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In case it helps anyone searching this thread for addresses of old model shops, here are some listings of Birmingham model shops from the old "aeromodeller" magazine. - From 1972, except the Howbel model one which is 1958.

This is all second-hand, I never worked there myself. My understanding is that it happened once a year after the January sales, certainly into the early 1950s. It probably changed either when the stores were taken over by Harrods in 1955 or House of Fraser in 1959. However, I think some vestige...

In our family, my Dad especially, would call anyone doing something silly, stupid or pretentious a "Sillyoldrakkamdibs". I heard it a lot growing up in the 60s and into the early 70s. Much later I reminded my Mom of the word - she told me it was "Silly Old Rackhams Dibs" named after the...

More fascinating background to the Falkland Islands in WW2 at this webpage. - No mention of RPMHR though! https://frontlineulster.co.uk/falkland-islands-coastal-defences/

Various hospitals run by the RAF over the years were named after Princess Mary, who founded the RAF nursing service - I wonder if the RPMH could be for "Royal Princess Mary Hospital... " and R be for a specific one? The Hospital treated all the services, not just the RAF - there's still a...

It would certainly be in exactly the right place, right next to the Oak Cinema and with bus stops close by. It seems too much of a coincidence that your uncle called it the "better ole". There are a few old photos of it on the internet now that I have a name - and it certainly looks like the pub...

Long shot - maybe someone can help. I have a distinct memory from my young childhood back in the 1960s of standing at a bus stop with my father next to a pub which had the typical style pub sign hanging outside with Bruce Bairnsfather's famous WW1 cartoon "The Better 'ole" on it. I remember it...

Thanks for posting the picture - very evocative. I had no idea it had fallen into disuse as early as 1988. It was a real shame, because it was started with the best of intentions, to be a youth club for the Athol Farm estate as well as providing a community hub. For a couple of years it was just...

Interesting... This map shows the "old" pubs position relative to the "new" pub. The old pub would have been close to the car park entrance to the current Asda Barnes Hill store. Probably about What3words location trial.whip.quest. In the 1960s that whole area on the edge of the brick quarry...

Friday 28th June 1968 - A Tornado hit Barnes Hill, Weoley Castle, parts of Harborne. It took the roofs off many houses and demolished the brick pillar outside the old California Inn on Barnes Hill.

The description of being on a housing estate with lots of blocks of flats and being single-storey matches up with the old Athol Social club that was on Monmouth Drive, off Cromwell Lane. It has long since gone - been replaced by a "neighbourhood office" and the surrounding high-rise flats have...

Aerial view from about 1945. You can see that the area to the West was still mostly fields. There used to be a small cinema on Barnes Hill then, the building is still there, now it's a Kwik-Fit tyre outlet.

I remember the California pub well - It was built in the "Roadhouse" style popular in the 20s and 30s, although technically too small to be a proper roadhouse. It had plenty of parking places (for the time) and originally had a large beer garden at the back. When it was built the area was still...