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Birmingham in 1960s

Richard Dye said:
I thought that at the time, when I got to the fifth form it all seemed to change and I got focused! Or something like that.
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I was there until the last day that the school was on that site , the Friday we broke for summer holidays in July ,then all us fourth year lads went back the next day to help load all the the removal lorries that were taking to the new site which is opposite Handsworth Cemetery, then later it’s name changed to Blessed St John wall .Then Monday morning I started my first ever job as a sign writer and silk screen printer , happy days indeed
 
Pete Elliott said:
I was there until the last day that the school was on that site , the Friday we broke for summer holidays in July ,then all us fourth year lads went back the next day to help load all the the removal lorries that were taking to the new site which is opposite Handsworth Cemetery, then later it’s name changed to Blessed St John wall .Then Monday morning I started my first ever job as a sign writer and silk screen printer , happy days indeed
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Was that the new name for William Murdoch?
 
Richard Dye said:
Was that the new name for William Murdoch?
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We were never really sure why the name change, my wife went to the new site and all the teachers and headmaster were still there, I’m not sure if the new name relates to Roman Catholic , maybe someone on the forum could shed some light
 
Vivienne14 said:
I smoked Sobranie but they were black paper with gold tips. Thought I was incredibly sophisticated darhhhhlings ! The other extreme was smoking Gitanes - stunk the piace out. Like Morturn I'd smoke anything, especially if others were offering, like in the office. Seems crazy that smoking in public places, including hospitals, was acceptable.
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Viv I like your style with regards to smoking anything, me an a mate had we did at different times , how does the News of The World and dummy cigarettes they put in shop windows grab you ? If we could get a drag out of it we would puff away , some years later courtesy of a gambling machine I was promoted to Dunhill International, the price then 6 shillings and fourpence . I think Park Drive and the like were about 1 shilling and eightpence
 
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Dionysius//88 said:
Viv I like your style with regards to smoking, anything me an a mate had we did at different times , how does the News of The World and dummy cigarettes they put in shop windows grab you ? If we could get a drag out of it we would puff away , some years later courtesy of a gambling machine I was promoted to Dunhill International, the price then 6 shillings and fourpence . I think Park Drive and the like were about 1 shilling and eightpence
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When I had a little extra it was Piccadilly.
 
An introduction to the 60's for me , a new hair style arriving late at assembly in the last year of school , something was happening and it was bringing a great change with it . So out went the winkle pickers and Italian striped suit and drainpipe jeans , in came a new jacket and a pair of maroon cords and chiselled toed shoes . Then starting work that same year came Levi's , suits , waisted shirts canvas jackets and fell boots not all at once obviously .Music was changing in came Tamla Motown ,Ska,Reggae. R&B etc and of course scooters and mini's both skirts and the car. Peoples ideas and thoughts were changing, for the normal person it was greatest decade to live through without doubt, I know because I was there.
 
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Dionysius//88 said:
An introduction to the 60's for me , a new hair style arriving late at assembly in the last year of school , something was happening and it was bringing a great change with it . So out went the winkle pickers and Italian striped suit and drainpipe jeans , in came a new jacket and a pair of maroon cords and chiselled toed shoes . Then starting work that same year came Levi's , suits , waisted shirts canvas jackets and fell boots not all at once obviously .Music was changing in came Tamla Motown ,Ska,Reggae etc. Peoples ideas and thoughts were changing, for the normal person it was greatest decade to live through without doubt
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For me I came at the end of the 60s which I loved the 70s and the 80s even early 90s. Loved the music and fashions & haircuts as you say. I felt safe then. People were less brainwashed. I am not looking through rose tinted specs either.
 
