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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

Smudger said:
I`ve seen a few old wrinklies naked & they would certainly have caused the gods to tremble. All that skin flapping about would probably cause a hurricane. Seriously though, when we go to other folks country we should show respect for their laws & customs. After all, that`s what we expect from visitors to our green & pleasant land.
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Hi Smudger,

I agree with you but sometimes newcomers to a country are simply not aware of the local customs etc. However, in this case, if anyone strips off on top of Snowdon or Ben Nevis or even the Lickey Hills they would be done for offending common decency or some such thing. I have no sympathy at all for those who offended the good people of Malaysia and feel that they got off very lightly.

Apologies for this delay in replying to your post.

Chris Beresford
 
THAT NATURAL TECHNIQUE.
Been thinking about some of the people that make up, or have made up ,part of many Brummies everyday experiences and in particular those who come to us by way of our Television or Radio.
Local News and local Talk Show announcers come to mind in respect to this.
People like " Nick Owen ", " Bob Warman " , " Ed Doolan ", " Kay Alexander " , " Mary Rhodes " and " Sue Beardsmore ".
Good old " Ed ", with his own " I adopted Brum "and his little " Dove " awards. Ever helpful to his listeners.
Bob. Always the " Gentleman ".
Kay, Mary and Sue. True ladies with that very pleasant technique.
Our " Nick ". Smooth and friendly as they come. ( Always suspect whenever I view him giving us the " news " that he's got
his old Cricket Bat and Shin Pads hiding behind that table that he announces from and hopeing that someone will bowl him a few balls after the show ).
All seem to have that " Special Technique ". Always a welcome to see and hear.
 
Not forgetting Les Ross!!
I don't listen to the radio much now except for the Archers. The theme tune (Barwick Green?) always reminds me of Sunday mornings and a dip in Dad's soft-boiled egg. Billy Connolly says it should be our National Anthem!!
rosie.
 
rosie, that Billy Conolly comedy slot in his show ( Archers theme tune should be the " beat " for our National anthem ).
Top funny. Would be interesting to see the result if one of these ' National Referemdums ' were to be held on the subject.
 
image.jpgTHE BACKYARD HAIRCUT. ( 1930's - 1940's or thereabouts ).
The young lads definitely wouldn't welcome this monthly necessity .
HAIR CUT SUNDAY.
To keep things as cheap as possible Moms and Dads would go about trying to cut their young sons hair themselves.
Cart a chair out to the backyard, get the kitchen scissors out, find the comb, sit the nipper down on the chair. START CHOPPING.
Depending on the skill or choice of the parent the kids ended up generally with one of three hair styles.
THE PUDDING BOWL CUT, THE FRONT TUFT STYLE or THE ALL OVER CLOSE CROP STYLE .
Jeez, I remember those terrible looking end results.
Afterwards we would wander out onto the street to meet our mates and had to put up with their ' Jibes '.
When their turn eventually came to get their own ' hair chop ' we were delighted to return the compliment. ( A bit of Tit for Tat ).
Pretty glad when we eventually got to earn a bit of pocket money and got to afford the Proffessional hairdressers attention.
Photo : The dreaded Pudding Bowl cut.
 
I remember the dreaded mommy-cut to this day, though to be fair, she didn't make too bad a job of it. But to this day I hate having my hair cut. Most of all I hate hairdressers that try to hold a conversation with me whilst they are doing it. For a start I have to take my hearing aids out, so I miss most of what they say and secondly, if they didn't bother to try & make small talk, the dreaded job would take half the time. My current Greek barber can do the job in three minutes from start to finish for ten euros. He speaks good English, but knows I am not a conversationalist, at least whilst he is doing the job.

I still remember the oldfashioned English barber with their "Something for the weekend sir" and the smell of bay rum. But there was one exception, my favourite was Anne Diamond's sister, Sue, in Bournemouth, whose husband was a tenor sax player. Lovely lady and with Sue it was a pleasure to chat - beautiful girl and very down to earth.

