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Clarendon Street Aston

Thats amazing thank you. Would you remember the Watts kids in the 50s. The eldest was christine then henry, shirley graham and wendy.
My father is graham.
 
No I don't remember any of the children or Mrs Watts' husband. I don't think I went to her house very often but she seemed to be at my Gt Gran's quite a bit. They also did a lot of catering together. Sadly my Gran and mother are both dead and they would have known much more about the family.
 
I know, it would be amazing to go back in time wouldnt it... Both my great nan and nan are also dead now, My aunties remember mrs shale ans speak very highly of her.
 
My Great Grandmother was living at 32 Clarendon Street in 1861. I would be interested to know whether your great grandmothers house was the same one
 
my mom and uncle lived in clarendon street but moved sometime during ww2 my grandad worked at the H.P. but moved to pelsall becouse he got a job at a power station in walsall .i dont know the house number but i will try to find out from my mum .mum went to school in burlington street i think and mums aunty had there house when they left for pelsall. moms maiden name was beryl parkes and my uncle was barry parkes. grandad's name was leonard and nans was florence. grandad also played football for H.P.he was the captain.mom had a freind with the sername of harborne dont know if its the same lady as menshioned on here.great site only found it by chance so i am new on here will get somemore info if i can thanks
 
brum baby....you sent me the pictures a few years ago now, there were to appear on another website was in the process of being created "Our Aston", by Rod Birch and myself, we had a few computer problems and it was never went live, then Astonbrook through Aston Manor came to the fore, and what data, photo's etc I had was uploaded to that site including the photo of Mrs Shale and Mrs Watts....I am not to sure without checking through my old emails and I have 1000's to check you sent me other photo's as well....couple of football teams and a story of "Will" who worked at the Wolseley after WW1.
 
Hi yes I did send you the photos of my gt gran Lily Shale and her friend Violet Watts who both lived in Clarendon Street. I did not send you any other photos.
Looked at the Astonbrook through Aston Manor site, it is very very good
Roz




brum baby....you sent me the pictures a few years ago now, there were to appear on another website was in the process of being created "Our Aston", by Rod Birch and myself, we had a few computer problems and it was never went live, then Astonbrook through Aston Manor came to the fore, and what data, photo's etc I had was uploaded to that site including the photo of Mrs Shale and Mrs Watts....I am not to sure without checking through my old emails and I have 1000's to check you sent me other photo's as well....couple of football teams and a story of "Will" who worked at the Wolseley after WW1.
 
If there are any photos of Lilian Watts or any of the Watts or Holt family that anyone can put on here I would appreciate that very much, I had some off this site but they seem to have vanished. Lilian watts was my great gran, famous for her cake making and unfortunatly she was killled during the new aston being built. If any stories or memories that you can remember then please share. Thank you so much.
 
Hi Lisa
Yes I have a lovely photo of Mrs Watts with my Gran and Great Gran. Gt Gran, Lily Shale Lily Watts were great friends and I remember Mrs Watts quite fondly. I have some photos of her and my Gt Gran on holiday also. I knew she had been killed, was it something to do with a supermarket, can't quite remember/ I think her and gt gran worked together in some form of catering and I do remember hearing about her cake making. I think she was a widow when I knew met her on my visits to Clarendon Street and family talk always said she was sweet on my Gt Uncle Johnny who was a bachelor. Anyway if you want to e mail me or send your e mail address I will be happy to send the photos over to you. Have you got any of her
Regards
Roz
 
I thought these should be on this thread, I know they are on the website somewhere but difficult to find.
Barbers shop (corner of Clarendon St. and Park Lane)
Street party (looking towards Park Lane)
Clarendon Arms x 2
 

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Aerial view of Clarendon Street, amazingly Neal's is visible also.
We lived on clarendon st until 1969. Number 88. Mr and Mrs Magee (both deaf) and us children Eileen Richard and karen(me). Dad used to drink in the clarendon arms. Don't know what year my parents moved in but I was 5 in 1969 when we moved out. Richard would gave been 8 and Eileen 13.
 
Hi Karen
I can remember your mom and dad, not to talk to etc, but I can recall them living up the street on the other side to where I was living, I can recall your siblings a little, we also moved out in 1969, October, I was 16 myself, its always nice to hear from someone in the same street as myself....John
 
Karen....You lived at number 80, and your family must have moved there after 1960 but before 1965....you lived at one time next door to old of my mates Jeff Gouldingay, and a door or two from another mate of mine Alan Wilson (Whitehouse), his sister Sheila I think is a member of this forum, I know she is on the Astonbrook-Through-Astonmanor facebook page, she has a younger sister named Avril whom may have know you, your brother or sister....
 
