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birmingham 1969-73

Amen to that Viv....and as I said in post 69, I still think they should be published in all their glory...a serious academic history of disappearing Brum. Fondest memories for so many people....I cannot praise this man enough....a true scholar.....sorry mike!
 
You never know Mike, you might still get that offer of a book. I probably have seen a lot more of your photos than most and I think they well merit a book of their own. Most of the photographical books that record Birmingham just regurgitate the same old photos yours bring a fresh aspect into view. If an American student can get an exhibition of her photos then why shouldn't a home grown adopted Brummie.

Mike as you know I have always encouraged you to try to get a book published recording your photographic survey of parts of Birmingham in it's death throes. You should definitely contact Carl Chinn and pursue this idea of an exhibition I'm sure a recommendation from him will go a long way and he might be some help in setting it up.
 
Phil said:
You never know Mike, you might still get that offer of a book. I probably have seen a lot more of your photos than most and I think they well merit a book of their own. Most of the photographical books that record Birmingham just regurgitate the same old photos yours bring a fresh aspect into view. If an American student can get an exhibition of her photos then why shouldn't a home grown adopted Brummie.

Mike as you know I have always encouraged you to try to get a book published recording your photographic survey of parts of Birmingham in it's death throes. You should definitely contact Carl Chinn and pursue this idea of an exhibition I'm sure a recommendation from him will go a long way and he might be some help in setting it up.
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Spot on Phil! You 'discovered' him for me....as you did so many other "threads" of Birmingham history....can't thank you enough either....
 
Thoroughly agree Dennis and Phil. Mike's records of lost landscapes (not just streets but whole swathes of areas), plus mapping info, plus observant comments and quotes is something I'd happily pay good money for whether in the form of an exhibition, book(s), series of booklets ...... I'd love to see a fresh look at the 60s/70s landscape which has real meaning for ordinary people. Viv.
 
This thread has given a great deal of pleasure to many Forum Members and of course information about items and places that no longer exist.
Not only are the structures - and the remains of many of them - very interesting there is also a wealth of street furniture in evidence that also has disappeared.
If books can be published - and sell reasonably well - about the former transport systems of Birmingham then I believe the contents of this thread could well make another addition to many bookshelves.
The period, described in the thread title, is outside my personal reference - I left Warwickshire in 1954 - however those street scenes were there in the forties and fifties of the 20th. century and were featured in so many bus routes as one travelled to the city centre.
 
well i can only agree with all the posters above...oh god i do hope you wont take this the wrong way mike but you are without doubt this forums male equivalent of the great phyllis nicklin (you look nothing like her mike lol) and funnily enough you started taking your photos more or less when phyllis stopped taking hers...its not only your photos mike its also all the other work you do for our members and you rightly deserve praise for it....

just take your time to think about all the suggestions that has been made mike...i am quite sure that if you decide to have some photos published in carls brum mag and or consider an exhibition/book or all 3 then carl will give you all the help and advise you need....whatever you decide i am sure you will have the full backing and support of our members

lyn
 
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A point I made in an earlier post, Lyn, Mike goes where Phyllis wouldn't - he was looking at dereliction and as Dennis has pointed out, recording it for posterity. I'm sure I've mentioned it on the Forum several times, there should be a legal requirement to take photographs of any building before demolishing it, and to deposit those in a public archive. Mike was doing it for years before any thought of legal requirements. History of any kind - local business, family - is difficult enough when you have plenty of documented material, but I'm sure some of the current politicians would prefer that we forgot about it. NO CHANCE!

Maurice
 
exactly right maurice...here we have two different photographers with two different views of life back in the day but both with the same aim...to help keep the memory of birmingham history alive for generations to come...the written word is great..i have read many books but the images provoke so much thought and imagination and must be preserved..

lyn
 
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You're right, Lyn, no matter how many books or census records we read, we still want to SEE what life was like in streets and houses which no longer exist today. My grandmother lived at 12 Alston Street, Ladywood, but whilst the street still in part exists today, few of the houses do and the one in which she lived I think was run over by Ladywood Middleway. I'm still waiting to find a picture of that bit of the street.

Why Mike's street pictures and descriptions are so important is simply because the poorer people didn't even have Box Brownies, or if they did, they could not afford the film to put in them. A studio picture or an Army service record will undoubtedly help me to visualise the person, but tell me nothing about the environment in which he lived.