Maurice
 
As a nipper i was the youngest in the family ( I had a younger sister but she died of menengitis ) & as such i was spoiled. Mother refused to let me have my hair cut, and it grew long & very curly & apparently i was teased a lot. In the end my (much) older sister took pity on me & took me to the barbers for a major haircut. Mother was absolutely furious but soon got used to the idea. I think she was stll grieving for the little girl she lost. When i was a teenager (teddy boy era ) we all tried to emulate our `idols`& i went for the Tony Curtis look. Still do today, only the grey haired version.
 
I remember sitting in the barbers chair, in Poplar Road, Sparkbrook, but with a wooden piece put across the chair arms so that I was high enough for the barber to cut my hair. As a child, always taken by my mother, since my father fighting 'Herrs', not cutting them.

On a different subject, but still Growing up In Brum. Can any technical expert out there tell me if the material we knew as 'silver paper' is the same material that that now term as 'wrapping foil'?

Eddie
 
norfolk brummie said:
I remember sitting in the barbers chair, in Poplar Road, Sparkbrook, but with a wooden piece put across the chair arms so that I was high enough for the barber to cut my hair.
Eddie
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Similarly I was taken by my grand-dad, as dad was in N Africa, to Fishers on the Warwick Road at Tyseley. After cutting the hair he singed the cut hairs on the neck with a lighted taper "to seal them" At five years old I was not happy to be set on fire.
 
Wow..... After 78 years, I have just found my 1937 Coronation spoon, and fork. Looking dirty, and unwanted. I shall have to polish them. Cannot find the knife. These were children's size cutlery, and were presented, to children, in a box, which, has also disappeared. My sister also had a set, but they disappeared a long time ago.. Does anyone remember these, or better still, does anyone still have a set that was presented to them?

Coronation fork & spoon 001.jpg
Eddie
 
oh gosh eddie how wonderful you must be chuffed to bits and 2 out of 3 is not bad....thanks everso for sharing them with us all

lyn
 
LOVELY PEOPLE.
( 1948 ish ).
As a group of young men we spotted that a relatively new bus service had been introduced taking passengers between the Kingstanding Circle and Brownhills.
Having already explored many of other area's in and around Brum we decided one evening to have a ride out to Brownhills, an area we hadn't had a look at as yet.
Having caught the bus ( just in front of the Snooker hall at the Circle ) we eventually arrived in Brownhills. We had a quick wander up and down the High Street to get our first impression. We then spotted the ' Station Hotel ' pub and decided to pop in for a ' pint '.
Brownhills at the time was predominantly still a coal mining community. The Station Hotel pub was fairly packed as we entered with what I guess now were quite a few of the local miners, some with their wives , some with their girlfriends.
The first thing that struck our little group was how friendly the locals were. In the pub we easily got into conversation with all those around us. Completely friendly and pleasant. Great company.
The second thing that surprised us somewhat was the way the young ladies there were quite happy to go up to the bar and confidently buy ' pints ' for themselves and then drink them down like experienced old troopers.
The third thing that happened was that this was the first time that we had come ' full on ' with the Black Country accent.
It was a bit surprising I quess because we had only travelled just over 8 miles from Kingstanding to get there.
We had a great couple of hours with these lovely people.
I think that we had to leave sometime before ' closing time ' because the last return bus was around 10-00 pm.
Needless to say we made that trip quite a few times at later dates.
Always had a ' Soft Spot ' for our Black Country neighbours following that period.
Photo : The Brownhills ' Station Hotel '.image.jpg


Photo : ' The Miner ' statue ( just up the High Street from where the Station Hotel used to be).image.jpg
 
