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A Birmingham Christmas Wish List

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Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
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I was too young to remember Barrows Stores and would have loved to have visited it. So this is going on my wish list. What item(s) of Birmingham would you put on yours? Viv.

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I would like to have seen the Market Hall in all its glory with the roof on. I have very vague memories of going to it in the late 50s but not understanding why I got wet if it rained!
If I am allowed 2 wishes then Snow Hill when it first opened.
 
I also remembered it in the late 50s when it always seemed to be raining! My grandmother explained why there was no roof and the reason for the blackened walls due to bomb damage. Vaguely recollect there being a bomb casing close to the entrance, was this a charity collection box? Also recall seeing live eels on the fish stalls - or did I imagine this?

I guess if there was one wish and that would have been to halt the total devastation of the old City center. There's progress and progress for progress sake!
 
Brookvale park in the 50`s. Fishing, rowing boats, putting green, tennis, footie, cricket, climbing trees, birdnesting, & crawling through the hedge to nick a carrot from the allotments. Oh, i almost forgot, girls! Oh for a time machine.
 
There are so many things that I would like to see bought back into everyday life it would take too long to list them and the Christmas list would be endless.
I remember a number of years ago posting my opinion about life today which is a similar topic to Vivienne's Xmas wish. No youngsters today enjoy life like we did, imagine growing up and believing that todays complete Bullring area is better than ours was. I can not imagine life with a mobile phone but no friends . I will stop there because if I really get into gear the post will be deleted.
 
A Birmingham wish & also for the whole country. That the fear level of today would be like the fear level of the 50`s & 60`s. As a young man early 20`s i was made homeless but not for long as i moved in with my sister in Lozells. I was born & raised in Erdington, so when i moved to Lozells i still spent most of my time with mates in Erdington. Trouble was, i nearly always missed the last bus to Lozells which meant a walk of 2 or 3 miles, through Erdington, Aston, Lozells, but even though it was late at night i never felt scared. Plus the fact i was a very fast runner!! I wonder how safe that walk would be today?
 
My wish would be to hire a bus in its original blue and cream colours from the Transport Museum Wythall. It would be routed as a 1A and I would sit on the top deck, seat by the front window, and be driven down Broad Street to Acocks Green. Chums from the BHF who are interested in buses could join me. We would go past 5 Ways, where I recovered at the Children's Hospital from an appendicitis operation. Past the road that leads to the Botanical Gardens, which I visited many times. Then on to the Edgbaston Cricket Ground and Cannon Hill Park. Up to Moseley Village and Wake Green Road. Dropping down to the Stratford Road and the River Cole, not far from where I lived. Climbing up Shaftmoor Lane to Reddings Lane (Mr. Phillips the dentist. Ugh) and Russell Road (a stone's throw from my primary school at York Road). Carrying on past the bus garage entering Acocks Green and then to the terminus at Acocks Green Village. Time for coffee and cake and perhaps seeing a film at the Warwick Cinema (if it's still there?). Dave.
 
I wish I could go back in time with a camera and revisit some of places that young lads like weren’t supposed to go. When they were demolishing Birmingham in the 60’s I use to look around all the empty factories, warehouses and streets that we now see as our past industrial heritage.

Lots of places in the Gun Quarter, like Greener’s factory, and around where the convention centre is now built. The canals in those days were a sight to behold and a way of access onto lots of empty factories.

I was the original urban explore, shame I had no camera
 
I've already made a wish but I suppose theres no harm making another and wishing it could be Christmas every day. Many of you keen researches have probably seen this youtube clip before as I posted it 5 years ago now. My Dad was a keen photographer and though he worked in a factory all his life he liked to indulge in photography and bought himself a cine camera in the early 60s. He'd take it everywhere on holiday and spend hours editing the reels to play back when the family got together at Xmas. My mom gave me one of the early films with some clips of Birmingham town center, my Mom wrapping presents and Xmas night. It contained the last pictures taken of my Nan (the lady in the blue jumper). After my mom passed away I got the original copied and edited it down to 3 mins for my Dad as a Xmas present. It contains 3 generations of our family and still brings back all the expectations and excitement of Xmas and in particular my Dad clowning around with my Moms hair piece and those awful renditions on his arcordian.

About a year after I completed it I realised that it was actually Xmas 1962 but it was close. There are box loads of cine film in the attic and my son keeps nagging me to get them digitized. I suppose I'll never be short of work in retirement.

