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Gosta Green Through Duddeston

Ernie

Re, your last post, marvelous photo it just shows how little furniture our families had to move in those days. I think a hand cart would have been ample for us when we left Francis St.

Phil
 
Ernie

In post #649 you mention the Saturday Matinée at The Ashted Cinema. I used to go there every Saturday I was able (if the money was available) I remember we used to have to queue outside the side door and that they even had a pay booth there (or did I dream that).

I also remember the Italian chap who used to sell the ice cream outside the Willis St entrance from a cold box on his bike. I can still taste the ice cream, it seems like only yesterday.

Phil
 
Phil. I seem to remember some furniture was chopped up to light the fire, then we used to go to the fruit market in town in Gloucester Street to get Orange boxes and then when the slum clearance started we had loads of wood. Having said that I think we were one of the first families to move out of Coleman Street.
 
Phil. No you did not dream that, there was a pay booth in Willis Street and it was used for the Saturday Matinee. The ice cream man on his bike, well I can only remember one at the corner of Barrack Street and Great Brook Street outside the churchyard. Also outside Loxton Street Senior School in the early 1950's.
 
anyone out there remember Billy Davidsons cafe? he had sisters Rose and Lil it was on the corner of Great Lister Street and Scofield Street in the 50s Regards Alan T.
 
Hi Alan

Miss Lilly Davis 163 Great Lister St (Junction with Scholefied St) dining rooms.

I can't say that I remember the cafe, as I didn't move into the area until 1953 and that end of Great Lister St was the first to go under the hammer it might have been gone when I moved in to the area.

Phil
 
Alan. Sorry I cannot recall the cafe, all I seem to remember is a fish and chip shop if I am correct not far from the corner in Scholefield Street.
 
brumgum

we want to hear all those stories, so get typing.

Phil

Blimey, where do i start!. I've been interorrgating my parents for years regarding my family living in this area. My Mom is very ill at the moment so it all means so much to me at this point in time.
My parents met at Kyrle hall in about 1946, the day after they met my Dad was sent to Palestine and they kept in touch on and off for a couple of years.
They married at Bishop Ryders in 1950 and lived at an aunts in Gem street and then at my Grandparents at 57 Lawrence St untill 1955. Would be interested in any info on Lawrence St as i've traced my family living at court 4 house 4 Lawrence st in 1881.
Moms family lived in Gem St, Digby St and finaly Aston Rd. My Grandfather was a bill poster for Sheffields Ltd. My Dad was born in Digby St and lived in River st Digbeth and Lawrence St.
Dads Grandfather was a hawker selling fish from a handcart in the area,some of my family also worked at Perry Pens.
One of My Great aunts from Gem st used to write political articles for the Mirror. Her brother had a greengrocers on the corner of Duke st and Aston St. I also have a list of all the shops that were on Aston st that i'll post at a later date,
Brumgum.
 
brumgum. I am really so very sorry to hear that your mother is very ill, I can only say that I hope as I think we all do that she gets better.
It is wonderful to hear what you have to write, I am sure that it helps your mother that you take an interest in all she has to say.
I feel dreadful to say this, but my Gran used to try to tell me things about the past and being so young and stupid I did not show any interest. I feel sure I must have hurt her and now deeply regret it.
 
The Gaiety


The Gaiety Cinema was formerly a Music Hall. I can only assume that is how it got its name. I was going to ask " When was it a Music Hall ? " but then I found the second Photograph which helps to explain the question it being dated 1900. I can well imagine that it was very popular with the local people as much as the Cinema that followed from the Music Hall.
My Gran use to sing music hall songs to me even before I started school.
There was a film with Will Hay and another famous actor about the music hall
but I cannot think of the title. I guess someone will remember it, something like The Good Old Days, I can only remember the title ended with Days.
 

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Not sure if it is possible to post questions and answers on this thread about what has appeared on here. One other question that came to mind ( after the music hall one ) Was those red fire doors in the canal bridges put in when the canals were built or was it due to the war ? I dont think it was an alteration to the brickwork when they were installed but I could be wrong.
 
Ernie

You will get us in to trouble straying off thread like this, but the first question is prompted by the Gaiety Cinema / Music Hall, and well there were canals in Gosta Green through Duddeston.

The answer to the first question is "Those were the days" made in 1934 and the only other name I recognise is John Mills. It was as you rightly thought about a music hall.

The answer to your second question, and this is only my opinion. I think those doors were placed there so the fire service of the day could fill their pump engines. The still use these doors today on occasion.

Phil
 
Ernie

In post #649 you mention the Saturday Matinée at The Ashted Cinema. I used to go there every Saturday I was able (if the money was available) I remember we used to have to queue outside the side door and that they even had a pay booth there (or did I dream that).

I also remember the Italian chap who used to sell the ice cream outside the Willis St entrance from a cold box on his bike. I can still taste the ice cream, it seems like only yesterday.

