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Then & Now

Then, as I remember it when I left Brum 1957 and NOW Gold leafed WHY??? Another example how Brum has changed PROGRESS????

Hijacking, with apologies, an elderly post for no better reason than the fact that it brings back a number of special memories all at the same time ...

As a young boy of 7/8/9 in the mid-50s, one of many highlights for a while was a regular Friday evening trip by bus with my Father to go to the then-called Tatler Cinema behind New Street Station to watch their revolving 1-hour programme of cartoons and B/W comedy classics like Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Keaton and those wonderful others.

Dad would arrive home from work around 6:00, we'd eat and then set off for the bus with a hug from Mum. It was a special treat and a special time. It felt kinda grown-up to be going out in the evening, in the actual dark sometimes, and not infrequently in to evening fog peppered with hazy streetlamps trying hard to glow through it.

We hopped off the bus in New Street where the sounds of the pigeons cooing and fluttering and flapping were unmissable as I stepped down to the pavement, and where the pairs of overhead street lights strung from cables across the street high on the buildings either side, and that were more like elegant lanterns to my eyes, created a ceiling that stretched right along New Street as we went along then turned to walk clear through the Station - a *proper* train station in those days! - and past the ranks of steps on either side that led down to the platforms ... and then on to the end where more steps led down to the street directly across from The Tatler.

Heading home afterward, having undoubtedly lingered to watch a cartoon or two one more time when the programme's loop began to go around again, we had a choice of bus stops depending on whether I wanted to ride the New St/Corporation St/Bull St/Colmore Row loop around Town before setting off, or just head straight home if maybe it was cold or rainy.

Either way we would be riding the bus out of Town along Broad Street, and another highlight - I have skipped many! - was to do with the fountain by the Hall Of Memory ... we would have to bet each other whether it would it would be in just its white light when we went past, or if it would be in its rotating colours stage ... and for some further excitement (!) we might also have to choose a first-seen colour for if it was in that part of its sequence ...

... the prize? Just whatever sweets were left over from watching the cartoons, though we inevitably shared those on the bus anyway til the paper bag was empty :)

So what has this got to do with the Boulton, Murdoch, Watt statue?

Well, we would also sometimes just walk to the start of Broad Street and catch our bus from there, because I enjoyed watching the fountain so could do that for longer while waiting.

And one time when we got there there had already been something happening that by the next week had become the completed installation of that statue. But it hadn't been formally unveiled yet, so the figures were covered by a huge tarpaulin lashed to/around the plinth, though it was pretty easy to make out that it was a statue of three people with something between them.

So because Dads know absolutely everything I asked what it was a statue of, and he said it was three women hanging their washing out.

Which I didn't question. Well you don't, do you? :)

And that is exactly what it has been ever since!
 
And ted Haynes greengrocers. He used to have a shop up ward end “the main” as well
my friend had a cafe just up from ted Haynes.....( pops) there was a shoe shop on the corner of sladefield rd.that took provy checks. No daily mail/tackety boots for us. I think the shop is still there.
 
my friend had a cafe just up from ted Haynes.....( pops) there was a shoe shop on the corner of sladefield rd.that took provy checks. No daily mail/tackety boots for us. I think the shop is still there.
And there used to be a traditional cobblers shop on the same side as ted Haynes just a bit further up. I still went there for repairs into the ‘90’s but not sure if he still trading
 
And there used to be a traditional cobblers shop on the same side as ted Haynes just a bit further up. I still went there for repairs into the ‘90’s but not sure if he still trading
i remember that cobblers. just past there is a entrance to a road that runs the back of the shops.right down to t/haynes.it is were the lorries were kept.
 
Hijacking, with apologies, an elderly post for no better reason than the fact that it brings back a number of special memories all at the same time ...

As a young boy of 7/8/9 in the mid-50s, one of many highlights for a while was a regular Friday evening trip by bus with my Father to go to the then-called Tatler Cinema behind New Street Station to watch their revolving 1-hour programme of cartoons and B/W comedy classics like Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Keaton and those wonderful others.

Dad would arrive home from work around 6:00, we'd eat and then set off for the bus with a hug from Mum. It was a special treat and a special time. It felt kinda grown-up to be going out in the evening, in the actual dark sometimes, and not infrequently in to evening fog peppered with hazy streetlamps trying hard to glow through it.

We hopped off the bus in New Street where the sounds of the pigeons cooing and fluttering and flapping were unmissable as I stepped down to the pavement, and where the pairs of overhead street lights strung from cables across the street high on the buildings either side, and that were more like elegant lanterns to my eyes, created a ceiling that stretched right along New Street as we went along then turned to walk clear through the Station - a *proper* train station in those days! - and past the ranks of steps on either side that led down to the platforms ... and then on to the end where more steps led down to the street directly across from The Tatler.

