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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

In the Dance Hall there was as well the opportunity for the ladies to open a conversation with a young man that they might be interested in and as yet had not had the opportunity.
The announcement of the ' LADIES EXCUSE ME DANCE '
Now any lady could, without any embarrassment , approach her selected young man and invite him to dance with her.
Invitation accepted, now she could get the opportunity to ' suss him out ' properly.
Either that or he happened to be a cracking dancer and she just wanted to try out a few new dance steps with him.
 
farmerdave said:
These days, I only get stopped in the street if I am in London. It's usually a tourist asking for directions or wanting a photograph taken with their camera of a guy and a girl-friend in front of e.g. the Houses of Parliament. I would usually be approached with an "Excuse me Sir". Someone asking for money would be more direct "Got any change, Mate"? Thinking back to Birmingham in the late fifties and early sixties, I was forever being asked for the correct/right time. Either people only had clockwork wrist watches that were always going wrong or they couldn't afford a watch. Today, with smart phones and electronic watches, nobody ever seems to ask. I don't like being addressed by a stranger as "mate" as it suggests over-familiarity. "Sir" or no-title at all is better. Although I was born and brought up in Birmingham I never heard anyone being addressed as "our-kid", at least not in Hall Green. Dave
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I have to say, "Our kid" was a common form of address in my youth. "Orroit our kid?" was usually the way it was used. Later, though it became "Orroit?" The conventional reply had to be "Ar"
My Dad's generation used the greeting "Worrow !" which I assume was a corruption of "What ho !"
 
maypolebaz said:
I have to say, "Our kid" was a common form of address in my youth. "Orroit our kid?" was usually the way it was used. Later, though it became "Orroit?" The conventional reply had to be "Ar"
My Dad's generation used the greeting "Worrow !" which I assume was a corruption of "What ho !"
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Wocha our kid was in common use, roughly translated as "how are you doing my fine fellow"? I was in a family of 3 brothers & 2 sisters. My elder brother & myself had virtually no brummie accent, but my middle brother was very broad. Same with my sisters, one had no noticeable accent but the other one had a very nice slightly melodic accent. We all grew up in the same house, same school, so why the varying accents. Reading about Peaky Blinders it said that the brummy accent was very dificult to mimic. I often drift (purposely) into a brummie accent when speaking to someone here in Durham just to watch the expression on their face. Some might ask where i`m from, & they look a bit perplexed when i say i live in a village just up the road. PS, do brummie dogs have a brummie bark :-}
 
The ' POKE BOARD ' shop.
This was actually one of the houses right opposite to the entrance to the Peckham Road Infants and Junior school, Kingstanding. The Lady tenant of the house had made a small Kitchen conversion and turned part of it into a Sweet Shop.
( entrance round the back and knock on the kitchen door). Single sweets and small packets of sweets could be bought for some thing like a Farthing a Half Penny or a Penny. Some days the lady would let it be known that she would be having home made Toffee Apples ready for sale to the kids as they finished school for the day.
She had an ' offer ' every day that was basically a chance game. Her offer was that if you spent ' tuppence' or more in her shop you could have a free go on her ' Poke Board ' which was basically a wooden board drilled with rows of holes straight through the wood and in each hole was a little piece of crumpled paper. Some of the little pieces of paper were blank and a few had a ' win ' mark on them. If you spent two pence or more she then gave you a little rod stick to poke out from one of the holes the hidden piece of paper therein. If your piece of paper had the ' win ' mark on it you could choose another one pennies worth of sweets for free.
Go careful there though kid, your pocket money has still got to cover next Saturdays ' flicks ' matinee and you need another bag of Pigeon Peas for your Peashooter.
 
Pigeon Peas!!! My brother used to lend me his pea-shooter but it was a bit rusty round the mouthpiece so it left a strange taste on my mouth!
rosie.
 
rosie, you referring to the taste left in your mouth after using a rusty Pea- shooter brought to mind a Pea - shooter taste that I remember too. We favoured using Pigeom Peas as our ' ammunition ' and we purchased these from a shop that kept its stock of Pigeon Peas in a large sack on the shop floor. Frequently we would load our mouths up with a handful of peas in order to get a ' machine gun ' effect from the Pea-shooter. Thinking back now I remember the musty taste of the dust, and heavens knows what else, that was stuck to these peas. Never gave it much of a thought at the time.
 
