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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

I went to Conway Youth Club, and we made our own entertainment. At 17 I met my first girl friend at the club. Still remember her name - Mavis Green. Took her to the pictures a few times. Always finished with a goodnight kiss, and that was that!! Never really knew too much about handling sex at 17. There was a Youth Club league evening league, and youth clubs would compete against each other in table tennis, chess, darts, draughts etc. Cycling trips at weekends. Sounds very boring, high brow and old fashioned these days, but we were just ordinary young people making our way in the early post war years. I think that we were pretty well balanced in our life. Win the fifties I would often walk home from the city centre to Sparkbrook. That is something that I would not consider today, even in quieter Norwich. Life, with added advantages, always brings disadvantages. I do feel sorry for many of todays young people fighting to get work. In the 50's we could leave a job one day, and be working elsewhere the next day. Eddie
 
This tends to be a generational thing, but I agree with "cookie" #115, having been back a few times since leaving 1962, things have to my mind definitely changed for the worst, it is not a patch on the Birmingham of the 40/50/60's, but if you read mikes 150yrs ago thread as I do, they were also saying this in the 1860's. To me and Cookie and many others it is heart breaking but I also feel it is inevitable over time, we come back looking for the places and people of our childhood and youth and they have died, and been demolished and what is in their place is so very, very, disappointing and sad. Paul Stacey
 
Like most young kids back then I liked to go to the local park with my fishing net and a jam jar to catch tiddlers. Despite warnings not to, I paddled barefoot in the stream and sure enough I trod on a piece of broken glass. Even at my young age I could see that I had a serious cut so I put my canvas pumps on and started to limp home using my fishing net as a crutch. After half a mile with blood starting to seep through my pumps a passing lady sat me down and insisted I remove my pump. By some miracle she produced some cotten wool, iodine, and plasters out of her handbag and did an expert job of cleaning and bandaging my foot. She was my Good Samaritan !
 
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No not really Mohawk, it was because it was a more gentle, and caring time, it was because people did look after their neighbours and strangers, in time of woe, that generation and mine were brought up to be polite and helpful, this as much as an academic programme, was taught at my schools anyway.
 
We must have known each other, at least by sight, Eddie. I went to Conway Road Youth club regularly. We were taught ballroom dancing in the early teens by a shapely lady. I recall enjoying a shot at the tango with her !!!! When the lesson was over we could dance with the girls who attended (to 78 records). I well remember Skyliner and At The Woodchoppers Ball. I'm afraid I was like you, though. In those years I walked many a girl home from lots of different local dances, including Moseley and Balsall Heath Institute, Stoney Lane Barracks and a school by St Andrew's...but a goodnight kiss was the limit of my 'love making' at that time. Great days, though...I was 'in love' with a very pretty girl from school (won't give her name in case she's alive and reading this) but I was far too shy and tongue-tied to tell her. It was enough to just look at her...Agree with the job thing ,too. The old broadsheet Birmingham Mail had page after page of Sits Vacant. Very tough for teenagers now. As for Norwich...about ten days ago I had the joy of its ring road at rush hour...as bad as Brum on a bad day....Dennis
 
Nipping back to where you ' Grew up '.
From how you remembered it :
Do you now see the traffic free streets that you used to play in are now cluttered with numerous cars parked outside almost every house ?
Do you now see those front gardens ( no longer lawned and displaying flowers and shrubs ) that are now slabbed or gravelled to provide ' off street parking' ?
Do you now see the ' Wheely Bins' and Rubbish bags parked ' out front ' ?
Do you now see one or two of the houses displaying rather untidy ' building extentions ' ?
Do you now see that round the corner ' little shopping area ', that you used to love to pop round to, that's now become a hive for Estate Agents,Insurance businesses and Charity shops ?
Yeah, I've got to agree it does bring about that feeling of almost betrayal.
Its the way of change, it's the way to -days younger families find acceptable . So be it, you can't do much about it anyway can you.
You've no doubt got your own happy memories of your particular ' Growing up ' area.
Good enough then.
 
