Author Topic: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!  (Read 17862 times)

Trinity

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2012, 12:31:39 AM »
Hi Gee Gee, Phil & Frederick

Frederick - Sorry but can't recall any of the names you mentioned but I'm the youngest in our family of 4 kids and so perhaps my brothers or my sister may have known some of your family. My family lived in that area from about 1948 - 1975 and then my Mom & Dad moved to South Yardley.

Gee Gee - I was never allowed to go up the goods yard to the canal (did sneak up a couple times!) My Mom was terrified one of us would end up in the canal and I'm not sure if it's true but we were told that the family who moved into our maisonette after we moved house had a young son drown in the canal! We used to love the school holidays and played all day 'over the back' in other words the waste ground at the back of the maisonettes. We used to slide down the railway embankment on bits of old corrugated metal. My Mom would have had a fit if she'd seen us but as money was always very tight she would work long hours. She used to have 3 part-time jobs - yes 3 jobs!!! don't know how she managed it and you just don't realise do you when you are kids! I can also remember all the kids collecting wood for a big bonfire on bonfire night. I could just imagine my own kids being kept occupied and happy for hours using a bit of old tin as a sledge!

Phil - Thanks so much for posting these photos. Until I saw the one of Miles Street I had forgotten all about the 'new' mission hall that you can see on the right hand side of the photo. I could remember that there was the old mission hall by the Plume of Feathers pub but had forgotten there was the new one built too. The pic of Watery Lane/Coventry Road looks as if it was taken much earlier (nearer to the time I was born) but I think the shop right on the corner was a greengrocers and I think there was a barbers too.

Thanks everyone - it's lovely to be able to reminisce isn't it?  :)

Looking forward to speaking to you all soon.

Trinity

 

frederick

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2012, 09:39:46 AM »
Trinity,
It was my parents parents that lived there and it would have been late 1800s early 1900s so before your time there.
Failure to Prepare is to Prepare to Fail

roy one

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2012, 09:48:52 AM »
hi trinity
 My Mom was terrified one of us would end up in the canal and I'm not sure if it's true but we were told that the family who moved into our maisonette after we moved house had a young son drown in the canal
from what i remember of the cut no one would drown you would be dead be for that it was so polluted
each day is a blessing and I bless each day when it comes

Phil

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2012, 09:49:30 AM »
Trinity
 
Heres a later photo of the mission hall Miles Street.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

frederick

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2012, 10:22:32 AM »
I've been told that canals are 3 feet deep.
Failure to Prepare is to Prepare to Fail

Gee Gee

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2012, 11:04:55 AM »
I learnt to swim in the canal.The stretch of canal in topic at the moment was filthy,you could see the films of oil floating on the top of the water.My favourite stretch was at my Grans at Hamstead,it was so wonderfully clear,you could actually see the bottom and the bottom was sand filled.We used to call it the sands. ( Ho!! Happy Days) O0

Gee Gee

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2012, 11:20:36 AM »
Hi trinity,
              There is a small publication available entitled; "96 Years A Brummie" the main character is a Rose Golding Nee Stevens,she used to live in Bedford Road,and her children attended Trinity School.Rather tragically she lost her son in the canal,under the bridge at Sandy Lane.
I have a vague recollection of a drowning in that particular area 1956-57.
I left the area in Jan 1958 to join the Army.
Which was your favourite cinema. the Alambra or the Kingston,? Mine was the Alambra. My elder sister worked there as a usherette ( she would never let me in for Gratis)
Did you ever roam far with your brothers or sisters, let us say to Farm Park.?  (More to follow) O0 O0

Trinity

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2012, 05:27:01 PM »
Hi Everyone

Thanks for the pic Phil - Oh I remember the poor old mission hall being painted in all those really gaudy colours - much nicer in it's old form!

Hi Gee Gee Perhaps that little lad being drown in the 1950s was why my poor old Mom was terrified that we might venture up the goods yard to the canal. There were great big lorries coming up and down all day too. Do you happen know what they would have been carrying, I can't think?  I must see if I can get hold of a copy of the book you mentioned as I can't seem to find anyone else who went to Holy Trinity School. I was in the church choir too - I only went because you got paid sixpence a week. We used to go and get chips from the chip shop on Camp Hill after choir practice when we got paid.   