We used to make pea shooters from lupin stalks - they tasted funny but they worked ....:friendly_wink:
 
GOT A ' POTATOE ' IN YOUR SOCK '.
This was a term ( used in our area anyway ) to describe a hole in your sock(s). Moms would set about finding a matching coloured length of wool and commence a ' darn'.
Kids would tend to take the ' mickey ' out of one another if a ' Potatoe ' was showing.
Anyway, Moms darn done, that's good. Not so good sometimes was the ' lumpiness' effect of the darn if it had been done on the sole of the sock and for a while it would feel like you were walking around with some sort of foreign object in your shoe. Run about a bit, loosen the darn, yes that's a bit better.
Hope I get a couple of new pairs of socks for Xmas.
 
"A spud in your sock" was what we were more likely to say, my big toe allways seemed to be poking through one of them.
In my earlier days in the army we were issued with excellent grey woollen socks that needed constant darning. No Mom around to do THAT job for us though!
 
As my maiden name was Taylor, it was shortened to Tater and then became spud, which was my eldest brother's nickname - and still is.
 
Hi farmer Dave
Yes its been around for years these names like Taylor being called spud and alsorts of names
There are other surnames that have a nick name to them
Like white for instance they get called.chalkie which was always around and used in slang for years as I recall growing up
But its not used today these nic names
Can any other member recall any surnames with the twang name to them
Best wishes Astonian,,,,,,,,
 
Hi All,

My wifes' maiden name was White. Her father was always referred to as 'Snowy' I did not have a nickname except that in the navy I was called ' Brummy' I wonder why?

Old Boy
 
After reading about nick names etc....my maiden name was Barr....my brother and l were fare target ....the most commam was ..mars bar..open the bar...and a host of others my brothers name harvey and he was referred to as halfabarr, sad thing was both of us answered to the names.... brenda
 
THE OLD PARAFFIN HEATER.
Winter would begin to set in and the inside of the Bedroom windows would start to become ice smeared every night.
Dad would rummage in the shed and bring out our two old upright Paraffin Heaters. Round to the Ironmongers for a can of Paraffin fuel. The heaters were then suitably positioned, one in Mom and Dads bedroom and the other in us kids bedroom.
Oh yes, for us kids, that lovely warm bedroom awaiting us every night. That not unpleasant smell from the old heater, but best of all, for us,was that moment when the bedroom light was switched off and the light reflections from the heater were now thrown onto the bedroom ceiling, MAGICAL.
 
Roy,
Old Paraffin Heaters, that rings a bell. The upright Valor with the blue flame could certainly warm up a room. My Father also had a small circular heater that he left under the car engine compartment overnight during the winter months.
Mr Tallis was our ironmonger in Tame Rd (Witton). He kept the paraffin drum on stocks in the shop and would fill up your can for 2/6d while still smoking his pipe !
 
Its rare now, but if ever I get a sniff of parofine , or kerosene, it transports me right back to the winters of the 50's.Paul
 
Paul,l always think of the anderson shelter when l smell paraffin...the heater was'nt to bad , but when its mixed with the damp of the shelter it definitely had a different odour, ...my g/parents had a newsagents in church lane aston and sold paraffin and l really liked the smell then ....but the smell always takes me back to the shelter in the 40s....Brenda
 
Browsing this thread, "School Playgrounds" took me back to Summer evenings in the playground of Deykin Avenue school. A crowd of us kids from Deykin, Brantley, Cheshire and Wyrley would turn up every evening to play cricket. We climbed over the low railings.
Stumps painted on a wall, handed down bats and a tennis ball. No one seemed to mind - even the caretaker would pop out now and again to see that all was well. At dusk, Dads would appear to call us in.
Looking back, I cannot believe how seriously we took those games and how innocent we all were. Proper childhood !
 
