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Childhood Memories

Morturn said:
I am wondering if they did have real firearms or even shotguns which can be carried on private land with permission of the landowner.
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I don't know much about rifles or what type they were but they were certainly not toys. It does appear that the farmer who owned the land that later became Hawkesley had given this group consent to build their gathering place on his property, unless of course it was without his knowledge. The thing is that they were carrying their rifles in the neighborhood rather than just on the farmland. At times there was an armed sentry at the bottom of Green Acres Road on the corner of Redditch Road. One thing that I neglected to mention was that there were some women in this group as well.

Morturn said:
There has been, in America at least many survivalists, vigilante. Military style religious groups who wish to save the world for the greater good and themselves.
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Living in California now, I know this too well...;)


I really wonder if this was going on in other parts of England in the early sixties or if it was just an isolated case of crazy.
 
mv52 said:
I don't know much about rifles or what type they were but they were certainly not toys. It does appear that the farmer who owned the land that later became Hawkesley had given this group consent to build their gathering place on his property, unless of course it was without his knowledge. The thing is that they were carrying their rifles in the neighborhood rather than just on the farmland. At times there was an armed sentry at the bottom of Green Acres Road on the corner of Redditch Road. One thing that I neglected to mention was that there were some women in this group as well.



Living in California now, I know this too well...;)


I really wonder if this was going on in other parts of England in the early sixties or if it was just an isolated case of crazy.
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Me & my gang of vigilantes were armed with bows & arrows catapults & one rich kid had a Diana air gun. We shall fight them on the beaches (etc). :cool:
 
I am interested how the cold war affected people. Most certainly some people were quite scared. I did know of a family who at one point were quite seriously getting ready to move to Ireland because of it.

I once did some consultancy work around Banbury. They all lived near to RAF Upper Heyford. With its bowling ally and surface fire hydrants, it did look like America. Lots of village pubs closed down after the Americans moved out.

Of course, there were a number of nuclear bunkers across the country too. We have our own in Birmingham with the anchor exchange.
 
Morturn said:
I am interested how the cold war affected people. Most certainly some people were quite scared. I did know of a family who at one point were quite seriously getting ready to move to Ireland because of it.
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I certainly remember being frightened as a child when I was going to West Heath School.
Despite no internet and less tv, nuclear annihilation was still a hot topic amongst the young students in those days.
It was no better after our move to California in '63. We had a weekly drill at school where a siren would go off and you were required to squat under your classroom desk and cover your head with your arms. Duck and Cover...

Richarddye said:
Why, the Sherriff of Nottingham of course.......
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Yes! That would certainly explain the arrows...
 
Morturn said:
I think this is quite interesting and is something that needs exploring. We had the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, so I would not be surprise if there were survivalist type groups popping up. We have already witnessed panic buying and some very irrational behaviour in this most recent pandemic.

I am wondering if they did have real firearms or even shotguns which can be carried on private land with permission of the landowner.

I understand that gun laws may have been a slacker in 1963.

I am also aware of a lot of decommissioned .303 rifles be around. They had DP stamped on the stock. Also, a whole host of replica firearms were available.

There has been, in America at least many survivalists, vigilante. Military style religious groups who wish to save the world for the greater good and themselves.
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mw0njm. said:
firearm law and shot gun law was slack then. most folks had guns, mostly air weapons.,Shotguns, and .303 that escaped the net, after the war when they should have been handed in."THANK GOODNESS THAT HAS ALL CHANGED NOW."
DP means "DRILL PURPOSES ONLY" don't attempt to fire them unless you like pain & suffering.
They were worn out before being assigned the DP tag (that's why they became DP they were shot out) & further disabled to prevent firing.
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I remember buying my first shotgun from one of the catalogs that many people had, would have been mid sixties, no certificate required in those days. Also had a .303 bored out to 410 but the local police would ask to check it was a shotgun if they saw you with it, always took the bolt out before handing it over.
 