Maurice
 
maurice i have noted that down...i should be at the library tomorrow so i will do a search for alston st for you...fingers crossed

lyn
 
Maurice

I think you will find that your grandmothers house was not disturbed by the Ladywood Middleway at all as number 12 was at the other end of the street at the Ledsam Street end and would have been demolished when the area was cleared for redevelopment. That is of course if it wasn't renumbered at sometime after the 50's.
 
Phil,

Thanks for that - I'm looking at the wrong end then! As you may gather, she died before I was born and her daughter who lived with her, and who died accidentally in 1966 (she fell over with the unlit gas stove turned on) had by then been moved into a modern block a few streets away. I met the said daughter a couple of times as a schoolboy and I can remember that she certainly liked her whisky, which might have contributed to her accidental death, though there was no mention of it in the Coroner's Inquest.

Maurice
 
Mike's collection of photos seems to cover, not only some places we know (and with perhaps a struggle might still be able to pinpoint), but he seems to have included many places that hadn't been particularly well documented before he took his images. It comes clearly through in the photos what the fate of the buildings will be. Mike's foresight has certainly paid off here because now some of the road names have also ceased to exist. The 'New unseen photos with no locations' thread has shown us that even people with a keen interest in these areas have found it difficult to pinpoint some places. It's striking and worrying just how quickly and easily our history can slip away if it weren't for these records.


One other aspect I find very interesting is that Mike's photos create an excellent record of all the little architectural features of Birmingham's 18th and 19th century buildings. They are generally buildings occupied by the majority of Birmingham's working population, not the extravagant buildings of the wealthy, or grand civic buildings, but buildings which the ordinary person lived and worked in. Viv.
 
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sorry maurice i checked today and no pics of alston st...will keep it in mind though

lyn
 
Lyn,

Mac Joseph has a couple, but not of that end, but thanks for looking.

Carol,

Small world. My grandmother would have only been there a few years then as in 1882, when my father was born, they were still in Upper Landywood, near Great Wyrley, though the family originally came from Longdon in Worcestershire - all ag labs, of course!

Maurice
 
It may be of interest that , following Lyn's efforts, I have been in touch with Carl Chinn, and it is hoped to produce a nine page article in the Brummagem magazine sometime soon
 
Great news Mike, it's about time you got some recognition from others outside the forum.
 
mikejee said:
It may be of interest that , following Lyn's efforts, I have been in touch with Carl Chinn, and it is hoped to produce a nine page article in the Brummagem magazine sometime soon
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Very pleased to hear that Mike, at last! Look forward to seeing it. Grateful if you could let us 'exiles' know when and how we can buy a copy. Thanks. Viv.
 
Excellent news, Mike, and well deserved! Perhaps just the beginning of something that will be ongoing.

Maurice
 
Phil said:
Great news Mike, it's about time you got some recognition from others outside the forum.
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well said phil and well done mike...i am sure that you will keep us informed as to when the article will be going in early days yet...to any members who do not live in brum i will see if i can find out if you can order copies direct from carl failing that i will be happy to buy copies here and post onto you...im sure we can sort something out..

lyn
 
Just down from no 51 Cox St West is this building on the corner of Balfour St (which until about 1897 was known as King St), listed as 34 Balfour St. No name on the outside, but it had been listed as the Middle East Cafe since 1964. Before that it was Rene's drapers. for a few years., and from the late 1920s a boot/shoe repairer under various names, for around 30 years. From 1896 till at least 1921 it was a beer retailer, almost certainly an off licence shop, but before that it is not listed in directories


5B__Corner_Cox_st_west_Balfour_st.jpg
 
great people pic mike...man looking out of cafe and woman with baby in pram...those prams take me back a bit...like the advert for the new decimal coins...

lyn
 
Astoness said:
great people pic mike...man looking out of cafe and woman with baby in pram...those prams take me back a bit...like the advert for the new decimal coins...

lyn
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Don't we think we should warn the lady she's left house without a skirt? I'd get arrested if I went out like that. The Middle Eastern man (?) looks a bit perplexed too....
 
hi richie...well that was the dress code for the 60s early 70s...coat longer than the skirt or dress...well that was my dress code anyway lol
 
Another super picture. Note that Mike has caught the young woman perfectly framed by the cafe door. A few inches to the left, and her black coat would merge with the black painted façade; to the right, her head would obscure the man - who is also perfectly framed, in the window pane. To reinforce the urban theme, the grid in the road echoes the rectangular pattern of windows.
 
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