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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

I was also taught that when the COWS are lieing down, then its going to RAIN,which it always did in Brum anyway. John Crump
 
Hope you guys don't over do it in the garden as it looks as if you are putting in a lot of physical effort. One of our neighbours has been doing too much and he doesn't look very well at all. Dave.
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FLATTERED NOT BATTERED.
( School leaving reports ) 1940's onwards.
Basic schools during this period provided end of school " character " references and in some cases provided starter job opportunities.
Sorting through a few old boxes recently I came across a couple of " references " that had been compiled on my behalf.
One was for leaving school, the other was for leaving National Service.
Reading them now, it occurred to me how ' kindly ' the ' compilers ' had been and it brought to mind something of the old saying " If you can't say something nice about people, don't say anything at all ".
I suspect many of these ' character reference compilers ' used something like this as their base line because I can't recall that any of my old school chums or N/S mates received ' negative ' or ' battering ' remarks on their final character reference reports.
Looking back I think that it worked out alright. Everyone seemed to find their own level anyway.
The ' Pushers ' got to work their way up the career ladder whilst the " stop to smell the flowers along the way " characters enjoyed their chosen route just as well.
 
THEY JUST GOT ON WITH IT.
Whilst, quite rightly , we're paying just tributes to many ' Services ' and ' Organisations ' that paved the way to victory in WW2, I would like to add thanks and a tribute to our own Grandads and Grandmas, our own Dads and Moms and all those other ' Grown Ups ' of the time who protected us kids, provided for us, looked after us and guided us through the war period on the ' Home front '.
THANK YOU ALL.
 
Another nice afternoon out. ( 1950 ish ).
There were a couple of outdoor sports to be enjoyed around this period.
One was the local Motor cycle " Grass Track " event. This was often held on a couple of ' hired ' farm fields. An oval racing track being marked out with White Washed lines indicating the inner cicuit whilst ropes formed the outer cicuit and indicated the outer boundaries for the spectators to stand or sit behind.
A great mix of ' rider ' skills would be seen because the true fun of this sport was that Proffessional and Amature riders would be taking part at the same time, also there would be varying ' concoctions ' of motor bikes taking part ( from purpose built ' Grass Track ' and ' Speedway ' bikes all the way down to ' homemade stripped down ' motor cycles ).
A guy called Dick Tolley was one of our ' locals ' who proved to be very successful in this sport.
Another enjoyable event was the " Red Marley " motor cycle Hill Climb at Great Witely Worcester. Great fun to watch the competitors trying to tackle the steep hill whilst combining trying to get up the hill and stay on their bikes at the same time.
For either event all you had to do was pick your spot near the ropes, put the old ground sheet down, layout the the sandwiches and flask, put your ear plugs in and enjoy.
 
FLATTERED NOT BATTERED (School leaving reports). Hi Roy. I left school in 1961 and I still have some of my school reports. They did not comment so much on character as on scholarly progress. One feature was the range of opinions over the years, going from "this will not take him far" to "hard work has brought its just reward". Since I have retired I have done voluntary work for The National Trust and Age UK. Here, character references are required. I have never seen a character reference written about me but as I was accepted into the applied voluntary roles then I guess that they were OK. Glad that you had good experiences with your character references. Dave.
 
Dave,

I believe that Winston Churchill had a terrible school report.. Fred Astaire was told "Will not go far, cannot dance". I am sure that there are many other great people who had bad school reports. Life is what you make it.

Eddie.
 
I once won a prize for having the lowest profile in the company! I was quite pleased about that and I was pleased that I had achieved what I set out to do. I was a technical bod without whom the company would have had next to nothing to sell. Why do they always assume that every minute you spend on the phone you should be trying to sell someone something?

Maurice
 
My father was a true army man, and when I was a boy, and he was taking me somewhere, it would always be: Shoulders back, chest out, stomach in!".

Now nearly 82, over 6 ft tall, I can still, with ease "Shoulders back, chest out".......but the stomach in??

Eddie
 
Eddie,

Same here, I have no problem pulling my shoulders back when I think about it, stomach in......no chance!

