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Hockley 1957

H

harborne

Guest
I remember playing out in the street (Farm St/Hunters Rd) and watching all the men coming home from work. They all had dirty faces and hands and their clothes were filthy. My dad was the same, he used to come home with shards of metal in his trouser turn-ups - he was a metal spinner. Most of them looked quite miserable although a few went on their way whistling, another thing you don't hear so much now. It was all a bit different to people working in Brum nowadays in their smart suits and looks.

Harborne
 
hi harborne, like you , we used to play in the street around hunters rd /nursery rd. waiting for our dad to come home from work. when we spotted him in the distance we would run down to meet him. he usually had a couple of sweets in his pocket for us. i remember his clothes smelling of ( factory smells ) he worked somewhere in hockley, i seem to remember the name RABONE......but not sure.
 
Hiya Bobbo, yes factory smells... the memories. I remember a firm called Rabone but can't remember where from, I spose it must have been Hockley right enough. Dad used to work at Buncher & Haselers in Branston Street. There used to be a pub a little way down Farm St on one of the corners, we used to play there as well as the children (can't recall names) were our age and we used to be allowed in the house there. I also recall a Scot called Jock (funny enough!). He was a stout-ish man with dark curly hair and gave me a Scottish flag once. It proved to quite a coincidence as I went on later to marry a Scot and live up there for many years. He was a nice bloke. Praps you might remember him as he was around there quite a lot?

Harborne
 
hi harborne
just been reading your thread and the mention of your father being in the metal spinning game of proffession;
yes rabone s was on the corner of heaton street just across from the hockley junction as it was in those days from farm street
but way back in time there was dozens of metal spinning compapanys around the hockley area i i know there was one round the corner from rabones
on hunters rd facing H Samuels the jewlers ware housing and later became a scrapdealers yard when they finaly moved on or ceased trading
then there was bulpitts another big company for years was alway looking for spinners in a big way they was well sorted for ;
i can recall the H Samuells on hockley brook when they started to build that complex after there major fir on corporation street
facing the central fire station in the early fifties it was burt down ; my second oldest brother bill whom died last year ;when he was in his twentys
left walker and woods of lionel street as a ware house man and got the job at Sammuels newWARE HOUSES ON HUNTERS AT HOCKLEY BROOK
AND I CERTAINLY RECALL THE INCONVEINIENCE OFWHEN SAMMYS had that bridge across the rd with the clock that is there today
also my cousins and aunty and uncle winnie and harry phelps and my two cousins barry and bryan all went to ickneild street school
they lived in the next stret in ford street facing the bus garage and i can recall there bus fire parked out side the garage
there was a couple of pubs by farm stret one was the white house on the corner of farm stret and i think it may have been washington street ;
there also use to be a big pub on the hockley brook and do you recall a coper on point duty in a white coat wearing a funny badge
that hockley brook used to be terrible to get across ; when i used to go to my other aunts in theasy estates i would travel up to hockly brook
on sundays and catch the number 29 a bus to the terminus at theasey estates
i have alot of memorys of hockley any way do you recall the oldmassonettes there was only a batch of three as the number eight turned into farm st
there was a family called the pumpries ; and the deakins would that ring any bells with you or the simpkings ;
have a nice day best wishes astonian ;;
 
harborne said:
Hiya Bobbo, yes factory smells... the memories. I remember a firm called Rabone but can't remember where from, I spose it must have been Hockley right enough. Dad used to work at Buncher & Haselers in Branston Street. There used to be a pub a little way down Farm St on one of the corners, we used to play there as well as the children (can't recall names) were our age and we used to be allowed in the house there. I also recall a Scot called Jock (funny enough!). He was a stout-ish man with dark curly hair and gave me a Scottish flag once. It proved to quite a coincidence as I went on later to marry a Scot and live up there for many years. He was a nice bloke. Praps you might remember him as he was around there quite a lot?