Noticed on this thread about coal fires. We had what was called the coal hole right next to the bathroom in the kitchen.
I remember the coal merchants coming down the entry carrying sacks of coal. Also can recall Mum, and Dad looking for any burnable coal among what was called the slack. We went right to the wire when money was tight which seemed most of the time.
Dad would use newspaper at times in front to draw the fire alight.
Once when for some reason the chimney had not been swept Dad for some reason took it on himself to clean it with newspaper up the flue.
Flames shot long and hard out of the chimney. Mum was not pleased.
On the bright side the roof did not catch fire or the fire brigade called lol
 
Diane1947 said:
Noticed on this thread about coal fires. We had what was called the coal hole right next to the bathroom in the kitchen.
I remember the coal merchants coming down the entry carrying sacks of coal. Also can recall Mum, and Dad looking for any burnable coal among what was called the slack. We went right to the wire when money was tight which seemed most of the time.
Dad would use newspaper at times in front to draw the fire alight.
Once when for some reason the chimney had not been swept Dad for some reason took it on himself to clean it with newspaper up the flue.
Flames shot long and hard out of the chimney. Mum was not pleased.
On the bright side the roof did not catch fire or the fire brigade called lol
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Diane, I remember picking up the slack actually from anywhere we could find it. And the newspaper, it seemed when I was doing it, somehow I got the fire going but also managed to set the newspaper on fire! My father was not pleased because I always seemed to use the morning paper that he had not read!
Happy Days (I think)!
 
Richard more innocent days back then also. Regarding happy days I was a very nervous kind of child.
However, back to the coal fires. I was born 1947, and around about then my Mother had the coal fire place put in. Before that apparent it was the black fire range type. My nan apparently cooked on one.
You were supposed to get permission from the council to have one fitted In their houses.
Mum didn’t, and someone reported her, well some neighbour, and I think she had to pay some small fine.
 
Diane1947 said:
Richard more innocent days back then also. Regarding happy days I was a very nervous kind of child.
However, back to the coal fires. I was born 1947, and around about then my Mother had the coal fire place put in. Before that apparent it was the black fire range type. My nan apparently cooked on one.
You were supposed to get permission from the council to have one fitted In their houses.
Mum didn’t, and someone reported her, well some neighbour, and I think she had to pay some small fine.
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Diane, for sure on the innocence, I was born in 43! Like Pete said not being a prood, I am amazed at what people do and say, for no apparent reason. I guess we all need to get over that. When I was growing up breaking milk bottles and throwing stones at street lights was really daring stuff!
 
Some of my earliest memories are going to see Auntie Sis & uncle Tom in their prefab in Yardley Wood Rd aged 4 in 1950, we would cross into the park to play on the mini golf pitch & put with uncle Tom.
I remember us going home in winter sometimes and the smog will have suddenly come down and the No 11 bus would have to crawl along with the conductor walking in front. Then the engine would overheat and the bus would have to stop for 15 minutes so it took ages to get back to Kings Norton, I would fall asleep and have to be carried off the bus.

I remember similar trips to Grandad Gray in Denaby Grove, Yardley wood , his house was full of curios brought back from Brazil by my Gt grandparents who ran some kind of business there.
Glass domes with humming birds and giant beetles and butterflies. His garden always had sweet peas and every time i smell one it takes me back. The lovely smell of his Golden cut tobacco which he smoked in clay pipes
There was also an air raid shelter with trays of apples that were being stored and that smell was lovely as well.
 
I recall the days when we had a modern grate and subsequent paraffin heater. Our dad used to pick up the paraffin at a filling station on Lozells Rd. It certainly was a lot easier than the open fire experience. However, it happened one day that the burner in the heater kept flaring up and our mom was freaking out. She took the paraffin can back to the filling station, which was quite a walk from Paddington St and found out it was petrol, not paraffin. could have been a major disaster...
Dave A
 
During the 1926 General Strike, in the Potteries (itself a coal mining district) young children, often orphaned (being brought up by eldest girl) or have only one parent still alive, went on the slag heaps searching for bits of coal or large slack in order to have a fire in the grate. The grate was used for cooking and washing water and as a bonus kept the place warm. I knew this from someone who was nine years old at the time.
 
Paraffin heaters could be very dangerous if not treated and sited with care. They were responsible for many fires - and deaths as a result.
Paraffin, blue or pink coloured. was delivered in many places. Known here as 'the oil man'.
 
Radiorails said:
Paraffin heaters could be very dangerous if not treated and sited with care. They were responsible for many fires - and deaths as a result.
Paraffin, blue or pink coloured. was delivered in many places. Known here as 'the oil man'.
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the esso ble duller....... mom always used one in the kitchen. it had a glass bottle in the back of it, one day she put a refill in and it did not seat properly. it flooded and set on fire. luckily i was at home. i picked it up and threw it in the garden.
 

