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THOSE TRAFFIC JAMS IN ASTON ROAD, I bet you remember them!

jennyann

jennyann

Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Mr. Shaw.....Butcher?????

The gentleman with the very large growth on his face was a man called Mr. Shaw. He lived around the corner from us off Marsh Hill, Erdington for many years. In those days sadly, such growths could not successfully be removed. It grew larger as time went by. I am not sure that Mr. Shaw
was a butcher though. I remember seeing him many many times on Aston Road North on my way to school in the City Centre, wearing a brown overall standing outside of a hardware store but I may have been mistaken in that he actually worked in it. We did not know the family that well but I remember he had a son called Roger whom, I am almost certain, attended Aston Grammar School. He was a very friendly man who must have had a hard time over the years with his health problems.
 
Those wonderful Traffic Jams

Do you remember when it snowed? I used to catch the no65 bus from Erdington to town and you would be lucky to get there by dinner time! I worked at the Wesleyan and General next to the Gaumont, neither which are there anymore. we satupstairs on the bus warming ourselves on our cigarettes(Ithink I smoked Gold Leaf in them days) Is it still the same now when the weather is bad?
Lynda
 
Aston Road traffic.....Mr Shaw?

First of all I would like to make it quite clear that I have no intention of causing any offence to any relatives of the person mentioned in the following tale. Should anyone take exception to my experience please accept my apologies.

Imagine this, it's 1964, I'm 16 years old and working at Universal Magneto, Electrical and Diesel Services, Aston Road North. As a new lad in to the trade I was expected to fetch and carry all sorts of things from local suppliers, this may have been parts from the Premier Motor Co, the local Ford agent which was The Beacon or chips and fags from the cafe across the road. The old chap that I was being trained by went by the name of Reg. Every time Reg sent me out on an errand he would complete his order with the sentence "careful the bloke with two 'eads dont get ya."

I could never understand why Reg kept warning me about this chap with two heads. I put it down to normal banter between the old and the new staff, keep me on my toes I thought.

One day I had been to Bancroft Motor Factors, also of Aston Road North and also where my dad worked, I walked down Aston Road until I got opposite UMEDS when due to the traffic I had to wait before I could cross the road. As I stood at the side of the pavement I became aware of someone stood alongside me on my left, a gap appeared in the traffic, I looked right, left and then rig...............left again, AAAARRRGGGHH, the man with two heads was looking at me. I ran across the road in to the garage not believing what I had seen. After telling the tale to Reg he found it very amusing.

I am glad that other people recall this unfortunate chap. What else is known about him.
 
Mr. Shaw

Hi Bob That's quite a story about your boss scaring you with a story about
dear Mr Shaw. My father has told me several stories about the things they used to tell the apprentices at the MEB and many of us know about such initiation stories. In this case I should imagine that there weren't many men like Mr. Shaw in Birmingham.
Mr. Shaw lived in our area close to Witton Lakes Park off Marsh Hill. I
first noticed him in the late l940's when the benign inoperable tumour he
had on his face was much smaller. Over the next few years it gradually grew larger. It didn't frighten me but in my child's mind it was hard to understand until I was much older. Mr. Shaw was a very hard working man, and although this condition must have been extremely difficult to live with, he carried on in much the same way as everyone else. He was married and had a family. He used to ride a bicycle and therefore he was more noticeable. Eventually, he bought a car and I didn't see him as much.

In those days it wasn't unusual to see people with compromised physical conditions that one hardly ever sees now. For instance, hip displacements, foot and leg conditions that required massive orthopedic footwear to correct, encephalatically compromised persons with very large heads, people born with dreafully disfigured hands,a variety of other physical disfigurements mostly war injuries and many other such conditions which could not be corrected in those days.

As children we were cautioned not to stare or ask questions of people
who were in this situation. I am sure people who did not know Mr. Shaw asked him about his condition and I am sure he had a good answer for them. He was an upfront businessman with a shop after all. He used to chat to my father in the street at times and I am sure my father didn't notice his condition. He was just Mr. Shaw to us.

I moved away from the area in the early l960's and so I don't kow what became of Mr. Shaw. Hopefully he lived to a good old age.
 
Mr Shaw

Isn't this internet thing amazing!!

Forty years ago I had a chance meeting with Mr Shaw and his disfigurement was so profound that a year has not gone by when I haven't given him some thought. How pleased I am to find out that other people knew of him also and remeber him with kindness.

I posted my tale about Mr Shaw on this forum and almost immediatley received a reply from Canada from someone who knew Mr Shaw.

What strength of character this poor gentleman must have had and how weak those who ridiculed him must have been. Myself included.
 
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