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barrack street/windsor st

B

BUSTABOO

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after leaving handsworth in 1970 our faimily moved to devon street in nechells (my mother was horrified as she grew up in handsworth) and she recalls sending her old clothes to familys in nechells through a school project.

not that my mother was a snob but she had a fairly decent life compared to the people currently living in nechells at that time (no offence intended but the gap between devon st and antrobus road was quite big according to my mum, this was my dads idea who had arrived in birmingham from ireland and realy didnt know anything about nechells, but had stayed in digs in the handsworth area on arrival and after very political rows with my glaswegion grandfather ex blackwatch/police officer didnt really welcome the fact that his daughter had fallen for an irish navy(putting that very politely) decided to take us to nechells.

i have had no compaints though i loved nechells and still do my mum still lives in the old barracks after leaving devon st in 1973.
it was great growing up there knowing that another great love of mine the canals was so closed to were i grew up many summer and winter school days were bunked of to go to the canals.

im now living in hodgehill so close to another great love of mine the spitfire plant i love chasing up eye witnesses to the test flights that were carried out well not many nowadays but stories still get filtered down to me.

i am fortunate to have a job that takes me to every single road throughout birmingham at least twice a year, so i really do identify and feel the memories that you all portray on this forum

i love birmingham and this site
thanks
 
i grew up in windsor street/barrack street for most of the 50s we lived in hennage pl windsor street through the sixties we lived in barrack street one hose actually on barrack street and moved to heddon pl barrack street.
i have always wanted to move back to brum but unfortunatly i am unable to do so at pressent but i would love to go back and barrack street would be the place for me
 
thank you wendy i really do love brum and wished i was back there
 
Bustaboo, I lived by The Swan, Yardley, 11yrs young in 1939 i well remember the Spitfire test flights, we always knew when Alec Henshaw was the pilot and the whole of the road would be out watching, one of his tests was to climb to maximum height and dive down levelling out just in time we who were watching would be yelling "Pull out!, Pull out!" but Alec even if he could have heard us would have done his own thing, a truly great pilot. Len.
 
Kath and Bustaboo , I lived in Chicheley St in the fifties ( just round the corner from Barrack st and Windsor st ), and have fond memories of the area. I went to Windsor st school and then Bloomsbury st . I too remember playing with my cousin on the site of St James . We used to dare one another to go down the steps to the crypt . Wow was it creepy! We also used to play in the park by the viaduct , does anyone remember the parkie .

Isobel
 
Hi to you new folk from Nechells.... Just put 'Nechells' in to the search box at the top of the page and you will find a mine of memories, photo's and information about 'The Old End'.
Also go to our 'Main Sites' page (there's also a link to click on at the top of the page) then scroll down to 'Heartlands' site,. On there you will find pic's of Devon St and again memories and information of the area.
Browse, read and enjoy both sites....

Chris/Pom
 
hi isobel we has kids used to go to that crypt it was spooky and we used to dare each other to climb up it to the top and and go down inside it was so errie.
we were also so scared of treading on the grave stones that was there.
re: the park on vauxhall road we had great fun there i remember the parkie teaching us songs in his wooden shed one that comes to mind is waltzing matilda we called him jack dont no if that was his real namehe was a tall man and a good sport.
what i remember most was the real hot summer days down the park and going back home feeling sore getting sun burnt but to me those were the good old days
 
hi isobel we has kids used to go to that crypt it was spooky and we used to dare each other to climb up it to the top and and go down inside it was so errie.
we were also so scared of treading on the grave stones that was there.
re: the park on vauxhall road we had great fun there i remember the parkie teaching us songs in his wooden shed one that comes to mind is waltzing matilda we called him jack dont no if that was his real namehe was a tall man and a good sport.
what i remember most was the real hot summer days down the park and going back home feeling sore getting sun burnt but to me those were the good old days

kath i too remember jack the parkie as you know i lived in overton place, next to yours...had some good good fun in that park
 
hi ya john nice to see u again so to speak.
yes they were certainly good times when kids knew how to enjoy themselves there wasnt that much at the park but everything was great and good fun in those days
 
The Barracks on Barrack street are long gone and the reason for them being there has faded. However the space seems to have been taken up by flats that look like barracks in plan view. I was searching for the location of the old late 1700s Vauxhall Gardens and bowling green and after a false start found the area where they were; right opposite the end of Great Brook Street where it met Vauxhall Road. In this quest I became familiar with all of the streets that have been mentioned in map ref. only. Some I had been on as a child. As mentioned on this forum, Ashted Row has gone now. Great Brook street has been truncated to a short piece and no longer runs to Vauxhall road but suprisingly many of the roads still exist in the same locations as dating way back. There is not much remaining of the old buildings and houses though, lets face it they were pretty grotty by our time on the whole.
I have learned more about the place where I was born from this forum than I ever knew when I lived there.
 
Hi Kath , you're right the parkies name was Jack . I couldn't remember it until you said. He was a proper gent . We , my Brother ,cousins and friends spent many hours there . Apart from that we spent a lot of time playing on the bomb sites .

Isobel
 
isobel you sound like a girl after my own heart i was a bit of a tom boy i loved mouching and playing on the bomb pecks it wouldnt surprise me if we hadnt meet during our child hood as we seemed to go to the same places lol
 
Hi Kath, you hit the nail on the head , I really was a Tom boy . Dolls weren't really my cup of tea . Now give me a trip down to the canel at New Canal St or on the back of a friends bike , well that would me more like it . Marbles ,Cowboys and Indians , yes !!! More exciting .

On the other hand I did like to play with my whip and top , play ball games against the lavatery wall and hopscotch until the arrival of the milk lorries in Chicheley st made it rather difficult .

We may well have played in the same locations , perhaps on the next swing . Who knows ?

Did you go to Windsor st school , if so which years ?

The memories of my childhood once faded have started to return .

Isobel
 
isobel in answer to ur question no i didnt go to windsor street school
i went to st,vincents school.
there were a few of us that hung round penn street canal cant think what the facination was about that place but that was kids for u in those days no sense of the dangers. but they were great days
kath
 
hI iSOBEL. MY FOLKS WERE MARRIED AT ST JAMES IN 1933. WE ALSO DID THE CRYPT VISITS. WE WERE TOLD OF THE "PENNIES ON THE EYES" AND LADS USING A SKULL AS A FOOTBALL ALTHOUGH NEVER HAD SIGHT OF THAT MYSELF. LIVED IN WINDSOR STREET ( BOTTOM END)
 
isobel in answer to ur question no i didnt go to windsor street school
i went to st,vincents school.
there were a few of us that hung round penn street canal cant think what the facination was about that place but that was kids for u in those days no sense of the dangers. but they were great days
kath
Hi Kath, I know this post is a few years old but having found an old map I was talking to my dad. He lived in St James Street and was born 1945 and went to at Vincent’s. His name is John Regan and was friends with Paddy Gill. Not sure if you remember him?

ali
 
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