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Memories : Essence Of The 50s And 60s

I have just spent some time reading through all these posting and can relate and enjoyed all the memories, When look about me and read and watch the currant news, I realize what a wonderful we lived in the 50's , not much money, but a fantastic closeness with neighbors and family, and the love of just living, so very different now , Paul
 
Barr_Beacon said:
Frozen windows on the inside.
The Champions.
The sound of milk bottles being carried.
Shared national pride when England won the world cup.
Butter in a bucket of water on really hot summer days.
The man who lay on broken glass in the Bull Ring and passed his cap round for money.
Bag of crisps with the little blue bag of salt.
Father Christmas at Lewis's.
The Magic Robot.
Jublees and Lucky Bags
The Outdoor
World Cup Willy
Bubble Cars
Those orange stick things, trafficators that cars had before indicator lights .
330px-Armstrong_Siddeley_Sapphire_Winker.jpg

Gran turning the kitchen into a sauna when she boiled the christmas pudding for hours.
The smell of tripe cooking (now I really wish I hadn't remembered that).
Jumping Jack fireworks
Christmas food shopping in the Co-op in Birmingham...the crowds, oh the humanity...I want to go home mom!
The smell of gas at the dentist.
The sugar cube vaccine against polio.
Mrs Dale's Diary
That boy in school with the snotty nose who was nicknamed 'Candles'.
National Health wire glasses that kids wore with one lens covered up with a plaster.
Factory sirens
Those coconut mats with millions of needles that teachers made you gambol on.
The cane!
Tin bath on a saturday night.
Men wearing suits in pubs.
Bus conductors
"Penny for the Guy, mister?"...me on Aston Road North begging.
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When my mother took me into the city and the old market, I use to listen for the man shouting "Paper Carriers".
 
A strange thing I remember from the 1950's were 'Pig bins' originating from WW2 they were basically metal dustbins placed here and there along the roads where residents could put potato peelings etc in. There was one placed at the bottom of our grove on Gregory Avenue in Weoley Castle, I clearly remember mom sending me down to the bottom of the grove with vegetable peelings wrapped in newspaper which were chucked in together with the paper.
 
Cecil Ewart said:
When my mother took me into the city and the old market, I use to listen for the man shouting "Paper Carriers".
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Brilliant! just one small correction. It was the old lady that stood at the bottom of the Market steps, that called out "Andy Carrier", "Andy Carrier". She was a fixture there throughout my childhood. Thanks for the memories though.
 
Gerry Cannell said:
Brilliant! just one small correction. It was the old lady that stood at the bottom of the Market steps, that called out "Andy Carrier", "Andy Carrier". She was a fixture there throughout my childhood. Thanks for the memories though.
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This is a photo of the Bag Lady who shouted "Andy Carrier"
bag lady 1935.JPG

Photo was was taken from a film made in 1935, surely this film must bring back many many memories

player.bfi.org.uk

Watch Birmingham of Yesterday - BFI Player

A snapshot of Birmingham in 1935. From the pavement merchants of the Bull Ring to the thousands of small factories making the city the 'Workshop of the World'.
player.bfi.org.uk player.bfi.org.uk
 
I'm sure that 'andy carrier lady was researched in depth a few years ago on a Bull Ring or Market Hall thread and we even had her name. Of course "Andy Carrier" has been mentioned so many times since then that it is probably buried fairly deeply now.

Maurice :cool:
 
sospiri said:
I'm sure that 'andy carrier lady was researched in depth a few years ago on a Bull Ring or Market Hall thread and we even had her name. Of course "Andy Carrier" has been mentioned so many times since then that it is probably buried fairly deeply now.

