I Remember When.....

[Charlie]

When lorry drivers worked for Haulage companies - now they seem to be "Logistics"....
When you could play in the street, even when it was dark......
When you could walk to school and not be driven in a Chelsea Tractor.....
When you could eat what you wanted, when you wanted it, and not be told off by the Health Police....
When Birmingham was a great manufactoring city.....

Am I getting old? (Getting? Who am I kidding)!

 

[Bernard67Arnold]

I agree with you all the way on this one Chas, we left Brum in 1957 on the
overspill scheme, and when I go back nowadays I can not see any great improvement! For a City with a motto like Forward, I just dont what the
council have been doing for the last sixty years or so! Mind you they should have built a proper Metro underground many years ago when London were doing theirs, Birmingham has always been content with the Second City, and always will be. cheers now Bernard
Quote Save water, shower with a friend, STWB

 

[Astonian]

hi bernard
i too agree with charlie but i also entirely agree with what you have said
apart you saying birmingham being second city [ 2nd best ]
i intend to differ i would say birmingham 3rd rate. third city
and this country is becoming the 3rd world .
and we are becoming big brothers numbers
best wishes astonian ;;;;

 

[mike-g]

We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. !
'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow)
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people.....
I never had a telephone in my room.The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.

 

[brumgum]

I agree with you all the way on this one Chas, we left Brum in 1957 on the
overspill scheme, and when I go back nowadays I can not see any great improvement! For a City with a motto like Forward, I just dont what the
council have been doing for the last sixty years or so! Mind you they should have built a proper Metro underground many years ago when London were doing theirs, Birmingham has always been content with the Second City, and always will be. cheers now Bernard
Quote Save water, shower with a friend, STWB

Well it did win the Britain in bloom award this year and so did Moseley BTW. Last year the city centre was voted as the cleanest in the UK
It has this countries most visited shopping centre and has the lowest crime rate of any of Britains core cities. At the moment we have the biggest and best German market outside Gemany and Austria which attracts 2 million visitors, not bad for a second rate City!.

 

[brumgum]

Well it did win the Britain in bloom award this year and so did Moseley BTW. Last year the city centre was voted as the cleanest in the UK
It has this countries most visited shopping centre and has the lowest crime rate of any of Britains core cities. At the moment we have the biggest and best German market outside Gemany and Austria which attracts 2 million visitors, not bad for a second rate City!.

Cop this......
https://birminghamnewsroom.com/birmingham-is-blooming-great/birmingham-is-blooming-great/

 

[brumgum]

I agree with you all the way on this one Chas, we left Brum in 1957 on the
overspill scheme, and when I go back nowadays I can not see any great improvement! For a City with a motto like Forward, I just dont what the
council have been doing for the last sixty years or so! Mind you they should have built a proper Metro underground many years ago when London were doing theirs, Birmingham has always been content with the Second City, and always will be. cheers now Bernard
Quote Save water, shower with a friend, STWB

We've been doing this......

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rfront-wins-welldeserved-acclaim-1147329.html

 

[brumgum]

Celebrating the good......

 

[leonardjob]

Oh dear, how I hate this idea that just because through an accident of birth I am born in a particular place, it must follow that that place is the best place in the world. I hate mindless patriotism. I am Birmingham born and bred, lived in Willenhall, Studley, Alcester, Banbury, Ormskirk, Southport and now back here, and Birmingham is as bad as most other cities. Our much vaunted Bullring Market is a disgrace, many of the traders are rude and foul mouthed. Visit other markets and see how it should be done. Although we are told we are a multicultural city we are not we are a city of different cultures none of whom associate with any others. The town centre is a mess with piles of money wasted on Broad St, and you only need to visit it on a Saturday night to witness Brummy culture. Still Brindley Place keeps the tourists away from the real mess of a city.