Harborne
Click to expand...

i seem to recall a firm called rabone chesterman but no idea where from...the old memory is going lol.

lyn
 
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hi lynn ;
yes you would do it was local to you and it was a world wide known trade
it was heaton street across the old six ways hockley brook where the copper was duties and it was behind the ickneild street school and the
parade of shops that was there and the numvber eight bus stop for aston cross ; surely you must have some pics of the old six ways hockley brook ;
i can see it very vivilry best wishes alan ;; astonian ;;
 
When I was a child I used to often be minded by an older couple who I called nanna and granddad. I remember that he worked at Rabone's and I believe they made things like metal tapes for measuring, much the same as the one's you see these days that slide into their holder.
 
hi astonion, i wonder if you or anyone else can help me? as a kid living in villa st in the early fifties, it was my job to do the errands. we used the doorstep shops and on a regular basis the hunters rd shops....am i right in thinking, that before sammuels was built there was a pub opposite the passage that led to the soho rd...next to the pub, a butchers and a few more shops going towards farm st. it"s the shop on the corner of farm st. and hunters rd that i cant quite remember. i"m guessing it was the bakers/cake shop. the name escapes me. it may be something like bleansys, or blainsys....it"s frustrating, because i must have been in there hundreds of times...i think their main bakery was on the lozells rd...did it ring a bell with you or anyone else. hope so, cant get it off my mind....many thanks ...bobbo

 
I think the bakers shop you are trying to remember the name of would have been Baines. They used to have a lot of shops in that area. We had one in Icknield St. Gosh they used to do some lovely cakes and bread too. Hope this is what you mean't Bobbo.
 
bobbo said:
hi astonion, i wonder if you or anyone else can help me? as a kid living in villa st in the early fifties, it was my job to do the errands. we used the doorstep shops and on a regular basis the hunters rd shops....am i right in thinking, that before sammuels was built there was a pub opposite the passage that led to the soho rd...next to the pub, a butchers and a few more shops going towards farm st. it"s the shop on the corner of farm st. and hunters rd that i cant quite remember. i"m guessing it was the bakers/cake shop. the name escapes me. it may be something like bleansys, or blainsys....it"s frustrating, because i must have been in there hundreds of times...i think their main bakery was on the lozells rd...did it ring a bell with you or anyone else. hope so, cant get it off my mind....many thanks ...bobbo

Click to expand...

bobbo you need to go to the hunters road thread started by barrie...think he lived down the entry next to the pub you are on about...think it was called the bridge tavern...ive so far had no luck finding a pic of it..

lyn
 
 
I think The white House was on the corner of Unett Street. Also, does anyone remember The Carnegie by Samuels which was a welfare clinic.
 
hi carolina,... i remember the carnegie very well. as i mentioned, i was the errand boy in the family and did a lot of shopping in hunters rd including the carnegie. it was our local welfare clinic and being one of nine children our family spent a lot of time there. orange juice and dried milk was always on my shopping list from there.....i think that there was some sort of statue on the front of the building but i cant quite remember what it was.
 
hi, many thanks for such lovely pics..the lowering of the bridge is an outstanding photo, as are the hockley hill pics. they are all very memory provoking..thanks old mohawk.

bobbo
 
hi bobo and mags ;
firstly maggs yes it was baines up the villa rd and they was plenty around but also scribbons was just up the rd as you well know which is just as close but i cannot agre its was a baines shop some think tells me bobo is quite right in the olden days before any redevelopement
or alterations of the brook across the brook if you are coming up from fam street i do honestly beleive there was another bakery and cake shop below there premises but for the love nor money i just canot rcall the name this is around the 56- 57 it was still there then came in a year or two the reorganiseing of the brook from six ways as we all knew and the disapearing copper
there was a baines on ickneild street as you say it was up by the bulpitts and on the corner of camden street and ickneild street in that period
but not down on the hockley brook farm street ;across the rd from bobo was speaking there was a large pub ; that took the corner onto farm st
which was facing the building bobo is on about ; astonian ;
 
village maid finch road.jpg
bobbo said:
hi astonion, i wonder if you or anyone else can help me? as a kid living in villa st in the early fifties, it was my job to do the errands. we used the doorstep shops and on a regular basis the hunters rd shops....am i right in thinking, that before sammuels was built there was a pub opposite the passage that led to the soho rd...next to the pub, a butchers and a few more shops going towards farm st. it"s the shop on the corner of farm st. and hunters rd that i cant quite remember. i"m guessing it was the bakers/cake shop. the name escapes me. it may be something like bleansys, or blainsys....it"s frustrating, because i must have been in there hundreds of times...i think their main bakery was on the lozells rd...did it ring a bell with you or anyone else. hope so, cant get it off my mind....many thanks ...bobbo

