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Saltley & Alum Rock

Thank you for replying. It's likely to have been that grocers as I think it was on a corner. My aunt and uncle were very soft and kind. They allowed so many people to have things on tick that they lost the business and had to leave the shop. My uncle worked at DAF afterwards and my aunt became a nursing auxiliary. The park you mentioned was where my sister and I spent many a happy hour, playing on the swings or roundabout. I do remember the factory horn that sounded each day as it used to wake us up. Both their sons worked at the paint place, I think it was Holdens.
 
A lot of my family lived around Saltley and Waswood Heath. My auntie, Liz, ran the greengrocers by the no 8 bus clocking in point, Saltley. She used to make and sell the most delicious toffee apples. She had a large silver till with the houses parliament on it. She lived with Len who played the accordion and they had a daughter called Pat. She moved to Shard End and worked in a greengrocers there until she was in her late 80s.
My uncle Cecil and Aunt Nancy lived in Saltey by a park, maybe at the end of Hams Road. They ran a grocers. When I visited as a child I used to get sent to buy beer in a jug from the outdoor. They had two sons, Gary and David. All these people are deceased apart from David.
My sister and I had some wonderful times staying with them. Eating sweets from the shop, playing in the park, learning how to make tablemats and teapot stands. Great.
what a lovely post dianad..full of smashing memories

lyn
 
My husband worked at Holdens for a while, he was young at at college too. I played a lot in Adderley Park (I might even know you!) I also went to Adderley School. The "outdoor" you ,mentioned was on the other side of Ash Road, opposite the shop your relo's ran. Do you remember the sweet shop that was just down Arden Road, could have been a couple of doors away from the corner and it was next door to a Betting Shop. It was run by two elderly sisters and we often stopped on the way from school to buy something having been given a 1p to spend there. My mom loved their "Hundreds and Thousands" and they also used to sell that toffee in trays that they broke up with a small toffee hammer.
 
My husband worked at Holdens for a while, he was young at at college too. I played a lot in Adderley Park (I might even know you!) I also went to Adderley School. The "outdoor" you ,mentioned was on the other side of Ash Road, opposite the shop your relo's ran. Do you remember the sweet shop that was just down Arden Road, could have been a couple of doors away from the corner and it was next door to a Betting Shop. It was run by two elderly sisters and we often stopped on the way from school to buy something having been given a 1p to spend there. My mom loved their "Hundreds and Thousands" and they also used to sell that toffee in trays that they broke up with a small toffee hammer.
Thanks for more memory sharing. My brother in law went to work at Holdens too as a chemist. He learned his skills in the lab there and went on to become a chemist in Sullom Voe in the Shetlands. He was there during the Piper Alpha helicopter crash and worked on the platforms. His name is Peter Wall and he originally lived near the Pelham in Washwood Heath. We all used to go to Mothers night club in Erdington so I'm going to have a look to see if there's another thread for this!
Meantime, I do remember toffee being sold after being broken up by a hammer. We also had coloured puffed wheat in a pointed white bag and loved the licorice roots you could buy.
When dad dropped us off at our aunt and uncle's, he used to look out for the rag and bone man and buy things off him to wear on the building site as he was a bricklayer. We kids were often given a goldfish. Our mother was mortified when he arrived home with a bag of old clothes and I think they were likely given back to the rag and bone man on his rounds in Sheldon where we lived!!
 
View attachment 149244

Can you recognise those three plus Malcolm prosper and Keith Jones? I'm second from right bottom row
There's a couple of faces in the photo below which could also be in Graham's photo. Anyone recognise and suggest names. Photo taken in Ward End Park, the grey cells are unable to provide names with any certainty.
 

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Thanks for more memory sharing. My brother in law went to work at Holdens too as a chemist. He learned his skills in the lab there and went on to become a chemist in Sullom Voe in the Shetlands. He was there during the Piper Alpha helicopter crash and worked on the platforms. His name is Peter Wall and he originally lived near the Pelham in Washwood Heath. We all used to go to Mothers night club in Erdington so I'm going to have a look to see if there's another thread for this!
Meantime, I do remember toffee being sold after being broken up by a hammer. We also had coloured puffed wheat in a pointed white bag and loved the licorice roots you could buy.
When dad dropped us off at our aunt and uncle's, he used to look out for the rag and bone man and buy things off him to wear on the building site as he was a bricklayer. We kids were often given a goldfish. Our mother was mortified when he arrived home with a bag of old clothes and I think they were likely given back to the rag and bone man on his rounds in Sheldon where we lived!!
Sure there is a thread for Mothers. I was a regular there. The last time I went was to see Pink Floyd - must have been about 1970. Can't imagine anything like it now can you. A band like Pink Floyd playing in a room above a furniture shop to about 100 people! My husband worked in the labs. He decided he didn't like college so stopped going. When they found out at Holden's they gave him the sack!
 
