-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team -
HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
we are now using a backup solution
Aberdeen Street Winson Green
- Thread starter josietrue
- Start date
few more
Attachments
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Hi, I am also new to the site. I am Edward Holmes, (now known as Eddie), born in 1962 to Sarah Holmes. We moved to one of the back to back houses at 3/46 Aberdeen st around 1967 and left in 1971, it was a great house, me and my siblings slept in the attic. The house had a kitchen, living room, coal cellar, main bedroom and attic. There was no bathroom or indoor toilet, we bathed in a tin bath in front of the fire once a week and the toilet was the cold damp out house in the garden next to the kitchen, with torn up news paper for toilet paper hanging on a rusty nail. There was myself, my Mother Sarah and my half brother and Sister Jack and Margaret and we lived next door to a lovely lady called Dolly Russell who I used to spend time with and run errands for.
My mother met and married our stepfather, a guy from County Wicklow in Southern Ireland, he was called Patrick Kavanagh, (Known as Pat) and they went on to have three more children.
I went to Barford Rd School, I remember Angela Jones and one of my friends was called Nick, his family owned the chippy just down from the Police Station on Dudley Rd.
I used to play in the big yard half way down Aberdeen St, on the right as you look towards Winson Green and my Mom was friends with people there but I can't remember any names.
I used to play with some West Indian children, I think the lad may have been Joseph but sadly can't remember, he had twin sisters too and they lived in one of the houses at the front of us on Aberdeen St opposite the Queens Head Pub. I used to help the Milkman but again his name escapes me.
I am happy for anyone who remembers me or my family to get in contact via the private message system (inbox top right of the page) They were happy days and now I look back, I think they were some of my happiest as a child even though we were poor and living hand to mouth.
I have since met a lady who lived in Aberdeen St around the same time (Marie Scott) who reminded me that I was locally known as Gypsy Kavanagh due to my Irish step father. She only realised it was me when I showed her a picture of me around that time; she looked at the picture and said oh my god you're Gypsy Kavanagh, she never knew before that, that I had been known as Kavanagh as a child.
My mother met and married our stepfather, a guy from County Wicklow in Southern Ireland, he was called Patrick Kavanagh, (Known as Pat) and they went on to have three more children.
I went to Barford Rd School, I remember Angela Jones and one of my friends was called Nick, his family owned the chippy just down from the Police Station on Dudley Rd.
I used to play in the big yard half way down Aberdeen St, on the right as you look towards Winson Green and my Mom was friends with people there but I can't remember any names.
I used to play with some West Indian children, I think the lad may have been Joseph but sadly can't remember, he had twin sisters too and they lived in one of the houses at the front of us on Aberdeen St opposite the Queens Head Pub. I used to help the Milkman but again his name escapes me.
I am happy for anyone who remembers me or my family to get in contact via the private message system (inbox top right of the page) They were happy days and now I look back, I think they were some of my happiest as a child even though we were poor and living hand to mouth.
I have since met a lady who lived in Aberdeen St around the same time (Marie Scott) who reminded me that I was locally known as Gypsy Kavanagh due to my Irish step father. She only realised it was me when I showed her a picture of me around that time; she looked at the picture and said oh my god you're Gypsy Kavanagh, she never knew before that, that I had been known as Kavanagh as a child.
Last edited:
lovely memories eddie and welcome to the forum...totally agree with you...i am the eldest of 6 and yes hard times for our parents but i would not swap my childhood for all the tea in china
you have probably seen the photo of aberdeen st i posted but i do have some more so i will take a look to see if i have any no 46 or the back of it..will post if i have
lyn
you have probably seen the photo of aberdeen st i posted but i do have some more so i will take a look to see if i have any no 46 or the back of it..will post if i havelyn
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Lyn, your pictures are bringing back so many memories that were lost in time, (or is that age in my case? Lol). You are Brilliant, Thank you so much!!!
Oh and I agree, I wouldn't swap my childhood either. Our parents were proud people who did what they had to, to get by. I loved working with the milkman as a young boy, giving my small wage to my Mom to help pay for whatever she needed. It may seem strange to some but I remember fondly the brown bit in the dripping when we spread it on the partially stale bread after having a Sunday lunch. Bread and dripping was a meal as was bread and jam and sometimes just bread and butter. Going to Jones's and getting things on the strap or in the book as we called it in those days, as you all well know.
I remember making go carts out of scrap wood and some old pram wheels and playing down on the canal and the old bomb peck. You've got me started now I might put it all down on paper, as you said pictures are all the memories we have now because they have destroyed the physical that we knew and loved and pictures and words are all that can keep it alive.
As children we had very little, but did we, I ask? Look at children today, a lot of them don't go out and play in the fresh air with other children, they don't make things out of what's just lying around as we did with go karts and if they meet other children, a lot of them have no social skills because they spend their time on electronics, staring at a screen talking to their virtual friends. I worry what the world is coming to and what we as humans are doing to our once Beautiful world. Everyone in the street used to know and help each other, now we're lucky if someone 6 doors away say's hello.
Oh and I agree, I wouldn't swap my childhood either. Our parents were proud people who did what they had to, to get by. I loved working with the milkman as a young boy, giving my small wage to my Mom to help pay for whatever she needed. It may seem strange to some but I remember fondly the brown bit in the dripping when we spread it on the partially stale bread after having a Sunday lunch. Bread and dripping was a meal as was bread and jam and sometimes just bread and butter. Going to Jones's and getting things on the strap or in the book as we called it in those days, as you all well know.