Maurice
 
When the ' Bravado' bit became a mite weak.
1952 ish.
I recall four of us young men attending the " Onion Fair " at the Serpentine grounds, Aston, around this period.
Prior to our visit some of our other Pals had described a particular new ' awesome ' ride on offer that they had seen at the fair.
" Ride the Wall ".
This was a large cylindrical looking construction which in essence was a huge open topped barrel which could be power rotated. For paying ' participents ' they would enter the barrel and the power of centrifugal forces would virtually leave them pinned to the spinning wall as the floor they had been standing on was lowered away.
For the paying ' spectators ' they would stand on a surrounding stationary platform at the top and watch the ' participents ' spinning round stuck to the wall.
So here where all our Pals telling us that they had paid to observe the ride as ' spectators ' but hadn't had the bravery to take part as ' participents '.
Red wrag to a bull.
We were going to achieve a bit of " one- upmanship" here weren't we.
Cutting a long story short, here we were stood in front of the " Ride the Wall ". Decided to have a ' reccy ' first and paid to go up the stairs and view the ride as ' spectators '.
Had a gander at the working ride. fair enough, looks a bit hairy but we might just as well have a go on the wall.
Session over we make our way down the stairs with a view to paying for the next ride as ' Participents'.
At this point the eight or nine people who had just done the ride as ' participents ' came out of the barrel.
Three of these young guys immediately became poorly ( you'll know what I mean ) and the others all looked a bit wobbly and lost to say the least.
Our little group had a quick conflab ( can't recall what exactly was said but we soon came up with some suitable excuses as to why we should move on ).
So, tails between our legs, off we set to have a go on the Dodgems, the Waltzer and the Coconut Shys.
Needless to say we didn't whisper a word about our original intentions when we got back.
Some heroes we turned out to be.
photo: Ride the Wall.image.jpg
 
I don't think I ever attended the Onion Fair but Roy's mention of coconut shies, dodgems etc. reminds me of the Shirley Barbecue. I attended this on Saturday May 14th 1960 and it was opened by none other than Ken Dodd. It's amazing to think that 55 years later he is still performing. To put this into a time context it was 8 days after the wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones. I took a photograph of Ken Dodd and the unfortunate pig that was being barbecued. Dave.

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THE ' BLAZER ' OUTFIT.
( Middle to late 1950's ).
Chrome buttons, breast badge, open white shirt, cravat, matching breast pocket handkerchief, a nice pair of Grey flannel trousers and best shoes polished to perfection.
Clothe rationing had gone and from their ' jam jar ' savings young men found the opportunity to go out and buy a new outfit. I can't recall how the Blazer trend came in, but a fair number of young men began favouring blazer outfits.
It certainly had that ' snazzy ' feeling about it.
Nothing better than to be ' dolling up ' in your blazer with a view to hitting the big time at the West End ballroom or one of the ballroom dancing events at the ' Chrystal Palace ' in Sutton Park.
Final check in the mirror.
Final thought, " Hope the Girlfriend appreciates all this effort. Sure she will ".
Hang on, give your hair another run through with the comb. Okay, let's go.
 
When I saw blazers mentioned I naturally thought of school.college uniform. Ah! well, they say look how the other half lives.
 
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Blazers in adulthood were not for me I'm sorry to say. Maybe it's because I stayed on into the 6th form at school and therefore was wearing a blazer up to the age of 18+. If I wanted to "dress-up" after leaving school it would be in a John Collier suit. Roy's "giving your hair another run through with the comb" should surely have included adding a splash of Brylcreem. Dave.
 
I am including just one more photograph of Ken Dodd at the Shirley barbecue in May 1960, mainly as there are lots of faces in the crowd. It looks as if Ken Dodd is just about to throw a ball, perhaps at a coconut shy. Were you there? Dave.
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Thank goodness I kept a diary. On 5th August 1967 I went into town and ordered a new suit from Alexandre. It was a herring-bone 3-piece and cost £20-10s. It took 6 weeks for it to be ready. Hope that wasn't cheap! I can't remember where Alexandre was. Dave.
 