Was Peter Wall any relation to David Wall?
No, his brother is called Michael John who he would love to trace as he has lost touch. Peter is going to join the forum as he is a keen music fan who knows so much that he will be able to share his knowledge of all the band's from the 60s and 70s. He says King Crimson is the best ?
 
I LIVED AND WORKED ON THE SHETLAND S TOO 7 YEARS OF HARD WORK AND HARD PLAY ,SOME OF BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE.
 
Well that is a co-incidence that there were two people with the name Wall working at Holden's.
Hi I also worked at holdens from 1977 to 2005 I remember Pete wall and david wall what was your dads name I used to live in Arden road
 
They are L-R Michael Partridge, Margaret Partridge, Margaret Thompson, David Maul boy sitting is Margarets brother David Thompson.
Is that the David Maule who lived in Ellesmere Road and was in Saltley Methodist Scouts? If so, I accompanied him on his overnight hike for his First Class Scout badge. Not seen him or been in touch with him since my father's memorial service at Saltley Meth - would have been 1979.

Graham
 
Sure there is a thread for Mothers. I was a regular there. The last time I went was to see Pink Floyd - must have been about 1970. Can't imagine anything like it now can you. A band like Pink Floyd playing in a room above a furniture shop to about 100 people! My husband worked in the labs. He decided he didn't like college so stopped going. When they found out at Holden's they gave him the sack!

I also went to Mothers and the Carlton Ballroom, as it was known before and saw, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Black Sabbath, and many more play above the furniture store, down the alley.

I think it was the Cavendish furniture store , next to the funeral home that took up the entire area that the two stores currently occupy.

Last time I was in the village (Erdington) was in 2004, there was a "dollar" store there at street level. It was sad when Mothers closed. It looks pretty sad out front now, as did high street in general. There is a blue plaque between the upstairs windows that commorates the club.

Most times, a bunch of us teens hung out and drank beer downstairs in the New Roebuck Cellar Bar in those days,stuffing the Wurlitzer Juke Box with money all night.

The original Old Roebuck was next to the church, set a way back off the High Street, pretty much directly across from the front entrance to Woolworths, which ran the length of Barnabas Road down to a glass store, opposite the old Erdington Market.

My mother in law worked at the Palace Cinema, down where Safeway was built on the opposite side to Littlewoods. My Mom was a Co-op shopper. I still remember her number 111064!

Circa 1970, I had a girlfriend Valerie Jones, who worked at the Pop In Restaurant in York Road at the Sutton New Road end.

A little later before I immigrated to Canada in '74, I drove night shift for Star Taxi in South Road off Reservoir Road and then we moved into York Road, directly opposite where the Pop In used to be at street level.

Thanks for reminding me of fond memories of days, never to be enjoyed by anyone in quite the same way again!

Then again, there was the Rum Runner on Canal Street and Barbarellas off Broad Street, Rebeccas, the Dolce Vita to name a few, but nothing ever again quite like Mothers!

We may not have had "Woodstock", but the night life in Brum was hard to beat, with so many great local bands headed for the big time in the '60s and early 70s.
 

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I also went to Mothers and the Carlton Ballroom, as it was known before and saw, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Black Sabbath, and many more play above the furniture store, down the alley.

I think it was the Cavendish furniture store , next to the funeral home that took up the entire area that the two stores currently occupy.

Last time I was in the village (Erdington) was in 2004, there was a "dollar" store there at street level. It was sad when Mothers closed. It looks pretty sad out front now, as did high street in general. There is a blue plaque between the upstairs windows that commorates the club.

Most times, a bunch of us teens hung out and drank beer downstairs in the New Roebuck Cellar Bar in those days,stuffing the Wurlitzer Juke Box with money all night.

The original Old Roebuck was next to the church, set a way back off the High Street, pretty much directly across from the front entrance to Woolworths, which ran the length of Barnabas Road down to a glass store, opposite the old Erdington Market.

My mother in law worked at the Palace Cinema, down where Safeway was built on the opposite side to Littlewoods. My Mom was a Co-op shopper. I still remember her number 111064!

Circa 1970, I had a girlfriend Valerie Jones, who worked at the Pop In Restaurant in York Road at the Sutton New Road end.

A little later before I immigrated to Canada in '74, I drove night shift for Star Taxi in South Road off Reservoir Road and then we moved into York Road, directly opposite where the Pop In used to be at street level.

Thanks for reminding me of fond memories of days, never to be enjoyed by anyone in quite the same way again!

Then again, there was the Rum Runner on Canal Street and Barbarellas off Broad Street, Rebeccas, the Dolce Vita to name a few, but nothing ever again quite like Mothers!

We may not have had "Woodstock", but the night life in Brum was hard to beat, with so many great local bands headed for the big time in the '60s and early 70s.
Martin, Woodstock was not what it was cracked up to be!
 
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