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Alma Street, Six Ways, Aston

Dolly, I don't know how long those houses have been up but what is clear is that they won't last as long as those replaced. It seems to me that the mass production of low rental houses that have a modicum of style and vitality using as many resources as possible that can be renewed is a challenge that I for one would have relished being a part of as a young man. It is a world wide requirement and perhaps one that Mr&Mrs. Gates might consider. The back to back's were low rental housing of the time I suppose. Somehow the units, shown in your picture don't match even those, although heating and facilities would be better I suppose. Having a safe decent home to grow up in and work from is a good start in life but it takes more than that; community spirit is also a requirement. The latter seems to be in short supply.
 
Such poor planning overall. However, the drive up to Six Ways on the right hand side
is very park like these days. I can remember when they renovated all the houses coming up Alma Street to Six Ways in the early l960s and then promptly pulled them all down to put in the new(for those days) road system. The people who lived in the renovated houses must have felt awful when they received notices to leave after putting up with all that noise and dirt. The renovated houses looked great if I remember rightly. Usual Council madness and it seems to continue on today.
True, those ugly brick buildings won't go the distance and then some other ideas for housing will be dreamed up.
 
I suppose there will always be a necessity for rental housing but I personally think that the main problem with it is ownership. If you own the modest house that you live in and thereby have a financial interest in it, you will be more likely to take care of it. This is the principal that the Habitat organisation goes by in building homes for those with modest income. They offer low interest mortgages and the families have to qualify. Also the families chosen have to put in work equity in the building process. Volunteers build the houses on land usually donated by the Province in areas that are close to shopping and schools and buses. I gave three days a week for six months leading teams of volunteers on a fifty house build site and I see that they were occupied the last time I was by there. They were modest townhouses but they had a nice front porch and a back garden and they looked alright. The mortgages would be little more per month than these people would be paying some slum landlord and at the end of the day the occupants have a financial stake. But it does require people who are willing to donate their time free of charge.
 
ruperts right about pride in ownership,where i live now ,all the people who were there when we moved in the late sixties are dead,now most of the houses are privately owned but rented out to oddball organisations who just process people thru till somewhere else turns up.i walked up my road last night(very warily day or night) just to see how many houses there were that i actually knew people and it was 2 out of about 200.outside my house there has been a fridge put out 3 months ago,the kids jump on ,passers by drop all their rubbish in it,mattresses appear overnight,front gardens are an extension to the dustbin bags,people just open the front door and throw out waste food for the pigeons.my neighbour ,god knows what dialect she shouts in but she stacks her rubbish bags up against my back gate so if ther was a fire we couldnt get out.being an ex gamekeeper i am well versed in rodent control so to to catch a dozen rats out thwere isnt a problem,so i piled them on top of the bags so when the gate was opened for the next load they all went over her head,i think i have solved that problem now :2funny:.people haf drive on the pavement so they can change the engine oil ,then just tip it down the drains,and leave all the bits in the gutter.the transient population have no pride what so ever in these houses that to them are just half way houses,anything in the property that they dont want is just thrown in the street knowing EVENTUALLY somebody will move it.when the weathers nice they all sit on their cars and throw all the chip papers and cans where they stand.people find my house by my directions ,3rd fridge turn left,at the double mattress do a right ,at the wall unit and 2 carpets do a left and i am by the 4th pram next to the pile of bin bags.at least the slums i was brought up were peoples homes and they had some pride in where they lived.
all these activities are illegal but no one enforces anything EXCEPT i was stopped by one of these community police officers for driving around a bollard as there were a pile of bin bags on my side of the road,sour grapes i know but it does make me mad,rant over ,just going out now to wipe the weekly kebab off my windscreen
 
To think that when I grew up, just round the corner from you , Pete, every woman would take the broom once a week and sweep the bit of pavement outside her front garden.
 
There was a lot of pride about keeping your front step white. It mattered a lot. I can remember when I worked on New John Street West I used different ways to get to Summer Lane to catch the bus and I often saw women with their legs over the sill in the upstairs bedroom of their houses. They were cleaning the windows and singing.
 
Jennyann, I can see my mom now opening the sash window and edging herself out until she was sitting on the ledge outside facing the window. ::)
 
Alf, I always cleaned the front red tiles in our porch when I was old enough.
I too used Cardinal polish. The porch was filled in four decades ago but the tiles are still there. They were painted over at one time but you can see the red where the paint has worn off.
 
the only times the brooms come out around here now is when they hop on them and fly to the shops :2funny:
 
Looks like pride took a long walk away from where you live Dolly....that is happening in many cities these days. The way some people live has always been of interest but some places just can't drop below what I call the "manageable" level without turning into an eyesore. . If they do they become very hard to deal with and to clean up. As you say some of the tenants aren't around long enough and don't care anyway. I don't know what the answer is. The Brum Council is often on about cleaning up areas, etc and preventing fly-tipping, etc. but that costs money. Looks like some of the people on your street Dolly don't care what's outside their front door and that's why pride has gone missing.