MWS said:
How do you know they weren't, maybe you've been brainwashed to believe that they weren't brainwashed.
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What I mean (in my opinion) is we only got brainwashed for petty things then. They didn't break the bank. And my family tended to not fall for them*. i.e. matching saucepans, colour co ordinated kitchens, colour co ordinated gardens, we never had a colour co ordinated anything. We still don't. We never had Hygena QA - so easy a child could do it. *Dad was gullible but mum wasn't, (that's going back unless you pay for it!) Tupperware parties all came, ands went again, in so we had a few things mum never used, free gifts for having a party, like a pastry crimper, a star shaped pastry cutter, a mandolin slicer, which wouldn't cut melted butter hot, said mum, and a bread slicer, that was a freebie as someone worked in wholesale goods packing business, I sliced my finger and so did mum and that went out of the windoW, literally. We acquired a sun lounger from the same person, which jack knifed if you sat on it a certain way so we broke a multitude of biros, jamming them in the cogs that made it bend, and it would jackknife the other way when one of my mates crashed out on it if they missed the last bus, t(hey were not called sleep overs then.) Having plants or ornaments in your bathroom . Unnecessary things, Plastic parrots on a perch from Woolies. The hostess trollies came in later, heated trollies, a bar in your front room, we never had any of these. We did, grace of dad have luxury you can afford by Cyril Lord. Once. And a J shaped settee that didn't fit in the front room, in went the wrong way round and the room was too small, which dad had to pay for. We bought things on cigarette coupons, like the coffee table I was allowed to assemble, I was so proud they let me, imagine that now? ! (The excitable dog broke the original glass top coffee table jumping on it.) The new fashions we could afford. C&A had big baskets of discount clothes I got a shirt for £1.50 to start my new job it was 3 sizes to big, but mum knit me a tank top to put over it. First months wages I bought a jacket, 2nd month a pair of trousers. Worry beads, I.D. bracelets, a bling chain with my initial on, affordable aftershave, Blue Stratos, Cougar, don't keep your man in cage, grrrrrr! 33 rpm LP's . Cassettes, tape your own. When I look at what the grandchildren have come to expect, I shudder. And they start at a very early age as they have been brainwashed by media and their parent are also as they think the world will stop if their children can't have it,. Soap box time, sorry.
 
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I Am Nico said:
What I mean (in my opinion) is we only got brainwashed for petty things then. They didn't break the bank. And my family tended to not fall for them*. i.e. matching saucepans, colour co ordinated kitchens, colour co ordinated gardens, we never had a colour co ordinated anything. We still don't. We never had Hygena QA - so easy a child could do it. *Dad was gullible but mum wasn't, (that's going back unless you pay for it!) Tupperware parties all came, ands went again, in so we had a few things mum never used, free gifts for having a party, like a pastry crimper, a star shaped pastry cutter, a mandolin slicer, which wouldn't cut melted butter hot, said mum, and a bread slicer, that was a freebie as someone worked in wholesale goods packing business, I sliced my finger and so did mum and that went out of the windoW, literally. We acquired a sun lounger from the same person, which jack knifed if you sat on it a certain way so we broke a multitude of biros, jamming them in the cogs that made it bend, and it would jackknife the other way when one of my mates crashed out on it if they missed the last bus, t(hey were not called sleep overs then.) Having plants or ornaments in your bathroom . Unnecessary things, Plastic parrots on a perch from Woolies. The hostess trollies came in later, heated trollies, a bar in your front room, we never had any of these. We did, grace of dad have luxury you can afford by Cyril Lord. Once. And a J shaped settee that didn't fit in the front room, in went the wrong way round and the room was too small, which dad had to pay for. We bought things on cigarette coupons, like the coffee table I was allowed to assemble, I was so proud they let me, imagine that now? ! (The excitable dog broke the original glass top coffee table jumping on it.) The new fashions we could afford. C&A had big baskets of discount clothes I got a shirt for £1.50 to start my new job it was 3 sizes to big, but mum knit me a tank top to put over it. First months wages I bought a jacket, 2nd month a pair of trousers. Worry beads, I.D. bracelets, a bling chain with my initial on, affordable aftershave, Blue Stratos, Cougar, don't keep your man in cage, grrrrrr! 33 rpm LP's . Cassettes, tape your own. When I look at what the grandchildren have come to expect, I shudder. And they start at a very early age as they have been brainwashed by media and their parent are also as they think the world will stop if their children can't have it,. Soap box time, sorry.
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Nico I respect your thoughts about the 70's but I can't of course agree with you for one thing, you seem to have spent a lot of time in the house especially the kitchen, What you seem to have missed was that in the 60]s there was a revolution happening outside, in the world of Arts,Literature, Science etc I cant express how much I appreciated and loved the 60's . Cover versions come and go but nothing is as good as the real thing . The 60's was'nt a time for Brainwashing it was the time of Awakening
 
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I don't disagree with a lot of what you say but it's nothing new. Expectations grow with every generation and my nan disapproved of what we expected/got (70s/80s) and we didn't have a lot. Though she had nothing when she grew up.

Children have always wanted what others had but it was limited to friends/relatives/schoolmates. Now with the internet it's the world. It must be so difficult for parents to say no these days and children can be particularly cruel to those who haven't got the in thing.

I sometimes wonder if children are happy growing up as they used to be. I hope they are but how do you know?
 
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