‘Thanks to diphtheria, a pushy Mum and an MP, we got a house ... and I got a future’

I was born in a back-to-back in the slums of Aston in 1946 – one of the ‘boom babies’ conceived when the
men folk who survived the war came home. We’re now called the baby boomer generation’ – and there’s a
lot of us! Mom Edie was proud of having me ‘private’. My sister Susan arrived with the NHS, so she was
free!
Our house, number 1 back-of 114 Clarendon Street had two rooms and was down an entry and in a yard
with five other back-to-backs with communal lavatories. There was no electricity, and even the lighting was
gas. The downstairs room had a fireplace, a stove and a stone sink with cold water. There was a small
room under the stairs for storing coal and food! We boasted a tiny table and a few rickety chairs. As a child
it was my job to climb on the table to light the gas fitting at night to give us light. Upstairs was just one
small bedroom which, once my sister arrived, was shared by all four of us.
Mom had a mangle outside for wringing the sheets and various washing lines were strung across the yard
on pulleys. She had a corrugated iron tub called a Dolly, and a washboard for doing the cuffs of dad’s
shirts. Dad Frank had a radio that ran off ‘accumulators’ and the first song I remember from the radio was
Mona Lisa. We had a tin bath which would take pride of place in front of the fire on Friday nights and, with
hot water from the Brewhouse, we’d take turns in the tub – good clean fun!
I remember having National Dried Egg for breakfast, which was luxury for us, as was a piece of bread with
lard and salt on it. As we could not afford chocolate another treat was a sheet of newspaper with cocoa
and sugar on it.
About this time, my sister and I both contracted diphtheria and were sent to Little Bromwich Isolation
Hospital. Our parents were allowed to visit but only view us through the windows. We were put in a ward
with a steam pipe to help us breath. The upside of hospital life was cornflakes for breakfast – I’d never
tasted them before as they were too expensive for poor folk. Sadly, because diphtheria was contagious,
the downside was all our toys had to be burned. And ‘home’, after all, was a slum – the walls were running
with damp and we had Silverfish in the fireplace. The doctor told Mom that ‘due to the dreadful living
conditions, neither of her children would survive’.
So Mom set about changing things – determined that her family had a future. She wrote dozens of letters
to Woodrow Wyatt, the local MP, demanding that we be moved. Eventually her constant badgering won
through, and we moved when I was 7 to a 3-bed council house in Perry Common. The joy of being able to
flick a switch to turn a light on was mind-blowing!
At age 8, I joined the local Wolf Cubs where I learnt all the chants and won lots of badges – those I
remember were for tying knots, the Highway Code and First Aid. By 1957 I was a Boy Scout and attended
the Jubilee Jamboree in Sutton Park. Boys and girls came from abroad to attend and it was opened by
Prince Phillip and Lady Baden Powell. Even the Queen came one day!
Even though I’d had to change schools, I passed the Grammar School Entrance Exam (11+).
It was at my Comp, aged 13, my fate and future were sealed. The school nurse gave me, along with other
pupils, a skin test prior to the TB injection. My wrist came up in a huge lump and I was sent for a chest
x-ray. The results came through to say ‘I had contracted and survived TB when young and so I now had
natural immunity to TB and diphtheria’ – and all because of the conditions I’d lived in as a small child’.
Phew. Imagine that. Either disease could have killed me. After that, my academic life soared with the
brilliant education I got at Great Barr Comprehensive – one of the first Comps purpose-built in the late
1950’s. One of the attractions was it was mixed sex and it catered for all abilities with 11 specialist science
laboratories.
From a humble start, I’ve had a fascinating career as an industrial chemist and consultant. My time in R&D
has taken me all over the world and I’ve learnt several languages along the way. Thanks Mom, Woodrow
Wyatt, the NHS, and Great Barr School. You have all done me proud!
© John Slatford
November 2019
 
I lived on the corner of Clarendon Street and Upper Webster Street at 90 Clarendon Street. We were on the opposite corner to the Clarendon Arms. I was born in 1948 so certainly lived there then. My sister, Linda Squires, was born in 1952 whilst we were living there. My parents were Bernard and Emily Squires. Does anyone remember us?
 
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