To all on this thread. The three photos i am posting are one of me and one of me with my younger brother, and one that looks as if people are just about to board a plane. They were taken at elmdon airport by my father, i think i may have been 11 or 12 at the time so that puts the year at either 1953 or 1954. I think my father just fancied a different day out with us to the ones we normally went to on a sunday morning, which were the licky hills--canon hill park or the aquaducts. I do not know where the saying came from but all us kids used to call them the akerdocks, to get there we used to catch the number 50 bus on the moseley road to the maypole pub which was the terminus. Then we walked down the road that was to the left of the pub, then there was a lane on the right hand side to go down, i can remember that on the right hand side of the lane there was a sandpit, and at a certain time of the year you could see thousands of sand martins nesting there. Further down the lane you came to a ford that had a bridge over it that carried a canal, i also remember a pub on the canal towpath by the bridge, i can not remember the name of the pub though. As kids we all loved this place. ANDY i also live in Redditch (Greenlands Estate ) we moved from Birmingam to Redditch on the 13th of December 1968 the move was because the company i worked for ( BKL in the factory centre Kings Norton ) moved to Redditch., and we love the place. I also went to mary street school and was in the same classes as your younger brother Dennis. All the best and a very happy and healthy new year to everybody on the Birmingham Forum. Frank.