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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History It's Match Day again. ( 1943- 1950 ish) Not many families at this time had a car so the football fans met up in their own roads and districts and made their way to the big stadiums in Brum by bus,walking or cycling. Buses in general where regular and numerous at this...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History Coming back to the introduction of Cycle Speedway as a ' new sport ' that had come to Birmingham around 1946. I've found a ' link ' that supplies a bit more information on the subject. The link refers to one of the teams from Birmingham, namely, ' The Perry Barr Juniors...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History The ANDERSON,the VEGGIE PLOT and the XMAS dinner. Kingstanding would have been an example of the movement of parts of the population of Birmingham around the 1930's. Slum clearance and thinning out began to take place. New Council tenants came to Kingstanding from...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History I see that you also found yourself wearing ' Clogs ' Mike. What I'm trying to figure out is why where some of us wearing them. I don't think that they would have been ' first choice ' by our parents so there must have been a specific reason. I remember that all of the...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History FOR EXPORT ONLY / BUY BRTISH. During early post WW2 years, Britain was still in the grips of huge debts largely brought about by the monetary cost of fighting the war and then the costs of trying to change and re-build after the material damage effects of the war. The...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History Has anyone got any memories or views regarding some Birmingham kids wearing ' CLOG ' shoes ( Wooden soles with thin leather uppers ) sometime during the period of WW2. My own memory says it seemed that these clog shoes where only used by some of the kids over a short...
  7. R

    Sutton Park History

    Nights of fun at the Crystal Palace. Dance Nights. There was certainly no frills about the internal basic infrastructure of the Crystal Palace but what a great venue for the occasional big dance events. It laid on all the primary requirements in the way of a huge dance floor, a large raised...
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    Sutton Park History

    WELL Soaked. Whilst browsing some of the ' threads ' I see that there has been some interest in the Sutton Park ' Wells '. Quick Story : Abount 1945 - 1946 some of us lads had been exploring and playing in our favourite space ' Sutton Park'. Making our way back to Banners Gate we came upon '...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History School Children's Wartime input. People during WW2 where asked to buy ' National Savings Stamps ' to assist the war effort. Our school joined in by ' adopting ' the ship HMS Birmingham. For each stamp bought through the school points where awarded. Four Goups in the...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History Coming Down the Grapevine. 1942. Kingstanding. Neighbours would ' tip each other off ' when the Greengrocer on the ' Circle' had a rare input of Oranges or Lemons ( very scarse at the time ). Mom's would grab their eldest Son or Daughter, give them a few pence, then...
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    Bombing Brum

    That's an interesting piece Chris. The included ' Link' by Mr Butler is very interesting. Many people who heard the ' raiders ' approaching would make comment about the unusual noise made by the incoming bombers. I remember the sound as an ' on-off ' throbbing. Never found out why they produced...
  12. R

    Bombing Brum

    I know as a kid living in Kingstanding I always thought that at least one of the regular bombing runs started from the North of Kingstanding and carried on into Aston and the City Centre. Just listening to the sound of the approaching aircraft gave me this impression.
  13. R

    Bombing Brum

    it's been interesting to read the Forum members comments regarding which direction(s) the German bomber aircraft took as they started their bombing runs on Brum.
  14. R

    Bombing Brum

    Lining up to Bomb Brum. Which direction did the Bombers come from? I have many times wondered about which direction(s) the German bombers took as they made their ' bombing runs ' to attack targets in Birmingham. I'm sure the raiders where ' briefed ' prior to the raids on the direction they...
  15. R

    Bombing Brum

    WW2 RAIDS ON THE CITY. A short story of some of the things that happened. Link: https://www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk/blakeybomb.html
  16. R

    Paintings. A small collection ( Brum characters from the past).

    We are nearing the anniversary of the beginning of WW1 and for members and visitors under the ' Forum ' ( Original Art Work ) and the ' Thread ' (( A small collection ( Brum characters from the past)) can now be seen an extra ' Painting and Story' referring to an unusual event that occurred...
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    The ' Unofficial Truce'. Xmas 1914

    The ' Unofficial Truce '. Xmas 1914. Link: https://www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk/roy_blakey.html#ww1
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History MAKE DO and MEND / MAKING ENDS MEET. ( Back Then) Do a bit of DARNING: Socks,Jumper Elbows etc.-----Leaking Taps: Nip out and get a couple of washers. Turn the water off,undue and fit your new washers------Loose Shirt Collars: Saved so much washing,just change the collars...
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    Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

    Re: Birmingham History SOUND BARRIER BROKEN ( Castle Bromwich Airfield). This was an event that occurred at Castle Bromwich Airfield during an Annual Air Display (Around 1953 ). I think the date could be challenged but I do remember that it was the same year that I had done a couple of...
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    National Service

    The RSM. Do you remember the fear this guy could induce during the early part of your N/S training. Even Commissioned Officers carefully respected him, NCO's feared him and the newly recruited bods seemed to have a fear/hate thing about him. Always smartly turned out, pacing stick under his...
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