The car engine oil being chucked down the drain is a no brainer and can be deadly if a lot of people are doing it. The laws have been tightened up a great deal regarding this
here. Some people are too lazy to take anything hazardous and harmful to the population to the proper place for disposal.
 
Everybody helped keep the area clean steps were only a small part everybody took pride in their area, clean steps ,windows & curtains. etc :)
 
Do you remember how sniffy our moms were about their white washing. If there was a line a shade off white, it was tutted over. ::)
 
We took such things for granted but it was cultural brainwashing really. When you think how difficult it was back then to produce a line of clean washing, especially whites for a large family
overall. I think you saw more really good white washing lines and when a line of whites were "not up to standard" then they really stood out. But yes women used to Tut tut about such things. I still like to see a line of clean white washing blowing in the wind.
 
:angel: I agree Jennyann and Di. O0
I still sort my washing into colours to wash, even though most colours don't seem to 'run' these days and the white look so fresh blowing there on the line.
 
We were looking at a development away from the city, a while back. It was already partly occupied and being extended. Looked very nice with attractive houses just the right size with the best insulation and natural gas available. The salesman was giving us the pitch and he said. "No clothes lines are allowed" to spoil the view.
If we do eventually move from where we are now, it won't be to that place. That kind of convenient should be frowned on by legislators in the interests of conservancy.
 
Thought I would see more history on Alma St when I read this topic. Bit disappointed though. Anyway, here goes
Alma St Tavern - anyone remember drinking in there in the fifties and sixties? If so then you must have known the gaffer and his missus Bob and Eileen Turley. You would also have known my Dad - Bill Smith. Red hair, Glasses standing well over 6ft 6. He used to wind up the pub clock and collect glasses in return for a pint. We had the pub clock when they closed the Alma down about 1967 to make way for progress

I also remember being sent to the butchers on Alma st for a bag of bones with which our mum would cook a stew. Today - you buy the same things for the dog.
 
alma street pub clock

Do you have a picture of the clock or any photographs regarding Alma street we can only put up stuff of Alma street (and other areas) with the help of people who have pictures or stories if you can help please do
John H
 
Peter just read your post again. I think that the wavy line you refer to was the original course of the sluiced water from the older pool. The tail race water would have been lower down the hill but still above Hockley Brook. The sluiced water and the tailrace met at a mutually convenient level near the junction of Potters Lane and Newtown Row? where it would have gone under a bridge and on down to Aston Mill. Later I believe the spoil bank may have been used to form a pool from the sluiced water of the old pool, to the east of the lane. Surface elevation would have been similar to the old furnace pool. The old tailrace would have been redundent then and may have been diverted into Hockley Brook right at Porchester Street, to remove water used in the manufacturing process and from the Newcomen engine. Since there are refferences to two pools and also a sketch, I think the wavy line would have been the northern bank as well as the route of the sluiced water.

I think Alma Street may have been a culdesac leading up to the second pool prior to the draining. Inkerman Street would not have existed then.
 
Bevan in alma street

my familly lived at 66 alma street .there were 11 of us the bevan and khannon family does anyone remember us all .
 
My Grand Mother lived in Alma Street John & Welcome.

How long ago was that? what year? then we could remember perhaps, need more clues.

Your age & School would help.:)
 
My Gran Elsie Jones and her daughter Brenda Jones lived in Alma St I dont recall the number but it was just a few yards up from Gerrard St and had a bus stop right outside the door!
We used to vist every Sat and my Dad used to love to watch the wrestling on TV the only problem was when the bus pulled up the TV went haywire!
I can remember my Aunt sent me to the paper shop just around the corner in Gerrard st to get her something and she gave me a £1 note I came bach with just the loose change and she had a fit as I'd lost the ten bob note. She made me go back to the shop and lo and behold there was the ten bob note sticking out of the board that used to hold newspaper headlines in, it had got caught in the wire somehow!
When I got older I used to take my Gran to the wrestling matches at ( Lord I cant remember the name of the place now) but I think it was next to the shop called The House That Jack Built. Perhaps it was what the Elbow Room is now.......... my mind is playing tricks on me lol. However my Gran loved it she was very blood thirsty she'd yell for them to tear the arms of each other and invariably I'd come out of there with bruised ribs where she'd elbowed me ha ha ha.
My Aunt used to take me to the Onion fair when it was on, oh how I loved that place! I think that and the fair at Belle View Speedway led me on a path of life time love affairs with fair grounds and theme parks. Oh Happy Days !!!!!!!
 
I went to alma street school which is opposite the back end of the swimming baths,had it still been there.there was a factory on the corner that had a big fire in about 1963. i think the factory was W j leek's? we lived next door to a corner furniture shop ,cook's i think .
 
hi all. would anyone have any pics of the old houses in alma street please. cheers. wales.
 
So YouHave Been A NeibourTo My Uncle Henrys Bookng Shop And Coffee Shop
At 91 Alma Street -- Charles Jelf , But I Think Of It Now It May Have Been Before Your Time
 
hi all. not sure if i have posted these before so i will put them on anyway... two pubs that were in alma street.. the alma tavern and the salutation.

wales.
 
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