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Farm street infants and juniors.

hi terry the girl 3rd from right bottom row looks uncannily like me...i do have a couple of photos of myself taken at farm st school one by myself and one with my brother mark but my scanner is playing up but as soon as i can i will scan and post so that you can compere them..yes i remember mr williams..mr smith the head..do you remember miss or mrs dugard...oh gosh i remember that winter of 62/3 very well..loads of fun for months it seems...i remember opening our front door and was met with a wall of snow...luckily i did not have to walk far to school but we did get there..these days schools close after a little flurry lol..mom used to drag me to flat as well but the shops were wonderful...used to use the villa cross pic house every saturday morning...mom and dad walked us handsworth park all the time...please continue with your memories its what keeps this forum going...oh did you finish at farm st if so what senior school did you attend....

lyn
 
I think my sister Susan Terry May have been the Mary to your Joseph. She was born in 1952, I was born in 1954, we both appeared in the same nativity where she was Mary and I was an angel, I remember it so well. Sadly Susan died of a brain haemorrhage in 2012, I miss her every day, she was a beautiful child with curly hair everyone called her Shirley Temple.
I also remember Colleen Steadman, if I remember correctly she was an only child and I went to her birthday party we ended up in her back yard where she directed us in a play of Cinderella she nominated me as Buttons. Also remember Tom Bannister, Josephine Wiley, Christine Whitehouse and Gerald Burgess. I saw Gerald years after leaving Hockley, he hadn’t changed a bit and Iwent up to him saying “Hello Gerald” but never would tell him who I was, I didn’t want him to recall the scruffy urchin that once was me. lol. Such happy memories of Hockley, we lived in New John St West, hadn’t a bean but I recall those days with fondness. Happy days


Hi Terry,thank you very much for your reply. So sorry to hear your sister passed away at such an early age. Though I recall the Nativty I really can't recall much else. Susan was probably the first girl I put my arm around!
The only name that I recognise from your list is Gerald Burgess. I remember that he played cricket rather well.Names I do recall are William Boyle,Peter Clinton,Michael Moore and Sandra Rose.
We,the Dunn's, only lived in Hockley for two years,not long enough to establish lasting friendships. They were happy days though I seemed to visit Mr Smith and his cane quite often.
Once again thank you for your reply.

Stay safe,NoddK-D
 
I think my sister Susan Terry May have been the Mary to your Joseph. She was born in 1952, I was born in 1954, we both appeared in the same nativity where she was Mary and I was an angel, I remember it so well. Sadly Susan died of a brain haemorrhage in 2012, I miss her every day, she was a beautiful child with curly hair everyone called her Shirley Temple.
I also remember Colleen Steadman, if I remember correctly she was an only child and I went to her birthday party we ended up in her back yard where she directed us in a play of Cinderella she nominated me as Buttons. Also remember Tom Bannister, Josephine Wiley, Christine Whitehouse and Gerald Burgess. I saw Gerald years after leaving Hockley, he hadn’t changed a bit and Iwent up to him saying “Hello Gerald” but never would tell him who I was, I didn’t want him to recall the scruffy urchin that once was me. lol. Such happy memories of Hockley, we lived in New John St West, hadn’t a bean but I recall those days with fondness. Happy days
hi terry ...i have some good news for you.. after all these years i am now in contact with colleen steadman :) could i ask what your first name is please so that i can tell colleen that you remember her....thanks

lyn
 
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hi terry the girl 3rd from right bottom row looks uncannily like me...i do have a couple of photos of myself taken at farm st school one by myself and one with my brother mark but my scanner is playing up but as soon as i can i will scan and post so that you can compere them..yes i remember mr williams..mr smith the head..do you remember miss or mrs dugard...oh gosh i remember that winter of 62/3 very well..loads of fun for months it seems...i remember opening our front door and was met with a wall of snow...luckily i did not have to walk far to school but we did get there..these days schools close after a little flurry lol..mom used to drag me to flat as well but the shops were wonderful...used to use the villa cross pic house every saturday morning...mom and dad walked us handsworth park all the time...please continue with your memories its what keeps this forum going...oh did you finish at farm st if so what senior school did you attend....

lyn
Hi Lyn, I don't really remember Mrs Dugard but her name rings a bell, on the other hand I remember Mr Smith very well, he was always so kind to me, I recall being given the responsibility of taking the register(s) to him in his office in the tower and feeling very important. His office smelt of tobacco from his pipe, every time I see Arthur Lowe (Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring) he reminds me of Mr Smith. Remember being a milk monitor in that winter of 62/63 the tops came off the bottles when the frozen milk forced the tops off. Mom took us to the Villa Cross to see Cliff in Summer Holiday, that's the only time I recall going to that cinema, we used the Palladium on the Soho Road it was just round the corner from us, before the Saturday matinee all the kids used to sing (or should I say shout) the ABC song, do you remember that. We left Hockley in the spring of 1964 moving to Bordesley Green, my last year of junior school was Alston Road then went on to Bordesley Green Girls' School.
Mom and dad both worked at Howletts on Hockley Hill, every year they used to do a wonderful Christmas party, a magician followed by cartoons then food - sandwiches, jelly and ice cream. Mums and Dads came after and everyone had a dance, I remember twisting away to Chubby Checker. At the end Father Christmas gave us a present and a very cold apple and sour orange ... LOL...did you ever go to them?
 