Maurice :cool:
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Absolutely, I remember the discussion some years ago. At the time, I mentioned that my Grandad was Jack Hill, and was well known in the Rag Market. He used to hand grind/sharpen knives, using a grinding wheel on a bike.
 
izzy eckerslike said:
A strange thing I remember from the 1950's were 'Pig bins' originating from WW2 they were basically metal dustbins placed here and there along the roads where residents could put potato peelings etc in. There was one placed at the bottom of our grove on Gregory Avenue in Weoley Castle, I clearly remember mom sending me down to the bottom of the grove with vegetable peelings wrapped in newspaper which were chucked in together with the paper.
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2 pig bins in front of the walls advert where i used to live dated 1953

Nursery Road - Anglesley Street - Hockley - 5-11-1953.jpg
 
I remember the "Pig Bins", there were some at the top of Adams Hill, Bartley Green, where the old row of 18th C cottages were, on the left hand side just before you got to Jiggins Lane. I would take an old paper carrier with string handles up there full of bits my mom had saved, they stunk a bit . Paul
 
Brown paper carriers! Some shops - eg Boots the Chemists - have reintroduced brown paper carrier bags. Some food takeaway shops use a small version too. Much nicer than plastic. Boots the Chemists bag has the old style logo on it too. Viv.
 
sospiri said:
I'm sure that 'andy carrier lady was researched in depth a few years ago on a Bull Ring or Market Hall thread and we even had her name. Of course "Andy Carrier" has been mentioned so many times since then that it is probably buried fairly deeply now.

Maurice :cool:
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Wasnt there 2 sisters who actually did it?
 
Spargone said:
If I had been asked I would have placed Haddock's nearer the Wheatsheaf than Martin's but I wouldn't argue the point as you lived nearby. Indeed that might explain why I could never figure out after Martin's had changed hands and Haddock's had gone where the later was. One of their daughters was in my class at Mapledene so that is why it stuck in my mind. Can't say I remember any greengrocers though. Up until the late 1950s there was a timber yard, Parson's, accessed from Coventry Road. I have a feeling that having gone through the shed with the circular saw it was possible to come out on Old Lode Lane. The way into the timber yard was more or less opposite Coalway Avenue. To the left of that opening was a cafe. Two sisters, one called Rita, that lived on Coalway Avenue, beyond Corville Gardens, worked there. There have been so many changes in that 'island' between Birmingham and Solihull that it is hard to place where things were and when they changed. Abelson's plant hire was in that block, around about Morrison's car park. They had a tall solid fence above which I could see a locomotive funnel and crane jibs. After we moved from Sheldon I remember seeing a small locomotive in the Newhall Street museum that said it had been donated by Abelson's and I wondered if that had been the 'Sheldon' engine. As a student I worked at Arco Rewinds, with the blue neon running men. Around the back they had a small crane consisting of a cast iron column and a girder jib. The jib was on the ground and during a slack period the foreman got us to paint it and he hired an 'iron fairy' to pick it up. We wheeled the jib out on a small wooden truck and one wheel dropped into a puddle hole and the truck tilted, the jib fell off and the cast iron pulley broke. Very much a 'what do we do now' moment!
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When I use to travel to Coventry with my parents on the old 159 bus we would pass Arco on the journey , but on the return journey late at night I would always look for that neon sign of the men running , I thought it was fantastic.
 
Radiorails said:
The days of real personal service. I note it was a Pearks Dairy store.
For most shoppers, who bought the weekly food provisions (usually women), it was essential to be cognisant of the prices and how much you were spending. If the total was over budget - more week left than money - it was so easy to ask the assistant to remove any non essential items. The total amount of your shop was usually written on a bag or piece of paper as was no real problem to make a deduction and alter the amount. Whereas today it is very easy to overspend and would be an embarrassment, I guess, to delete any items. Not only would the checkout be inconvenienced, the queue waiting equally unimpressed. :eek:
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People have talked about the different grocery chains. FYI Pearks were owned by Allied Suppliers who also owned Liptons, Maypole and Home & Colonial. I worked for Pearks in 1958/64. All four shops sold the same goods wrapped in four different labels. Folks swore the Liptons tea was the best but I went to the factory once and watched them swap labels mid-stream. Do you remember the boxes of loose biscuits along the front of the counter ?
 
Ron Adams said:
People have talked about the different grocery chains. FYI Pearks were owned by Allied Suppliers who also owned Liptons, Maypole and Home & Colonial. I worked for Pearks in 1958/64. All four shops sold the same goods wrapped in four different labels. Folks swore the Liptons tea was the best but I went to the factory once and watched them swap labels mid-stream. Do you remember the boxes of loose biscuits along the front of the counter ?
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Yes, many on here remember those tins of biscuits - especially the broken ones.
 
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