You ask whether I was an 'Alambra' or a 'Kingston' girl.  I did go to the Kingston a few times but we always went to the Alambra on Saturday mornings. I was a member of the ABC Minors Club - I remember we had to sing the song before the flicks started. On the way back home we used to stop off at the cafe in (I think) Stratford Place for a halfpenny tomato dip (no Pick'n'Mix for us - LoL)

I did go to Farm Park - but do you know I can't remember much about it at all! Too busy playing on my tin sledge I suppose!!! We used to go to Small Heath Park too and once a year we went to the Shirley Carnival and had candy floss.

 :)

Trinity

Gee Gee

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #19 on: June 26, 2012, 06:27:53 PM »
Hi Trinity,
                At the top of the goods yard and adjacent to the canal was a very large warehouse,four or five storeys high.The ground floor was like a mini enclosed railway station with unloading platforms between each section of rail.Throughout the night the small tug engines would be fetching and carrying out all the goods wagons in and out of the warehouse.There was every type of merchandise you could imagine,but in the main it was fresh fruit and veg ready for the markets next morning.Thats why you had so many vehicles going past your house. They did say that the top floor of the warehouse was for tobacco and alcoholic spirits.I never did quite make it up to the top floor,it was more like Fort knox.
I can recall the three ladies in the newsagents,they were a formidable trio and very threatening in dimeanour.One lady would serve us children,while the other two kept watch incase us kids stole anything,(As if we would) needless to say us kids would rarely go into the shop.
Your mother must have served me on many occasion,I just wish that I could tell her that it was not me who stole them apples,It was my mate Tony Henn. ;D O0    (More to follow.)

Trinity

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #20 on: June 27, 2012, 12:41:22 AM »
Hi Gee Gee

I remembered the name of the little grocers shop next to the paper shop - it was called Phoebe's and was owned by an old lady. My Mom worked in the grocers (one of her 3 jobs) when it was owned by a lady called Lily who took after Phoebe must have retired (or died perhaps!) My Mom would have chased you up the street if she'd have seen you nicking apples - LoL. We never had much money but she was as honest as the day is long but she just might have turned a blind eye if you looked hungry!  ;)

The sisters in the paper shop were right dragons weren't they? I remember we used to just call them 'the old grey haired one' 'the ginger one' and 'the one with glasses' - don't think I ever knew their proper names. The shop on the corner of Bedford Road and Trinity Terrace was called Fred's and if we had any money when we were coming home from school we would go in there and get a sherbert dip or a bag of caylie (don't think that's the right spelling!)

Did you ever go to the Co-op just down from Camp Hill on Stratford Road. It was the nearest thing to a supermarket at the time, except there was a chair for the customer to sit down on while they asked for their groceries. Do you remember the chip shop in Kyotts Lake Road - they cooked the chips in dripping and were gorgeous!

Trinity  :)

 

Gee Gee

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Re: Hello - I'm a newbie to the forum!
« Reply #21 on: June 27, 2012, 03:24:44 PM »
Did I ever go to the Co-OP on Stratford Road,? You certainly know how to press the right buttons. ;D What is a young 8 year old girl doing travelling all the way from Lawden Road to the Co-op on the Stratford Road? ;D
I used to work at the butchers next door,on the corner of Auckland Road,In addition to my delivery round,I would wash and scrub the chopping block down with hotwater and sawdust and then I would scrub the floor.The manager of the shop was a Mr Gardner,a true gentleman, a man for all seasons.
Christmas eve 1954 he gave me a very large plucked goose to take home to my mother.When alive and standing tall,I'm sure that the goose would have been taller than I,taking hold of the goose  by its elongated neck,I threw it over my shoulder and walked from Stratford Road to home.The scene itself could have been an extract from any Dickens novel. ;D
You are correct Trinity,the fish and chips from the fish shop on Kyotts Lake Road were the best in Sparkbrook, (I thought so ) The owners name was Carr,a very tall gentleman,They were a very nice couple. We also had very nice fish and chips from South Road ,Mrs Mathews,but she would only open three nights a week. When she was open the queue would stretch down the road, O0
(More to follow. O0


 

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