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It is indeed a lovely bit of Villa history - Pongo Waring was my dad’s boyhood hero. Jonny (lifelong Villan)

My mom was SEN but never had formal training, so I guess SRN was more senior.

Both my parents - William Browne and Gladys Ray - went to Paget Road school in the 1930s. Dad was two years ahead of mum, and although they didn't start going out till much later they knew of each other as mum lived in Humberstone Road and dad lived in Elmfield Avenue. I don't know if anyone...

Be that as it may, I’m really not convinced that “donny” comes from either a corruption of the French for “give” imported by WW1 soldiers returning from France - if that were the case it would surely have come into use across the UK, not just the West Midlands - or as has been previously...

I'd hope that at least the laying of wreaths at the cenotaph would take place - this could I'm sure be done with social distancing.

That's something we've always done - if you buy somebody a wallet or purse as a gift you put some money in.

We had loads of superstitions in our family - I still have some of them: Slight variation on the dropped cutlery - If you drop a knife on the floor, never pick it up yourself or you'll have an argument. Never cross with anyone on the stairs. If you spill salt on the table, throw a pinch of it...

Nice thought, but wouldn't think they'd train on a Sunday afer a match, and certainly not in a public park! Most likely local lads who'd adopted the colours for their team, or, bit more of a stretch, one of Villa's youth teams....certainly got the very young me excited though.

Talking about teams that used to play there, I’ve a childhood memory (Sixties) of seeing a team playing in Pype Hayes Park on Sunday mornings wearing claret and blue, and thinking it was the Villa!

I think they did play in Pype Hayes Park when they first started - I believe they moved to a pitch in Walmley a bit later.

I know they re-fomed a few few years back, but does anyone have any memories of the original Paget Rangers in the 1940s? my mum used to go and watch them as a teenager, and before she met my dad went out for a while with Dougie Lishman who later played for Arsenal. Mum, then Gladys Ray, went to...

Firstly, welcome to the forum! I got a very funny look from a colleague only the other day when I mentioned that I'd scraged my knee!

Thanks for your message, although I'm not entirely clear as to its relevance in terms of my comments.

The "true" spelling of the name is something I've been puzzling over for the twenty years I've been researching my family history. My mum's maiden name was spelt Ray, but further back (early-mid 19th century) I've come across Reay as more standard although in the 18th century I have William Rea...

Hello again - just checking my messages (and thank you for the "appreciate" by the way) and noticed looking at your post again that you have a couple of family members with the middle name Richard. My 2 x and 3 x great grandfathers on my dad's side (and who may also have Romanies connections)...

I don't know if this is of any help but I've been researching my own Romany ancestors and have connections through that branch with a family called Smith, also Romanies, so it's quite possible there's a gyspy queen in your family. Have you done your DNA on Ancestry or MyHeritage?

My mother in law, who came from Middlesbrough, used to say "San Fairy Ann", so definitely not an expression unique to Birmingham - "donny", which I and my family still use, is a Brummie-only expression.

"Any road" was used in my family, but "no way" I think is pretty national and came into use in the Seventies.

Agreed - although my grandfather was working at the Midland at the time of the 1911 census he was recorded as being at home in Erdington.

I've always thought it was just a Brummie expression.