I do hope you get to here the sound track as they are sometimes stripped out. Enjoy and an early Happy Christmas! And hope it brings back memories for you Alberta

 
mbenne said:
I've already made a wish but I suppose theres no harm making another and wishing it could be Christmas every day. Many of you keen researches have probably seen this youtube clip before as I posted it 5 years ago now. My Dad was a keen photographer and though he worked in a factory all his life he liked to indulge in photography and bought himself a cine camera in the early 60s. He'd take it everywhere on holiday and spend hours editing the reels to play back when the family got together at Xmas. My mom gave me one of the early films with some clips of Birmingham town center, my Mom wrapping presents and Xmas night. It contained the last pictures taken of my Nan (the lady in the blue jumper). After my mom passed away I got the original copied and edited it down to 3 mins for my Dad as a Xmas present. It contains 3 generations of our family and still brings back all the expectations and excitement of Xmas and in particular my Dad clowning around with my Moms hair piece and those awful renditions on his arcordian.

About a year after I completed it I realised that it was actually Xmas 1962 but it was close. There are box loads of cine film in the attic and my son keeps nagging me to get them digitized. I suppose I'll never be short of work in retirement.

I do hope you get to here the sound track as they are sometimes stripped out. Enjoy and an early Happy Christmas! And hope it brings back memories for you Alberta

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Lovely film, & that lady in the pale blue top is a dead ringer for my Mom!! & as for that roaring fire, cushti as Dell boy would say. I know those open fires were a chore & could be messy, but i do miss them. I had to get rid of our log/multi fuel burner because of health problems & now i have nowhere to roast my chestnuts :-{ Central heating is nice, but it`s not exactly cosy or romantic.
 
I quite enjoyed that. Some very well shot footage there, edited together to produce a smashing piece of nostalgia capturing a typical family Christmas from the 60’s. A real 'how things used to be' reminder of the past.

You dad was a very well skilled filmmaker, bearing in mind he (assumingly) would have been working with standard or super 8mm film. All the edits manually spliced and stuck together again.
 
Smudger said:
Lovely film, & that lady in the pale blue top is a dead ringer for my Mom!! & as for that roaring fire, cushti as Dell boy would say. I know those open fires were a chore & could be messy, but i do miss them. I had to get rid of our log/multi fuel burner because of health problems & now i have nowhere to roast my chestnuts :-{ Central heating is nice, but it`s not exactly cosy or romantic.
Click to expand...
farmerdave said:
My wish would be to hire a bus in its original blue and cream colours from the Transport Museum Wythall. It would be routed as a 1A and I would sit on the top deck, seat by the front window, and be driven down Broad Street to Acocks Green. Chums from the BHF who are interested in buses could join me. We would go past 5 Ways, where I recovered at the Children's Hospital from an appendicitis operation. Past the road that leads to the Botanical Gardens, which I visited many times. Then on to the Edgbaston Cricket Ground and Cannon Hill Park. Up to Moseley Village and Wake Green Road. Dropping down to the Stratford Road and the River Cole, not far from where I lived. Climbing up Shaftmoor Lane to Reddings Lane (Mr. Phillips the dentist. Ugh) and Russell Road (a stone's throw from my primary school at York Road). Carrying on past the bus garage entering Acocks Green and then to the terminus at Acocks Green Village. Time for coffee and cake and perhaps seeing a film at the Warwick Cinema (if it's still there?). Dave.
Click to expand...
Instead of returning the bus, let's make it one of the regents which very rarely escaped from that route or one of the Johannesburg Daimlers, move it to Portland Road and run it as they used to under the 7 route number back to Court LJane, stop off at Villa Park, by the way if none of the above buses are available, can we have one of the piano front AECs or my favourite bus 1749 HOV 749.
Bob
 
That film really sums up Christmas of the 60's, bang on. Nothing will replace waking xmas morning, pressies at the end of the bed.
 
hello mbenne...i posted that film on the forum last christmas as to me it depicts everything i remember about christmas day growing up down the old end...thank you and would love to see any other films you have when time permits

lyn
 
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Thanks mbenne. Lovely film. You're son's right in nagging you to digitise those other films. Lots of people would be interested if you decide to share them. But can imagine the first time you look at them again will be quite emotional. Viv.
 
no 1 on my christmas list would be to be transported back to my days growing up down villa st...armed with a modern camera so that i could take photos of the street and the area..something i guess a lot of us wished we had done before demolision..

lyn
 
Bob Davis said:
Instead of returning the bus, let's make it one of the regents which very rarely escaped from that route or one of the Johannesburg Daimlers, move it to Portland Road and run it as they used to under the 7 route number back to Court LJane, stop off at Villa Park, by the way if none of the above buses are available, can we have one of the piano front AECs or my favourite bus 1749 HOV 749.
Bob
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Well, I am not ready to make a Christmas wish just yet; it is only the first Sunday of Advent. However, if you can wait a little longer then one of the 1930's. piano front style, buses - OV 4486 - is well advanced with its restoration by the Wythall folk. But they do have a good fleet of Birmingham buses such as 1937 Daimler CVP 207, 1947 GOE 481 and 1948 Leyland PD2 HOV 685 to mention just a few. The AEC types did run on the 1A.
The four BCT Jo-burgs - FVP 920 - 923 were rare (a fifth went to South Wales) and being 8ft. wide, technically not legal on UK streets but due to wartime necessities were allowed to run on cross city services initially which were outside the city centre. That did change later on but all were gone by 1954.
You could always send them a Christmas gift:
https://www.wythall.org.uk/index.asp
 
Morturn said:
I quite enjoyed that. Some very well shot footage there, edited together to produce a smashing piece of nostalgia capturing a typical family Christmas from the 60’s. A real 'how things used to be' reminder of the past.