Phil
happy days phill.
regards dereklcg.
 
hi ger22van the one in question was opposite st Matthews church,
i think there was more in grt lister st i,ve seen a plan somewhere in this or one like this thread, the petrol thing you mention i worked for Ashley repairs for a time delivering disabled cars and had to suck the fuel out when i collected them for service, then do it all again when i took it back. yak just glad it was,nt diesel.. happy days regards derek. grt pick of the whites removals i remember them well opp fletchers,the lorries though not the horse drawn, keep em comeing.. derek.
 
Re: The Gaiety

View attachment 20071 View attachment 20072

The Gaiety Cinema was formerly a Music Hall. I can only assume that is how it got its name. I was going to ask " When was it a Music Hall ? " but then I found the second Photograph which helps to explain the question it being dated 1900. I can well imagine that it was very popular with the local people as much as the Cinema that followed from the Music Hall.
My Gran use to sing music hall songs to me even before I started school.
There was a film with Will Hay and another famous actor about the music hall
but I cannot think of the title. I guess someone will remember it, something like The Good Old Days, I can only remember the title ended with Days.

Dad tells me he used to go to the Gaiety twice in the week and on a sunday.
He tells me the original building was a music hall called Holdens around about 1880. It was used as a silent cinema till about 1931 and then talkies .In 1937-8 the boilers broke and it was demolished and rebuilt in 39. It was bombed in 1941 and shut for two years untill about 1943
Dad says the Gaiety was a class act and you only went to the Ashted if you'd got no money!.
 
brumgum

I don't know how old your dad is, but he knows what he's talking about. You only went to the Gaiety on high days and holidays as it was much cheaper to go to the Ashted even the Saturday matinée was half the price. If your dad went to the Gaiety 3 times a week then you come from a rich family.

Heres an unusual photo. I don't think the people who lived here were on the rich list. Its at 24 Bullock St, Nechells and its a converted railway carriage. Its at the back of this house? that the gypsy encampment was.

Phil

Nechells24BullockSt1905-1.jpg
 
brumgum

I don't know how old your dad is, but he knows what he's talking about. You only went to the Gaiety on high days and holidays as it was much cheaper to go to the Ashted even the Saturday matinée was half the price. If your dad went to the Gaiety 3 times a week then you come from a rich family.

Heres an unusual photo. I don't thing the people who lived here were on the rich list. Its at 24 Bullock St, Nechells and its a converted railway carriage. Its at the back of this house? that the gypsy encampment was.

Phil
Phil,
Dads nearly 81 and as bright as a button and still driving, not from a rich family but from a one up one down and an attic house on Lawrence St. I can remember the house vaguely, there was a large yard at the rear with shared toilets. There was a scullery at the back and i can remember a gas light still intact in the sixties.I can also recall different types of glass in the windows as some were blown out in the war and it was hard to get matching panes.
I've seen plenty of pictures on the net of the other side of Lawrence St but none of Dad's side,he lived at 57 near the shop on the corner of Gem St i think, Bishop Ryders was at the back of the yard.
I think these were some of the first council housing built in Brum around 1890,

Brumgum.

Brumgum.
 
hi phill.can you remember the health centre to the left of cromwell st,in between bloomsbury st and avenue rd,the only thing i can remember is it was on the right just past cromwell st,coming from avenue rd,we went there to get the tinned milk and codliver oil etc when we was kids,ernie might know when he comes on line and might have a pic,
pete
 
brumgum. Thank you so much for your story on the Gaiety, I was going to say that the building ( don't know if it is still there today ) looked too modern to be a Music Hall years ago and it was the site of an older building.
 
Phil. I have learned so much and a lot of it is from you. That Will Hay film I tried the internet but found it after I read your post.
 
Pete. I am so pleased to hear from you once more. I am only sorry to say that I cannot remember any health centre around the area or have any Photographs, if fact I am a bit hard pushed to find any new photographs at all.
 
hi phill.can you remember the health centre to the left of cromwell st,in between bloomsbury st and avenue rd
pete

Pete

The only one I can think of is the new (old now) Nechells Health Centre that all the doctors from Ashted Row and all the local doctors moved into in the early sixties.

It is in Denby Close off Oliver Street. In relation to the old Nechells it would be between Cromwell St and Scholefield St about a hundred yards or so back from the junctions with Great Lister St.

Phil
 
Phil. I have learned so much and a lot of it is from you.

Ernie,

Thank you for your comments but surely that what the forum is here for. So that we may learn from each other. I also have been enlightened and enriched by your writings.

Phil
 
Derek, I hate to think I have got things wrong but the mind probably plays up at this age. I thought there was a cobblers past the church towards Bloomsbury Street direction. Oh Dear if only I could go back again and take another look along there.
 
Dad's house was opposite these...
 

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Phil. So happy I have helped. I am lost to what has happened since I left. Even the new changes have gone full circle and now become a distant memory to you all.
 
don,t worry ger22van we all suffer that old chestnut who cares.
what you can remember is enough,as i said the cobblers opp st Matthews was English leather they also had a shop up in the ashted row area,again there has been reference to it on here somewhere.mwonjm i remember the health center you,re on about,we were there when they were building it we had a few doors down from us people who worked for the main building contractor ( john laing ) living in caravans we got to know them well. catch you later regards Derek.
 
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