 

[Stitcher]

I have been, since I was old enough to understand, proud to be a Brummie. I can not understand how anyone could not be proud of this city's past history. Likewise the famous peole, some of whom have helped shape the world, especially the manufacturers, inventors, artists builders and the like. I am not immensly impressed with the modern city centre but maybe thats because I am too long in the tooth to appreciate the new buildings they now describe as 'iconic'. The community spirit has gone from almost all housing estates, and the city's proud poulation is being replaced slowly by people who do not give a fig about the future.

 

[brumgum]

Oh dear, how I hate this idea that just because through an accident of birth I am born in a particular place, it must follow that that place is the best place in the world. I hate mindless patriotism. I am Birmingham born and bred, lived in Willenhall, Studley, Alcester, Banbury, Ormskirk, Southport and now back here, and Birmingham is as bad as most other cities. Our much vaunted Bullring Market is a disgrace, many of the traders are rude and foul mouthed. Visit other markets and see how it should be done. Although we are told we are a multicultural city we are not we are a city of different cultures none of whom associate with any others. The town centre is a mess with piles of money wasted on Broad St, and you only need to visit it on a Saturday night to witness Brummy culture. Still Brindley Place keeps the tourists away from the real mess of a city.

I'm sorry you feel the way you do but your discription of the Bull Ring is not one i recognize, i don't think it would have won best outdoor market in Britain if it was that bad.......

 

[brumgum]

Oh Dear! Charlie we seem to caused a bit of a stir, it has given people a
chance to say how they feel about the City! I love Birmingham and aways will, although I dont think I could live there again. I always feel at home
when I visit and thr real Brummies are as friendly as ever, they will talk to
anyone.My intenstion was never to hurt anyones feelings, Im sorry if I did I havent got that many friends that I can afford to upset any, we have our
views on things, and the man with the wooden leg said"its a matter of a
opinion", be nice to each other and keep taking the tablets, Bernard

You haven't offended me mate i'm just a proud Brummie and i'll be your friend anytime.

 

[brumgum]

I don't like Broad Street either and to be honest it's in decline as the place to be at the moment is around Chinatown and Digbeth regarding entertainment. There is a very strong community spirit in certain areas such as Moseley, Kings Heath etc which are multicutural to an extent. Learn a bit of Urdu like i have and you'd be surprised at the response, At the end of the day we're all human beings and should respect each other.

 

[Wendy]

I love the Market and enjoy a banter and laugh with the stall holders. I buy all my material there. The meat market is fab great bargains if you know where to look and the meat and fish are so fresh. Broad Street at night is not for everyone as late most people are drunk........same in every city. My husband works there some nights he says he see the funniest things sometimes. He says if trouble brakes out it is delt with straight away. He says he never feels frightened as it is so well policed. We have to remember it's a different world now not just Brum everywhere. The only place my husband doesn't like at night is Wolverhampton it's not policed enough! I walked through the city last week after a concert and didn't feel at all threatened.

 

[Stitcher]

It's alright saying I should learn Urdu and respect others. We have people who have lived here for years and they can't or won't learn English. Why should it be a one way system??? Many of these people do not want to adapt and live amongst us. They want us to adapt and live amongst them. As for learning Urdu I was up to a few years ago quite fluent in Urdu because I took lessons so I would be able to converse with these people in connection with my work, but like everything else if it is not kept up it diminishes and nowadays I do understand what is being said but I am not so good at quick replies. In my opinion, life in Birmingham was so much better than it is now and I was invited to lunch with The Lord Mayor at The Council House so he could thank me for my work in causing what he called 'Togetherness'. I also have a letter thanking me for the way I sold the image of Birmingham to foreign businessmen, this letter originated because a man from Norway wrote to the then leader of the City Council telling him that my enthusiasm for Birmingham had convinced him to return and do more business here. I did for quite some years work in the City as a bouncer, a tourist guide and a Taxi Driver and I believe that my ideals and principals have always maintained a level, as has my integrity. It is with all these things in mind that I can say "I prefer the Birmingham of a few years ago"

 

[brumgum]