The thing you never see now are the ladies scrubbing not only their front steps, but the whole pavement outside their little terraced home, I remember those days in Edgbaston and Balsall Heath, and Ladywood, and everyone out chatting cleaning their windows always an "ALL RIGHT MATE, or ALLO," and in summer even chatting with chairs in the street.
 
Here's a thought.
Like many ' Seniors ' I get round to saying how young people ( the kids ) do not ' get out ' enough and experience the
' outdoors ' as we did.
Just imagine for a moment though that that we had at our disposal ( back then as kids ) things that the kids have to-day.
As for example:
(1) Our own Bedroom / Den.
(2) Our own Television, Lap Top, Computer Games and a Mobile Phone ( with all the trimmings ).
AND
(3) Car lifts laid on by Mom or Dad for any or all trips or journey's that we might want to make.
Would WE have been so Outdoor minded.
TEMPTING ME THINKS.
 
Roy Blakey said:
Here's a thought.
Like many ' Seniors ' I get round to saying how young people ( the kids ) do not ' get out ' enough and experience the
' outdoors ' as we did.
Just imagine for a moment though that that we had at our disposal ( back then as kids ) things that the kids have to-day.
As for example:
(1) Our own Bedroom / Den.
(2) Our own Television, Lap Top, Computer Games and a Mobile Phone ( with all the trimmings ).
AND
(3) Car lifts laid on by Mom or Dad for any or all trips or journey's that we might want to make.
Would WE have been so Outdoor minded.
TEMPTING ME THINKS.
Click to expand...

I`m pleased we never had all those gizmo`s, though we did have the cinema, rushing out at the end of a cowboy film on saturday morning, shooting up all those imaginary Indians ( native Americans ) & pretending we were riding a horse. Then came the mid 50`s with it`s coffee bars & jukebox ( & girls ) Didn`t know anyone rich enough to have a tv.
 
HE AINT HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER.
( Always reckoned it was about having good mates ).
The front door knocker would sound, I'd know who it was, it was going to be my mates enquiring if I was ready to go out.
I would answer the door then nip back into the house to let Mom know that I was ' going out ' to play '. I'd turn back to-wards the front door ready to join my friends and Nine times out of Ten I would hear ( from my Mom) " Hey, hang on Roy.
take your brother with you ".
Now the situation was that my friends and I were about Ten years old and my little brother John was just Six years old.
In children's terns this is a huge ' gulf ' in age difference.
These mates were great, honest truth, not once did they ' bulk ' at this situation and many times they'd share the looking after bits so that I was able to join in the more hairy bits of our adventures whilst we were out an about. It was things like climbing to the top of some of the trees in Sutton Park whereby they would look after my little brother whilst I had my turn
at climbing. They would understand on a long walk that his little legs got tired a lot sooner than theirs. They were first rate.
The end to this little story is that over time my little brother became a sort of ' Mascot ' for the our gang.
 
Firecans ...
Every September in the 1940's the 'firecan season' started. We would find tin cans and pierce lots of holes in them and fix long wire loops to our cans so they could be swung overhead. Small sticks and pieces of coal were put in the cans and set alight. The cans were then vigorously swung over and over and the rush of air got a real good blaze going as we tried to make our cans glow hotter than anyone else. Occasionally a wire loop would break with the can flying off and everyone would have to dodge the mass of hot coals scattered everywhere. I don't remember any of our parents stopping us but there were no shiny cars parked in our road in those days. The season only lasted about a week, we probably got tired of hot coals dropping on us. Thinking back it all seems daft - maybe it was the war affecting us !
 
