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Royal Coronations : Birmingham response

Anne Jessel

master brummie
How did you and your families celebrate Coronation Day?
Who owned a TV then ?!
Did you watch it on your TV or someone elses?
Were you actually there?
What do you remember?
Any nice pictures?
What momento were you given from school?
The latter question - I was given a tiny weeny leather dictionary with a press studded strap across the pages. On the press stud button was a picture of our Queen
Anne
 
We went to my Nan's in Newcombe Road, Handsworth. The children had a street party while the grown up's watched the Coronation huddled around a bakelite TV which had a magnifying glass over the screen (an early forerunner of widescreen :)
Dad bought a Dinky? Coronation Coach with eight horses to commemorate the event. It was kept out of my reach above the front door for several years, until I was able to reach it with a chair and wreck it playing Cowboys and Indians.:redface:
 
I lived on Uplands Road and like Apollo's grand parents we had a street party. I just can't remember what we were given at school, I am sure it will come back. We had one of those coach and horses, I wonder what happened to it? I think my brother has all the photos as he probably took them being 13 years older than me, if he was on leave from the army. :) Mo
 
I was given a money box in the shape of a crown,It was very fancy,gold and red,does anybody else remember them,I don't think our parent's bought them I think they were given to lot's of children maybe from school,maybe somebody can tell us.
 
We had a Street party in Marsh Lane Erdington.
Remember the rain came down and the landlord of the Red Lion opened up his function room for us to continue our celebrations.
 
I was doing my National Service in Germany, we did have a TV, but I was on duty and was only able to watch a bit of it, seem to remember it was raining and most of the coaches had their tops up, except for one, think it was the Queen of Tonga.
 
Nick - my brother was in Germany, I think it was Düsseldorf. He was in the REME I think those were the letters. I also remeber the Queen of Tonga riding in an open carriage, I think she got all the front page photos. :) Mo
 
Spot on Sakura. Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers I was about twenty miles from Düsseldorf in the Royal Signals.
 
Nick - My brother went to Handsworth Gammer, did you?
I am sure you didn't come across him in Germany but his name is Brian Wigley.:) Mo
 
I remember the Coronation. The weather wasn't too good, so the youngsters went into someone's house for a party, us teenagers hung out in the street and watched some of it on a 12" TV through someone's front window. In the evening we walked to Barr Beacon where someone had made a massive bonfire. Much more exciting, roast spuds etc, lots of people there, and nice and warm round the fire.
 
Um..... I don't remember the Coronation because it was the year I was born. My mom told me she was very excited about the Coronation and Dad built a television for the day. She said half the street came round to watch. Mom said it was lovely they made cakes and food beforehand so the wouldn't miss any of it!:)
 
We three kids spent the day with our Dad in Aston... We visited The Crossbee's in Tower Rd. Where my cousin Robert won a prize for the Fancy Dress with his friend, they were dressed as a Swan Vesters match and a Woodbine. (Not PC today LOL). Then the Martin's and me Nan in Park Lane to watch the event on T.V. and another Aunt and Uncle in Clarendon St.
If you go to 'The Main Aston Brook Through Manor' site you will see a photo (my brother has the same or a similar one) that was taken with all the Kids in Clarendon Street. I was right in front, being a pain (or a pest as my Nan always called me) talking and not looking at the camera like all the other kids, I remember my sister getting upset and running yelling to my dad (who was standing to one side watching) to tell me to stop. Needless to say she missed out on being in the photo cuz people took them anyway.
By the time we got home to Dymoke St, Mom had had a row with most of the neighbours over something to do with the Street Party and so we kids missed out on the Street party and were sent to bed early instead (we watch the party very quietly from the bedroom window).

Full photo main site under Clarendon St: https://www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk/id154.htm

View attachment 9768
I was wearing a Pink Dress that my Mom had just made and it hung below the hem of my Pale Blue coat, White shoes and socks.

Pom :angel:
 
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Elizabeth 11, 1952
Friends and neighbours watched the coronation on our telly in the dark in the morning. The party was in the street and the court yard (back to backs) but the eating part was in our front room (we were posher as we lived behind an old shop with our own yard. I complained about the sandwiches tasting funny. They were made with butter which I hadn't tasted before.