I remember making go carts out of scrap wood and some old pram wheels and playing down on the canal and the old bomb peck. You've got me started now I might put it all down on paper, as you said pictures are all the memories we have now because they have destroyed the physical that we knew and loved and pictures and words are all that can keep it alive.
As children we had very little, but did we, I ask? Look at children today, a lot of them don't go out and play in the fresh air with other children, they don't make things out of what's just lying around as we did with go karts and if they meet other children, a lot of them have no social skills because they spend their time on electronics, staring at a screen talking to their virtual friends. I worry what the world is coming to and what we as humans are doing to our once Beautiful world. Everyone in the street used to know and help each other, now we're lucky if someone 6 doors away say's hello.
Last edited:
hi eddie i have always set great store in old photos...they bring back memories for us and in many cases we remember things we had long forgotten....its not really that common to find photos of the back houses but in the case of aberdeen st i do have a few and providing the numbering on them is correct the gods are shining down on you because here is (hopefully she says) one showings numbers 1 to 4 back of 46 so your house is showing...the date on it is 27th june 1972..not sure which way the numbering is going but hopefully you can confirm the photo is good...totally agree with all you have said in your last post..been saying it for years now..
lyn
lyn
Last edited:
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Lyn, thanks for the pic that's Brilliant. Mike is right they were 1 - 4 from right to left, so ours was third from right.
We left around the end of 1971 to the beginning of 1972, so I think it's safe to say that no one moved in after us.
It's changed the way I think, I take loads of photographs of my surroundings now. I do miss that place so much and the people that we all grew up with.
Mike, you are correct, 1 - 4 right to left, Oh and thanks for the map. Dolly Russell lived next to us at number 4, she later moved to Blackford St, (Possibly number 2 or there about).
We left around the end of 1971 to the beginning of 1972, so I think it's safe to say that no one moved in after us.
It's changed the way I think, I take loads of photographs of my surroundings now. I do miss that place so much and the people that we all grew up with.
Mike, you are correct, 1 - 4 right to left, Oh and thanks for the map. Dolly Russell lived next to us at number 4, she later moved to Blackford St, (Possibly number 2 or there about).
hi eddie glad you like the photo of your house...one for the family album...just noticed you had posted your email address on your first post...we dont advise doing this on open forum as it could lead to unwanted emails from idiots or your email address being hacked..so we advise any members wishing to give out private info to other members to do so via our private message system as only the recipient and the sender have access to these messages...i have edited your post to ask members to contact you this way and removed your email address
all the best and enjoy the forum
lyn
all the best and enjoy the forum
lyn
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Thanks Lyn. I appreciate that.
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Mike, could you tell me where you got this map from please? I want to get a similar larger map of the area including the Queens Head and overlay it onto a present day map so that I can work out from the pub, (which I believe is still there but not as a pub), where my house was in relation to what is there presently if that makes sense.
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
Brilliant, Thanks again Mike.
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
I was just looking at this photo of my old childhood home and am puzzled why there should be washing on our clothes line when no one lives there. The only thing I can think is that one of the houses in front still has occupants who are using the extra space maybe. We moved out at the end of 1971 and the picture is dated 1972. Definitely not ours.
hI Susano9 i recall you and your family as my mate was johny dunkley and his family for donkey years along with billy wylman from peel stret and we invented the route 66 coffee bar and the down stairs celler we created for our use of the gang and played music down there
mike could you mark out 6/125 please for josies sister eileen so that it easier for her to see but could you post it so that it concentrates more on the layout of just the surrounding houses rather than the whole street as she seems to think they had a small garden
thanks mike
lyn
thanks mike
lyn
Last edited:
Lyn
There seems to be no house labelled 6/125 on the map, in fact no houses labelled back 15. Number 125 is marked in red, and there is a house almost directly behind it labelled 6/130. At the time of the map it seems to have shared a garden space with adjoining houses
There seems to be no house labelled 6/125 on the map, in fact no houses labelled back 15. Number 125 is marked in red, and there is a house almost directly behind it labelled 6/130. At the time of the map it seems to have shared a garden space with adjoining houses
Edward Holmes
proper brummie kid
PGreen
New Member
Hello, So glad I found this forum. My Dad was bought up in Aberdeen St. His name was Leonard Beech Green, sadly he died last year, but soon we will be planting a tree with his ashes at The Centre of the Earth in Norman St.
I'm attaching some old photos of my Nan (Annie Green)
and me in the garden of Aberdeen St (1969), me and my brother inside no. 13 (1972) and two photos of the start of the demolition (1973?)
PGreen
New Member
Not at all. Glad you did that. The remaining buildings are much clearer.Nice photos .... I have equalised the lighting of your outdoor photos to make the dark areas more visible. Hope you don't mind ...
View attachment 149456
View attachment 149457
maypolebaz
master brummie
I had relatives in Norman St, years ago. I had a look in the 70s and found that most of the houses had gone. So what, and where is The Centre of the Earth ?
PGreen
New Member
It's an environmental centre, The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country. https://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/centre-of-the-earth
It's at the end of Norman Street tucked behind the hospital and next to the canal.
maypolebaz
master brummie
Thanks for that.
I can't wait to show my mom this tomorrow
