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Recent content by JohnJames

  1. JohnJames

    Small Heath Park (Victoria Park)

    I lived close to Small Heath Park. Back in the 1960s it was a great place to spend time. I remember crown bowling greens where the caretaker taught my mate and I to play this game. As fourteen year olds we were privilaged to play WW1 veterans from the sons of rest hut opposite the bowling...
  2. JohnJames

    The Ackerdocks

    The Ackers was a real alternative from Small Heath Park in the 1960s. No parkie. Ride your bike wherever you wanted to. And a swing over the cut. Great days. As well as riding our bikes over the tracks we had made up, we also laid around listening to our transistor radios. Whiter Shade of Pale...
  3. JohnJames

    The Woodman

    Thank you. Hopefully the city council will appriciate that this little pub is a part of Birmingham's historic fabric. A fabric that to put it mildly, has been downplayed and degraded by successive city councils. Time for them to catch up, maybe?
  4. JohnJames

    The Woodman

    Clearly at this time due to the major building works around the Woodman, it is not viable as a profit earning pub. Hopefully the iconic building will survive and we may see the Woodman rise up from the Ashes. It has done so before!
  5. JohnJames

    The Woodman

    A little hazy really. I worked at the BR parcels depot on a three shift system for a few months in 1975 and got to know the Woodman because of that. I was aged 20 and was yet to find a path in life. This was one of my last "dead end" jobs before I finally got my act together (luck helped as...
  6. JohnJames

    The Woodman

    Don't do Facebook unfortunately but good luck with it!
  7. JohnJames

    The Woodman

    Is it to be abandoned and demolished like the Eagle and Tun, or is it simply awaiting new operators? However, in the current climate of out of control energy prices, it would take a brave person to take it on. Or maybe a very wealthy real ale enthusiast in search of a hobby! Very sad. I don't...
  8. JohnJames

    Golden Place of Opportunity

    My mum and dad came to Birmingham in 1953 from Ireland with nothing. They lived in a cold water room before managing to rent a small flat in a house with better facilities. Eventually they bought a house in Mansel Rd Small Heath. From then on they prospered. My Dad's dream was to live in...
  9. JohnJames

    Secondhand corner shop - Small Heath

    Hi J Hughes. "James" is my second Christian name so I'm not related to the James family that you mention. I left Small Heath in 1974 and have not lived in Brum since then. Amongst other things surviving from my childhood in Small Heath, I still have a James Bond Aston Martin that I bought from...
  10. JohnJames

    Connaught Regiment ww1.

    There is a very interesting Connaught Rangers museum and archive in Boyle, Co Roscommon, Ireland based in a building called the King House. This very large former barracks was their main base in Ireland and is now a museum with a large number of exhibits as well as the Connaught Rangers...
  11. JohnJames

    Townies

    Indeed they were. I became one towards the end. The fashion and up town lifestyle died out around about 1972.
  12. JohnJames

    Townies

    Do any members remember the "Townie" thing that sort of took off around late 1970 when the Skinhead thing became a bit boring? Clothes we wore were Crombies, Suits, trilby hats and loafer shoes amongst other things. Favourite pubs in town were the Gilded Cage, the Parisien, the Outrigger, the...
  13. JohnJames

    Prefabs

    Off on a bit of a tangent here with nothing to do with the technicalities of prefabs.. I went to school with a mate who lived in a prefab somewhere on the No 17 route (Hobs Moor Rd?) As I lived in a flat on the Coventry Rd in Small Heath, his detached home with beautiful gardens front and back...
  14. JohnJames

    Stechford Area

    I remember the bakery on Manor Rd (I think that was the name of the road ). The last time I was up there was around 1968 when I wagged school. One of my wagging mates lived in Stechford, which is why were there. A group of us waggers wandered past the bakery and couldn't believe that they had...
  15. JohnJames

    Occupations That Have Faded Away

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