George VI, 1936
I wasn't at this one (five years too early) but my mom and dad, three sisters and brother were there; Eden Place, Guildford street. Photos attached
 
Coronation

:) Dad bought our first T.V. to watch the Coronation. Mom bought us a bible. We did not have any street parties around where we lived but we did have a school pageant at Cranbourne Road school.
These are are the costumes we had made for us. Mine was Red and White, I cannot remember the colours of the other smart costumes.
 
Lovely to read about memories of Coronation Day. From school I remember receiving a mug with the Queen's picture on it and the Royal Coat of Arms. We also received a certificate commemorating the occasion plus a small box
containing a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. The box had the Queen's picture on it and the colour was the Cadbury's classic purple.

We had the TV set up and after much activity in the loft by my Dad....ariel positioning you could call it. All of us shouting up to him ...a bit this way....no....the other way, etc. until the picture was stable. Watching the ceremony with Richard Dimbleby narrating the goings on inside the Abbey with hushed tones.

Going to Mrs. Berridge's and Mrs. Phillip's, our neighbours to practice singing "Jerusalem " and also "In a Golden Coach" for the stage show that didn't really happen due to the downpour that day. We all squished into a neighbours garage and house for refreshments and some singing...not by me thank goodness! https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/i/inagoldencoach.shtml

Remember the red, white and blue dress my mother made for me and getting horribly impatient with the fitting of it.

I remember the Queen of Tonga in a coach in the rain and also later on Edmundo Ros making a record called "The Queen of Tonga" all about her coming to Britain and being in the Coronation Parade. The words are here:
https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thequeenoftonga.shtml
 
What lovely photo's Izabellanne which one is you? I have loved this thread reading eveyones memories thank you all:)
 
All the youngsters in our road travelled around Birmingham by coach, looking at other peoples street decorations. We saw the Coronation on TV, I remember it was very grainy and the screen was 12" so in fact you had to have a pretty good imagination to see what was happening in the Abbey. The weather was aweful for June, and such a shame because there were such plans to celebrate the day. We were still recovering from war time rationing, and food was to be a big part of the day, all to be eaten at trestles in the road. We finished up in the church hall, but the concert that was planned did go ahead during the evening, and the stage that was built in the tee junction of our road was a great success. I do remember a nasty accident, one of the boys drank from a bottle of what he thought was lemonade and it had been filled with parafin, to light a bonfire that didn't happen.
 
coronation

"What lovely photo's Izabellanne which one is you? I have loved this thread reading eveyones memories thank you all:)"

Moma. P.
Thank you. I am the smaller darker one.My two friends were Hazel and Graham Moss who moved to Stowmarket shortly after this photo was taken. I have never forgotten them though...
 
Mr Berry - the racing pigeon breeder - presented every kid in Wellington Street with a commemorative china cup and saucer. I went round with my big sister collecting donations for the party. My brother and a few of his mates helped put up the buntings. On the day the Burns family - Belfast Catholics - supplied the PA system and the electricity to run it.

The party was held in one of the court yards. Afterwards all the kids were presented with goody bags (David Cheshier got a double barrelled cork firing pop gun and I didn't! :| ). We all the games and frivolities began. My mom won a tea caddy for winning the over 40s women's race. My brother hurt his back as anchor in a tug 'o' war team (being three sheets in the wind hadn't helped his stability).

At some time or other, we were split into groups to watch the ceremony in the two or three houses that had tellies. We wound up in the small room of a back to back watching a 12" screen with about 25 other people.

Later on we (the kids) were organised between houses allotted with babysitters: We had three neighbours kids staying over with us with our bigger sister in charge - while the adults carried on the celebrations till the early hours. Buses were diverted from the road on the following morning to avoid the crater left by the bon fire the previous night.

Unfortunately, probably because there was no one sober enough to take them, I haven't seen any photos of the event. However, here's one of the pageant held in Westminster Road with my wife (she wasn't then :rolleyes: ) as Crown Bearer, her sister as an attendant and her brother as a guard.
 
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