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We kids used to have Firecans "up the Maypole" too.
I always believed they evolved from the war, people like the Home Guard and Firewatchers would've used them to grab a little warmth on those long, cold nights.
 
maypolebaz said:
We kids used to have Firecans "up the Maypole" too.
I always believed they evolved from the war, people like the Home Guard and Firewatchers would've used them to grab a little warmth on those long, cold nights.
Click to expand...
I'm glad someone else had firecans, I was beginning to wonder whether I had imagined it ... we were daft and dangerous back then.
I made myself a parachute once and jumped from a high tree ... it didn't work very well !
 
maypolebaz said:
We kids used to have Firecans "up the Maypole" too.
I always believed they evolved from the war, people like the Home Guard and Firewatchers would've used them to grab a little warmth on those long, cold nights.
Click to expand...
They certainly pre-dated the WWII Baz as my Mom used to talk of her brothers having them when she was a Kid and Mom was born1910.
 
oldMohawk said:
I'm glad someone else had firecans, I was beginning to wonder whether I had imagined it ... we were daft and dangerous back then.
I made myself a parachute once and jumped from a high tree ... it didn't work very well !
Click to expand...

It would seem that firecans were prevalent all over Brum. I lived very close to some sandhills, & we used to make a small hole in the side of the hill & push a firework (banger) in the hole & cover it with a suitable stone & see how far the stone flew. Also used to make parachutes from a hankie, tie 4 bits of string to each corner, & tie a stone to the other end of the string & then launch it from a suitable hill. Also balsa wood gliders which were great & try to shoot them down with a catapult. One thing i do regret doing was chasing butterflies with a bushy piece of hedging & seeing them disintergrate as you hit them. How callous we kids could be :-{
 
Thought this thread was a good chance to tell the following story:
Last evening we were with some friends of our daughters, and one was moaning about how difficult she found it dropping her son off at school. I related the story that, prior to returning to Golden Hillock Road School, at the age of12/13 I spent time at Uffculme School in Kings heath. This meant getting up vey early, catching a No. 8 bus in Walford Road to Moseley Road, and then a 48 tram to Kings Heath. Arriving at school for around 8.30am, we would then kick a ball until school commenced. The bus and tram journey was crowded with early morning workers, and the top decks were a thick smog of cigarette smoke and much coughing!

The friends that we were with were amazed that a small child (in their words) would have to do that. I never saw any problems with getting to school, and told them that the exercise did me good, a I am nearly 81, and certainly never had the chance to get fat when I was a child. Eddie
 
Smudger said:
I lived very close to some sandhills, & we used to make a small hole in the side of the hill & push a firework (banger) in the hole & cover it with a suitable stone & see how far the stone flew.
Click to expand...

We went a step further with the firework development, we progressed to our own Supergun.
Finding the front forks off an old bike, we would put a ball bearing down one end and a threepenny "Dam Buster" in the "breech".
(In those days a "Dambuster" was the ultimate in bangers).
Everything exploded to our satisfaction but god knows where the ball bearings went !
 
A USEFUL QUENCH.
( The kids are out and about again ).
We've had a good wander, we're in the middle of ' no-where ' , bit hot and mouths are a bit dry.
Sitting amongst the grass ( having a little rest ) we would reach out for a stalk of the longer grass, draw the top bit out of its stem socket, nibble and suck on the white bit at the bottom. Liquid and Sweet, Lovely. Nibble on a few of these and we're ready to go again.
I have'nt got a clue where this ' Salvation Idea ' came from, it seemed to be more instinctive than anything else.
Worked a treat though.
 
maypolebaz said:
We went a step further with the firework development, we progressed to our own Supergun.
Finding the front forks off an old bike, we would put a ball bearing down one end and a threepenny "Dam Buster" in the "breech".
(In those days a "Dambuster" was the ultimate in bangers).
Everything exploded to our satisfaction but god knows where the ball bearings went !
Click to expand...
Good grief man, 3d for a banger? You must have been rich. Penny Wilders or Standard was all we could afford. As for your "supergun", probably explains all those mysterious injuries causedby ball bearings falling out of the sky at the time :-} We also used to tie a banger to a stone with a fairly long piece of string, light it & hurl it up into "outer space" Oh such simple pleasures.
 