The Tap powered Potato scraper.
( a bit of nostalgia ).
I think that probably only the senior age groups would remember this device.
Children sometimes happily volunteered to do the peeling potatoes duty when this devise was going to be used. Seemed that stacks of swirling water and potatoes bumping round and round in the container was fair entertainment, right up their street.
It appeared to be a useful kitchen tool at the time but it did use large amounts of running tap water and I guess it began to become less popular as more and more ' Water Meters ' came on stream.
So eventually it was back to the scrubbing and the hand peeler for the potato duty and where had the kids disappeared to now.
Photo : The device.image.jpg
 
We had a similar device but as i recall it was operated by rotating a handle mounted on top.it was fairly effective but passed out of fashion
Regards
J H
 
Wasn't there two Tolly brothers they both were grass track riders and I'm sure they both rode for Birmingham Brummie's with Phil (Tiger) Heart.

I seem to remember one them having a bad crash at Perry Barr

This was the just before Graham Warren, Wilbur Lameruea The Amerian foot trailer.

Brings back happy memories of Birmingham Speedway. Graham & Norman Parker, Vic Duggan.

Roy Blakey said:
Another nice afternoon out. ( 1950 ish ).
There were a couple of outdoor sports to be enjoyed around this period.
One was the local Motor cycle " Grass Track " event. This was often held on a couple of ' hired ' farm fields. An oval racing track being marked out with White Washed lines indicating the inner cicuit whilst ropes formed the outer cicuit and indicated the outer boundaries for the spectators to stand or sit behind.
A great mix of ' rider ' skills would be seen because the true fun of this sport was that Proffessional and Amature riders would be taking part at the same time, also there would be varying ' concoctions ' of motor bikes taking part ( from purpose built ' Grass Track ' and ' Speedway ' bikes all the way down to ' homemade stripped down ' motor cycles ).
A guy called Dick Tolley was one of our ' locals ' who proved to be very successful in this sport.
Another enjoyable event was the " Red Marley " motor cycle Hill Climb at Great Witely Worcester. Great fun to watch the competitors trying to tackle the steep hill whilst combining trying to get up the hill and stay on their bikes at the same time.
For either event all you had to do was pick your spot near the ropes, put the old ground sheet down, layout the the sandwiches and flask, put your ear plugs in and enjoy.
Click to expand...
 
" NO NEED TO SEE THE DOCTOR ".
Going back a piece, Moms and Dads attempted to sort out their children's minor illnesses and injuries with some of the old fashioned remedies.
MALT EXTRACT : Prevention, to banish winter sniffles.
CALAMINE LOTION : For insect bites and stings, rashes and sunburn.
IODINE : Throat tonic gargle to fend against Colds and Flu and for wound cleansing.
BOILS : Warming a drinking glass or bottle and placing the opening over the boil to draw it out or piercing the boil with a sterilised sewing needle.
BANDAGES : Often made up from torn strips off an old bed sheet.
EAU DE COLOGNE : Dabbed on to the forehead to cool when running a high temperature .
TOOTHACHE : Salt and pepper wet solution applied to the tooth or chew on an onion.
EARACHE : Warm Olive oil put into the ear and a bit of Cotton Wool used as a stopper.
COD LIVER OIL : To stave off Rickets.
From the children's point of view I suspect that in many cases it was the parents " attention " and " empathy " that did the trick, more than the " remedy ".
Whatever, it seemed to work somehow.
 
I feel I must send this posting. I am not sure whether this is the correct thread, but it is a reflection based on my own "Growing Up In Brum" days.

As school children, we were never Angels - far from it, but to cheek a teacher, to play up in the classroom, to break a window, etcetera, was a fear of caning, or other suitable punishment to 'fit the crime'. Additionally, we never had the luxury of schools today, with their wonderful equipment, their great learning facilities.

Therefore: WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR CHILDEN? I have just heard the distressing news, for everyone, of a teacher, stabbed in the stomach, during school time. This is not the first case. I fear for teachers, parents, and children, and the decline in our moral and social standards.

"Growing Up In Brum" has certainly changed. Not necessarily for the better.


Eddie.
 
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