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A little hazy really. I worked at the BR parcels depot on a three shift system for a few months in 1975 and got to know the Woodman because of that. I was aged 20 and was yet to find a path in life. This was one of my last "dead end" jobs before I finally got my act together (luck helped as...

Don't do Facebook unfortunately but good luck with it!

Is it to be abandoned and demolished like the Eagle and Tun, or is it simply awaiting new operators? However, in the current climate of out of control energy prices, it would take a brave person to take it on. Or maybe a very wealthy real ale enthusiast in search of a hobby! Very sad. I don't...

My mum and dad came to Birmingham in 1953 from Ireland with nothing. They lived in a cold water room before managing to rent a small flat in a house with better facilities. Eventually they bought a house in Mansel Rd Small Heath. From then on they prospered. My Dad's dream was to live in...

Hi J Hughes. "James" is my second Christian name so I'm not related to the James family that you mention. I left Small Heath in 1974 and have not lived in Brum since then. Amongst other things surviving from my childhood in Small Heath, I still have a James Bond Aston Martin that I bought from...

I remember that shop during the mld/late 60s (may have been before your parents time), as my aunt lived in Mansel Rd. Sometimes on the way down to Digby Park after a visit to her I would pop in to pick up some secondhand Dinky or Corgi model cars that were often for sale. And occasionally a I...

There is a very interesting Connaught Rangers museum and archive in Boyle, Co Roscommon, Ireland based in a building called the King House. This very large former barracks was their main base in Ireland and is now a museum with a large number of exhibits as well as the Connaught Rangers...

Indeed they were. I became one towards the end. The fashion and up town lifestyle died out around about 1972.

Do any members remember the "Townie" thing that sort of took off around late 1970 when the Skinhead thing became a bit boring? Clothes we wore were Crombies, Suits, trilby hats and loafer shoes amongst other things. Favourite pubs in town were the Gilded Cage, the Parisien, the Outrigger, the...

Off on a bit of a tangent here with nothing to do with the technicalities of prefabs.. I went to school with a mate who lived in a prefab somewhere on the No 17 route (Hobs Moor Rd?) As I lived in a flat on the Coventry Rd in Small Heath, his detached home with beautiful gardens front and back...

I remember the bakery on Manor Rd (I think that was the name of the road ). The last time I was up there was around 1968 when I wagged school. One of my wagging mates lived in Stechford, which is why were there. A group of us waggers wandered past the bakery and couldn't believe that they had...

The two National Trust back to back properties 52 and 54 Inge St have been removed from the NT's holiday rental portfolio "indefinitely". Not sure why this has happened but seems a pity as these two properties provided a unique way of spending a bit of time in Birmingham City centre. Not a covid...

Mick Dunleavy the co owner of the Rildon pipe laying business has recently passed away in Co Mayo. His yellow trucks often used the Mermaid Pub as a pick up and drop off point for the company's workers in the late 60s/early 70s.

Mick Dunleavy the brother of Seamus has recently passed away in Co Mayo Ireland. He was the co owner of the Rildon pipe laying business whose yellow lorries and vans were a familiar fixture around Solihull and Birmingham in the late 60s and 70s.

Do any former Ansell's employees remember Les Leach? He worked there as a driver in the 1960s. Les was married to one of my mum's friends. He took me out on his delivery rounds a couple of times during summer 1967. I remember the lorry he drove on these occasions was an articulated tanker from...

There was a pub attached to the brewery at the end furthest from Aston Cross. A "brewery tap" type place. Can anybody recall what it was named? I remember dropping in there for a pint one evening during the early seventies before going on to a night game at the Villa. There were a few brewery...

A little bit off topic.. Séamus Dunleavy has written a book about his life that includes a lot of detail about Birmingham in the 60s and 70s,in the then Irish enclave of Sparkbrook and later in Solihull. There is a lot about his clubs, including the Talk of The Town on Stratford Rd. He later...

I went to another RC School. Archbishop Williams at Tile Cross. My best mate in my first year (1966) was Paul Flatley who lived in Dora Rd Small Heath. I believe that Paul's older brothers went to St Michael's. One was called Tim I believe. Paul and his brothers were great fans of the Kinks pop...

It is a lovely little park. You would never know it is there When I met my wife she was living in Moseley and had a key. We spent some happy times there, often with a picnic and a bottle of wine. I thought that I knew Birmingham pretty well but never knew that this special little place existed...

From my memory the Regent's Park Tavern was on the corner of Regent's Park Rd and Herbert Road a couple of hundred yards up from the Coventry Rd. A mosque now stands on the site.