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Daily Mail Clothes

barrie

barrie

master brummie
Does anyone else remember the issue of trousers, shirts, and jumpers given out, I believe, by the Daily Mail. Also the boots given out by the police at Digbeth?
 
Yes Barrie, I had Daily Mail boots and a jersey for about 3 years on the trot, everyone knew where they came from and I used to take some stick.
 
I don't remember the clothes, but I do remember the boots & socks and was very glad of them.

As I recently posted on another forum, because of the kindness and donations by the people of Birmingham made to the Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund. This city the first major city that was able to say that no children were without shoes. Another first for Birmingham.

Phil
 

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Yes, I had them too - once!
I wanted the shoes but they went first and I ended up with the boots which were unwearable because of the blisters they rubbed.
There was no shortage of takers, some of whom may have been barefooted otherwise. Birmingham always had a heart and I trust it always will have.
Ted
 
It was some years ago that i learn't of the Daily Mail Boots, i was fortunate enough not to have need of clothing or other things in my childhood. But what a wonderful idea i wonder who dream't it up and brought it into fruition. I am sure that we must do these things today, i do hope so, after all Charity does begin at home or should do...Cat
 
My husband was an orphan at six years of age and then raised by his grandmother. He qualified for the free boots which were collected from Digbeth Police Station, and a free jumper and a pair of short trousers from the B'ham Mail. No underwear was supplied and none provided by his gran so he must have been frozen in wintertime. The clothes and boots were supplied once a year. Perhaps the boots were supplied from a Police Benevolent Fund or something similar? Anthea:)
 
Catkin

The boots were provided by The Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund from 1888 until 1948 after then I believe the City of Birmingham may have taken responsibility because in my day they were collected from Public Works Depots like Allison St & Crawford St. I think the need and practice died out before the 60's. Well at least my need of them did.

The Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund still flourishes today, but perhaps doesent have quite the impact today. Here are a couple of interesting links concerning the fund.

https://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1994F253

https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-17725849.html

https://www.birminghammail.net/news/black-country/2008/04/03/the-birmingham-mail-charity-trust-a-name-to-trust-since-1888-97319-20715109/

Phil
 
Thank you for those sites Phil, good to know that there are still those around that care for others,. I am an advocate of the needy...Cat
 
Around 1960 I had shoes from the fund. I thought it was the Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund, but I can't be sure. It was arranged by Mr J D T Ball who was the headmaster at Gower street senior school. He also had a school fund to help fund school uniforms, which he used to provide me with clothing. He also arranged for free school meals. As has been said, thankfully there are caring people about. It's nice to hear it's still going. Just a shame to think it is still needed in a country as affluent as this one.
 
I also had at least one pair of boots,I remember the boots had some small holes punched in them and thats how other kids new I had them. Also can any one remember going to the town hall for a Christmas party arranged by Percy Sherman,(I think he was a Birmingham councillor) for the poor kids.My sister an I went to one of them and were given an apple and an orage to come away with,cannot remember the year though.I think this was also connected to the Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund.
 
anthea said:
My husband was an orphan at six years of age and then raised by his grandmother. He qualified for the free boots which were collected from Digbeth Police Station, and a free jumper and a pair of short trousers from the B'ham Mail. No underwear was supplied and none provided by his gran so he must have been frozen in wintertime. The clothes and boots were supplied once a year. Perhaps the boots were supplied from a Police Benevolent Fund or something similar? Anthea:)
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I had the boots jumper & short trousers also i think knee high socks, very few boys wore under pants or vests parents could not afford to buy them, the boots had BM stamped on them to stop them being pawned i did not wear vests or underpants until i was called up for N/Service, very few kids had long trousers until they left school at 14yrs and started work in my case 1943 poverty and unemployment was rife i am sad to say only the start of WW2 lifted the standard of living for millions of British people. Len.
 
My Dad was given free boots & in our family it signified the degree of poverty. My father & grandfather were skilled brass workers, but by 1911 both had left to work in agriculture. I get the impression from people on this site that poverty was a very real issue, despite Birmingham's industry. Just how badly did the Depression hit Birmingham & it's people?
 
BordesleyExile said:
My Dad was given free boots & in our family it signified the degree of poverty. My father & grandfather were skilled brass workers, but by 1911 both had left to work in agriculture. I get the impression from people on this site that poverty was a very real issue, despite Birmingham's industry. Just how badly did the Depression hit Birmingham & it's people?
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Between WW1 & WW2 in the road i lived in S/Yardley at one time there were only 4 men who had jobs in a road with approx 80 houses, there was no dole money only parish relief, to get help your house was visited and if you had anything which was considered a "luxury" ie a piano you were told sell it & use the money for food, gas bills etc, times were tough and parents did every thing they could to keep their families from suffering the effects of poverty. Len.
 
Thanks for that info, Len. No wonder emmigration was encouraged! My mother, born in 1929, had said that times were hard, but did not alaborate. Your few words speak volumes.
 