COME AND GONE.
Some characters and scenarios that have drifted into the past. ( Period : War and early Post War years ).
The ' SPIV ' or the ' WIDE BOY ', the ' THE BOOKIES RUNNER ', the ' RAG- and - Bone man ', the workers ' SICK FUND ' and that ' CO - OP DIVVY NUMBER '.
THE SPIV and the WIDE BOY.
With his cocked trilby hat, his trimmed moustache, his blaring coloured tie, his oversized coat and his ' goodies' suitcase laid out at his feet. He stood amid wherever there was a good crowd assembled displaying his " hard to get anywhere else " goods. Nylon stockings, Watches and cheap Jewelery his speciality. Always positioned himself in a spot where it was quickly convenient to up stakes and disappear if he spotted a ' Copper ' coming his way.
THE BOOKIES RUNNER.
These characters would operate in the factories, offices and pubs collecting bets and monies from their clients ( often being mates or friends ) and then deliver to the registered bookies. Any winnings made the return journey. Another illegal carry on, but enjoyed by the many.
THE RAG - and - BONE MAN.
With his cart he would collect Wool and Rags from households. Tempting the kids to go and bother Moms with his offerings of Balloons or Goldfish in return for old clothes.
THE WORKERS OWN ' SICK FUND '.
The weekly collection from factory and office workers to partly cover for the possibility of loss of earnings if and when they became ill and unable to attend work.
THE CO-OP " DIVVY NUMBER ".
All the members of the family were required to have this number stamped on their brain. All purchases made at the Co-op counter would be totalled and recorded against each family ' Divvy Number ' . These numbers had to be relayed to the counter assistant at the pay desk every time the final customer payment was made. Yearly ' dividend ' payments were made to the customer ' Divvy number ' based on the Co- ops yearly profits. Heaven help you if you did an errand shop for Mom ( at the Co- op ) and you forgot the family ' Divvy Number '.
Yep, fond memories.
Photo : A SPIV.image.jpg


Photo: RAG - and - BONE MAN.
image.jpg
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A PLACE TO COOL DOWN.
This latest bit of a heat wave that we've just had brought to mind how as kids we found our own little way to adjust to it.
For starters, most hot days we would go about things much the same as usual, street games and generally running about but eventually we would find that we became less and less enthusiastic about the running about bit. Our usual sit and rest dry area's, such as sitting on the street corner pavement or on the the road curbs,would get too hot for comfort on a hot day.
Our general solution always seemed to be, find a suitable house front to back ' entry ' tunnel and then all gather and sit on the cool floor there and talk our stories back and forth whilst we cooled down a bit.
It was that tunnel effect phenomenon that seemed to do the trick. Most of the house ' entries ' would somehow have a nice little ' draft ' running through them even on the hottest and muggiest of days.
Sitting there in our ' Air Conditioned ' tunnel fitted the bill nicely.
If someone could come up with a bottle of water we would sip and pass the bottle up and down the line. Lovely.
I recall our biggest problem was keeping the noise down, otherwise we would all get ourselves thrown out.
But yes, it all worked out okay and we ready for our next spell out on the street.
 
We still had a plastic baby bath when I had outgrown it, and it made a tiny paddling pool in the back yard. Well, more of a sitting in pool!
 
[QUOTE=Roy Blakey
THE BOOKIES RUNNER.
These characters would operate in the factories, offices and pubs collecting bets and monies from their clients ( often being mates or friends ) and then deliver to the registered bookies. Any winnings made the return journey. Another illegal carry on, but enjoyed by the many.

Hi All,

The runners you describe took the bets they collected to a street bookmaker, also illegal. The only legal betting was on the pools, on the Tote or on the actual race course.; The street bookmaker usually had a runner standing at the bottom of his entry who quickly disappeared if he saw a policeman turn into the street.

Old Boy
 
Another bit of old fashioned Backyard fun.
The chances were that if the kids gathered in one of the Backyards and there happened to be a Broom and a long handled Mop knocking about then there was bound to be a ' Balancing ' competition about to take place.
Developing skills ( Showing off ) would go from middle of the hand balancing to one finger balancing and finally to trying to balance the broom or mop on the chin or on top of one foot.
I recall that there was one or two of the girls that could ' out do ' some of the boys on this one.
Photo : First stage.image.jpg
 
