Lichfield Road Aston

[mikejee]

Moss
I have sorted the problem now. Below is a map c 1889 showing what I believe is your g grandparents house in red. however it is not no 13 lichfield road. The no is the number in the schedule, that is the 13th house covered by the enumerator. This can be seen later in that district where the enumerator starts up Victoria Road and the number in that column goes from 56 in Lichfield St to 57 in Victoria Road.

 

[Astonian]

hi moss
yes they are the little shops and houses what you can see in the picture on the right hand of the picture as you look at it there was a small number
of houses i think it was about six houses compared too the ones you see which you can not see because the photgrapher took that side of the rd
was the posher ones as i recall saying to myself when i was a little nipperas i have said they fell betwen hercules gates and drive down to there ware house wich was at the bottom of the drive they had big iron gates and inthose days they was big exservice men inthere smart uniforms
what they called commisioners sammy gaskin was my friends father whom was a sargent there at the gate house he was a big fella;and regimental
as they was all in those days not like todays sercurity gate men dressed in dull uniforms they wore the bright coloured uniformd with the army
white corps ; but any way . getting back on track where you see number one where you se those little shops was there huge front building
as you know of yester years as you recall it i remember the days they started to demo; all that section and along the front of the lichfield rd along with the courts that was there the courts started about half way along the picture back to upper portland street and thats where you can see the big chimmneys in the back groundwhich was more or less in the middle of there grounds at that period more so if you walked up the park rd where they had a entrance orinioaly
and the other side at the bottom of upper portland street was a small entrance for he cok delivery yard and where they took and brought out the big shire horse
after working and fetching them down from the stables of vicarage rd end by the junior infant school daily ; morning and night
they used to have all there brasses on and medals they won ; just acros the rd from the upper portland stret entrance across the other side of the lichfield rd
just across the was was a water trough for the horses to to getting there drink of water before and after there days working before walking them back up the cobbled hil to vicarage rd stables i used to stand and whatch them drink and follow the men or the driver to take them up the hill

and i recall all the extention of there new building along the lichfield rd to the end of upper portland street the horse trough ws across the lichfield rd at the lower portland street out side my friends cafe also gallaghers brothers barbers shop it was at the top end of wainwright street aston and across from matys radio shop we used to play in the rubble of the old building of those courts at the wek end s when the demo men was not around
and when ansells finished the frontage they opend up there little yard for delivery of there fuekkls to heat up the boilers and put a gate office there i;there is also picture some where with the orinional rear entrance in a book plus the new arrange yard i some books i know they was on this site before but the
tow rags whom have taken then [ nicked them off our site ] i hope they come to a sticky end ] so you cannot see them but they are in some books some where so we may be get one or two members whom may be able to get us one my mate old gaskin andmyself used to creep into the back yard and jump into the coal heaps which wa a huge way dwn the hole pitt we was only little kids wethought it was fun to jump down and sink into all this smakk coke and we would sink to our waist we would struggle to pull our selves up and wressel to get to the side and climb uop a big steel ladder steps to climb and get our selves out
they used to have the big automated shovel that moved up and down the pitt to fetch up there coke and coal and noboby knew we was in and doen thisdeep pitts [ crazy we was ] we could have been killed ; but after a couple of weks they had a manman the gates so we could not get in again and we said yes we had better stop or we will get ourselves killed ; so w did so we started a regular war on the big sargents familydaily when not at school they lived the other side of thompsons still they wa the days of yester years as clear as a bell i may add ; the entrace in park road to ansells wa facing the entry to the cocks family whom was friends with my parents oh just to mention when they built all the front of ansells on the left hand side of the building from the front entrance
there entry for the horse and cart used to have a traffic light instaled on entrance it went up a big slope and at the top on the left hand side was the red and green light which the horse and driver had to obey before entrying into the brewery ;both in and out all day long ; one day because the big shire horse new is driver the driver had a heart attack out side on the lightsthe horse trained to stop on red and green so the horse stopp on red whilst the driver was laying back on the dray and when green he took is driver into the brewery and they found him out cold but the guys inside got him to hospital at the general
and he survived ; well moss all the best take care astonian;;;; alan;;

 

[ASTONITE]

view of Aston CrossView attachment 82363View attachment 82364

 

[mossg]

Thanks a lot Mike.what you say makes a lot of sense,but i think my G G Grandparents house is the one before the one you marked as the corner shop is number 2 in the schedule.Moss

 

[rank]

hi my name is peter rankin I also lived at 5/92 lichfield road or cromwell square as it was also known in the fities with my gran harriet bannister who worked at buttons, my neighbours were mrs gough,mrs marshall mrs gamidge, the gaskin family, the tromans, it was at the back of thomsons the butchers and was very noisey, I used to go up the alley and watch them slaughter the pigs, I went to manor park junior school just at the side of ansells brewery then upper thomas street sec mod till the early sixties,you must have lived there in the late forties or early fifties before my gran

 

[G G Jean]

Hello rank and welcome to the forum. Would you remember the Pugh family from another back to back only my friend Denise would love to find someone who did?. I have another friend who lived close to Thompsons but will have to find out her maiden name.