It's alright saying I should learn Urdu and respect others. We have people who have lived here for years and they can't or won't learn English. Why should it be a one way system??? Many of these people do not want to adapt and live amongst us. They want us to adapt and live amongst them. As for learning Urdu I was up to a few years ago quite fluent in Urdu because I took lessons so I would be able to converse with these people in connection with my work, but like everything else if it is not kept up it diminishes and nowadays I do understand what is being said but I am not so good at quick replies. In my opinion, life in Birmingham was so much better than it is now and I was invited to lunch with The Lord Mayor at The Council House so he could thank me for my work in causing what he called 'Togetherness'. I also have a letter thanking me for the way I sold the image of Birmingham to foreign businessmen, this letter originated because a man from Norway wrote to the then leader of the City Council telling him that my enthusiasm for Birmingham had convinced him to return and do more business here. I did for quite some years work in the City as a bouncer, a tourist guide and a Taxi Driver and I believe that my ideals and principals have always maintained a level, as has my integrity. It is with all these things in mind that I can say "I prefer the Birmingham of a few years ago"

I agree life was better in many ways yeas ago but the point was made that Birmingham was a third rate City and i just don't agree with this. Regarding Urdu i did learn quite a bit years ago but have retained quite a bit and i've found it's a good ice breaker to use it now and again and have made friends because i've used it.

 

[Charlie]

I didn't mean for this to be turned into an attack or support of Birmingham. I was just making the point of how things had changed in the country as a whole, since I were a lass . Please don't make this thread into a political or racist slant on Birmingham, it was a fairly light-hearted comment - especially the "Logistics" instead of "Deliveries" bit, that's always foxed me (but then, so do a lot of things)!

 

[JohnO]

All I know is that after an absence of 35 years, I returned to Birmingham for a brief stay, and I was, in the truest sense of the word, utterly appalled at what I found. I journied around all of my 'old haunts' and it was if I were myself an alien in a strange land.....I found it so disturbing that the sense of bewilderment, depression and alienation followed me back to my home 'up North'.....I wish to God that I had never visited! What we have allowed to happen is utter madness.

 

[Stitcher]

I have to agree with all that JohnO, and I think that if a person comes thousands of miles, using an illegal form of transport to make a new and better life in this country, the onus is on them to learn English and make an effort to fit in.
The total amount of money paid in taxes since WW2 should have ensured that this country has the best of everything. Unfortunately Birmingham has gone the way of most cities. People I mixed with like The Difters, The Stylistics, Brenda Lee and Dione Warwick all said they thoroughly enjoyed coming to Birmingham for a week because they knew everyone would be polite to them, they found the old British tradition of queuing at busy times rather quaint and they all enjoyed the old shops and the service they got from the store assistants.

 

[Big Gee]

I agree with you all the way on this one Chas, we left Brum in 1957 on the
overspill scheme, and when I go back nowadays I can not see any great improvement! For a City with a motto like Forward, I just dont what the
council have been doing for the last sixty years or so! Mind you they should have built a proper Metro underground many years ago when London were doing theirs, Birmingham has always been content with the Second City, and always will be. cheers now Bernard
Quote Save water, shower with a friend, STWB

Hi Bernard,

just so happens that a friend of mine who once worked for British Rail was, back in the 1960's, part of a project to investigate the possibility of a Birmingham Metro underground. It seems that while London is largely laid out on clay-ey ground, which lends itself to easy and safe tunnelling, Birmingham and much of the West Midlands is on sandy soil, and although tunnelling is not impossible the extra work and cost of shoreing-up would have been prohibitive. My friend was looking, in particular, at a Metro line proposed to run from Brum city-centre under the Bristol Road to Longbridge (where legend has it there used to be a large car factory), but although I believe some geological tests were carried out, the project was considered uneconomical.

