W
Wendy
Guest
Here is a nice photo of Tims Drapers, Key Hill. I assume from the photo it is the bottom of Key Hill on the corner of Ickneild Street.
It most certainly was, terryb18!, Great shot, sad to see how it ended up looking, Ah well! That's progress(?)It was the Bulls Head Wendy.
Hi Tim, some interesting numbers there, you mentioning return of empty bottles reminded me there was quite a market economy in empty pop bottles - if you were asking for a refund on 1 you might just get a disapproving look from the shop keeper; anymore than that and you faced interrogation whilst he tried to establish that you had in fact purchased the pop from him, it was a little easier if you were taking goods instead of cash - Cadbury's choccy bars started at 1d, 2d and 3d in the early 50s, I know this because if I had 6d to spend I would get one of each - probably would have got more chocolate if I had purchased a 6d bar! Thinking Cost effective came later!The price of 4.1/2d was a common price when I was a kid. I seem to remember that a loaf of Hawley's bread (with Crust on that I picked on the way home from Aldworth's shop in Turner St.) cost that much as did a bottle of Mason's lemonade if you returned an empty bottle at the Ansell's Off Licensed opposite us in Tillingham St.
This was around the end of WWII as I was born in 1938.
Cheers Tim
Hi Carolina, when you first posted this one I must confess I had no idea what a pitch block was but I have since learned from another thread; I'm not sure if I missed the event or it pre-dates me (I was born 1949), it seems an odd way to construct a road and a really dodgy fuel for an open fire! But I bet they burned well (if a bit smelly)!Peg do you remember when they dug up all the pitchblocks on the flat? My Uncle was an inspector at the 'corporation' and gave us the nods up as to when it would happen. We had fabulous fires for many weeks after that.
Thanks, Alan, pitch on wood - sounds like a transfer of technology from the marine sector.You missed the trams by a couple of years Peg. It had been planned to withdraw the trams in 1939 along with the other Dudley Road routes. However WW2 managed a stay of execution for the 32 (Lodge Road) and 33 (Ladywood) routes which eventually were closed in March 1947 to become the 96 and 95 bus routes respectively. Roseberry Street depot had been converted to bus operation in 1939. There were two quite tortuous tram routes in the city. The Balsall Heath routes and the Lodge Road route. The Lodge Road route was far more hilly than the Balsall Heath ones. The Balsall Heath route was nicknamed the "Chinese Railway" due to the narrow streets in some places only allowing single tracks which criss-crossed each other.
The wooden blocks were part of the roadway either side of the tram rails. They were more serviceable and flexible I gather than tarmac or concrete. 1947 was a severe winter and I am sure Caroline and other families like hers were quick off the mark to get these blocks for their home fires.