• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Starlings - And other things

Blacksmith

Blacksmith

master brummie
I was thinking about what I missed about the old Brum and was wondering what other people were sad that we have lost.

For me (at the moment before I think of any others) these are some of the things I miss.
  • The noise of the starlings and their incredible acrobatic flying displays every night. The sound and sight of them will remain with me forever.
  • The man who sold baked potatoes and hot chestnuts on the corner of New Street and the way in to New Street Station. I have never tasted better.
  • The feeling of safety walking the strrets of Birmingham at night. I wouldn't even venture near Broad Street nowadays.
  • The news reel display. Where was it? Times Square?
  • The live bands at the Odeon.
  • Father Christmas and Uncle Holly at Lewis's - He was 'the real' Father Christmas
Let's hear what you miss
 
I miss the old neighbours and the time when the door was never latched. People always had time for one another whereas today they appear to be dashing everywhere. There were not the traffic jams and road rage was never heard of. I too loved the baked potatoes and chestnuts just not the same today. I used to work in Fore street and my office had a very large window ledge where the starlings used to settle and the occasional pigeon would an egg. Jean.
 
G G Jean said:
I miss the old neighbours and the time when the door was never latched. People always had time for one another whereas today they appear to be dashing everywhere. There were not the traffic jams and road rage was never heard of. I too loved the baked potatoes and chestnuts just not the same today. I used to work in Fore street and my office had a very large window ledge where the starlings used to settle and the occasional pigeon would an egg. Jean.
Click to expand...

Talking about doors on the latch. When me Mom knew I was going to be late home, she used to put a chair against the front door to keep it shut. I wasn't allowed to have a key till I was 21. Try doing that today.
 
I miss the old shop's, the friendly people, the neighbourlyness, the old atmosphere and the starling's.
 
The old rag-market, Lewis's on a saturday,Woolies in the bull-ring, proper shops, characters, going into town on the tram.
 
Maggs we still have lots of starlings and very good neighbours but it isn't the same as years back as where my nan lived in Franchise street in a back to back they used to bring a chair out and chat over the garden fence. Astoniet I used to love to get the bus to the old market with mom where they would auction of the crabs and other seafood etc at the end of the day. I remember the man selling the crabs come out with something that was so funny but I can't put it on here I am afraid. A bit too naughty. Jean.
 
Last edited:
THe Starlings were fantastic to watch swirling and diving all in one mass it was like a big black cloud coming towards you as the sky darkened.the only draw back was the noise when they came down to roost and the poo not an easy job walking through town without getting a deposit on you clothes. Dek
 
My childhood memories of Birmingham are of a wonderful, exciting place. I don't remember it as a frightening place at all, but maybe that's because I was seeing it as a child and I was never in there late at night. Mind you, even as a teenager, there was never the huge level of drunken behaviour that is seen nowadays. Perhaps there are just a lot more people in the city nowadays.

One further thing I remember is going up the steps into the old Market Hall. I loved visiting there. My mum wasn't too keen because there was a pet store there (Pimms, I think) and I was always pestering her for a pet. I must have ruined her shopping there. I'm lucky I didn't get a clip round the 'earhole' because I kept on and on about it.
 
dek carr said:
Would that be" SPATCH OR MAIL"Dek
Click to expand...
I still get embarassed when my Mom asked me to get a paper when standing outside WH Smiths. The Vendor said to me [what sounded like] Spatchermail and I (as an 8 year old) just said yes. Well how was I to know? He then said it slowly for my young ears.
 
I miss the proper old Rag-Market, Henrys, Greys, and the Outside Bull Ring Market, with all the stalls to wander around. It's far too cramped now.
I used to go window shopping in Town in the evening....a cheap night out! It's all shutters now.
 
Mooching about among the vynil Album covers in pretty well any of the bigger shops, as well as record shops, CDs aint the same, and my eyesight aint good enough anymore.

Watching the blokes throwing plates and dinner services, by the back wall of the rag market. Fishing in ward End and Smll Heath Parks.

Wandering around overthe tip.

And yeah ! the Starlings.

I dont miss being cold of a night, sharing the outside toilet with the neighbours, waiting for busses in the rain, not having hot water or a bathroom.....
 
Thanks for sharing them with us el stano. We have just had a flock fly into the tree at the back and are just hoping they fly down. I have a photo taken last year so will try and sort it. Jean.
 
I can remember in the early 60s walking home from Balsall Heath to Bordesley Green in the early hours of the morning. I had just met a new girlfriend who I decided to spend the rest of my life with ( unfortunately she dumped me a week later )
As I walked through Balsall Heath, Sparkhill and Small Heath, it was a lovely night, I passed various other young men , obviously on the same mission as me.
" Alright, mate" I would holler across the road to them.
" Yeah, you mate ? " would come the reply.
I can still remember thinking , that night, that if I had a choice of anywhere else in the World to live, I would still choose BIRMINGHAM.
Could I still say the same now, ??????????
 
jim..i could most likely spend all night replying to your post but i will cut it short by saying that i totally understand your thoughts...the way of life and how folk were then will never return and so we must be grateful for our memories...another good reason why this forum is so very important to all of us is it keeps those memories alive and reminds us of some things we had long forgotton...long may it continue..

sorry i was going to be brief...lol

lyn
 
We get lot's of starling's here too Jean, but the way the Brum ones used to screech across the town and land on Old Brum clock (stopping it of course) after a day's shopping. Waiting for the bus home was conversation free because of the noise of those bird's. I will alway's remember that. Another thing I loved was going to the 'Flat'. Used to have tea and toast in the old cafe down there, then spend my bit of money in Woolies. Also remember going into St Martin's church in the Bull Ring on a Saturday for the 'Shopper's Service'. Does anyone remember that? The Barrow boy's all the way down to St Martin's. It was a warm, friendly, homely city with great shop's and safe enough for me to walk home in the small hour's from the coffee bar's alone. We also used to see the neighbour's in our street bring the chair's out to sit in the sun. I can guess what the crab man might have said!!!! Golden day's and golden memories folk's.
 
This is my 6th year in Meriden, having moved here from Cornwall/Devon.
 
hi lynda..its a great site isnt it...and i think sometimes we all (me included) expect it to be here every day when we log on..but it was only a few months ago that it was in under a very real threat of closing down for good...we spent quite some time thinking will it...wont it and then jim stepped in along with the admin team to run the gauntlet and keep us going with it resulting in jim taking over our forum which is so well run now that it is easy to forget how we nearly lost it for ever....so i for one would just like to thank you once again jim...you are a true brummie diamond...

lyn..
 
Now I will go off thread and hope I am forgiven.
I hated the starlings and their noise, I hated the Church bells ringing on a Sunday.
There must be hundreds of things I loved about Brum and will never forget.
 
Thank you, Lyn, its nice to receive thanks for doing something that I enjoy doing.
Yes, we did run the gauntlet and the very real threat of closure but thanks to the determination and commitment of our members and team, we came through and are now in the enviable position of being in sufficient funds to keep us going for at least another 2/3 years.We can only go from strength to strength, so please remember, lets have your ideas.
Thank you all.
 
New ideas sent in, Jim, are simply the cherry on the cake. It's YOU, your right-hand man, Warren, and the other members on the administration side of this wonderful forum that give us the cake we all appreciate so much. Thank you one and all, David
 
I would certainly be lost without the Forum Jim, Many Thanks for making this old man happy. So very nice to meet such wonderful people on here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top