GOT THE PENNIES BUT HADN'T GOT THE COUPONS.
Period : 1940 - 1953.
I recall as young children we would find ourselves now and again with this predicament.
Moms had already used up the sweet coupon allowance for the week.
One of the ' substitutes ' that the Moms tried to treat our taste buds to was from variations on eating Carrots as ' sweets'.
This was never in with a chance for most of the kids and I recall how we eventually found one or two ' substitutes ' of our own.
The local ' Chemist ' shop became our saviour.
" Off ration " Liquorice Root we discovered tasted really good. For just a few pennies we could get a little packet of these
and we could chew on these for hours.
If I remember right there was also some Throat Lozengers and Mentholyptus blocks that we could acquire ' Off ration " from the Chemist.
One thing was for sure, our chemist substitutes were far more satisfying to our taste buds than the Carrot solution.
Photo : Carrots on a stick. image.jpg

Photo : Liquorice Root sticks.image.jpg
 
A PONDER.
Why is it that modern children seem to be less into communal fresh air activities than the children of past generations?
I wonder if it might hinge on simple ' availability ' to kids of the past. When I think about it children of the past had every opportunity, every day , to get out in the fresh air, join their pals on the streets, play their games and activities and socialise without moving out of the street or district they lived on.
Switching to to-day :
(1) It might be that a child to-day doesn't even know very much about the other kids living next door or the ones that live a few doors down the street.
(2) It certainly has got a good chance that to-days child hasn't got the relatively safe and empty roads and streets to play on, right outside the front door.
(3) When it comes to 'after school time 'games and activities, to-days child will probably have to book a games session or join a club, probably situated some distance from home.
(4) Now you come to the problem of Moms and Dads having to find the time to ' take and bring back ' the child from any such event.
Just on these points alone I think I can see some of the things that have brought about obvious changes in modern children's lives .
I take into account the availability to modern children of the Television, the ' Social networks ' ,the electronic games and the Mobile phone but the ' modern pattern ' doesn't seem quite right somehow.
How would I set about re-balancing it a bit?
Got to honest, I would be stuck where to start.
 
I think you're spot on there.
I live on a small estate where there is a green space and a games court in the centre and there are lots of children who play out there in the evenings and weekends - it's a safe space and the parents know where they are.
 
I saw the 1947 film "Hue and Cry" the other day (we found the DVD in a charity shop), and it reminded me of this - groups of kids playing on bomb sites and on the loose in the evenings (in London) without any adult supervision.

The children did get into some dangerous situations, but got out of them! I must say that one or two of them looked about 30, and possibly were. Harry Fowler was about 21 playing a 15 or 16-year-old.

maria (sorry, have gone a bit off-topic)
 
Roy, Your post at 772 shows why the medical profession and the like are now getting worried about child obesity. In addition many of the school playing fields have been sold off for housing. For instance I was very familiar with the playing fields at Henry Road and Belcher Lane. Are they still there?

Old Boy
 
Saw a photo today which reminded me of when I was growing up in Brum and our moms often said
'Don't play with drains because you'll get the Fever'.
It stopped me playing with drains ....
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roaddrain.jpg
 
Of course your mother was quite correct. but, I guess you did not wan't to hear what she said at the time.

A delightful pic by the way.
 
That's a great photo inclusion oldMohawk. That ' Grown ups ' worry and warning about kids playing in the street near to the ' drains ' definatey rings a bell.
 
CONGRATULATIONS to the young pupils at Barr Beacon School, Aldridge, Walsall.
It was reported in yesterdays Evening Mail that SIX of this schools pupils, aged between 11 and 12 years old, had achieved ' IQ ' test results higher than both ALBERT EINSTEIN and STEPHEN HAWKING.
Ten more youngsters from the school also achieved the ' IQ ' score levels necessary to join ' MENSA '.
A further 17 pupils achieved the ' eligible ' entry score for joining Mensa.
The Evening Mail report states that the Mensa chief executive John Stevenage said :
" It looks like the school have an exceptional group of pupils at this current time. We hope they take full advantage of their
ability and enjoy the company of fellow members around the country ".
WELL DONE, YOU YOUNGSTERS.
 
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