 

[rank]

hiya jean thanks for the welcome, I will ask my older brother ken he new everybody in those days, he used to be mates with the dawsons across the road by ortons the fireplace shop the back houses there used to back onto the old monkey run, just a note I worked at ansells brewery from 1970 untill the closure in 81 and I played for the first team in the premier of the works football league run by john cronin, we had a cracking side and was top of the works league for many seasons being trained by derek kevan, and ron saunders the old wolves keeper who managed a pub for ansells somewhere on chelmsley wood in the early seventies.

 

[205mal]

My father had a radio and tv shop on Lichfield Road in the early sixties,the number was 197 and was opposite Ansell Wine cellar and in between Bert Pittaways fishing shop and BeeBee's clothes shop.We used to eat at Betty's cafe a little further down Lichfield Road on the other side.

 

[G G Jean]

Rank will message you as my husband was there then and was a good mate of Dereks for some time after that and knows the Cronin family. Hi Mal welcome to you too. Jean.

 

[Astonian]

hi rankin;
just read your thread ;well; well; i was born there at number 5/92 ' and we lived there as kids from the early years
we lived there in the early forties till late fifty ; i beleive it was fifty seven or eight we moved to ladywood ;
my old lady and old fellow moved there in the thirtys ;and had seven kids there so may be you moved in the late fiftys and not when you said you did ;
all the people you have mentionened up the terrace i grew up with everyu single one of them ;colin gaskin; and carol gamage jenny gough the cousins the sharps and your aunt was the one next to our still long friends the jarratts its amazing. she had on her wall out side her house in sea shells
written jesus saves ; i beleive she had a daughter they was the only ones up there that kept them selves to them selves except on coronation day
the only two familys that left that terrace in the early years was the craddocks [ graham ] folowed by us the rest of them stayed until the end
till slum cleareance came around ;there was an elderly lady living there before my parents and she wrote memoirs of 5/92
and you find her on one of carl chinns first edition which was aston mannor
i could tell you alot of the terrace and its inhabbitts of every single members of all those familys that lived up there
every kid up there played together from the days we all could walk and talk i was sorry to leave 5/92 and go to lady wood
so its semms you was the next family to move into that house ; after us there was eight of us brought up ion that little house and by god it held memorys and of mandys grand father and the whole area beleive me where did you move from to get into 5/92 ;
i look forewarded to hearing from you ; best wishes and welcome aboard the express ; astonian;;

 

[rank]

jean my name is Peter Rankin I was the goalkeepe,r peter piper was my pal and played half back in the same side and worked in the bottling plant, sadly he died some years ago aged only forty nine years

 

[rank]

good lord that is amazing, we moved from 41 church street in town to 5/92 my mom beryl my brother ken and my gran as my dad was in the army royal warwicks and was posted to aden, we stayed and moved in with my gran,I remember carol gammige and her sister janet,carol went out with charlie cockerell a guy who was a great deal older than her every one commented on it, we shared the same toilet up the yard with jenny gough who I met again years later in lichfield, colin gaskin was a pal of my brother ken, colin joined the army i think and ken joined the navy finishing up on the old ark royal as a petty officer first class, I have to say reading your post has brought some wettness to my eyes I am not ashamed to say god bless ya.

 

[rank]

mal I dont know if you got my reply, but yes I remember the shop as my mate at school mike prince his dad had the electricians shop nearby, H.J.PRINCE, opposite albert robothams the barbers I used to get my hair cut there for threepence, it was next door to the music shop, I bought my first music book there bert weedons guitar book, ended up playing a sax in a band years later, funny old world innit.

 

[Astonian]