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mw0njm. said:
the esso ble duller....... mom always used one in the kitchen. it had a glass bottle in the back of it, one day she put a refill in and it did not seat properly. it flooded and set on fire. luckily i was at home. i picked it up and threw it in the garden.
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Hi Pete,

I don't blame you, those drip feed fires were notorious for faults, We did have one
when they first came out, but soon got rid of it. The conventional paraffin fires never
seemed to give any bother though, you just had to keep the wicks trimmed.
I liked the smell of an oil stove actually, but my missus hated it.

Kind regards
Dave
 
Richarddye said:
Diane, I remember picking up the slack actually from anywhere we could find it. And the newspaper, it seemed when I was doing it, somehow I got the fire going but also managed to set the newspaper on fire! My father was not pleased because I always seemed to use the morning paper that he had not read!
Happy Days (I think)!
Click to expand...
My Nan used to examine the coal that was delivered tipped from hessian sacks. The coal men were very strong. He tipped it on to a piece of corrugated iron on the garden to keep it dry near the house, but she never covered it. When it was wet it used to spit when lit and crack and bang. So she would put the fireguard up. She used to moan often saying he had given her a load of 'nutty slack'. Grandads mum, used to paint her coal. She said someone was stealing it. She also painted a line on the wall, to see if it went down. She kept it as did my dad's mum, under the stairs in the cubby hole. We called ours the bung 'ole. As everything got bunged in it. So, I always thought they were called bungoles.
 
Dave89 said:
Hi Pete,

I don't blame you, those drip feed fires were notorious for faults, We did have one
when they first came out, but soon got rid of it. The conventional paraffin fires never
seemed to give any bother though, you just had to keep the wicks trimmed.
I liked the smell of an oil stove actually, but my missus hated it.

Kind regards
Dave
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We were watching a Miss Marple, I said to my partner, lots of people were 'killed' like this, in dramas,
and in films turning on the gas on the little bedrooms fires. We had ours taken out. All houses had them as I recall but I never saw one lit. Mum said they were dangerous. I remember Nan on about women who put their head in the gas oven. A friend of ours used to dry her long hair in the oven. She lay on the kitchen "flowa" as pronounced by my nan, put cushions under her head and put her hair in" th'oven." "Bluurgh!" shuddered nan "the filthy cat!"
 
Nico said:
My Nan used to examine the coal that was delivered tipped from hessian sacks. The coal men were very strong. He tipped it on to a piece of corrugated iron on the garden to keep it dry near the house, but she never covered it. When it was wet it used to spit when lit and crack and bang. So she would put the fireguard up. She used to moan often saying he had given her a load of 'nutty slack'. Grandads mum, used to paint her coal. She said someone was stealing it. She also painted a line on the wall, to see if it went down. She kept it as did my dad's mum, under the stairs in the cubby hole. We called ours the bung 'ole. As everything got bunged in it. So, I always thought they were called bungoles.
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Nico, our coal shed (if you could call it that) was at the back of our house down a narrow entry. I had to go down every day with a coal scuttle fill it up and carry it into the house. When we needEd more coal my mother would leave it where I kept my bike which was my bedroom. No words just an empty scuttle silently speaking!
 
Diane1947 said:
Richard more innocent days back then also. Regarding happy days I was a very nervous kind of child.
However, back to the coal fires. I was born 1947, and around about then my Mother had the coal fire place put in. Before that apparent it was the black fire range type. My nan apparently cooked on one.
You were supposed to get permission from the council to have one fitted In their houses.
Mum didn’t, and someone reported her, well some neighbour, and I think she had to pay some small fine.
Click to expand...
I was a nervous child too. We only threw stones at each other. Never at people's property. Only bad kids did that.My school mate moved some little red lanterns they used to have round road works, and a car went in the hole in the dark. He was mortified. He daren't tell his dad as he would have been belted. With a belt. Some kids played truant, and got in to a neighbour's house whilst she was at work, and made tea ate biscuits and watcher her TV. I think they broke in. It was unheard of then, a huge scandal, they left their school blazers behind with their names sewn in.
 
