Author Topic: calthorp park  (Read 2166 times)

roy one

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calthorp park
« on: December 06, 2006, 11:57:34 AM »
help help me if you can im going out of my mind i think it must be old age  calthop park when i was a kid in brum i remember seeing a line of plains in calthop park might be late 1940s next to the river rea my friends tell me that im off my head its all in my mind  if anybody can help me out on this one it would put my mind at rest plus i could tell my mate that its them that are going of there tree   thanks roy
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

john2000

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2006, 12:37:44 PM »
Yes, Roy Ben, it was just after the war, there was an air show there one time only, because you could'nt land aircraft there, they had to bring them by road, I had the time of my life there, I sat in the pilots seat of a lancaster bomber, I was so high off the ground I thought I was flying and the AA guns, tanks, hevey lorries, and because I only lived 300yards from the park I was there every day, ........................ :)
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

roy one

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2006, 02:26:18 PM »
thanks so much you have put my mind at rest and now i can tell my mates its them that are off there heads  can you remember the year it was and can you remember the miniature railway that ran a long side the river rea by the ash patch i thank you so much i can hold me head up high now and say i bloody told ya  ;D roy
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

john2000

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2006, 02:52:30 PM »
the little steam train ran for 200 yards, and they charged 3 pence a ride, the track was raised up so we the passangers could sit over the little seats, remember the wooden bridge at the bottom end of the park, where we had a rope fixed under the bridge so we could swing from one side to the other, with out the park keeper seeing us, mind you I think he had an idea that some thing was up when we made a dam  out of bags of cement  borrowed from the building site near varna Rd, right under the bridge when one side of the bridge was full of water but the other side there was almost no water at all,.......... ;D
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

john2000

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2006, 02:58:50 PM »
who needed money when we could make our own enjoyment.....happy days... ;D  ( in some ways,)
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

Black Patch

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2009, 05:31:51 AM »
Still catching up with all the old posts.
The aircraft on the Black Patch, which I too remember, must have been for the Festival of Britain in 1950. There was also a fairground for the event.
The miniature steam railway ran on its elevated track and we passengers sat astride the carriages. It was shedded in the little building that formed part of the urinal building.
Ted

john2000

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2009, 09:12:20 AM »
Does any of you remember tha old boxer,  that would be in training in Calthope park, so he could make a come back, poor sod, he was punch drunk, and could not keep still. even when he was standing still he would be fighting some shaddow, wonder what ever happend to him, at the time we would laugh, but later as we got older we would see the sad side of it..even today I think he was looking for something which was just out of reach, maybe he found it in death, so now he's at peace with the world, and I wonder even today how many of us are like that boxer, seeing what we want but can never get it, dream of what we want tobe, or
wanted tobe, but there are some of us who got where we wanted to go, and some of us have stood on top of that hill and thought, yepe, if only they could see me now, from old army coats to silk sheets, even I, when I see a little snotty nose kid, with his backside handing of his pants, think yes son shine, you'll make it,
because we did............J2
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

Phil

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2009, 10:21:07 AM »
John

Would he be the old boxer we all knew as Dixie Dean, I have no idea what his real name was. but as you say he was always jogging around the streets. The area sure had its quota of characters.

Another one I remember was Mad Hack (not very PC I know), but thats what we kids knew him as. He was a member of what they would call a  dysfunctional family today. He used to stroll around the street, his shirt wide open in all weathers with his long black matted hair blowing in the wind. As he marched along he cussed swore and ranted at the top of his voice. Every now and then they would rope him in clean him up feed him and then throw him back out on the streets. For more care in the community I suppose.

The next one I remember was the youngish Asian chap who stood on the corner of Muntz St and Green Lane every day singing and dancing. He obviously was suffering from Turrets Syndrome or St Vitus Dance. He stood there from morning till night everyday but he always looked clean & tidy so his family were obviously looking after him.

I think with the help of one or two others on this site we could write a book of all the strange people that have inhabited this City of ours. Some of the cases would be sad, some happy, but mostly unbelievable.

Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

roy one

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2009, 01:54:13 PM »
i must be getting old i can remember barage balloons in the park on the black patch i think that was 1947
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

tramp

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Re: calthorp park
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2009, 01:30:50 AM »
John and Phil,

You've brought another unfortunate man to mind.

There was a (very likely shell-shocked) WW I ex-soldier who used to march along Hertford St on the opposite side to Clifton school in a fairly clean old greatcoat.  He wasn't there everyday. He was usually silent but very occasionally he'd shout ''Aaabooout turn'' and keep going straight on...then he'd shout ''Platooon halt'' and come to a perfect halt.  Then he'd ''chunter'' a bit to himself, and march off again. 

Sometimes he'd do a right turn to go up Clifton but within a couple of minutes he'd be back, first peering round the corner for half a minute or so then he'd go to ''his'' corner, have a chunter then march off as if nothing had happened. except that he'd 'halt' every 20 - 30 odd yards or so, spring around through 180 degrees and stand with his left foot forward as if he had a rifle and fixed bayonet.  Then he'd come to attention the ''rifle'' forgotten, and march off.   

Nobody seemed to know where he lived but there was a factory in Hertford St mquite close to school on 'his' side of the road, and a couple of the older men used to wave/salute and call him sergeant - not in mockery, they obviously liked him - I didn't know anymore as I left there when I was 11.

What a tragic life.


 

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