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Technology in the wider world marches on and the Forum does its best to keep up with it. Sometimes, a new post in a thread does absolutely nothing more than express appreciation of what has gone previously. Often that's good, can be taken at face value and is appreciated. Sometimes these days...

I have recently being putting online some 1938/39 Government leaflets which were issued to households - not least in Birmingham - in order to provide guidance on what to do in the event of war. War Emergency - Information and Instructions (August/September 1939) The Protection of your Home...

A Small Boy's Diary: Thursday 8th April 1943 - "The Streetly Soldier" Thursday 8th April 1943....... It's been a busy week, for me and for my big brother. It was my seventh birthday yesterday. But I'm going leave telling you about that for another time. I haven't got room here. Instead...

I have been writing up some information I have received from the family of a Hockley lad, Stanley Easthope, who in WW2 joined the Home Guard at a very early age and whilst on duty in 1942 or 1943 witnessed the death at a blitz-damaged building of a woman who had ignored warnings not to cross a...

The periodic rummage through a box of junk out of the loft sometimes reveals something which one hadn't forgotten about but hadn't looked at in years. A family memento, old but possibly with a clear connection to the present - and definitely with a Birmingham connection. Has anyone got...

There’s a distant roar, ever growing. It seems to be approaching us. Dad and I are in our dining room, at the back of the house on the Chester Road in Streetly, where we spend most of our evenings because there are easy chairs there and a table and the wireless set. And it’s a warm room in...

STREETLY MEMORIES Anyone who knows Streetly will almost certainly know that part of the Chester Road which stretches from the Parson & Clerk, on up the hill, to the Manor Road/Bridle Lane crossroads. (I know most of it is outside the City boundary by several hundred yards or more but those of...

There has been previous mention in the main Home Guard thread of the commemorative booklet covering the 29th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion issued in 1946 by the City Council. This Battalion was manned entirely by members of the Gas, Water, Electricity, Salvage and administrative...

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting at our dining room table. I am seven. I've got a blank sheet of paper in front of me and a pen in my hand. Mum has just told me, as she always does, to write neatly, watch my spelling, don't make any blots, and especially, DON'T KNOCK THE INK BOTTLE OVER...

I am struggling to make sense of this WW1 Medals record card and should be very grateful if anyone with a bit more experience could give me a hand. It tells me that it is a Gloucestershire Regiment record, issued in Warwick and dealing with men who have a different regimental affiliation. The...

I found myself being driven down Middleton Hall Road in Kings Norton the other day. It sparked off memories for me of the war years. I probably haven't been there for 70 years or more. It has changed a bit since then.... One of my father's oldest friends was a gentleman named Bert Ward (A. F...

This headstone image has appeared recently on a specialist history social media platform. It shows the resting place of Robert Silk in a Birmingham churchyard. This young lad was injured at 14 Bowyer Road, Alum Rock on the night of 24th October 1940 and died two days later. There was a heavy air...

For most active members, the Forum carries on, day after day, as an agreeable place to spend a bit of time, to learn something more about the history of our city and to add what we can to the general store of knowledge. For many, precisely how this state of affairs is achieved is of limited...

THE ROLE OF THE MODERATORS AND HOW THE FORUM WORKS (PART 1) The Forum has (in March 2021) some 30,000 members. Not every one amongst them will fully understand how the Forum operates and especially the responsibilities and function of the Moderators. And there is rarely any real need for them...

Two Brummies were married 100 years ago today, on 31st January 1921. "On 31 January 1921, at the Parish Church Harborne, in the County of Stafford, Henry Maurice Myers, bachelor, 21 years, Assistant Works Manager, of 80 North Road, son of Charles Myers, Dealer in Fine Arts, and Elsie Tovey...

There were six Birmingham Open Air Schools opened after 1911 and dedicated to the care of sick Birmingham children: Cropwood, Haseley Hall, Hunter's Hill, Marsh Hill, Skilts and Uffculme. Of these, the following have individual threads within this Forum: Cropwood, Hunter's Hill, Marsh Hill and...

(A bit outside the City boundary, but hopefully near enough - AND both the identified men were Brummies!) There has been a long tradition of amateur military units in the U.K., manned by volunteers. Whilst nothing had ever been seen on the scale represented by the Home Guard in WW2, volunteer...

(Sorry to any member who remembers seeing this image once in the past - but I like it!) February 1943, Streetly, big brother and little brother, embarkation leave. The unknown future eventually turns out to be Avonmouth, troopship to Tunisia, then Sicily, Italy and Austria. Little brother looks...

The Buildings of Birmingham, Past and Present (Second Series), printed and published by Thomas Underwood, Castle Street, High Street, Birmingham (believed 1870). A copy of this has recently come into my temporary possession. I am wondering if this is a publication well known amongst Birmingham...

Today I raise a mug of coffee to celebrate My father's 120th Birthday Henry ("Harry"), born 22nd November 1899 at 38 Summer Lane, Birmingham - Who 115 years ago was photographed with his mother and sister - Who knew his grandfather, also Henry, born in 1832, photographed in Birmingham in...