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A BEST OF TREATS. A day out with Mom and Dad to the social hub of Brum. " THE BULL RING " ( Around 1939 ). For us kids it was exciting to wander around amongst all these people who had made their way in from all parts of Brum. The sight of the street performers and the sounds of the stall...

THE ZIG ZAG BRIDGE. Early morning on a week-end. ( Around 1943 - 44 ). We met up with a group of friends over on the Davis Estate, played a game of football kick about for about half an hour and then discussed what we might do for the rest of the morning. About six of us decided to have a wander...

GOT TO PLAY INDOORS. It would probably be a cold rainy Sunday and we kids were stuck in the house unable to play out. We had exhausted reading our comics and playing marbles in the corner of the living room. So, what's to do now. Bit limited innit. But then, good old Dad. He's spotted the...

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. Came the occassion when one of the neighbouring families ( which included one of our mates ) moved out and a new family moved in. As a group we kids found it pretty sad to be losing one of our mates. So as the new family arrived on the street we were keen to find out a bit...

THE PIDGEON FANCIER. A nice little pass time that we enjoyed as kids were the times when we would ' sit on the gutter ' or ' sit on the street corner ' and watch the different flocks of Pidgeons being exercised and flying their formations above the houses. I remember the ' Tumbler ' pidgeons...

DOOR STEP PLAYGROUNDS. Spent a few minutes to-day using the ' Maps ' option on the Internet and enjoyed the birds eye views of a few parts of our old 'stomping grounds ' that we used as kids. Pre- war, around Brum. Newly built Council estates came into being and were a delight for the many lucky...

When the lights came on again. ( Street Lighting returned around 1945 ). I remember the time that the street lights were switched back on around Brum. It was strange to wander around in the evening with my pals and experience this forgotten phenomenon. Prior to this occassion we were used to...

A MOTHERS DAY. ( 1950's ). Mom's looking really happy this morning, she's kept her rollers in and has got her turban on, she'll get dolled up later though cus Dad's taking her out to-night. It's a grown ups do though, they're meeting up with Mom's sisters and their husbands. I don't know where...

Hi Chris. That story took place around the area of Caversham Road, Carshalton Road and Hurlingham Road, Kingstanding. Roy.

Ushered off our own street patch.( 1940's ) This was at the time of the LDV ( Local Defence Volunteers ), the Home Guard. On occassions companies of these part-time soldiers would appear on the streets of Brum to practise their anti-invasion routines. A Sunday morning. We kids were out in the...

norfolk brummie, that's true Eddie. Rings a bell.

" TOM BOYS ". ( Usually strong characters and all rounders and in most cases a treat to know ). These young girls, rightly or wrongly labelled as ' Tom Boys ', joined in with the boys on activities, adventures and games. They were accepted by the boys because very often they could match or...

anvil man, it appears that Ann Ziegler and Webster Booth were husband and wife, they did sing as a duet as well as performing individually. They ( as a duet ) were known as " The Sweethearts of Song " 1940,s. There is a considerable collection of their recordings to be found on ' You Tube '...

SWOON TIME FOR THE MOMS. ( 1948 ish ). It was only natural for us kids to occassionally check our Moms state of mood or emotions ( I mean, it was no good asking Mom for a favour if you judged she was in a temper or agitated about something ). There was this Radio programme our Mom used to listen...

" GET YOUR SPOONS OUT FRANK, YOU ARE ON ". The Family House party. What a time this was for us kids. Uncles, Aunties and Cousins all coming over to our house for a party get to- gether. Mom spending the afternoon preparing sandwiches. Dad clearing the living room of unessarsary pieces of...

" BOTTLED OUT ". Somewhere around the 1940's. It was all about that business between the difference of ' from the ground looking up' and ' from up there looking back down'. The adventure started with a group of us kids, in Sutton Park, finding ourselves in the area of the Fair Ground over by the...

" Yeah, this ones good enough to take home ". In this period, and up our end, there didn't appear to be much attention paid by parents regarding their children's 'academic' achievements at school ( so long as their kids didn't get into too much trouble at school the Moms and Dads seemed to...

DIG FOR HISTORY. A Brummie that tells about Brum for the Brummies. Read him, listen to him, watch him and you see a man that obviously loves his city. Good luck in the future mate. Sketch : History Man.

Recalling some of the ' hiccups' of early TV and Sound Cinema films. Early available Television came to our homes, we were able to view such things as drama plays, variety stage shows, discussion programmes and many other picture and sound features. Rehearsals completed, stage set, sound...

A foreign holiday dance hotel. All guests invited to join in. ( Come on George, let's go down and give it a go ). Acrylic on paper. 2009. Roy Blakey.