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Lickey Hills

gingerjon

gingerjon

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN R.I.P.
as any one got memories stories or photographs of the Lickey's it was visited by thousands every year and was our day out visit, queuing to get on the tram, the stairs to try and get the open air balcony and the glorious wind rushing trip up the Bristol road all for a penny fare a bottle of water and a sarnie to last you all day
there must be hundreds of old photographs lying around some where
I hope
 
Great memories John we used to do exactly that on our days out there. I seem to recall that there was a Coffee/Tea shop & Gift shop after we got off the Tram and started the walk down the hill :D

Perhaps our newer members have some memories and photos, its a pity our parents could'nt have got a Camera but it was out of reach those days. :)

By the way I got my first camera at about 19 a 35mm Ilford I believe ^-^
 
I put Lickey Hills into Google, there are lots of photo's there taking you down Memory Lane. :) It is a more sanitised Lickeys perhaps than I remember in the 40's/50's. I guess they would call it 'managed' now.

Did we go down Mucklow's Hill to get there? I just can't get the location in my mind.
 
you turned left at the top of Mucklows hill carrying on to Northield and then up the Bristol road past the Austin works or you could go round the back of Frankley,
 
There is a very good book called "A POSTCARD FROM THE LICKEY'S" By Joe and Francis Brannan
ISBN 0 947731 53 9.
This book contains some very good photo's of the Lickey's and it's surrounding area's.
I have this book and could scan some of it, but I am not sure if this is legal or not. I can certainly recommend this book if you have an interest in the Lickeys.
 
Hi there
I hope someone can Help me, I'm trying to trace a shop possibly a dress shop that would have been around the Longbridge, lickey hills, Rubery area around the 1920's -1930's My great grandmother Mary Jane Heap had this shop before moving over to the Ward End area to run a drapers shop. any information would be much appreciated.

thank you
 
Anyone know the whereabouts of a gamekeepers cottage on the Lickey's c 1910
 
Lickey hills a slice of heaven - so many memories, for me through the sixties.
Used to go on my own as a girl - couldn't do that now!
There was a big house with landscaped gardens and a cafe (I remember lots of windows!). Sadly for me it was by bus, trams already gone!
Jan
 
Cornwall Col
Any more info on that cottage?
I live within walking distance of the Lickeys and would be willing to find it for you if you have more info.
My mum was always telling me how as a girl she used to get the tram from Brum so that she could spend the day at the Lickey Hills. It always made me laugh because we moved from Perry Barr to the Lickey area when I was two and as soon as she lived within walking distance of them she didn't bother going. I think the journey on the tram may have been a big part of the fun.
You can find some photos on francisfrith website - search Lickey area and Rednal area.
Also www.photobydjnorton.com has photos of trams
Polly
 
No afraid not it appears on the 1911 census as Gamekeepers Cottage, Lickey Hills and thats all I have to go on
 
Hi, the lickey hills in the 40’s and 50’s, we used walk from Mary street balsall heath to Bristol rd to catch the tram, me and our kid usually. And what a ride that was, for us it was far more thrilling than formula one racing today. When we got of the tram and walked down the hill past the amusement arcade, oh how I wanted to go on those machines but in those days we never had more than our tram fares. Once in a while the whole family would go for a day out then mom would give us tuppence or threpence.
Happy days.
Baz
 
Hi Baz

Here is a photo of that amusement arcade, that you wanted to go into all those years ago. You were better off not going in, I always lost my tram / bus fare and ended walking home.

I've also added a photo of one of those formula one trams in a location that will be familiar to you.

Phil
 

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Yes, I remember the Lickey Hills, either by tram or later by bus. There used to be a little wash and brush up place where the bus terminated. As you all say a bottle of pop and some sarnies, and walk for miles. We used to wash our hands in a little stream. What lovely memories!