hi terry i think you may have missed my post 103 where i told you i am now in contact with colleen steadman and i wanted to know what your first name is so that i can tell her that you remember her?

i think that the pally you went to was on soho hill not soho road unless there was another one its still standing but only just so sad to see it in such an awful state...i only ever used the villa cross cinema..

oh gosh i well remember that winter and all the silver tops on the milk bottles slowly rising higher from the cold and formed a peak of frozen milk...thinking back mr smith did look like arthur lowe lol

what did howletts do terry cant say as ive heard of them...in the winter months dad used to work at the lucas factory gt king st he refused to clean windows in the winter then come spring he would be back on the windows but working for lucas i used to go to their christmas partys...great fun i shall always remember them..its little things like this that we dont forget..

lyn
 
hi terry ...i have some good news for you.. after all these years i am now in contact with colleen steadman :) could i ask what your first name is please so that i can tell colleen that you remember her....thanks

lyn
Hi Lyn, how strange you have found her now after looking for so long, I hope she has been keeping well and happy, please say hello to her. My name is/was Rose Terry
 
rose (hope its ok to call you that) found her through ancestry with help from janice who is a member of this forum... colleen is good and of course i will be passing on your regards to her will let you know if she remembers you...we only started catching up yesterday so lots to talk about but i will tell her about this forum as she may fancy joining and adding her own memories of farm st school...

lyn
 
hi terry i think you may have missed my post 103 where i told you i am now in contact with colleen steadman and i wanted to know what your first name is so that i can tell her that you remember her?

i think that the pally you went to was on soho hill not soho road unless there was another one its still standing but only just so sad to see it in such an awful state...i only ever used the villa cross cinema..

oh gosh i well remember that winter and all the silver tops on the milk bottles slowly rising higher from the cold and formed a peak of frozen milk...thinking back mr smith did look like arthur lowe lol

what did howletts do terry cant say as ive heard of them...in the winter months dad used to work at the lucas factory gt king st he refused to clean windows in the winter then come spring he would be back on the windows but working for lucas i used to go to their christmas partys...great fun i shall always remember them..its little things like this that we dont forget..

lyn
You are right Lynn the Palladium we went to was on Soho Hill.
Howletts was a factory that did gas controls/boilers later changed name becoming Radiation Gas and moved to Thimbermill Lane, Aston. Mom worked there till she retired but we never had Christmas parties after they moved from Hockley Hill.

Rose
 
rose if memory serves me right there was a big explosion at radiation gas thimblemill lane. not sure what year that would have been though..

it was amazing how back then the bigger companies always looked after their staff and their children...do not really hear of it these days..

just going back to farm st school i was in the choir that was chosen to sing at the town hall just wondered if you also went...cant really understand why i was chosen as i am tone deaf and have no voice at all :D :D

lyn
 
rose if memory serves me right there was a big explosion at radiation gas thimblemill lane. not sure what year that would have been though..

it was amazing how back then the bigger companies always looked after their staff and their children...do not really hear of it these days..

just going back to farm st school i was in the choir that was chosen to sing at the town hall just wondered if you also went...cant really understand why i was chosen as i am tone deaf and have no voice at all :D :D

lyn
Ahh yes I did go to the Town Hall but I didn't recall it was because I was in the choir just thought it was to listen to the classical music, such a memorable experience being there, the sound of the symbols banging together was a particular memory, I've never been since so it must be that school visit I remember. Beautiful building both inside and out. Thinking about it I may also have been in the choir because I recall now standing on a long bench and singing, I'd forgotten all about that but never the Town Hall visit.
 
hi agree rose the town hall is lovely inside although i have not visited for a few years now..must make the effort to go again one day

lyn
 
For reference from another thread, two aerial views of Farm Street School dated 1948.
Farm St school and St Saviour Church in this aerial view looking west over Hockley dated 1950. Bridge St West runs diagonally from bottom left and Farm St from bottom changing direction where Villa St crosses it.
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A aerial view looking north dated 1948 shows the school and church from another direction.
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images from 'britainfromabove'
 
hi folks does anyone remember pamela holsey who went to farm st from about 59 to 64 ?

lyn
 
still looking for more class photos of farm st folks ..would also like to welcome any new members who attended the school

lyn
 
Hello. I attended Farm St School from 1960 to 1966 when I passed my eleven plus to go to Handsworth Grammar school.
I lived in New John St West.
I noticed there seemed to be some pictures of Farm St School. Can someone please tell me how I can access them. I would love to see them. The headmaster was Mr Smith.
A lovely man.
Terry Biles June 2023
 
Hi Terry, welcome to the forum. There are some pictures here.

 
Hi Terry, welcome to the forum. There are some pictures here.

Thank you so much. I am completely computer literate etc but I cannot see any photos. I am viewing this on my Samsung galaxy. I can see the reports and people are talking about pictures but I cannot see any. Would absolutely love to see them.
 
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