Can any one remember the christmas fund that run from St martins church . We were from a single parent family with 5 kids and went there every year in the 1960s.
colin
 
all eight of us kids had the help of the digbeth police station for our shoes, which were from tuff shoes at that time. which was great for us a day out and knew gear, we had a rig out too ,underwear and knew frock and cardigan ,from the eldest to youngest, it was great .this happened at christmas ,and easter.in1961, we had this for a few good years ,and never felt embarassed, we were told it came from the police fund .the sergeant used to see to it all,he was called seargent lawrence,next best thing to santa ,for us kids he was so kind to us . i was about four years old ,but i remember it all .
 
No one seems to mention having a suit,When I was about 11 I had a full rig out,the boots had pin holes with D M on them.However, it didn't last long,I walked round the back of a tram at Perry Barr,and was run over by a milk lorry,the suit was shredded.
 
Duggy said:
Around 1960 I had shoes from the fund. I thought it was the Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund, but I can't be sure.
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I think you are correct, Duggy. I was born in 1957 and I can remember going with my mom to get free shoes. I am sure they were funded by the Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund. I know they were instantly recognisable by the kids from the ‘better’ families. Comments such as ‘Daily Mail Pakistani shoes’ (apologies to our ethnic friends- but that was what was said) cut to the quick. At the time, I could not understand what was wrong, why other kids were so hurtful. Now that I do understand, the pain I felt then I now feel for my mother and father, who must have felt a degree of shame having to rely on charitable handouts.

I remember it being up some wooden (I think) steps, and the building went over a canal- you could see the water between the floorboards. It was a sparse, cold place as I remember. Perhaps Saltley? I can also remember going to the WRVS, in Wood End Road, Erdington I think, for clothing.

While not wishing to turn this into a political diatribe and with the greatest respect for the volunteers who helped us this experience is one of the reasons I am now and always have been a committed socialist (oooh!- dirty word!) and cannot accept such a wealthy country relying on charity to help those less fortunate.

pmc1947, the picture here could be me ( [FONT=&quot]metaphoricallyspeaking.)[/FONT]. It is so- well, you know. Words don't express it. The greyness, the stacked boots, the school blazer and just the look on the kids faces. The cold, dismal bleakness of it all. And the knowledge that these kids families had nothing, and they appear pleased just to get some boots. God save us from politicians and capitalists. And God save the children.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 
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I remember well ,queueing outside the Digbeth police station to collect my boots, "they" came to the school, and looked to see what you wearing on your feet, if you only had pumps or very worn out shoes,they gave you a chit to go and collect the boots, We also had tickets for free dinners, although this was not connected to the Daily Mail fund
 
It certainly brought back memories, not all of them happy reading about
the"Mail" boots I was born in Balsall Heath in 1930 and I am sure that most people nowadays have no idea just how poor many working folk
were in the 1930/40s. The war in some ways was a blessing, it found work
which was much needed, everyone who wanted work found a job.I left
school at Easter 1944, and was directed, yes ordered to report for work at
the Rover Car Factory. Like many others the first pair of underpants and pyjamas I ever had were army issue, I didnt evern own a toothbrush.Really it just as well such sites as this are recording this facts,because when we are gone all this history of our country will be gone
for ever.
Quote; Tough times dont last Tough people do! Gregory Peck 1916/2003
Bernard67Arnold
 
Bernard, I was born in 1940 and as you say there was not much money about but I do remember my childhood as happy and interesting. How many youngsters today would know how to play for hours on a bombed site. How many children do you hear laughing like we used to. Yes it was tough but I would not want to be a teenager in todays society.
 
hi paul i rember going to a place for xmas party and we could see the canal below the floor boards . but do you remember the parties in the gpo tower. Also we used to go to one in the edgbaston area. I also remember the wrvs in erdington.I got my first and last pair of winkle pickers there.
 
colin walker said:
hi paul i rember going to a place for xmas party and we could see the canal below the floor boards.
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Hello, Colin. I don’t remember going to any parties. That might be because my parents were too proud to accept anything other than essentials and would have preferred not to have to accept those. But the canal between the floorboards suggests it was the same place. I remember it being quite scary, always imagining I would at any minute see the floor collapse and end up drowning in the canal below! The 1948 film version of Oliver Twist always reminds me of those days, Fagin’s hideout in particular.
 
I know what you mean paul but as i remember it with my mom as i was 1 of 5 it was proud or the kids eat and i think we won her morals. but i had a brill childhood and would not change a single thing. nechells was a brill place to learn life and i would move back to that same enviroment any day.
colin
 
Don’t get me wrong, Colin. We never went hungry. And I can remember at least two holidays paid for, transport included, by the Birmingham Round Table. I just don’t remember any xmas parties. It doesn’t mean I didn’t go, just I might have forgotten or not realised who had organised them. What I suggested was just a possibility.
 
i never thought of us as being poor although my mum raised six kids while dad was away in the air force and i remember the daily mail boots with affection as you could slide in them, especialy when my older brothers put sprigs in them. we had lots of love and every body was in the same boat' chinny chinn
 
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