Big Gee

 

[Big Gee]

I don't mean to hog this thread, but in 1977 my worthy employer (Foseco Ltd, Long Acre, Nechells) saw fit to post me to their US operation which was based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. My wife and I leapt at the opportunity, with $-signs in our eyes - we were going to the land of the free and home of the brave, and the world would be our oyster. But -

Cleveland OH was, and probably is, a ghastly dump of a city. Downtown Cleveland had shops, an art-gallery, a concert-hall and everything else, but even in 1977 you took your life in your hands to go there much after 7.00 pm at night.

There were steel-mills pumping untreated waste into the Cuyahoga River, so much that one night in 1978 the river actually caught fire when a truck-load of molten slag fell off a bridge! You don't believe this? I saw it, folks!

It was not possible to walk after dark anywhere near the centre of Cleveland - you were either mugged, or the police would pick you up and try to charge you with vagrancy - this happened to me - twice!

There were no trees, no grass, no proper parks, no nothing, until you got way away from the centre of Cleveland.

After dark, Cleveland was a dead city!

When we came back to the UK in 1980 we spent hours and hours just walking around Brum to remind ourselves what a proper city is like - places where you could go and listen to music, eat out, have a drink, whatever - and above all reasonably safely.

I have to be honest and admit that these days we don't often go into Brum, but when we do we love to eat out in Chinatown, go to a concert, have a quiet drink in a nice bar - in fact, my wife has just come home from an early-evening jazz-concert at Symphony Hall. Such simple pleasures were not available in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, when we lived there. If things have changed in the last 30 years, then I humbly apologise to the good citizens of Cleveland, but give me good old Brum any day! Oh, I forgot the canals - we love the canals!

Times change, folks, and it's up to us whether or not we change with them...

Big Gee

Big Gee

 

[Stitcher]

The thread is 'I REMEMBER WHEN'. If we go back far enough, life was a bit rough in Brum as it was almost everywhere at one time. To stick to the thread I remember when mom used to put the milkmans money on the front step and go out shopping. I remember when mom left the back door open for the coalman to put five bags of coal in the coalhouse and his money was on the kitchen table. I remember when it was normal for young women to travel home in the early hours on the night bus. I remember when the nightbus driver never felt threatened. I remember when the police contolled the streets and teachers were in charge in the classroom. I remember when housewives cleaned their front step and swept up outside their house. I remember the Brum Beat era when I worked on doors and everywhere was very busy with very little trouble. I could go on for hours and they are all true. Of course some things have improved and some things have not. Everyone I know and talk to on a regular basis agrees that people were happier and more content with life in Birmingham a few years ago.

 

[Wendy]

I wonder sometimes if we look through rose coloured glasses. I can remember my father in law who was born in Ashtead in 1909 telling us of the gangs that hung around the streets when he was a teenager. They called them the peak-a-blinders because they had razor blades in the peaks of their caps. He also told us about uncle Bill Bailey a mountain of a man ex Guards who was often called on to sort out domestic problems, when women were beaten terribly. I am only recalling what we were told.

 

[OtherHalf]

Wendy speak to any OLD Time copper and they will tell you things were not always rosy .. thugs and bullies of any age dont have respect ...for anyone or anything ...but some of the old type villains.. at least had some respect and I do remember one or two men being drunk coming home and the old ladies giving them a whack or three ,

 

[Rupert]

I remember seeing and eating my first banana at the age of about five or six, on the bottom step of the bedroom stairs of a house that had only a coal fire in one room for heat and a cold water tap on the end of a lead pipe. It was war time and there was nothing unusual in this except for the banana. We had little and our playground was a levelled bombed building site. None of us would opt to go back to those conditions now. It is only a matter of time and degree. Dont be of the belief that this is only happening there. I don't know about Brum being second, the population has decreased since the early fifties but in respect of the midlands as a whole...the area would have to be top ranked in importance on a historical basis; it being the heart of the so called Empire at one time. The widespread latter day use of the English language in the world is a direct result of the former worth of the old manufacturing power house.