brenda barr said:
Paul,l always think of the anderson shelter when l smell paraffin...the heater was'nt to bad , but when its mixed with the damp of the shelter it definitely had a different odour, ...my g/parents had a newsagents in church lane aston and sold paraffin and l really liked the smell then ....but the smell always takes me back to the shelter in the 40s....Brenda
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I used to take girls up to our Anderson shelter to show them my stamp collection. all very innocent though as i was only 10.. Thinking of smells, i love the smell of new mown grass, fresh tarmac being laid, the smell of the leather seats in the Humber Hawk.
 
image.jpgTHE WINDOW DISPLAY - LEWIS'S - OLD BRUM - THE KIDS FREE SHOW.
( Talking pre-war Christmases ).
Here was a treat for the the kids if they could get up to the city centre. Lewis's on Corporation Street always put on a top class ' Window show ' over the Xmas period which always delighted the kids. Amongst the window display there always seemed to be one or more mechanically operated models, such as the Father Christmas that would turn his head and maybe lift his arm up or the Snowmen who would also turn their heads. Model Railway trains would circle the display non-stop. There was always enough going on in the window to keep a kid interested for ages, best of all, it was FREE.
The store included another kids event inside ' The Father Chrismas GROTTO '. This gave the kids the chance to meet THE
REAL FATHER CHRISTMAS, talk to him, tell him what ' presents ' they hoped that he would bring them on Xmas day.
After listening to them he would tell them that he would do his best and then finally he would dip into his sack and give them an on the spot wrapped present to take home. COST A BIT THIS ONE THOUGH.
Never-the-less, a brilliant show from good old Lewis's
Will now try to post a Sketch of the event.
 
Your post to day brings back even more memories. Lewis Xmas show, We would all board the 17b bus across the street on Moat Lane and take the trip down to the bullring, then walk up to Lewis and Greys for the Xmas show. Lewis had on one on the higher floors the toy dept. loved the Marklin and Hornbys train sets. Happy days. To day I have posted on the Brum Forum Facebook two photos. Guess which house I had the best memories in. John Crump
 
It's about a bunch of kids and their Street Corner meetings. Did try to put this on the Forum as a direct written ' post'.
Did'nt succeed . I'll try this ' photo note '.image.jpg
 
SATURDAY MORNING WARRIORS. ( 1944 ish ).
The kids school football teams are arriving at Wellhead Lane sports field, Perry Barr to take part in another Aston Schoolboys league match. Amongst them are school teams from Aldridge Road school, Upper-Thomas street school, Peckham Road school, Sacred Hearts school and Maryvale school.
They have arrived at the sports field, mostly coming by corporation bus, with their football kit already on ( apart from their football boots which would have the laces knotted and slung round their necks ). Some have parts of old magazines stuffed down their football socks as ' shin pad protectors '.
They will find their allotted football pitch, strip off their coats, trousers and shoes and on with their football boots.
Onto the pitch for a pre-match kick around. Referee arrives and checks his watch, he blows his whistle for the opposing captains to ' toss ' for preferred direction of play.
The kids line up and take their playing positions. Referee blows his whistle for the kick-off.
The expectations of having a great game and a personal best performance run high for every kid playing.
A great time, a great activity, plenty of fresh air and exercise. There was very little to beat it.
 
The leather ball always weighed a ton, especially if it was raining. Sometimes the hard toe capped boots were too big. Some of the pitches left a lot to be desired. No one wore a proper football team outfit. Socks would be all colours. Whatever we could get hold of.

These days, the ball, the boots, the strip, the pitch are all different.

No matter, we all enjoyed our school football. These days it seems that it is more important to look good, than to be a good footballer.

Some of the worlds greatest footballers have come from kicking a ball around in a street, on some clay pitch, with bare feet, in some African village, or ghetto. I think that this is the problem with todays footballers. They are too pampered, and have too may facilities, too early. Some of our best footballers came from playing in the conditions that Roy described. Eddie
 
My brother's leather football had a sort of rubber bladder inside and a tube which rolled up under the laces. I think he had shin pads too, with those studs on the boots I think they would have been needed. He used to get the mud off the studs with an old kitchen knife whilst sitting on the kitchen step....in the dark sometimes...he wasn't allowed to get the mud indoors on the "quarry" floor in the kitchen. Then there was Dubbin(?) to protect them from the wet, they were heavy anyway. I learned a lesson too..don't head a wet leather football!!!
rosie.
 
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