Our patch was not far from the Perry Barr 'dirt track' and we could hear the motorbikes racing and 'Tiger' Hart was our hero. So it wasn't long before we dug a racing track on our field and got our bikes ready for cycle racing. Here are a couple of pics of our team - I'm can't remember whether the only girl in the first pic was our manager or maybe her dad took the pic. We called our team 'The Aces' and our symbols were on our helmets and jackets. I watched the electric pylon in the background of the second pic being built and it was our climbing frame until they put the wires on ... happy days !

Grindleford_Rd_Kids.jpg


Grindleford_Rd_Kids_2.jpg
 
HOW ABOUT THE FEMALE SLANT ON THINGS.
The girls and young ladies were ' growing up in Brum ' at the same time as we lads. Sometimes they would be with us lads and joining in, other times they would ' do their own thing '.
They have obviously got their own ' Growing up in Brum ' stories to tell.
WOULD BE NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU LASSIES.

.
 
My brother taught me to put a blade of grass between my thumbs and blow.....it makes a loud noise if you blow hard enough!! I did it one day for my granddaughters and they said "Wow Nanna that's cool!"
I couldn't make the hooting noise with my hands though, or whistle with my fingers in my mouth which I suppose was just as well as it wasn't "ladylike"!
I used to go on my own to the park (Lightwoods) but I had to take the dog. I used to fetch shopping from the Market or wood and nails from the woodyard. I knew that it shouldn't have knots or I had to take it back again. Dad was disabled so I learned how to knock in the nails.
Happy Days.
rosie.
 
i was a tomboy and always got included in the boys activities untill l was about thirteen, then we all went our seperate ways, l do remember my brother having a" thingamajig" l have no idea what it was called but l'm sure you" boys", would know what l am talking about, it was a piece of metal shaped like a bomb that came apart in two halves he would put a cap in between the halves which was secured by string..the string was attached to a hanky...then he would throw it up in the air and it would parachute down and when it hit the ground the caps would go off.......Brenda
 
Hi Brenda
I had one of those I think I just called it a bomb. The separate caps which you could buy in a small round packet were better than the caps from a roll and if you put two caps in the bang was louder. During the war there were no fireworks on sale, we had enough bangs from enemy action. When the war ended fireworks suddenly appeared in the shops and I remember 'thunderflashes' seem to make the loudest bangs.
 
You could use the caps in your gun as well. I had two elder brothers so was always brought up as a bit of a tomboy and would go everywhere with them. We had races round the square, played putting at Sandwell Park, scrumping in Handsworth which we would bike ride to. I did fall of my bike though once going there and broke my front tooth. I had long hair which was put into plaits, if ever we had an argument between us 3 and was the 'weaker sex' until I picked up my wire brush which was used for my hair and hit them with it on their arm so it then looked like a pin cushion, but god did I get into trouble when my mom found out.
 
Smudger said:
Good grief man, 3d for a banger? You must have been rich. Penny Wilders or Standard was all we could afford. As for your "supergun", probably explains all those mysterious injuries causedby ball bearings falling out of the sky at the time :-} We also used to tie a banger to a stone with a fairly long piece of string, light it & hurl it up into "outer space" Oh such simple pleasures.
Click to expand...

Once I'd got myself a job as an errand kid in Kings Heath I used to splash the cash quite a lot-12/6 a week I was on.
Blimey, I was only allowed to draw 10/- a week when I joined the army !
(Wilders, Standard, Brocks, were there any more makes of firework ?).
 
STREET GAMES.
I wonder if some forms of ' street games ' were played right across Brum and other games just perculiar to certain districts.
A game that was played up our end ( we called it TIP CAT ) was very popular. I'm guessing that this game might have been ' area popular '.image.jpg
 
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