Maggs
 
Hi Phil, you have done it again. I had forgotten that the bus stopped outside our house. When I saw the photo I couldn’t believe my eyes there was our house as it used to be when we where kids. Is there a story behind you and your photos, I know you said you where a avid collector. But your collection must be vast.
Thanks again Phil.
Baz
 
Baz

No story behind it, its just that I remember this was where our Ben came to work for you and Eric, his first job straight from school when you first started up in business. Thats why I held on to it mainly. Mind you I probably would have held on to it anyway, being Balsall Heath.

Phil
 
hello.all.lickey hills on a sunday complete with banana sarnies.and pop. On the way home pick blackberries.great stuff. what happy times.
 
Hi - I have identified the cottage as Rose Cottage and in 1911 an under Gamekeeper Peter Blockley was living there - does anyone have any idea of its exact location or even better if it is still there - Thanks so much
 
I have no positive location for Rose Cottage, but the cottage itself has been well documented by photographs as there are many about. A lot of them are postcards.

One location could possibly be Rose Hill, there are also many photographs of that location.
 

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Alf said:
Great memories John we used to do exactly that on our days out there. I seem to recall that there was a Coffee/Tea shop & Gift shop after we got off the Tram and started the walk down the hill :D

Perhaps our newer members have some memories and photos, its a pity our parents could'nt have got a Camera but it was out of reach those days. :)

By the way I got my first camera at about 19 a 35mm Ilford I believe ^-^
Click to expand...
my two sisters were evacuated there in the war and they used to take me there when i was growing up. they were housed near walton or walcot pool i remember
 
I haven't, Bernard ...... but I'd fly home tomorrow and buy a ticket at £25 if I was offered the chance! Where did you photograph this splendid model? Look after yourself, David
 
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I often did Bernie. I can still see and smell the 3p tickets, hear the bell clang and feel the rails under my seat, read my fortune from a machine at the Lickey terminal, get my hands, tongue and Sunday best stained with bilberries, Graham.
 
Cadeau said:
I often did Bernie. I can still see and smell the 3p tickets, hear the bell clang and feel the rails under my seat, read my fortune from a machine at the Lickey terminal, get my hands, tongue and Sunday best stained with bilberries, Graham.
Click to expand...

I bet it was 3d tickets you could smell Graham!
 
Remarkably yes I can remember riding the tram from St Lawrence Road Northfield to the Lickey terminal. It is a vivid memory even though I was only just 3 years old when the trams were decommissioned. ... the bell cable strung at shoulder height (my dad's not mine) ... the acrid smell of cigarette smoke drifting down the stairs from the top deck ... British School of Motoring, Fry's Five Boys chocolate and Anti-vivesection posters in glass cases on the walls ... the cheery clippie with her ticket machine slung in front of her ... the clippie hopping off to clock-in from time time at a large (blue? or maroon? coloured) clock near fare-stage stops.

The tram travelled up the tracks in the central reservation of the Bristol Road South to the terminal circle at Rednal ... dozens of trams slowly inching around the circle till the front one broke off and trundled back to central Birmingham. The slow breathless hike up Rose Hill to the Crown Pub (where we had glasses of lemonade while mum and dad had bottles of Manns) then past the large duck pond, up the side path to Beacon Hill with the stream running down by the side in little pools, full of ornamental fish and little families of coots ... dashing into the trees by the path and crunching on pine needles in an almost cathedral like silence ... then breaking out at the top of Beacon Hill near the wooden open-topped toilets that were built in the war for fire-watchers and the Royal Observer Corps.

In the autumn instead climbing Bilberry Hill on the other side and the whole family picking the sticky blue berries ... each with our own enamelled bowl ... and afterwards strolling back to the large tea-rooms at the base of Bilberry Hill for toasted tea-cakes and a huge pot of tea ... then queuing to get back on the tram home.

I can see and smell it in my mind like it was this afternoon, not 58 years ago ... So yeah --- hands up here!
 
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