 

[Bernard67Arnold]

A thing that no one has mentioned in this debate is the total lack of discipline in our society today, there is none in the home, children used to
be tought from a very early age what is right and what is wrong, not
any more, the Mothers seem to let them do what they like. When you look
back, which is what we are doing , there have been so many changes in how we live, where we live and so on, you can not compare life now
with years ago, getting tired so bedy byes calls, nite Bernard

 

[AnyaDarr]

Excuse me its not just mothers who let them do what they like its fathers too! Nowdays, most families need two people working just to survive and sharing the parenting is how it should be. I do agree about lack of discipline though and the way teachers hands are now tied in these matters.

I went to a very strict school where even an utterance in class could get you a wack with the atlas. Bad behaviour was just not tolerated and I actually got expelled from my school when I was about 15 and in my rebellious teenage phase!

I used to hate sport and sneak off to the cupboard where the art stuff was kept and have a ciggie and make up notes to get out of it! Boy was I in trouble! Still I had basic respect for adults and was generally polite. If we did anything wrong we had to take our punishment and learn from it. I would never have dared to lay a hand on an adult or actually even want to. Now if you say anything to them, you risk a good beating or worse. If you use self defence, then it is likely to be the adult who gets into trouble and they know it.

I see very little discipline nowadays and teenage years are a mine field, if there are no barriers to push against people run totally wild.

'On topic' I only visited Birmingham once, a few years ago when I discovered that over 200 years of my ancestors lived there and was really pleasantly surprised by the town centre. I had heard such negative things and was delighted to find a clean, up beat place with nice fountains etc. great art gallery. Love that statue of the woman having a bathe. You should be proud of the city and the attempts to improve it, not easy.

 

[Stitcher]

I know I am generalising here, I also know that what I am thinking does not relate to everyone but it is my view in what things were like in general and what things are like now. I too remeber to some extent what my life was like when I was 5. We too only had a cold water tap and one coal fire. Taking it in turns in a tin bath in front of the fire was no hardship and indeed was quite fun in some ways. I also remeber the playground was a bombed site. We played hide and seek, football and many other games. I also remember the loud laughter and all the fun we had with what was availiable in my childhood.
In contrast I will always remember the blithering idiots I see on tv pouring out all their problems caused by drink and drugs in this modern society. Young people who can not sort their lives out make it public by appearing on tv. Females and youths with little or no self respect who will copulate with anything as long as there is a pulse. How can I ever forget the screaming children of this modern society when I am out shopping with my wife. The stories of modern life in the newspapers relating to serious violent crime maiming or causing death for little or no reason. I know that we were happier playing on a bomb site sixty five years ago than kids are today with their game machines. How many people today really know a third of the people in their street or road. Knowing everyone in the road was commonplace years ago, as was helping others and recieving help if it was needed. No, I would not like to live again in the forties and fifties but I dream of what life would be like in modern Birmingham if it included principals, morals, integrity and respect.

 

[jacko]

The birmingham i was born and grew up in has long gone, I have gone back a few times since moving out 15 years ago and i have to say i do not feel it is my home of birth anymore, why do i feel that way you brummies may ask who still live there, a big influx of immigrants, drugs and murder, immigrants getting housing priorty, teachings in some schools is mainly prioritised for the immigrants and even christianity is not allowed to be teached in some schools in case of offending our dear immigrants, you walk down alum rock high street and it speaks for it self of how birmingham has changed for the worse.
So it's only when good old brummies leave the city to live elsewhere you realise what you have left behind and i know that if many more could leave they would if given the chance???????

 

[Shera]

one of the things that upsets me a bit is when i take my mom for lunch at a pub, if there are a group of young people nearby they continue to swear away very loudly without any respect for my moms feelings, she being 85 yrs old. im not particularly bothered myself about swear words although i dont swear myself, but from moms generation it just wouldnt have happened within her earshot and i can see her looking uncomfortable.

in general though we have a bad picture of todays youth but a lot of the members on this forum have children and grandchildren who they are very proud of, as i do, so i think we only hear about the bad ones and not the thousands of great young people.

i love living in brum though. my own road is very multi-racial now but im pleased to say we all live in harmony