Yesterday when I was young ( Balsall Heath )

[Rupert]

Hi. John 2000,
Yes Midland Counties ice cream was yummy. It came in a little conical tub as I remember and you ate it with a little wooden spade or sometimes with the folded pull off top with a tab on it as I recall. There was another great place for icecream though. I can't remember the name of the shop or who made the icecream but it was on the Stratford road in Henly in Arden. The Midland Reds used to stop there and wait whilst you bought one. Can you see that happening today. I'm not from Balsall Heath; I lived in Saltley but am enjoying the reminiscences of you guys. Live in Canada now.
Best Wishes

[Andy Capp]

I used to love to go to my grans house because she used to do all her home baking>She had a gas stove but never used the oven. She baked all her cakes in an oven at the side of an old black leaded fire grate. There were no temperature controls but the cakes came out perfect everytime & her bread pudding was mouth watering. She also made chawl i think it was pigs head she would remove all the bones. Then she would boil the head then put it in a basin a small plate on top Then put an house brick on top to press it down after a day it was ready to eat lovely grub. Andy Capp

[Andy Capp]

I used to like to get my dad to chat about Balsall heath when was young he was born in 1908. One of the things he used to tell us about was when he was about 6 years his mom used to do outwork for the jewellry quarter. She used to do the fine  hand stitching on leathered covered collar boxes & Other jewellry boxes. So about twice a week he would get the tram at cox street west and ride to the bottom of hill street then walk to the jewellry quarter. He used to take the finished work & pick up some more in a box on pram wheels. I said wasnt you a bit young he would say i had to do it i was the oldest of 3 children. My grans sight suffered in later years doing all that fine stitching by gas light. Andy Capp

[Andy Capp]

My dad told  me when he  was young his dad was out of work one time. He Had to go to the means. test Child credit would be same thing today. The means test man came round checked out the children put a piece of string round their wrists then calmly told my gran there is a enough fat on them to keep them another week. Then  They say you dont have to be to proud to ask for help thats a bit of a joke. That was the one & only time he asked for help. That would be about 1920. Andy capp   

[john2000]

Rupert, Hi" Balsall Heath was just the same as Saltley only the names of the streets where different, the houses where the same  the little shop on the corner was the same, and we all had that misrable sod who lived at nr: 23. the pubs where the same, and the as the Ausse say there was "mateship" we where all eating from the same spoon, so we knew how the hard the world was in thoses times, tell us about saltley and the things that you remember dont forget we also may have been to Saltley, over the bridge down to the gasworks then onto Aston what was the name of that cinima you used to go to on a saterday morning.......john 2000

[john2000]

Hi Andy, I know all about the means test, even in the late 50's they had it, a guy I knew was working just off the Moseley Rd, baging coal for a coal company, he had to bag 100 bags a shift, if not he made no money, well after a week his hands where cut to ribbons, I told him get another job, cant I have to feed the wife and kids, to cut a long story short, he had to leave the job, now he was out of work, what shall I do he asked me, I went with him to the socal services in Birmingham, as normal we had to fill in forms then wait in line, in front of us where a drunk who peed himself standing there, then there was two guys from another country, then use. the drunk fell onto the counter and asked for money which he got straight away, fell over and broke the bottle in his pocket, then the two man from overseas aked for money, only one could speak English, the said his brother had just cont to England yeasterday but had no money, he was given 80 pounds cash. next was my friends turn, he wanted 20 pounds to feed his family and pay the rent on his small flat,.
the reply was "Get a job",next please, I think this killed any feelings I had about my mother country, when they dont even look after their own sad but true, ......................................john 2000

[Lizzy]

Hi Andy Cap
                   I still make bread pudding for my kids When they come to visit a huge one it takes 3 whole loaves of bread & fills a big meat roasting pan and theres always a tussle who will get the most also make them a trifle that gets eaten while they are here but the bread pud goes home with them.Do you remember boiling the xmas puds
in the old boiler.I dont think any would do it these days.
I also made chawle and pressed lamb tongues but could never master making a pork pie.Those were the days.
have a great day  Lizzy.

[Andy Capp]

Lizzie We all used to go to my grans at Christmas during the late 1930s & Early 1940s my grandad used to hide the old threepenny & sixpenny pieces in the home made Christmas pudding he used to pour a drop of rum over it then set it alight before serving it up. And hoped your piece had coin in it. Then we would go into the front room & have a good old knees up my one uncle played the piano & one played the accordion & the other played the drums. All home music a barrel of beer on the table. Happy Days. Andy Capp

[Jacqueline]

My gran born 1890 [yes sounds ages ago] told me many stories but one still makes me laugh.
Gran ran a drapers shop in Balsall Heath but had many sidelines like a lending library and a loan facility.
The money from the loans was collected weekly by her mother from the homes of the customers. Trouble was there were ten or so pubs on the journey and they drew her mom to them.
Needless to say her mom returned and often fell flat on her face on the step of the shop.

[Bannion]

Oh yes the dreaded tipple!
My grandmother was born a little earlier in 1874 but died in 1908 due to the effects of the tipple.
She and my grandfather ran a coal yard in Vauxhall Road at the juntion with St. James Place, Duddeston.
He would take his cart to hand deliver the coal, leaving his wife in charge of the yard.
As customers called at the yard to buy their coal she would pocket it and go and spend the receipts at the Globe pub nearby leaving the yard open for a help yourself service.
I've no note as to how long they were in business, but not for long I would imagine,     

[Rupert]

Hi John 2000,
  I guess the cinemas that we used to spend our sixpences in on Saturday mornings were the Rock on Alum Rock road and the Capital, again on Alum Rock road at I think it used to be called the Pelham. You will have to bear with me, long-term memories still pretty good but names are beginning to fade. It’s been 30 years since I was back. You will probably recall that you used to get two or three cowboy movies and cartoons and a hell of a lot of noise. Horseback chases; loud applause for the good guys and louder boos for the bad guys who were not necessarily Indians. Older youths at the back of the cinema nervously puffing on their first Woodbines that used to be bought in a soft open packet of five ciggie’s. It’s a bit of a laugh when you think about it now. If you have not done it you can download Google Earth free and use it to zoom right in on these places in high resolution for that area. It has changed a lot of course but most of it is still recognizable. It looks like The Rock is not there anymore.
  The tram lines used to split at the bottom of Alum Rock road and one line used to go up Washwood Heath road and the tram would go along there to the Fox And Goose. On the opposite corner to this pub was the Beufort cinema. That was the end of the line for that tram; I think it was the number eleven. At that point there was a roundabout. I know that well having fallen off a motorbike there. Fortunately no injury just hurt feelings and a bent footrest.
  A friend and myself used to build model airplanes and on weekends we would ride our pushbikes out to Sutton Park and fly them. We would carry the models in cardboard containers on our backs. That was a good day out. Flying your plane and eating your sandwiches in the fresh air was great. We lost a model one day. It got caught in a thermal and just kept on going up after the motor cut. Disappeared out of sight, we could not run after it any further, we had arrived at the edge of the park. Even though it had a name and address on it we never saw it again. It was a somber ride home that day.
  Things have changed now and I have no idea what it is like to live in Birmingham. I got a little insight from Graham a while back who seems to have been back from the Continent a few times recently. Hopefully the outdoor loo,s are a thing of the past. You will notice that most of the correspondents here are from abroad. I suppose, for some of us, we just wanted to be out in a broader less constrained world with more and different opportunities. I don’t think any of us would go back to live there. It would be too confining now. We broke the cords and I for one have no regrets. But something still calls from the little country where we were born and I suppose it always will.
Rupert.