• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

calling all office girls.

Hi Dyan, you certainly are right about people thinking that shorthand is a foreign language! I can still do it, and it comes in handy when I go family history group and can write down everything that we are being taught so much quicker than by longhand. Did Pitmans too, but there was also another, Greggs I think? Also remember the Gestetners. Worked for the Manager of the Spares Department at the old BSA (George Holden) and use to have to do the skins and run them off for the motorcyle parts when we did the stock check, and for sending them to the suppliers. You use to have to either take off the ribbon (old sit up and beg typewriters) or you had a switch you could use. If you may a typing error you had to put a ruler behind the top skin and use a bright pink ink to cover the mistake and then type over again. You had to be careful when you loaded the machine to print so that it didn't crease when you started to run off. I was luck that I had an electric printer, some had a handle to turn by hand. Mind you I think we were more aware of being accurate in typing, spelling and punctuation, and had a good speed.

Good old file 13, still use the phrase, even though I've been retire for coming up to 3 years now.

Good to hear from you.
 
Would i be right in saying there was a training college in Corporation St almost opposite Harry Parkes the buildings name i can,t remember __________ Chambers Dek
 
Yes Dyan, the other shorthand was 'Greg,', which was the one I did. It was, I believe American. They used to say that Greg was easy to take down and hard to read back, but Pitman's was easy to read back and harder to take down.
 
Yes, dek carr, There was a Pitmans College somewhere in Corporation Street. I attended the'New Era' College in the 191 Corporation Street Chambers. It was named 'New Era' because the text books we used had New Era printed on them, so that's where the name originated.

I still have my shorthand fountain pen from many, many years ago. Also I found it easier to write Pitman's shorthand than read it back sometimes. However, other secretaries could read my shorthand because when I was taken ill one day and left work unfinished, another secretary transcribed my work. One of the lecturers at the University where I worked used to like to watch me taking down his dictation as he said he found fascinating! Anthea.
 
Hello Maggs. I too did Gregg Short Hand. I found it easier to take down because it was all curves and not straight lines. It was American
Miriam.
 
Did you find it hard to read back though Miriam? I still have my shorthand exercise book. Not many people seemed to do Gregg did they?
 
Hello Maggs. I didn't find the reading too bad - but being phonetics sounding I had to read a sentence - one word always comes to mind and that was - tward instead of toward, although the shorthand was the same. - know what I mean? I'm sure there were lots more but a good many years have passed since last "take a letter" was said to me. Some where I have most of the Gregg Magazines, which I found helpful. I even see [very occasionally] the lady who taught me, who is now 90 years old. She used to do 'shorthand cuts' which she used and I do actually remember 'dear sir thank you for your letter," in one stroke of the pen. Miriam.
 
Here is a photo of the building where Lawrence's/Pitman's College was located on the corner of Martineau and Corporation Streets.
It was across from the Midland Educational and in later years Mansfield Shoe shop was on the corner on the same side. When I attended in the early 1950's Corporation Street was unchanged for several years then Rackham's came and the changes have come very fast over the years although the buildings coming up from New Street on Rackham's side are hardly changed.
 
I just found my Shorthand dictionary - shows how often I go digging in the bookcases in our library -:), oh will have to have a study of it.........memories........

Dyan
 
Miriam that's amazing to be able to write all that with one stroke of the pen. I was just trying to do it, and can't. My shorthand teacher died a short while ago, but I am still in touch with her son, who was a baby when she was teaching me. Dyan, I also have lovely memories when I look at my shorthand book.
 
Pee Bee Tee Dee Chay Jay Kay Gay F Vee Ith Thee S Zee Ish She .... Wy Yay Hay. Can't quite recall it all, but it went something like that. Good old Pitmans, I went to Queens College in Paradise Street, that was when Adam was still a lad. We also had a metal cover over our typewriter keys, and we typed to Little Bird I have Heard What a Merry Song you Sing. I knew it as I'd learned to play the recorder at school, and that is a standard song taking you through all the notes. Gosh such a long time ago, was that me!!!!!!!!!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the Pitman alphabet Di. Can you believe that my Mother who learned Pitman's shorthand at a very early age, used to say the P alphabet to me starting when I was about l3 years old. When I started Shorthand Lessons at Underwood College on Albert street in the eventins at age 14 she would help me to learn the outlines and short cuts, etc. At. Pitman's College you were taught General subjects until you were l5 or l6 and then commercil subjects for business.

I still have two of my Pitman's text books and a small blue dictionary. I use the shorthand today. I have some small notebooks of Brum history that my Mother wrote in shorthand when she took some courses on Brum History. I can only read a bit of it. When I worked at New Street Station, my first job in 1957, we s/h typists had to read some of the
letters that were written in shorthand by the men who worked in Excursions, Parcels and Customer Service. They came into the typing pool and there was always a rush to get the letters that were written by "model" Pitman writers. I believe the men received more money if they wrote out their letters in shorthand.
 
I still have my Pitmans up in the attic. Jennyann, I know my shorthand could never be read by anyone but me, and I found it difficult. The bits of the alphabet I couldn't recall are El Ar Ray - I think!!!!!!!!!
 
I remember parts of that Pitmans alphabet Di but had forgotten about it - it was so long ago that I learned it! I learned my shorthand and typing in the Commercial Dept at Soho College, Soho Hill, Handsworth, and we also had either a metal cover over our typewriter keys or blank keys. We sometimes had to type to Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree and do the actions to the song in between typing. I also have some of my old text books and exercise books in the loft. Still use shorthand when writing messages in a hurry - then find it difficult to read back!! Got my first job at 15 working at Harry Astbury Electrical Engineers at Hockley (now all gone under the new road).
 
THAT PEN IS NOT MUCH GOOD.
PA MAY WE ALL GO TOO?

I'm sure everyone will remember these two sentences which became second nature to Pitman students. The sentences represented the vowel sounds in the English language as you all know.
At College we also had to read aloud passages from books which were printed in shorthand eg 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by R.L. Stevenson.
The shorthand writers who attended Victoria Law Courts in Corporation Street, used to come down to 191 Corporation Street to the New Era College and practise at over 200 wpm, and we students were able to sit in class with them and benefit from high speed dictation which meant that slowing down to 120 wpm was amazingly easy.
We used Imperial typewriters which had the keys blanked out and we practised our typing speed to Winifred Attwell's Honkey Tonk Blues, at least I 'think' that was the title.
A friend from College and I used to write letters to each other in shorthand up until we got married - just for fun and practise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top