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If you could live anywhere in Birmingham, where would it be?

S

Strawberry Hunter

master brummie
My family moved from Birmingham in 1974. I was nearly 2 years old.

I often wonder where I would live in Birmingham if I went back, and I could live anywhere?

Where would be your choice?
 
Though I would like to see the places where my parents, grandparents etc lived (especially Northumberland St) I don't think I would like to live in any of them.

I quite like the houses on The Green, Castle Brom.
 
No contest for me , back on the Coventry road, Bedders chip shop just over the road, Heybarnes rec, the Acker docks and the Tarzan ropes over the Cole, Small Heath swimming baths and the park.
As a child growing up there , with the industry BSA, Smiths Industries, Rootes, 5 aside at Oldknow Road school on a Friday ,The Blues , and so much more.
The best days of my life , the buildings and the area as I knew it are long gone, but I have the memories and those memories can be taken away .
 
Strawberry Hunter said:
I know where Bedders is, poets Island. Was it in the same place?
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Morning Strawberry,
Bedders is is on the junction of Heybarnes Road and Coventry road (best fish and chips take away or eat in)
screen shot attached
 

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Covroad said:
No contest for me , back on the Coventry road, Bedders chip shop just over the road, Heybarnes rec, the Acker docks and the Tarzan ropes over the Cole, Small Heath swimming baths and the park.
As a child growing up there , with the industry BSA, Smiths Industries, Rootes, 5 aside at Oldknow Road school on a Friday ,The Blues , and so much more.
The best days of my life , the buildings and the area as I knew it are long gone, but I have the memories and those memories can be taken away .
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I remember the youth club at Oldknow Road school on Friday nights in the mid 60's. I can recall a few of the girls .... Pat Nixon, Pamela Bruce, Christine Potter and Cathy Phillips.
Small Heath was a better place to live in those days. I played for Small Heath park football team against other parks teams such as Summerfield and Aston parks. The bonfire nights in the park were fantastic. In the summer, there used to be brass bands playing in the bandstand and the flower beds were very colourful. My favourite past-time was fishing in the lake. It seemed quieter and more peaceful then, but that's probably me looking back with rose coloured spectacles!
 
Pedro42 said:
I remember the youth club at Oldknow Road school on Friday nights in the mid 60's. I can recall a few of the girls .... Pat Nixon, Pamela Bruce, Christine Potter and Cathy Phillips.
Small Heath was a better place to live in those days. I played for Small Heath park football team against other parks teams such as Summerfield and Aston parks. The bonfire nights in the park were fantastic. In the summer, there used to be brass bands playing in the bandstand and the flower beds were very colourful. My favourite past-time was fishing in the lake. It seemed quieter and more peaceful then, but that's probably me looking back with rose coloured spectacles!
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I think it felt quieter because there were not so many cars (both moving and parked everywhere). If you think about travelling on the buses then it was frequently standing room only and sometimes impossible to get on because the bus was full. But at least you knew that it wouldn’t be long before another one came along. I googled my way from Digbeth up to Bordesley station and along Coventry Road up Green Lane and onto Bordesley Green last week. It is all visually tiring and no longer coherent as a place to live. Vast car parks for supermarkets. Signage and advertising out of control, litter and graffiti everywhere.
 
Pedro42 said:
I remember the youth club at Oldknow Road school on Friday nights in the mid 60's. I can recall a few of the girls .... Pat Nixon, Pamela Bruce, Christine Potter and Cathy Phillips.
Small Heath was a better place to live in those days. I played for Small Heath park football team against other parks teams such as Summerfield and Aston parks. The bonfire nights in the park were fantastic. In the summer, there used to be brass bands playing in the bandstand and the flower beds were very colourful. My favourite past-time was fishing in the lake. It seemed quieter and more peaceful then, but that's probably me looking back with rose coloured spectacles!
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Hello,
i went to 5 a side at Oldknow Road on a Tuesday for 5 a side in the gym upstairs, it was organised by 2 policemen. On a Friday I had to go to Scouts at the Holy Family on Coventry Road, ironically it backed onto Oldknow Road playground. This would be in the late 60’s , I remember at Oldknow the area were the orange cordial and biscuits were sold (the school dinner room?) .
Same as you loved Small Heath and the park It was the complete day out , paddling pools, boating , fishing, bowls, and the flower beds you mentioned.
Small Heath was a fantastic environment then clean streets, civic pride mothers cleaning windows, front door steps, and sweeping the front of the house / footpaths they had pride in the area then .
No you are not looking back with rose coloured spectacle’s , we are of a generation of pride in the neighbourhood were we lived and that pride was instilled by our parents, and our schooling.
I will leave it at that for tonight (as I have had a couple of drinks )
 
