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Brougham Street, Lozells

Does anyone remember the boarding house- No19 Nursery Road, opposite St Francis School, from about 1946- 1955
hi joy ...here is a photo i believe of no 19 its the house with the flaking white brickwork over the door...to save us going further off topic could you post any further comments about nursery road on the nursery road thread please where you will also see i have posted quite a few of the old photos i have...click on below link and make sure you read from post 1 so that you do not miss anything...can you see the wooden telegraph pole in the photo ?well its still there so click on todays google street view below and you will see it..no 19 would have been just to the left of the pole..hope this helps



lyn





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Hi

In your last photograph the white building in the middle of the view back in the 40s was a plating and polishing shop, I don't remember if they did the pressings there as well, the stillages of scrap outside the door next to the grocery shop was normally full of cigarette cases and metal trays the sort of things they stood drink decanters on. Also there was a low wall round the place, obviously removed to facilitate off road parking. The paper shop a little further down would sell you an individual Woodbine or Park Drive cigarette, The grocers sold tea and sugar from tea chests sugar in blue paper bags weighed out in front of you.

At the end of brougham street on the other side of Nursery Rd was the stables for the railway on Iknield Street. The horses ans waggons would be parked at the ent of Brougham St. The horses would have a nose bag on the floor in front of them. then later on the little 3 wheeled Scamell trucks would be parked there.

Brian
 
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Hi Lyn

Yes I lived at 56 Brougham St, My imediate circle of friends was Irene Butler we were always together then John Beal, Rose (Mickie) leader, a lad who lived over the road next to the convent school whose name escapes me Angela Wooton, Laucen Bulevant he lived right at the Wills St. end, the other side of the entry from I think it was Mrs. Hands shop, I remember his dog Butch. The other side of the road was The Danish Bacon factory.

John Beal and myself were often in trouble the main trick was to go down to the Lucas factory Great Kings St. and scrounge coils of copper wire connect it to a door knocker then backwards and forwards across the road running it through as many door knockers as we could. then Knock the one door and run when they opened the door it knocked all the other doors as the wire snapped. I had the back of my legs warmed up a few times for that.

I was 8 in 1952 when we moved out to Great Barr and it was a very traumatic experience for me I went from St. Silas's to thr Aldridge Rd Juniour school I was used to a class size of about 12, to a class size of 32. An old school building with a little playground to a building that looked like a hospital with two playgrounds, but I survived and still here to tell the tale The reason I was at St. Silas's was I initially went to Anglesea St. school and we had a trip to Perry Barr park I was 5 so when I was pushed by one of the girls, so I pushed her, the problem was she had her back to the little river that ran through the park and she went home with very wet knickers plus shoes socks dress etc. My mother was summond to the school and I was expelled. An achievement at 5..

Did you live in Brougham St. I went back some years ago and thre only thing I recognised was a Hawthorn Tre that was in my next door neighbour's front garden, an old lady Nellie Potter

Brian
 
Hi

A point I remember was about half way down both streets was an entry between two houses it went to the bottom of the gardens then had a bit of a dog leg and down the side of the gardens in Villa St and came out again in into Villa St. just up from a little shop that sold home made Vimto flavoured ice lollies and when they first came out Jubblies. I wonder if it was still there when you lived in Villa St. there was also a bombed out house in that area though they had started clearing it.

The bombed buildings were our play ground there were two at the top of Hunters Road with a wonderful, to an 8 year old, abandoned car on it. Monument Lane/Icknield St had a row of bombed out terraced houses where the bombers missed the big rail goods yard. Another attraction to 8 year olds and no health and safety to spoil the fun. just the occaisional gruff "get off if that train goes out you could end up in Africa".

Brian
 
Hi

A point I remember was about half way down both streets was an entry between two houses it went to the bottom of the gardens then had a bit of a dog leg and down the side of the gardens in Villa St and came out again in into Villa St. just up from a little shop that sold home made Vimto flavoured ice lollies and when they first came out Jubblies. I wonder if it was still there when you lived in Villa St. there was also a bombed out house in that area though they had started clearing it.

The bombed buildings were our play ground there were two at the top of Hunters Road with a wonderful, to an 8 year old, abandoned car on it. Monument Lane/Icknield St had a row of bombed out terraced houses where the bombers missed the big rail goods yard. Another attraction to 8 year olds and no health and safety to spoil the fun. just the occaisional gruff "get off if that train goes out you could end up in Africa".

Brian
So much fun we had in the bombed-out buildings without thinking about the suffering that was caused! They were like magnets to us without giving second thoughts that something might fall on us.
 
Hi Richard

The closest we came to a nasty experience was when a flight of stairs became a lift.... 4 of us going up and the joist failed and the staircase dropped. Finding furniture in the houses was exciting as well, daring each other to open a wardrobe in case what ever could be imagined by a child might be hiding waiting to pounce. There was a complete house on monument lane apart for the front wall. I can still see the upper floor flexing as we crossed it.

Beats the hell out of an Xbox.

Brian
 
Hi Richard

The closest we came to a nasty experience was when a flight of stairs became a lift.... 4 of us going up and the joist failed and the staircase dropped. Finding furniture in the houses was exciting as well, daring each other to open a wardrobe in case what ever could be imagined by a child might be hiding waiting to pounce. There was a complete house on monument lane apart for the front wall. I can still see the upper floor flexing as we crossed it.

Beats the hell out of an Xbox.

Brian
It sure beats the hell out of an Xbox!
We build a little brick house, maybe 6’x8’ with a fireplace inside a bombed out building and the junction of SoHo and Hamstead reds, We used it every day for about a week in the summer then went away for a few days. When we came back the wall of the bombed house had fallen and flattened it! We’d call that dodging a bullet!
 
i agree richard...we used to make our own fun back then...i lived in the next street and a few houses up from out there was a brick built air raid shelter..we used to spend hours playing in their and making it our den :D happy days

lyn
 
Hi Richard

Ahh! But many of the bomb sites gave birth to pop bottles. 2d and cheeky kids did well for scrounging from building sites the builders couldn't be bothered taking them back. One day we found a soda syphon 5 shillings. That led to a parental Spanish Inquisition.

Brian
 
Hi Richard

Ahh! But many of the bomb sites gave birth to pop bottles. 2d and cheeky kids did well for scrounging from building sites the builders couldn't be bothered taking them back. One day we found a soda syphon 5 shillings. That led to a parental Spanish Inquisition.

Brian
Absolutly could not agree more about the cheeky kids! My mother called me that ALL of the time. Regarding the soda syphon, on those rare occasions I only ever got 2/-
 
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