Heading home afterward, having undoubtedly lingered to watch a cartoon or two one more time when the programme's loop began to go around again, we had a choice of bus stops depending on whether I wanted to ride the New St/Corporation St/Bull St/Colmore Row loop around Town before setting off, or just head straight home if maybe it was cold or rainy.

Either way we would be riding the bus out of Town along Broad Street, and another highlight - I have skipped many! - was to do with the fountain by the Hall Of Memory ... we would have to bet each other whether it would it would be in just its white light when we went past, or if it would be in its rotating colours stage ... and for some further excitement (!) we might also have to choose a first-seen colour for if it was in that part of its sequence ...

... the prize? Just whatever sweets were left over from watching the cartoons, though we inevitably shared those on the bus anyway til the paper bag was empty :)

So what has this got to do with the Boulton, Murdoch, Watt statue?

Well, we would also sometimes just walk to the start of Broad Street and catch our bus from there, because I enjoyed watching the fountain so could do that for longer while waiting.

And one time when we got there there had already been something happening that by the next week had become the completed installation of that statue. But it hadn't been formally unveiled yet, so the figures were covered by a huge tarpaulin lashed to/around the plinth, though it was pretty easy to make out that it was a statue of three people with something between them.

So because Dads know absolutely everything I asked what it was a statue of, and he said it was three women hanging their washing out.

Which I didn't question. Well you don't, do you? :)

And that is exactly what it has been ever since!
 
That's a great story TQ!. I have so many memories of trips to the town centre in the fifties and early sixties with my parents, but one memory that always sticks in my mind is clutching my Mum's hand as we made our way down Corporation St on a dark autumn afternoon and hearing the sound of thousands of roosting starlings on the buildings. Then it was a wait for the 45 bus where the baked potato oven was parked. I can still smell the lovely odour, and of course mum always bought me a baked potato.

I wonder if anyone can remember queuing on the stairs in Lewis's to see Father Christmas.....?
 
Thanks for the information Rosie. I shall look it up. I just remember queueing up for what seemed like hours (perhaps it was), then the little grotto with the marionettes, then Uncle Holly, who I think gave us a badge, then Father Christmas, the the distribution of the present, blue tissue paper for boys, pink tissue paper for girls. A big moment of the year
 
Thanks for the information Rosie. I shall look it up. I just remember queueing up for what seemed like hours (perhaps it was), then the little grotto with the marionettes, then Uncle Holly, who I think gave us a badge, then Father Christmas, the the distribution of the present, blue tissue paper for boys, pink tissue paper for girls. A big moment of the year
Bullringboy, I hope you put some salt on those baked potatoes :cool:
 
In the square in Margate there were 100s of starlings till about 3 o'clock in the autumn and Winter .Used to take my dog a walk down the park about that time.What a brilliant display of flying watching them twisting and turning.
Suddenly they have all disappeared. Wonder were they have gone
 
Stoney Lane in 1927 showing Wilton Rd on the right and Chesterton Rd on the left with the tower of St Agnes church in the distance. An image search shows 3 copies of this scene in the Old Streets thread but this one is clearer.
1927StoneyLane.jpg

The view today with the turn into Chesterton Rd just visible on the left and the tower of St Agnes just about visible in the distance.
StoneyLanetoday.jpg
 
It does make you realise, when looking at the early 20th.c photo of Stoney Lane, that when stepping off a tram in the days principally of horse drawn carts etc, rather than motor vehicles, you had to look quite closely where you put your feet! :scream:
I guess sometimes that was not always achieved especially for those who were not fleet of foot. ;)
 
It does make you realise, when looking at the early 20th.c photo of Stoney Lane, that when stepping off a tram in the days principally of horse drawn carts etc, rather than motor vehicles, you had to look quite closely where you put your feet! :scream:
I guess sometimes that was not always achieved especially for those who were not fleet of foot. ;)
It also makes you realise how time have changed with kneeling buses and the provision for the disabled, you had to be very fit to get on and off a tram, it was a big step down and with all those around you getting off and trying to get on, you did not have time to look at the road. In fact the tram was actually a mobile health and safety risk and as a joke I recently did a risk assessment and method statement for using a tram. The actual result was that the tram was a high risk for both passengers and other road users and needed so many safety features that it was an uneconomic form of public transport. I was placing a tram through the inner city not on any of the reservations (but there were problems there. Pedestrian crossings at every stop.........
Bob
 
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