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Air raid shelters

My brother and l lived in copeley street a cul-de-sac and numerous had different shelters we had a Anderson and some had a Morrison one, because those houses did have a cellar....,lremember the first raid on Brum, my dad grabbed my brother and l and rushed us down
the shelter, later on we only went down when we heard the guns...then in 1940, Aston got hit real hard my g/f who was in the WW1 needed to get out of the city l guess he had some PTSD, so our g/ps took us the countryside. to a village of Dorsington where we spent the next 2yrs plus and had a wonderful time, but what a culter, shock no electricity, no running water and a loo down the garden, we went to school in wagon and horse
but of course it was a big adventer to us, my dad who was a fireman who never talked about some of the scenes he saw he would get to upset,
,we would play in the shelter ,as soon as the war was over dad dug the shelter up and turned it into a shed.
 
“Seated at a table between girders reinforcing the roof of an air-raid shelter in Nechells, some 80 children, unmindful of air raids or the shrieking of sirens, donned their paper hats yesterday and accepted the invitation of Rev N C.
Parsons to tuck in. People who have made use of the shelter-which is under
Nechells Methodist Hall, in Nechells Park Road contributed towards the cost of the treat, a didn’t the youngsters enjoy it!”
(Birmingham Gazette December 1940)

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Eric - I remember seeing one of those hurtling down a Barr Beacon slope with about four lads aboard. Must have been shortly after the war when the shelters were starting to be demolished. The thing came to grief in a hedge and the passengers were launched off it in all directions. My dad was horrified at the danger such a huge missile and its sharp edges posed amongst smaller, more traditional toboggans and sledges and especially their occupants. I was warned to steer well clear - which I did for the rest of the session!

Chris
 
Yes the corrugated iron was very sharp. We had some hanging around in our garden, used as fences to cordon off the bottom of the garden. It meant climbing over it. Many cuts and bruises from it, not to mention the additional damage from it being very rusty by the 1950s,
 
ChrisM said:
Eric - I remember seeing one of those hurtling down a Barr Beacon slope with about four lads aboard. Must have been shortly after the war when the shelters were starting to be demolished. The thing came to grief in a hedge and the passengers were launched off it in all directions. My dad was horrified at the danger such a huge missile and its sharp edges posed amongst smaller, more traditional toboggans and sledges and especially their occupants. I was warned to steer well clear - which I did for the rest of the session!

Chris
Click to expand...
Our place was 'up the gully' a hill that hadn't been built on between Sidcup Road and Ellerton Road Kingstanding, on the left side of the footpath was allotments on the right just open land, for a time the local lads used the top of it as a cycle speedway. I believe it's all built on now.
 
Eric Gibson said:
Our place was 'up the gully' a hill that hadn't been built on between Sidcup Road and Ellerton Road Kingstanding, on the left side of the footpath was allotments on the right just open land, for a time the local lads used the top of it as a cycle speedway. I believe it's all built on now.
Click to expand...
I think I recall that cycle speedway, circa 1955/56 would that be right?
 
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