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Shoes

Vivienne14 said:
Do you remember your early shoes? I distinctly remember having a pair of these:

View attachment 85116

I used to be taken to nearby Perry Barr to the England's shoe shop to get my feet measured in one of those X-ray machines. I thought the machine was terrifying, not unlike a visit to the dentists. I remember getting several pairs of these sandals at different times as I grew. My favourite ones were dark red, but I also had a white pair with white crepe soles. And they were so comfy too. Viv.
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Oh Yes, mum always got us measured for Clarks as we got older and i did the same for my kids. My daughter had some red t bar sandals.
 
I don't think I had any quite like that, though was always measured with the intriguing ruler on a stool thing (don't know what they're called!)
 
Lady Penelope said:
My Gt Gt grandmother and Gt Aunt worked in the shoe trade in Old Ford, East London before moving back to Birmingham. Gt Aunt Augusta, who lived in Rifle Crescent which I think was in Lozells, was a 'boot clicker' and this link takes you to wiki for a description of that occupation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_and_shoe_clicker

Both ladies were related to the cordwainer mentioned in my post #80. His daughter and granddaughter.
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Rifle Crescent in Aston, just round the corner from Potter's Hill and Barton's Bank.

A little Irishman offered me tenancy of half a house there for free...………..if I would let the other half upstairs to 30 'blacks' for a £1 a week each.

I declined the offer.
 
Hi VIVIENE
I Most certainly remember them in deed because my old man gave me a clipping around my ears for looseing one when i was young it was a sunday afternnon and my friend colin went to sutton park by train on our own i was about nine years old by train from aston station, we found our selfs in amongest of bushes in a wooden part but what happenend it was a swamped area i trod into one and i was sinking fast shouted to colin he was trying to pull me out he did with a struggle but i lost the one shoe in the swamp so i had to come back home walking from the park to the station and board the train and walk back all up the lichfield road to our house only to find our dad was in his chair and he seen me slipp the one shoe off and pushed it under the table but he clocked i only put one he asked me about the new shoes he bought me yesterday that was the saturdy before he said can i see your shoes alan so i gave him one of them i handed it to im and said where is the other one i tryed to bluff him its under the table he said give it me and then i had to own up what we did nobody knew we was going to sutton park by train on our own he said where is the other shoe he said and of course i had to tell him the truth be went barmy he said i have just bought you them yesterday i aint got to waste you little so and so he stood up and clipped me around the ear hole and sent me to bed no tea for you so i was sent to bed but when he went to the pub sunday evening but he doubled back and seen me down stairs cause mom called me down but when he seen me sent me back up the stairs and started to shout at our mom then off he went so you see i will never forget those brown shoes thats a memory i have never forgot of living in 5/92 lichfield road Aston
 
Vivienne14 said:
Anyone remember these? We had one but I never saw it put use. It lay rusting in the garden. Suppose it was easier to take the shoes to the repairers (or cobbler as we called it). Viv.

View attachment 85253
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Yes , we also had one it belonged to my grandfather who lived with us, I remember my dad using it as we got older, he would put new soles on our shoes and then melt a waxy stick thing that he then applied around the edges to colour the new leather the same colour as the shoes. He also put small metal taps on the toes and heels of my shoes so they would last longer I loved the tapping noise it made when I walked!
 
wendylee said:
Yes , we also had one it belonged to my grandfather who lived with us, I remember my dad using it as we got older, he would put new soles on our shoes and then melt a waxy stick thing that he then applied around the edges to colour the new leather the same colour as the shoes. He also put small metal taps on the toes and heels of my shoes so they would last longer I loved the tapping noise it made when I walked!
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Lady Penelope said:
My Gt Gt grandmother and Gt Aunt worked in the shoe trade in Old Ford, East London before moving back to Birmingham. Gt Aunt Augusta, who lived in Rifle Crescent which I think was in Lozells, was a 'boot clicker' and this link takes you to wiki for a description of that occupation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_and_shoe_clicker

Both ladies were related to the cordwainer mentioned in my post #80. His daughter and granddaughter.
Click to expand...


pen just seen this post...you most likely know but just in case have you seen the photos of rifle crescent i posted some time back

lyn
 
We called those metal tips, fairy segs, no idea why but I loved that noise they made, perhaps that’s why I loved tap dancing, thanks for the memories
 
Providing you had lasts (I have three, but for decorative purposes only) you could effect your own shoe repairs which many men did in the past. Men's shoes and ladies flats were easy I believe, but fashion and high heeled were probably a non starter. You could buy the ready made soles, leather and rubber, metal heel tips and of course the pungent adhesive and tacks needed. It seems that some enterprising folk still do their own repairs - not everyone subscribes to the 'throwaway culture'. :)
http://www.shoedoctorshop.co.uk/DIY+Shoe+Repairs/0_CAAA012.htm
 
LYNN RIFFLE CRESCENT WAS IN ASTON JUST OFF VICTORIA ROAD WE LIVED YARDS FROM IT WE WAS AT 47 VICTORIA ROAD AND AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED YARDS FROM THE OLD SIX WAYS ASTON IT DID NOT COME UNDER LOZELLS
 
Hi Dave many thanks for putting the map up on the screen i lived along the road at 47 victoria road and more or less oppersite our house cing the oaktree pub was johny prescotts steel stockist birmingham i am trying to recall johny prescott went into partnership with an other boxer and he had a booking office up over on the lozells road facing the old oaktree pub which would have been on a parade of shops they built next to the old school
 
Vivienne14 said:
Hi Bernard they were pretty weighty things too. Must have been a very useful thing to have if you knew how to use one.

Now did any of you go here for your regulation school shoes? Co-op High Street had a very large shoe department. Photo is from 1929, but I remember it well in the 1950s and 60s. It was all part of the summer holiday school uniform shopping round. (I didn't mind this 'chore' as we'd stop and have a toasted teacake and a milkshake at the Oxford cafe further down High Street first). Don't remember the Co-op doing shoe repairs too. Maybe they stopped doing the repairs when I went in there in the 1950/60s. Viv.

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I worked in ladies footwear 1955-1960
 

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Vivienne14 said:
Do you remember your early shoes? I distinctly remember having a pair of these:

View attachment 85116

I used to be taken to nearby Perry Barr to the England's shoe shop to get my feet measured in one of those X-ray machines. I thought the machine was terrifying, not unlike a visit to the dentists. I remember getting several pairs of these sandals at different times as I grew. My favourite ones were dark red, but I also had a white pair with white crepe soles. And they were so comfy too. Viv.
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i do remember having to wear them. very annoying when the buckle broke trying to keep them on. :mad:
 
Vivienne14 said:
Day's shoe shop on New Street in 1945. Day's don't seem to have worried too much about window dressing. The shoe display seems pretty random, almost as though someone thought: "lets get as much stock in the window as we possibly can" ! They seem to be promoting something that increases employment, maybe it was 'buy British-made shoes'. I don't remember this shop but do remember the shoe department in the Co-op on High Street in the early-1960s - a very spacious and highly organised place with lots of assistants. Viv.

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Penny bank said:
I worked in ladies footwear 1955-1960
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the attached , are some of the assistants, and other staff that worked on Ist floor when I worked there
I am 2nd from right 3rd row down.
]
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I don't know why but when I had new shoes I always had to "break them in". This involved wearing them indoors a few times before venturing out into the big wide world with them ! :)
 
I often had to do the same. Also wore a pair of thick socks while breaking them in. Another (unsuccessful) way of stretching shoes was to put wet newspaper in, packed really tightly. Never seemed to work for me. Remember softening the back of shoes with a metal spoon.
Viv
 
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