Search results

ASparks - I remember your shop. If I remember correctly, I think I bought something, a shirt maybe, from the men's outfitters. I never even went into the Frighted Horse, but if I fancied a swift half at lunchtime I went to the pub further up Soho Road from your shop. Was it The Bull? G

ASparks, where did you work? The girl I later married worked in accounts at Dudley's Furnishings, and I spent probably the worst year of my life 'managing' the sports shop near The Frighted Horse pub. Most of that year I spent looking for a proper job, which I eventually did and got out of the...

I agree - there certainly were some duff teachers at GD, but I expect the same went for most other secondary schools. Certain teachers, once they had picked out who the 'brain-boxes' were, concentrated only on them, and the rest of us - me included - received little or no attention. I suppose at...

I have the film on DVD - like most cinematic productions of fantasy fiction it goes over the top. None of the characters were really how I imagined them from reading the book. There was an earlier, semi-cartoon film of LOTR which was made in the 1970's, and this was even worse - more of a...

Ian Hislop, in 'Olden Days' last night, was in Tolkienland. Which, in Tolkien's day, was almost totally rural - but not now. Interestingly, Sarehole Mill, which Tolkien described as the Mill in Hobbiton in Lord Of The Rings, was anything but agricultural. I've lost count of the number of times...

The bank was known locally as The Sandpits. When he was about 10 years old, my father was playing there with his pals and fell, breaking bones in one of his feet which left him with a limp for the rest of his life. However, as he used to say, it kept him out of the Army during the War...... G

Hello Mike. I never knew that Rev Foster used his middle name - to me and most others he was 'Mr Foster'. Nice bloke, too. I remember Mrs Foster was something of a live wire, organising all manner of activities (at least, I think it was her...). Liz Durrant married Keith Jennings, a friend of...

Thanks for the response, Mike. My wife and I did once visit Linda and Ray and their girls at Dyas Rd, but we lost contact and then heard the very sad news about Linda. Whether her mother was still alive and still living in Wenlock Road I can't remember. Linda was full of fun, I do remember that...

Hello Mike, I can just about remember you! I think you played the organ for my wedding at All Souls in July 1971. Rev Ernest (not Edward) Foster officiated, but my elder brother Rev Michael Bryant did the business. I remember most of the people named by you and Hornsey. My wife and I were...

Thanks, Kieron. The reason I asked is because I'm fairly sure I partook of a pint or so in there, probably illegally! As soon as I saw the photo I recognised it as somewhere I knew. How time flies.... G

Any idea when The Sun was demolished? G

I knew this foundry when I worked in the foundry chemical industry, and my dad installed a new induction furnace at their A-B Row premises in the 1970's if I recall correctly. They moved to Tyseley, and later to Smethwick. They went into administration a few years ago and were looking for a...

Hi Lyn, just played that YouTube recording - yep, the chorus is the tune both my dad and my late friend sang it to, and the one I remember. I never knew there were verses, though! And the lyrics of the chorus on the recording were slightly different both to yours and mine, so I reckon that...

Hi Lyn and LadyP, thanks for this! It seems that the words my dad sang were slightly different to the lyrics of the genuine song! But that was my old man all over - he used to make up his own (rather risque) words to hymn tunes, much to the horror of other more staid members of the family! As...

Hi Lyn, last night I gave my lady wife a rendition of the Summer Lane Song, in my rich but wistful baritone (!) And she said that someone we knew long ago, now deceased, used to sing it, and my memory was jogged. She was absolutely correct. And she too said there were other verses - wish I...

Blimey, I'd forgotten all about that thread, even though I posted on it! Even so, I'd love to know how and where that song originated. I spent quite a lot of my mis-spent youth in the Sally, a great place whether or not you actually liked trad jazz...which I didn't very much. G

A ditty I remember my old man 'performing' way back when was: You can see the palm-trees swaying, Down on Summer Lane. Every Saturday there's jubilation, They're bustin' all the winders at The Salutation. There ain't no snow in Snow Hill, And it's too late to catch a train. And when it's...

Thanks for your info, Lady P. In the 'good old days' there were a few other wire-drawers around the West Midlands, but as you say W&H were by far the largest of the local companies. As a (not too great) guitar-player myself, I always use 'Rotosound' strings, made in the UK using W&H wire. The...

W & H were customers of mine years ago, and I knew them fairly well. I think their business has changed considerably in recent years, but they still (amongst many other applications) produce wire and wrapped wire for guitar strings. I wasn't aware that they've been in business for 300 years -...

Hi, My Name was Lynne Bevan and my parents owned Bevan's Grocery shop Hello Lynne, what a surprise! I remember you well from The Broadway, and also when you were receptionist at Hemming-Allen's dental surgery on Trinity Road. Mom thought the world of your parents, and your dad was always good...