You dad was a very well skilled filmmaker, bearing in mind he (assumingly) would have been working with standard or super 8mm film. All the edits manually spliced and stuck together again.
Click to expand...
Yes was Standard 8mm but the actual film size before developing was 16mm. The reel had about 3 minutes run time and had to be turned over in a dark room or changing bag half way through. When developed it was cut down the middle and joined, the clip above was from a full reel but digitally edited down to 3 minutes. The actual camera had a clockwork motor that needed winding up every now and then - now everything is battery operated - actual camera below
 

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Astoness said:
hello mbenne...i posted that film on the forum last christmas as to me it depicts everything i remember about christmas day growing up down the old end...thank you and would love to see any other films you have when time permits

lyn
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Thank you. There are more and when I get round to it will post one of Elmdon park taken in the winter of 63.
 
Radiorails said:
Well, I am not ready to make a Christmas wish just yet; it is only the first Sunday of Advent. However, if you can wait a little longer then one of the 1930's. piano front style, buses - OV 4486 - is well advanced with its restoration by the Wythall folk. But they do have a good fleet of Birmingham buses such as 1937 Daimler CVP 207, 1947 GOE 481 and 1948 Leyland PD2 HOV 685 to mention just a few. The AEC types did run on the 1A.
The four BCT Jo-burgs - FVP 920 - 923 were rare (a fifth went to South Wales) and being 8ft. wide, technically not legal on UK streets but due to wartime necessities were allowed to run on cross city services initially which were outside the city centre. That did change later on but all were gone by 1954.
You could always send them a Christmas gift:
https://www.wythall.org.uk/index.asp
Click to expand...
I seem to remember the Jo'burgs mainly on the 9 Quinton route, but once while waiting to get a 3 to see my Nan in Harborne on one occasion, one came up Colmore Row on the 9 route, so as I had not been on one, went to Five Ways on it. The 1930s AECs did Villa Park duties but not back to Court Lane, but on one occasion in 1946, we were going to Harborne after the match and a piano front was three buses back, so I made Dad wait for it. Radiorails your knowledge is encyclopedic, so tell me when did the OÇ Morris Commercials stop running and which was the last one?
Bob
 
I would bring back the old Birmingham Ice Rink but would need to bring back my youth to enjoy it.

Such happy times especially the Christmas and New Years parties, girl friends, and skating to the music of the 1950s. Everyone seemed to know everyone else and we could easily fill a couple of coaches on trips to other ice rinks. A smart uniformed ex-army man kept order, we knew him as the 'Sergeant' and he did not have much to do, just an occasional stern look and quiet word. The rink had no drinks licence so during intervals we sat around chatting or went in the cafe to buy tea or soft drinks.

In the early 1960s a large company took over and built a new ice rink in Hurst Street and closed the old rink for ice skating. The new ice rink became the sort of place which needed 'bouncers' and never had the easy atmosphere of the old rink. Times were changing, I was changing, getting older, got married, moved on and enjoyed the 1960s onwards in different ways.
The old ice rink ... I never really looked at the outside, the inside was the place I liked.
Old_Ice_Rink_0.jpg
 
nice wish phil...the rink also played a big part of my life when it was roller..

lyn
 
Off topic, unless someones wish is to
Bob Davis said:
I seem to remember the Jo'burgs mainly on the 9 Quinton route, but once while waiting to get a 3 to see my Nan in Harborne on one occasion, one came up Colmore Row on the 9 route, so as I had not been on one, went to Five Ways on it. The 1930s AECs did Villa Park duties but not back to Court Lane, but on one occasion in 1946, we were going to Harborne after the match and a piano front was three buses back, so I made Dad wait for it. Radiorails your knowledge is encyclopedic, so tell me when did the OÇ Morris Commercials stop running and which was the last one?
Bob
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Bob, not to go into 'off topic' here - an easy thing for me to do I am afraid - I have posted some details in the OC 527 thread.
 
pjmburns said:
I would like to have seen the Market Hall in all its glory with the roof on. I have very vague memories of going to it in the late 50s but not understanding why I got wet if it rained!
If I am allowed 2 wishes then Snow Hill when it first opened.
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I will come with you to see Snow Hill, when it first opened,,
 
My wish would be for it to be 1958 when I was 16 and worked in Waterloo street and all the old buildings were still in the city and I had my first visit to a Wimpey bar.( American apple pie and whipped cream, whooo.)
Alberta.
 
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