kitchen window we could see between two storage tanks. Most houses simply looked upon a grey/green slab of metal. In the centre of the site was a high tower containing hundreds of pipes and lights which, today, could give inspiration to Dr Who set designers. On top of this tower was a large spotlight which shone into my bedroom. So bright was the light that I could, on a winter’s night, read a book from its beam.
Day and night we had the constant thump of the pumps and my mother had to use a scraper to clean the back windows of the house as they regularly became covered in tiny flecks of tar. Health and safety?
On more than one occasion the fire brigade came to Dunton Road. On many 5ths of November large piles of paper and wood would be piled in the centre of the road (the yards behind the houses were too small accommodate a bonfire) and set alight. The heat and flames were sometimes so intense that the houses either side of the bonfire suffered cracked windows and the paint on their front doors bubbled. All of this with thousands of gallons of tar a short distance away.
I have been looking for sometime for any photographs of Dunton Road and now I have a couple of good ones. Thanks to everyone.

Phil

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2454 on: July 14, 2012, 05:59:35 PM »
Nechellite
 
So can you confirm that the clip in question was in fact Dunton Rd?
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

nechellite

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2455 on: July 15, 2012, 08:02:49 AM »
 Phil, re your post #2455
I was 99.5% that the image was of Dunton Road. I could not, however, remember the slightly unusual rounded window sills shown on the properties.
I checked against the only known image I have of a house in Dunton Road (a photograph of one of the houses taken just before it was demolished) and found the same style of window sill.
I am now as certain as I can be that this is (or rather was) Dunton Road. I am, however, still mystified by the image supplied by pudding and the date of that photograph. The photograph appears to be much older than the 1970’s and yet by 1958 The Midland Tar Distillers had an established working plant on the waste ground shown in the image.
Hoping that this has been of some use.

pudding

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2456 on: July 15, 2012, 04:43:21 PM »
Hi Nechellite,Phil,and all
the photo from the air was taken in 1922,
what I can not recall is the shop on the corner but there again it's been a long time ago and mind's eye gets a bit foggy
Glad it turn out to be one of our old streets in Nechells well spotted Phil.
Where there is a will there is a way

nechellite

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2457 on: July 16, 2012, 01:17:00 PM »
 Hi pudding,
Yes there was a little shop on the corner of Dunton Road. I cannot remember the name of the lady who owned it but I am sure that she lived around the corner in Needham Street.
Now that you have provoked that memory I shall risk boring you with the story of the time I was given a black eye by a pigeon. My Mother had asked me to go and get something from that corner shop and so, shutting the front door behind me I began to run up the street towards the shop. It was one of those cold crisp autumn days when your skin feels brittle and the air crisp and sharp. As I began to run I startled a pigeon and it took-off sharply in front of me. The tip of its wing caught the corner of my left eye and the pain was amazing. My eye become swollen and bruised and was painful for days.
But the pain in my eye was not as acute as that caused by my school mates who thought it a great joke that I had been given a black eye by, of all things, a pigeon. Eliot Street School could be hard. 

gibson

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2458 on: July 16, 2012, 02:08:30 PM »
Hi Nechellite         There was indeed a shop on the corner of Dunton Road, the lady that ran the shop, was called Polly, but I cant recall if she did live in Needham Street, I had school friends that lived in Dunton Road, during the 1940/50s, we attended Eliot Street School, our playgrounds after school, were the "Old Ladys Park", "The Spion Cop" and the bomb buildings, I lived in Aston Church Road, just past "The Prince Of Wales Pub" with Nechells Baths further up, on the other side of the  road, where for one penny, we used to have our weekly bath, such good memories, and poor, but happy days.

nechellite

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2459 on: July 16, 2012, 10:35:02 PM »
Hi Gibson,
Yes, I remember the Old Ladies park,though the park keeper was so ferocious that we were not encouraged to play there. With great respect to our female members, it was not called the "old ladies"park for nothing.
I did play in the swing park/Spion Kop. A couple of years ago I returned to Birmingham together with an old school friend. We could not believe that a slide had been placed on the mountain as, when we were young, we were not allowed on there. The park keeper, yes the one from the old ladies park, chased us out of the swingo if he found us up there. On our return my friend and I took great delight in climbing to the top (though it took us much longer than it had done 50+ years earlier).
Yes, Saturday morning at Nechells Baths with my dad was a regular event; more so when I was younger and living in Johnson Street with only one room down stairs. Did you know that an example of the bath tub rooms has been preserved within the remodelled structure of the baths? It was very nostalgic to see and brought back all the sights an smells.

pudding

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2460 on: July 17, 2012, 11:12:53 AM »
Hi Nechellite,Gibson,and all
 
Here is an old photo of the swingo park/Spion Kop park in Mount st as you can see the mound must have had a spiral walkway at one time, I have posted a pic taken from the top in an earlier post,the building you see on the left side of the pic is the old mill.
 
 
Where there is a will there is a way

Tomotoole

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2461 on: July 17, 2012, 02:06:52 PM »
Hello Phil,


I'm Tom O'Toole.  Ronnie's information isn't quite correct.  He's right in saying my youngest brother is Gabriel, then Dennis, Myself (Tom) and then sadly we lost my older brothers Jimmy and Tony.


I work for Eric Hill, as a voluntary worker for Birmingham history club.[size=78%] which is held at Nechells Green Community centre, Saltley. (Monday 10am-1 pm anyone welcome)[/size]


Your stories are really interesting and  I recognise people's names from the forum stories. I am always keen to learn more and to listen to what others have to say.


Thanks, Tom O'Toole   

Phil

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2462 on: July 17, 2012, 02:29:07 PM »
Hi Tom
 
Welcome to the forum, I knew your brother Dennis very well and went to school with him when you lived on Ashted Row. I was in your house many times when I was younger. I wasn't at St Vincents all that long only about 2 or 3 years the only teacher I can remember was a Mrs Flanagan (?).
 
I moved back to my grandmothers house in Balsall Heath for a few years and when I returned I had left school and although I saw Dennis about we never renewed our acquaintance, how is he now and where is he living now next time you see him say hello for me.
 
Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

vauxonion

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Re: Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.
« Reply #2463 on: July 17, 2012, 06:24:06 PM »
Hello Phil,


I'm Tom O'Toole.  Ronnie's information isn't quite correct.  He's right in saying my youngest brother is Gabriel, then Dennis, Myself (Tom) and then sadly we lost my older brothers Jimmy and Tony.


I work for Eric Hill, as a voluntary worker for Birmingham history club.[size=78%] which is held at Nechells Green Community centre, Saltley. (Monday 10am-1 pm anyone welcome)[/size]


Your stories are really interesting and  I recognise people's names from the forum stories. I am always keen to learn more and to listen to what others have to say.


Thanks, Tom O'Toole


Hello Tom welcome.We spoke to each other on Monday the world is getting smaller I,m sure you have plenty of information judging by the chat we had. Derek Carr.


 

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