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Can anyone please have a go at improving this damaged pic of my father? Thank you :) Photo' should be facing left too, I don't know how I've managed to get it back-to-front. Not that I suppose it matters...

Wood has been used for roads for literally thousands of years, until the coming of the Romans. After that, road-building took a tumble until the break-out of more modern transport (stage-coaches) during the 17th & 18th Centuries, when stone was again used for major road-networks. However...

Hi Celia, you could Google the South African High Commission in London; and through their site, seek advice. Or, contact the South African 'Salvation Army' - the 'Sally-Ann' often find missing relatives; or at least give good advice as how to proceed. They've successfully helped me trace...

What a beautiful building; it must have been one of the oldest in Brum - the 'real deal' etc.

Karo - it's a bit of a mystery then...perhaps, as you say, it might have been a cheaper passage for farmers at that time?

Ah but, imagine making a mistake with a 'pivoted' bustle! The very thought brings tears to one's eyes!

Bernie - a wonderful photograph; and a very smart-looking lady! I'm tending towards the 1870's too, as she looks very up-to-the-minute fashion-wise, rather than still wearing an older fashion etc. We need a 'bustle' expert; there must be one on the site somewhere!

Hi karo. Perhaps your great grandfather just wanted a change of profession; or it might be that 'farmers' were being offered grants of land, from the Canadian authorities??? This certainly happened elsewhere within the Empire; and such land-grants were quite common. It was a way of opening-up...

Same with this one too; does anyone have a clue as to the date? Any guessses as to the age of the girls? They are the Miss's Chrisp, cousins of my maternal grandmother, or great-grandmother.

Can anyone date this photograph please? The elderly gentleman in the centre is either my mother's grandfather, or great-grandfather; it all depends upon the date ... and it isn't clear from the inscription on the back of the photograph etc. I do wish people would label photographs with both...

Re: Desmond Curley Apropos of nothing in particular: I went to school with four girls, who hung around together; their names were Curley, Onions, Bytheway and Poppit! It still brings tears to my eyes! :D

''I sailed HMS's cutter al'through yon bloody war now a'hm lyin in't gutter, wi ma face dint t'floor. Ma purse be empty, ma shoon be torn n' broke ma life be rent assunder, an a'hm fair fit t'croak!'' There's more to it, but I can't remember the rest; does anyone know it? I believe it...

Aidan - brilliant! Thank you for your link to a mamoth list of books ... should keep me busy for a year or two! Ta.

Cheers dib44 I did wonder!

Cheers Chucka - I went to Hateley Heath, and then to HillTop School - and I beat ya :P as I left whilst still fourteen ....being an August birthday I'd started secondary school a year earlier than I should have. A point which the headmaster mentioned to me about an hour before I was due...

I'm truly surprised that there hasn't been more discussion re' Arkrite's remarkable find ... I would have thought it deserving of all manner of comment. Especially the continued references to the air and water quality of early Birmingham and it's environs. After all, this IS the 'Birmingham...

Ta! Yes, you have the rare 'Coronation' badge....mine is a much plainer version ( I must find it out) ... I bet your's is rarer than a hen's teeth! Well-done that man! Chucka - what school did you go to???

Me too Chucka! Many a Saturday morning I spent at the Tower (ABC) during the late fifties, to the mid-sixties .....I've still got my ABC MINORS badge! Looking back, it was more than a bit like the 'Muppet Show' - hundreds of kids singing-along, bouncing up and down on the seats - frenetic at...

I've now read it all; it's invaluable stuff...going to print-off a copy for myself. There's lots to ponder over. An excellent find Arkrite!

Arkrite - ta, it's fascinating.....going to work my way through it all. It's very well written too. Cheers!