Click to expand...

hi bobbo it was baines bakery...main bakery was in finch road off the lozells road...it was next to or very near to the village maid pub(demolished a few years back) here is a pic of it and the only one i know to..
lynView attachment 78856
 
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thats a nice pic lyn............i see you"re still on the ball . we all owe you such a lot for your lovely pics that you keep on finding for us.
thanks a lot lyn
 
thanks bobbo..if my pics give pleasure to you then thats all the thanks i need....ps im not always on the ball you know lol

lyn
 
Bobbo the shop on the corner was George Baines the bakers and we used to live above the shop. Next to it, further up Hunters Road, was Stan Blackwell's shop; he used to sell poultry and fish (can't remember whether sold veg, too). There was a shop further up where mum bought us clothes now and then and there was an outdoor somewhere in the vicinity. Across the road and up a bit, towards the Palladium, there was a sweet shop called Meesons, where dad used to bring us sweets from every Friday night.

Harborne
 
Ah yes, RABONE Chesterman, I do remember that name well and thanks to Maggs we know what they made now, too. Nice one, Maggs.

I think the pub down Farm St where we used to play was The Queen's Head or something similar...?

And Heaton Street, was just across from where we lived and many of my people lived in Heaton St yet I never ever knew. My parents never knew either, I guess, as they never mentioned anyone. Is it in the St George's district, does anyone know? What district was Hockley Brook in?

I remember the copper, Astonian, didn't he wear a white plastic cape-type coat? And do you remember the blue box they used to phone from, straight across from us above Baines'? I remember seeing a poor unfortunate who had unsuccessfully tried to cross the road, covered with a red blanket in the middle of Hockley Brook with a white-caped copper standing over him/her.

In those days, just about every bus you saw was a West Bromwich bus crossing Hockley Brook.

Several generations of my Burgesses were in the metal industry and worked at Bulpitts including dad before he went to Buncher & Haselers. I still have some of the stuff he made at Bulpitts and it's all still in good working order; thick-based goods and you can see the spun pattern on the bases.

Another couple of pubs I remember (though I don't remember the Maid) were the Benyon (Arms) on the other corner across the road from us at the junction of Farm St and Hunters Road, and the Turk's Head but I can't recall just where that was, although it was very close.

I don't remember the maisonettes Astonian but my knowledge was very limited in that I was very young at the time. I do remember the name 'Deakin' but not Pumphreys.

Thanks Lyn and all you other for the lovely photos. What an effort you go to keeping us posted with them all.

Harborne
 
Bobbo, another couple of shops that were there was Dorian's shop shop across the Brook from us and down (Ford St or Lodge Road...?) was a drapers called Hollyoaks.

Harborne
 
little bit of extra info here...in 1966 at the age of 15 the singer joan armatrading started work at rabones in hockley..

lyn
 
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Wow, that's interesting, Lyn. Looks as if quite a few famous people came from around there. There's Ozzy Osbourne who of course lived in Lodge Road for another one.

Chris
 
hi chris..yes i was quite surprised to read that about joan armatrading...going back to ozzy..i believe he was a regular visitor to the bartons arms pub..

lyn
 
hi harborne, did"nt realize you lived above baines, bet we bumped into each other a few times?..we knew meesons well, we had our sweets from there before we went to the palladium for the saturday afternoon matinee. ( saturday morning was the villa cross matinee )..if there was a film on at the palladium and it was an A CERTIFICATE we would wait outside and ask somebody to " take us in " somebody would eventually....was there some sort of " clock " or " statue " that stood in the middle of the passage that ran between hunters rd and soho rd? i seem to remember something there...........
bobbo
 
forgot to mention to you harborne, i remeber the drapers shop, my mother shopped there and my eldest brother lived only a few doors away..

bobbo
 
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