hi rank ;
many thanks for getting back to me so soon it was great to hear from you ; firstly colin and myself was best mates from the age of i surpose five years
old and even after we left the terrace i kept in touch with col; and to tell you we both enlisted to the forces the same day at charles street ;
col ; followed his dads foot steps and his uncles he went to the tank regiment and i went in the royal waricks regiment ;
we signed together and we still met up later in the barracks of wittington in lichfield ; i l would dearly love to catch up with again after all these years
i have tryed numerous times on here but failed to make contact even trye to contact his sisters one was sandra and she worked at the HP sauce factory ; als i would dearly love to meet up with jenny gough she was my child hood sweet heart ;we was always together until we left and broke contact
but then i got wind of her as her nan ; told my mother that jenny s getting married at aston parish church
so i went like the clappers from ladywood to aston and i stood back looking over the wall and was quite saddend she loked gorgous as usall
and i must admitt i was abit gutted i know the kid she married may be you know him as wel is name was colin fisher from up the next entry to thompsoms weall all went to school together colin had a nervous switch with his head but they looked happy whilst i was sad ; whilst i was watching i noticed she had clocked me from afar ;and i gave her a hand up to her ;she smiled ; i used to work with colins dad at tubes he was th senior forman along with bazzm on here another great guy whom i am longing to catch up but wedo email each other ;
regarding carol we was all surprizes to learn she was pregnant to be honest elsie her self did not see it coming nor did carol she never relised she was pregnant; all he terace was twitting over carol andnot knowing she was pregnant her self they was saying how stupid she was for a girl not to know she was pregnant ;
as i said all those kids and the familys of the rerace we started to talk at five years old and all the family supportated each other
regarding that up the yard toilet and the old brew house is another story still i bet of get of the line for now pete; hope you keep imn touch
best wishes astonian;; alan;;

 

[G G Jean]

Peter Peter remembers Peter Piper as he too was in the bottling room for a while. Do you remember Spider or John Smith?. There is a thread on Ansells I will see if I can find it as I am going off the topic of Lichfield road and there are names and people on there I am sure you will remember. Jean.

 

[Astonian]

hi mal ;
If i remember correctly that corner cafe was previuosly the old bike shop on the corner which set up as a cafe and they had curtains all around he windows
it looked like a very homely little cafe and across the rd was the bee hive cafe but getting back to your cafe ; it was the old bike shop and it had a great big penny farhing bike standing out side the shop along with other moderen day bikes of that era ;; i also remember your radio shop ;
and the wine shop and the dolls hospital ; to be very honest i can recall virtualy all the shops down to the resser and the little shop that was on the
bridge at salford can you ;along with the tram termisus and the big round about turn table for the trams to head back to the city centre and the day the tram came offf he tracks and the day the pig which was one of many times eluded on many a days and the lads from thompsoms persued down as far as the old pdsa ;
icidently the next door neibour jackie when she was young and came down to brum all those years was her first job in brum working there as she tells i was born at 5/92 lichfield rd; next to astons the cake shop and thomsons and a mrsbarnes ran the shop at the bottom of the yard and as kids rank ; all us kidsplanted the garden bushes of privettein that garden ;the one next to tromans ; she gave us all the whole of seven kids from the terrace and i can name them all
with the orinional OXO tin ; full with conkers ;way back in the early forties ;
have a nice day best wishes astonian;

 

[ASTONITE]

Rank, heres a photo showing Albert Robathan's barbers, I used to go there in the 50s-60s.

 

[mossg]

Welcome Peter (Rank). I hope you have kept well since i last saw you almost 50 years ago.
Here are a few pictures of Lichfield Rd that have appeared on The Forum in the past,but may have disappeared when the forum was hacked.Moss

 

[paulyx]

hi pete, here's a few of your old pals.

 

[205mal]

I used to go to Alberts for my hair cuts.My dads shop was just above the barbers shop next door to Bert Pittaway's fishing shop.I well remember the stench from the vehicle that used to deliver the maggots.Our shop was an old pub that was being used by a manufacturing opticians called Brush and Denny.

 

[rank]

thanks paul gorr any with me on? ha ha s.till got the one from villa park 1966

 

[rank]

mal what was the name of the music shop? was it the band box or something like that?

 

[rank]

moss thanx for the pics I am keeping ok hope you are to, where did we meet? did we play for aston manor boys club together?

 

[rank]

thanx for the pic astonite, I remember the wax singeing candels that he use to use for the hairline at the back and sides, god so dated now.

 

[ASTONITE]

Albert Robotham (pronounced Rowbottom) was one of three barbers, there was his son and a bloke called Richard Shook, who was an ex army barber in my opinion, as the only style he knew was 'short back and sides', having your hair styled into a 'Boston' was all the rage and the singe at the back finished it off, it was Albert who informed me at 16 that I would lose my hair later in life, I was quite upset at the time but he was right and I started to go bald in my late thirties.

 

[paulyx]

taken at tower ballroom,
id been thrown out, as if.

 

[205mal]

We called shop the Pop Inn my dad was C E Tomlinson.The business failed when the construction of spaghetti junction took away most of his trade.

 

[205mal]

I had my hair singed by Albert on many occasions,fortunately my hair has survived.

 

[rank]

where did ya get that one from. ha ha ha

 

[rank]

guys use to come in to alberts to buy durex for the weekend, they was wrapped in a fine brown and purple paper then, bout a shilling I think they was mal or do you know different, ha ha