Richarddye said:
Nico, our coal shed (if you could call it that) was at the back of our house down a narrow entry. I had to go down every day with a coal scuttle fill it up and carry it into the house. When we needEd more coal my mother would leave it where I kept my bike which was my bedroom. No words just an empty scuttle silently speaking!
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Some houses built during the war, had little coal bunkers with a lid on top and a little door in the bottom. I can see one from here now. My friends kept their rabbit in it. We had a coal shed next to the outside loo. We used it for tools and things. The Coal 'ouse. Again I grew up thinking it was a colowse.
 
Nico said:
I was a nervous child too. We only threw stones at each other. Never at people's property. Only bad kids did that.My school mate moved some little red lanterns they used to have round road works, and a car went in the hole in the dark. He was mortified. He daren't tell his dad as he would have been belted. With a belt. Some kids played truant, and got in to a neighbour's house whilst she was at work, and made tea ate biscuits and watcher her TV. I think they broke in. It was unheard of then, a huge scandal, they left their school blazers behind with their names sewn in.
Click to expand...
Now almost nothing would happen!
 
I believe many properties had a brick built outdoor 'coal house' as part of their property. A house I lived in did, in fact, in my younger days, I built a small rockery against the exterior rear wall.
I wonder what people use them for these days, where they only have central heating? A shed maybe? Rather like the front gardens which are now car parks
 
Nico said:
I was a nervous child too. We only threw stones at each other. Never at people's property. Only bad kids did that.My school mate moved some little red lanterns they used to have round road works, and a car went in the hole in the dark. He was mortified. He daren't tell his dad as he would have been belted. With a belt. Some kids played truant, and got in to a neighbour's house whilst she was at work, and made tea ate biscuits and watcher her TV. I think they broke in. It was unheard of then, a huge scandal, they left their school blazers behind with their names sewn in.
Click to expand...

When I was around 6 or 7 I do recall being in the infant school, but not the first year. A boy in my class showed me a small green bottle about the size of smelling salts. It may have been much smaller, but way back then, and even now I kind of see it. He had brought from home, I said what’s in it or what’s that he said poison, and I’m going to poison you.
So me being me took it on board. My late sister said at times I was like a dustbin taking to much rubbish in.
The boy only lived down the road from me, had to pass his house on the way to, and from school. At home time I started to use another gate, and came home via a different road. In case he poisoned me lol.I could not wait for junior school to come around. Separate playgrounds for boys and girls.
I still remember the boys name crystal clear.
Writing about this I cannot remembered my Mum taking me or picking me up from school only I guess the first day.
 
Radiorails said:
I believe many properties had a brick built outdoor 'coal house' as part of their property. A house I lived in did, in fact, in my younger days, I built a small rockery against the exterior rear wall.
I wonder what people use them for these days, where they only have central heating? A shed maybe? Rather like the front gardens which are now car parks
Click to expand...
That's what ours was built on to the pantry then the outside loo then the water butt then a wooden shed. All the houses I lived in had them. Like now except it houses the boiler now and has been made to be inside. We put tools and deckchairs in and flower pots, fishing rods, anything, zinc baths and buckets.
 
adap2it said:
I recall the days when we had a modern grate and subsequent paraffin heater. Our dad used to pick up the paraffin at a filling station on Lozells Rd. It certainly was a lot easier than the open fire experience. However, it happened one day that the burner in the heater kept flaring up and our mom was freaking out. She took the paraffin can back to the filling station, which was quite a walk from Paddington St and found out it was petrol, not paraffin. could have been a major disaster...
Dave A
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I had piano lessons taught by 2 old misers. Mrs Eberell was short and always wore an ancient longish dark silk looking dress with sparkling black beads and she taught on a baby grand in the front room. I was taught by her husband in the back on an upright. I can smell the room now. The fireplace void of any fire or ever having a fire lit in it. I was trudging there in the snow in the dark, they had a big dark tall paraffin heater in the hall which heated nothing, just melted the snow off my wellies in half the hour for when it was time to come back. When your play your fingers need to be warm. My excuse anyway! Pitted oilcloth floor. The other student in the other room playing far better than me. Mr Eberell taught the violin too and he had a pot of resin maybe that was the smell but it was musty and damp. When I told mum and dad about the heater they said I thought they chucked them out years ago. They are dangerous.
 
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