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Hockley 1957

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
 
Heaton Street.jpgHarborne, there wasnt any shops as such in Ford Street, so presumably it would have been Lodge Road. Around that area would have come under All Saints. All Saints school annexe was in Heaton Street. A picture for you here.
 
Ozzy lived in Lodge Road Aston, not Hockley.
Lynne

yes lynne thats right no 14 lodge road aston..the house is still there and lived in...until 3 years ago because it was the only lodge road i knew of i automatically thought it was the one in hockley..
 
I thought it was the only Lodge Rd around, too. Never mind, thanks for putting me right anyway.

Does anyone remember the polishing shop in Farm Street? It wasn't really a shop but a black hole with rotting floorboards. Alf Sargent used to work there and whenever I went in with my dad I used to be fascinated by the shiny silver jaguars for the Jaguar cars.

Bobbo we probably did bump into each other quite often. We never went to the Palladium mum always took us up to the Villa for the Saturday matinee (6d admission?) and we'd sit glued to our seats watching Flash Gordon or that news film that was always coming on. I do seem to remember a clock in that passage, too.

Harborne
 
hello harborne, we probably sat next to each other in the villa cross too....i have a faint memory of what we call the " polishing " shop, and that is the " polishing smells "....one of my sisters lived close by and when i used to pop down the road from villa st to visit her it was one of the first smells to greet you. mind you, i suppose in equal measure, the fish and chip shop nearby was also a strong contender as well...harborne, you mentioned DORIANS shoe shop on the brook. sometimes they would have their canvas blind pulled down above the pavement and while our mom shopped in the butchers next door i would take the opportunity to swing on the arm of the blind, this was obviously at the risk of getting a "cuff " off the shopkeeper...never did me any harm?..............................bobbo
 
Oh so it was you swinging off the flipping thing was it! LOL.

Do you remember Wacadam's Dairy down Farm St and the undertakers. I can still remember the smell of sour cream at that dairy and my sister always maintains she found a body in one of the coffins at the undertakers one day!

Harborne
 
... And McEvoy & Pinnington, a factory down Farm St... Don't know what they made there but I fell outside there while running down the road once and I still have the scar today but it was my pride that was hurt more than anything!

Harborne
 
Serving at Kenyon Street one did traffic duty on Hockley Brook. You could be posted to it for two hours at a time, on ones daytime traffic hours. On the hour for a few minutes you would be relieved by a colleague on an adjoining beat. You would reciprocate when his traffic duty time came around. For me it was straight to the dairy and a pint of Jersey cream milk to wash away the traffic fumes from the throat. Never tasted better milk before or since. Will.
 
harborne, i think mcevoy & pinninton was some sort of cash and carry type of place and later moved into hunters rd, about two or three hundred yards down from the welfare centre.
 
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