Author Topic: balsall heath adventure playground  (Read 14532 times)

roy one

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2010, 06:10:19 PM »
hi lolly Vanna road princess road Edward road all round that part of the heath was full of Lady's of the night but i tell you this much if you run to the shop for them or did any thing for them they always give you a few bob they was always kind to me i used to go to the bag wash for them and they always give me a few pence to get some chips wile waiting for the washing to do
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

Andy Capp

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2010, 03:20:44 PM »
Hi All I lived in Gosford Street Balsall Heath from 1937 until 1964 when i got married. That Background gave me a good foundation for life & i'm proud of it. I won't look through rose coloured glasses say that it was  always wonderful because it was'nt times were hard & none of us had a a lot. But also we had many happy & good times. Some of the values we had then are today sadly missing. I feel that if there was some backward trend i feel us folks from those times would cope  with it better. Andy Capp

roy one

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2010, 03:43:23 PM »
hi Andy w/b
 
i think that we had good schooling in life like you say times was hard we learnt to share and to mix
 
today i think folk have lost there way in whats right and wrong
 
i was down the heath some time back and i lost my way it was like losing an old friend  the only thing that was still the same was st albans and i stood by the steps and i could see it in my minds eye the triangle wool's the little out door across the road and i remember the winters in the grounds that was part of the church slidinding down the hill on an old peace of tin  such has life
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

Phil

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #14 on: August 25, 2010, 04:56:27 PM »
Roy & Andy,
 
Though you both are a little older than myself, I do so much agree with what you are saying. There were very few adventure playgrounds around when we were young. I don't think we fared any the worse than those that had them. It's debatable even if they were around in my day if I would have used them.
 
Really I can't see the difference between those playgrounds and those we made for ourselves. Sliding down the hills on the bomb site at the end of Wenman St on Anderson shelter metal sheets. ropes tied to lampposts or trees for swings. go carts made out of prams. dirt track cycle tracks on bomb sites.
 
All that and more, but they had the added attraction of no grown ups telling us what to do.
 
Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Andy Capp

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2010, 05:14:19 PM »
Hi & Phil
yes we were out most day on school hols. We were out of our parents hair we was'nt there all the time with our hands out asking for money because it was'nt  there so we made our own enjoyment & as long as we were back before dark our parents did'nt worry because we were safe. Yes we fell out of trees cut our knees but thats how we learnt by our mistakes & so on. Andy Capp

tramp

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #16 on: August 26, 2010, 03:18:07 AM »
We used bits, pieces, odds and ends, string, nails and most of all our imagination and inventiveness....we made and shared with real mates we touched, pulled, pushed and so on, not virtual bods on the PC (who could be any perv)....and we ran, jumped, kicked, hit, climbed, swung and fell...all without pressing a single bloody button...we were real children...and

butter wouldn't melt in our (cheeky) mouths as we learned real social survival skills O0

 And we had real boots - from the Mail.....a stiletto was what the Ice-Cream man kept under the counter...

We were some of the last generations of little boys and girls who wore out shoes - soles and heels, then uppers dropped apart - and all that before their brand went out of fashion!!!

wam

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2010, 09:16:56 AM »
The Malvern St. Playground is mostly covered by the "Balsall Heath City Farm" or St. Paul's Venture nowadays. http://www.stpaulstrust.org.uk/community/balsall-heath-city-farm/


Someone mentioned the Seeneys earlier in this thread. I was in the same class as Billy at Percy Shurmer for a few years. Freddy was in one of the lower classes. I remember the bit they did on the local TV news when they said they were going to make a movie. Even then they were talking about the story not being accurate. The movie went out under 3 different titles (at least) and there were changes made (to say the least). Somebody has posted the whole thing on Youtube in bits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi2_qwp3LlY . It's not even Birmingham now.


I never did use that playground as a kid. I used to live the other side of Pershore Road. The best we got was the mini golf at Calthorpe Park.

Phil

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #18 on: August 26, 2010, 11:03:21 AM »
Wam
 
I had a quick look at some of the clips, I will watch it all later. There was a book as well. At least that was set in Birmingham with a bit of reality. Reg is the Seeney that I knew. He was still hanging around Balsall Heath until the 80's when I last saw him and he conned half the pub I used into buying horse meat as beef.
 
Phil
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

mikejee

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2010, 04:52:54 PM »
I had a quick look as well. what really shocked me was "Dot cotton" showing her knees (I recognised her voice before you could see her)  !. Made me feel really old
mike

john2000

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2010, 06:34:09 PM »
Well i lived in balsall heath from birth to 17, i went to tindal st school , Miss Bunston was head mistress, we walked to school on our own and came home on our own, you couldnt let a 6 year old do that now.
i can only say it was a wonderful place to grow up,the birmingham mail came and did a feature on us as they started pulling down Pearson St, i  still have the pictures now
it did  start to deteriorate as i started to get older they moved poorer familys into the big houses, but a brilliant childhood.
my friend lived in a back to back in vincent st i think?
unfortunately our house was sold compulsory purchase i think thats the term to make way for new properties mom got 600 pounds!!!!!!!
she then made a huge mistake and had a council property in Varden croft of all places (the old varna rd} now that was full of prostitutes


lolly
Varna Rd, now there was a place to live, everybody was your friend, even the dirty old men in their gray macks, used to say hallo, ( ha, but we where street wise), what a lot of you dont know is/was that there where two cafes where the whores hung out, one you know in Edward Rd/Hallem St, you could get a bloody good dinner there for 2/6, the other was in Balsall heath Rd, just up a few doors from the fish and chip shop ( same side) did some work there and watched people come in a spend all their wages on that pin ball machine. ( idiots), god, there where some scruffy ones they where the ones that were on their last legs so to speak, they where sick very sick,.. we had a good up bringing, ( sorry dragged up), and we could hold our own when it came and we had our backs to the wall, we where hard little bas*ards at times, mind you we have been sacked from good jobs because we could stand up for ourselves,..J2
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

john2000

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Re: balsall heath adventure playground
« Reply #21 on: September 07, 2010, 06:44:23 PM »
The Malvern St. Playground is mostly covered by the "Balsall Heath City Farm" or St. Paul's Venture nowadays. http://www.stpaulstrust.org.uk/community/balsall-heath-city-farm/


Someone mentioned the Seeneys earlier in this thread. I was in the same class as Billy at Percy Shurmer for a few years. Freddy was in one of the lower classes. I remember the bit they did on the local TV news when they said they were going to make a movie. Even then they were talking about the story not being accurate. The movie went out under 3 different titles (at least) and there were changes made (to say the least). Somebody has posted the whole thing on Youtube in bits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi2_qwp3LlY . It's not even Birmingham now.


I never did use that playground as a kid. I used to live the other side of Pershore Road. The best we got was the mini golf at Calthorpe Park.

 
Wam, then you must know the bombed collage, ( which later had some appartments built on the ground), had so hairy days there,..J2
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional


 

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