I'm happy enough where I am now. It is only half a mile, as the crow flies, from where I grew up and moved back to in my 30s. Lyn's reference to the TARDIS @ #3, is something that I also often think about, when I look at old photographs on here. How I would like to hop on a 65 bus from town and have a walk past my Grandad/Dad's shop at any point from the late 1920s to 1970s and perhaps even pop in for some fruit & veg :).
 
Referring to the title of this thread, how about our current abode? My wife and I and our three grown up children moved into our house in 1992. All three children flew the nest within five years allowing us to adapt our house to our requirements and we have no wish to ever leave.

We have developed the garden, which is of mutual interest, to our satisfaction although there are always projects that we discuss and often pursue.

We'd been married 27 years when we bought the house and, after 30 years living here, we have no desire to move. More a case of be grateful for what you have.
 
mw0njm. said:
i sure would not go anywhere in brum now, i am happy where i am off grid
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Not sure I'm brave enough to be off the grid but we love where we are now! My daughter and family are 5 minutes away and son and family are 4 hours away (which is not too far in the US). My immediate family life in brum was not the best, I had some aunts and uncles who were super. While we live in an historic town (all things are relative) I miss the history of brum.
 
Richard Dye said:
Not sure I'm brave enough to be off the grid but we love where we are now! My daughter and family are 5 minutes away and son and family are 4 hours away (which is not too far in the US). My immediate family life in brum was not the best, I had some aunts and uncles who were super. While we live in an historic town (all things are relative) I miss the history of brum.
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stick with the forum richard...the history of birmingham is right here :) :) :)

lyn
 
Me I would move back to the house were we lived in Broad Lane, Kingsheath, just after my dad came out the RAF. The House (Black beamed Bungalow) no longer exists as it was demolished to make way for new housing. It had the most fabulous back garden complete with an established orchard and vegetable patch, and lead its way through a wooded copse to the fields at the back with horses. It was magical to me as a child so ,much to investigate and do. We had the cemetery opposite and me and my siblings would tell scary ghost stories. I had a daily task to clean out the fire grate. We only had an outside Loo, which was a mission for us 5 siblings before bed time but to me it was a magical mystery everyday.
 
I would still choose to live where I do now. Postal address is Moseley. Across the fields to Tolkein's Moseley Bog and Joy's Wood. Sarehole Mill in the distance but easy to walk to. Moseley School tower opposite (no longer easily visible as the trees have grown). A view like this from the bedroom window - who would think we were so close to a big city?

Sometimes even Morturn walking Joe the pointer :D

If I had Lyn's tardis I would nip back to the house where I lived as a baby (not in Brmingham but over the border in Shirley) - I knew it as my Grandad's house but have no recollection of my time there as we left when I was about 18 months old.
 

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pjmburns said:
I would still choose to live where I do now. Postal address is Moseley. Across the fields to Tolkein's Moseley Bog and Joy's Wood. Sarehole Mill in the distance but easy to walk to. Moseley School tower opposite (no longer easily visible as the trees have grown). A view like this from the bedroom window - who would think we were so close to a big city?

Sometimes even Morturn walking Joe the pointer :D

If I had Lyn's tardis I would nip back to the house where I lived as a baby (not in Brmingham but over the border in Shirley) - I knew it as my Grandad's house but have no recollection of my time there as we left when I was about 18 months old.
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I too live in Moseley and would not wish to live anywhere else. I love the cultural diversity and it’s the nearest place I know that almost meets the criteria of the 15-minute city. All of your basic needs like shops, doctors and public transport are within 15 minute walk of your home. Once they open Mosley Village Station in October, we will have all needs met.

This is Pointer Joe who is always in too much of a hurry to let Janice stroke him.

The-Pointerlr.jpg
 
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