• 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

Co-op horse

Sorry but I can't divulge my mum's Co-oP N°, it is so engraved in my brain that I use it, in combinations, for many of my code & pin numbers. Even my car alarm has mum's Co-oP N° in it!

Graham.
 
Pete's moms number was 90405. I think we remember because if you were like me you used to pay the man at the door and have to quote your number. Jean.
 
My Moms number was 29764. My brother worked on the c0-0p milk from Hall Green depot during the early 60s. He was an assistant and his horse bolted and jumped on a 31a bus on the corner of Gospel Lane and Severne Road. I think the horses name was Freda.
 
Our next door neighbours co-op number was 28003 i used to run errands for her pre WW2. Len.
 
silhouette53 said:
Born 1953 - William Street Lozells - I remember our co-op milkman was named Albert. I can see him now, a big mop of black curly hair and Buddy Holly type specs. Can't recall his horses name though ! Moms co-op No. was 70657 and my nans was 105505

I seem to remember that the 'breadman' also delivered by hoss'n'cart
Click to expand...
What number house did you live at,I lived at no 103 aged 5 in1953
 
I can certainly remember Scribban's and the local baker George Baines (in Finch Road) delivering by horse and cart in the early fifties, but I don't remember when they were taken over. Funny thing is I don't think I can remember the Co-op delivering bread, but I wouldn't rule it out.
Peter
 
I remember the maroon coloured long Co-op van that used to come into our road weekly as it was then I got my bar of chocolate. I can't remember my mum's or my divi number but I still have my book with about £8 in it. It will give my grandchildren a laugh in later years. I often went with my mum into Stirchley to collect her divi from there. (TASCO)
 
moms number was 27 40 20 it is engraved into my soul!!

used to do all our shopping at the co op witton except for the greengrocery and meat from the butchers. dont know how mom carried the bags every day to feed a family of 9.

chris
 
I remember our co-op milk man having a beautiful dog he used to bring round with him.. One day he wasn't there and I was told he had been run over. I think I was almost as upset as [would you believe it I've just rememberd his name] Bob. Our minds are a wonderful thing they store things for years. Jean.
 
Peter, Go to page 4 of this thread, Lloyd posted a photo of a CO-OP electric powered bread deilvery van. Len.
 
Hawleys was another Birmingham baker that used to deliver, my dad had a mobile greengrocers , he used to go all over the place.
 
An old thread, but probably the most appropriate pace for the following cutting from 1981 concerning the co-op coal department , their horses, and their floats used by miners in the depression. One photo was cut off by my scanner, so have put it on separately
mike

coop_coal_waggons_2.jpg


coop_coal_waggons_1.jpg
 
I'm glad you've revived this thread Mike G - what an interesting read, I've just read through the whole thread.
Like others, I have Mum's no. firmly implanted in my memory, but as I use it as passwords, if I told you I'd have to kill you......(can't remember my own from the 1970s though!!)
I remember seeing a horse drawn bread delivery van in Small Heath after 1959 - I used to see it on my way to catch the bus to grammar school, and frequently shouted at the driver for cantering his horse on the tarmac, I think he thought he was the pony express.
Reading about the accidents, folk forget how dangerous working with horses could be. On my ancestry quest I found myself reading the daily log of the Philadelphia police force from the early 1900s, and was amazed how many entries read 'officer killed/injured due to horse bolting'. (tho' I shouldn't be surprised, having been dumped on the floor many a time by my own neddies!!)
 
Here is a Co-op milk float somewhere along the outer circle ring road. From it's condition it must have been near the end of it's working life. The horse looks in better condition though.
 
Our milkman's horse was called Lobelia(Newton Road round). My nan lived round the corner from the Hall Green Dairy and we used to go to 'look at the horses' on a Saturday with grandad. The strange thing was that their milk was delivered by an electric cart (not a milk float) as the lived too near to the dairy!
 
I was 3 years old living in Park Road Bearwood. We had a horse drawn milk cart and the horse was my friend. He was called Balladin. Everyday I would ask my mom for a crust of bread and I would sit outside on the kerb stone, feet in the gutter waiting for him. I could hear him clip clopping up St Mary's road and I thought I would burst with excitement. Balladin was very big and I was very small but he would always stop right next to me. I would reach up as high as I could and he would bow hus head and gently take the bread from my hand. I wonder if there is a picture anywhere of Balladin and I think the milkman was Ken
 
Keith Berry took this photo of a horse pulling a Birmingham Co-Operative Dairies'milk cart in Freer Road, Aston in late 1950s
46Milkhorse.jpg
It is in Album 6 in a forum post which can be viewed with click on link below

Keith Berry's Photo Legacy

Keith Berry's 'Old Birmingham & Surroundings' Photo Gallery Recovery of 600 approx photos is complete, 15 albums click on any to see. Keith Berry's titles and comments are in the albums ... 1 1950s /1960s Aston, Birchfield, Lozells, Handsworth. (48) 2 1950s/1960s Handsworth, Handsworth Park...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Last edited:
tattybags said:
I was 3 years old living in Park Road Bearwood. We had a horse drawn milk cart and the horse was my friend. He was called Balladin. Everyday I would ask my mom for a crust of bread and I would sit outside on the kerb stone, feet in the gutter waiting for him. I could hear him clip clopping up St Mary's road and I thought I would burst with excitement. Balladin was very big and I was very small but he would always stop right next to me. I would reach up as high as I could and he would bow hus head and gently take the bread from my hand. I wonder if there is a picture anywhere of Balladin and I think the milkman was Ken
Click to expand...
What a wonderful memory Ken. I remember the horse drawn milk cart along our road in Kingstanding. Your post so reminded me of the daunting size of the horse and the cart it pulled. In reality it probably wasn’t as big as I imagined, but to me as a 4 year old it was like a giant. Wouldn’t have been brave enough to feed it though, like you did.

And I remember the horse droppings of course. Didn’t stay on the road for long as there was always someone ready with the coal shovel wanting the manure for their garden. Viv.
 
oldMohawk said:
Mom's Co Op number 200904 and I remember the milkman and breadman gave out a small ticket slip with the number written on when paid but I can't remember why .. :)

There is another number 3150438 which stays in my memory but it's in another thread ...
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/national-service.513/post-426633
Click to expand...
Maybe for the customer to reconcile with the dividend that was later issued and recorded in the customer's book. Also to keep an eye on the milkman and the cash?
 
oldMohawk said:
Mom's Co Op number 200904 and I remember the milkman and breadman gave out a small ticket slip with the number written on when paid but I can't remember why .. :)
Click to expand...
Tinpot said:
Maybe for the customer to reconcile with the dividend that was later issued and recorded in the customer's book. Also to keep an eye on the milkman and the cash?
Click to expand...
The customer got the top copy and the carbon copy went to the dairy. The amounts spent were then entered on the customers Co-op account. Eventually divi was awarded.
171590 and Nan's was 169698.
 
pjmburns said:
The customer got the top copy and the carbon copy went to the dairy. The amounts spent were then entered on the customers Co-op account. Eventually divi was awarded.
171590 and Nan's was 169698.
Click to expand...
279934 to pay the milkman when Mum and Dad were out at work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top