Nechells, Vauxhall, Duddeston & Saltley, 40's, 50's & 60's.

[Edmund Fifield]

Hi les,Welcome to the forum nice to hear from an old Inkermonian.Born 1939 lived at 183 best childhood friends Bobby &Kenny Bowden (lived 2 doors from them) Tommy Fryer ,up by you the Crossleys the Wards.Took Mom & Dads bets to the Marsdens used Pickfords shop ,it was only across the road.And always took my shoes to the menders by the Brit.Its a great forum keep with it 

[Phil]

Hi Les


Welcome to you., I also spent a few of my teenage years living in Inkerman Street, but it was an on and off sort of thing, but my parents lived there from 1963 until the street was demolished. They had moved the short distance from Francis Street, to Ruben Place which was down the Railway Club end of the street.


I actually worked at Homers for a short while, and drank in the Brit occasionally as well as the Vic and of course the Railway Club and a little bit further afield the Adelaide at the top of Erskine Street and the Ashted Hamlet over the road.


I left Inkerman street a long time before it ceased to exist on my travels and moved to Solihull when I got married.

[Whitty]

Hi Les , welcome to our forum what a informative introduction
Lovely reminders . I was born in Erskine St the Whittingtons near the bridge
A war baby I recognise a couple of names Marsdens bookies
Barnards ice cream  / toffee apples shed up the double knack
Browns , nibblets The railway club Co- op crisp factory
Might I suggest look at Phil's photo's also Brum Pics
It will bring you so much  pleasure  on seeing Brum of old
Its fascinating  the hours that go by
 regards Leo

[fashionz]

You mentioned your aunty Margaret having the surname Vernon, did your uncle, her husband work in a trunk factory in Ash Road by any chance?

[les may]

 Have just completed the 358 page marathon! What a treasure trove. I found a pic of St Annes vicarage in Cato St, which I visited many times to see the Rev Thomas and his lovely wife Joan, but could not find anything on St Annes church, a pic or when it was bombed. Did I miss something, or can you suggest a source of info?
 I was often lucky enough to get a free bag of “crisp scratchings” at the bottom of Inkerman St, and the Rea culvert was always open for (forbidden) adventure at the bridge into the railway yard or at the bottom of our long garden. It was a fearsome sight in flood, and a great provider of bonfire fuel. It ran crystal clear for a couple of weeks each year during the factory hols, but was usually an open drain for industrial waste and debris. My older sisters remember a flood of cocoa beans during the war. Having dropped into the culvert (it seemed a very long way), the risk of a flash flood was added excitement but it never happened of course.
 Was St Johns in Dollman St a church or a chapel of some sort? I think the Boys Brigade (deadly enemies of we Scouts!) met there.
 We knew the Browns in Galton St, Mr Brown an amputee,  Leila, a friend of my sister Joyce married Bob Bailey the Scout master at St Annes. I had great times with the 211th
 What an elegant place Ashted Row must have been in its hey-day, with its cabstand and spacious houses. I remember what I was told was the Coleseum, a bombed out music hall or theatre on Saltley Rd, opposite the end of Devon St, the site became a garage I think. I used to catch the Inner Circle nearby for my long journey via Aston Cross to an apprenticeship at Pype Hayes.
 I think there were stables at the river end of Alma Crescent (or was it Cathcart St), would these have been Co Op or Railway horses? The stables along Viaduct St were a great attraction too.
 I bought my first modern motor bike from Hyland Crowe (a BSA 125 Bantam) on Bloomsbury St.
 So pleased that the library survived, a real haven through my boyhood.
 This ia a real mish-mash of memories, but you have opened the floodgates!

[Whitty]

Hi Les May, first a big welcome i was born in Erskine St  Saint John's Church was run by the church Army so may have been classed as a chapel in the late 50s I was a cub & a scout i remember being a young lad the Boys Brigade Band marching down Dolman St towards Erskine St , I can't recall them being based at St John's
The crisps was the Co- op originally a Co-OP coal office ,do you remember the Railway Club more or less opposite all in Inkerman St  the Midland pub Erskine St
2 bombed pecks either side of the pub the stables would be railway horses
Viaduct St was definitely  Co-OP stables the flooding of the River Rea I saw myself
Loads of Cadbury wrappers quite a few with chocolate inside some older lads used ropes with hooks on the end one pulling a long wooden ladder out regards Leo

[Edmund Fifield]

Les,my uncle Horace Round who lived at 191 Inkerman St opened RTPCrisps in Saltley Rd in the 50s almost next to the Pub in Cato Street & another Uncle had had the fruit shop on the opposite corner.I worked for him in my school holidays and Saturdays with my father who fried the crisps & Scratchings.

[ruttasd]

Phil thanks for the info to Dek's query about the Shepherd and Shepherdess on the corner,so it is the pub we are looking at (if only the door and window) and the photographer is facing Dartmouth street so to speak.
 
I'll post this picture of what was supposed to be a pub at one time called the Prince of Wales (that makes four of them in Nechells area?) again is on a corner of Lord street, as you can see it was taken over by the Salvation Army,I looked in a 1967 Kelly's it is not listed. the photo was taken in 1964. can you name the street that runs across Lord street?
 
the second photo is looking the opposite direction,the building in the background looks newish to me?
 
pud

Corner of Dartmouth Street & Lord Street

[Ivor Williams]

ShirleyMay : merry Christmas, ShirleyMay, 2019.
I knew a Johnny Pickett. He was at our school fir a while. I can't remember if it was my junior school, St Clement's in High Park Street, or my senior schooling Charles Arthur Street, both of which were near Nechells Green.
The boy I knew was tall and skinny with straight blonde hair and a very pale complexion. He was a very quiet lad and well behaved. He had a nice smile.

[fashionz]

The mention of Victor Turton....does anyone know if he was an insurance collector in the area?

[GardenGerald]

Hello Fashionz
Victor Turton was a Birmingham City councillor I believe. Am I right Ed.
Take care
Gerald.