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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

THE MISSING PART OF THE LESSON.
Looking back on our school education period,as kids,I think that we were all pretty much of the same mind when it came to trying to figure out what some of the school lessons were all about and to what use they were really, I think we were all appreciative of eventually being able to reasonably read, write, spell, add up, subtract, multiply and divide.. What was very much missing for us though was that the teachers failed pretty miserably in catching our imagination and giving us some Idea as to why we were trying to progress in these subjects.
It all seemed to be learning by " Parrot Fashion " which lacked explanation and significance and was frequently boring and non-stimulating.
For our money the ' links to real life ' came more from the out of school activities whereby we would gradually use, explore and find questions for these lessons.
Our street games would ever increasingly bring into play adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, geometry and measurements.
Our adventures around the parks and the results of running, climbing trees, using our catapults and bows and arrows,and our playing about in the park pools would process our science inquisitiveness about wind , weather, clouds, seasons and marine life.
Then there was the parallel interest in physics that began by virtue of these adventures, in such things as velocity, gravity, friction, momentum and collision, temperatures, magnetism, energy, basics of sound and effects of weights.
As an example, just by climbing some of the trees we would be involved in gravity, friction, wind and weather and the effects of momentum and weights. A fair number of the elements for starters.
Smilarly, the girls doing cartwheels, skipping and handstands would be dealing with gravity, momentum, velocity and energy.
It seems that it was just a pity that our teachers hadn't got the foresight to stimulate our interest by including some of the every day kids typical activities and their effects into these lessons.
To be fair, the period that I'm referring to was during the war and I think that many of the teachers were of the older age group and taught in some of the old ways.
For me, the simple golden rule of a good teacher/ lecturer is that in the first instance they must know their subject thouroughly but equally important , THEY MUST HAVE THE ABILITY TO STIMULATE AND KEEP THEIR PUPILS/ STUDENTS INTERESTED in the subject.
 
I couldn't agree more, Roy. But we're now living in an age of very little discipline and one where some of the interesting bits have been removed from the curriculum. Hence, bored pupils will play up far more than we ever did and there is very little punishment that the teacher can impose that is effective. Net result - unless the teacher is very much on the ball, mayhem. Additionally, in this day and age, many unruly pupils equally unruly parents are likely to support the pupil rather than the parents.

Maurice
 
I was taught French at school in the mid- to late-1950s but found it very dry. Emphasis was always on the Grammar and I did manage to get French "O" Level. However, when I first went to France in 1959 I could hardly put two sentences together and the responses were always too fast for me to understand. Recently, I have been learning German and have found that it's much more exciting these days to learn a language as you can watch video-clips, DVDs, and even films with English or foreign sub-titles. Furthermore, one can play a language CD in the car. I did try out my rudimentary German this year when I visited that country and I was understood. The main trouble was that the replies from the Germans were nearly always in perfect English. Dave.
 
Dave,

Even though we live in a Cretan traditional village of, I guess, about 600 people of which there are less than ten Brits, it's very difficult to learn Greek. For a start the Cretan dialect is far removed from Athens Greek. Secondly, those who know some English will always reply in English, probably because our Greek is so poor. Go to the towns and most people speak English and numerous other languages because the main source of their income is from tourists or foreign residents.

When you are deaf as well, it becomes an almost impossible task. Yet very rarely do people mind and praise you if you attempt to speak a few Greek words.

Maurice
 
Its amazing what sticks with you all the years, I can still remember my multiple tables. 6x12 =72 7x4= 28 8x12+96 and so on. Not much that I can remember though! Got the cane a lot. John Crump
 
Did somebody say " MODERATION AND DECORUM IN ALL THINGS ".
A pat on the back, a wink, and a " Well done kid " used to be a typical accolade bestowed on you or your young friends as an expression of acknowledgment for an achievement during games and sport.
For the lads a handshake might have been thrown in as well and for the girls, a hug, to complete the praise. Typically you would have seen this happen amongst the kids during competition periods.
It seems that this has changed considerably over time, To-days equivalent appears to involve combinations of
" High Fives ", " Knuckle Bumping ", " Champagne Showers " and with ' Football' you can regularly observe " Belly or Knee sliding ", " Dancing with the Corner flag ". PLayers jumping all over one another, the Cartwheeling bit and even the stripping off of the jersey routine.
All celebration stuff, but somehow the old type of celebration procedure seemed more dignified. In comparison it seemed less ' self praising ' somehow.
Nothing wrong in ' Self Praising' in your own privacy but me thinks that ' overly blowing your own trumpet ' publicly seems a bit OTT ( over-the- top ).
Charlie just whipped in a cracking goal for the team, we run over, pat him on the back, shake his hand and tell him " Well done Charlie that was great ". That's plenty enough for Charlie, he's happy, the teams happy as are the teams supporters.
Now get back into our positions for the games re-start.
No flanneling about there, let's get on and enjoy the game.
 
I think one of the greatest times of my life was cycle racing. I will NEVER forget, at age about 16 I had just ridden probably the best race of my life In 1950 I rode a NCU Champ 25 Time trial, I knew I had given it all I had. I came THIRD to Bas Francis and BOB MAITLAND (Who went on to become a top ace) Bob came over to me and said just that. "Well done Crumpy fine ride" and shook my hand! What a great time for a tugoh like me. Maybe some time in the future I will get to meet him again, thank him for making MY day. John Crump Parker. Co USA005.jpg005.jpg
 
Whenever we met or left somone it was hello or ta ra. Men used to shake hands with each other and raise their hats to the ladies. Now its kiss kiss on each cheek! If we were kissed as kids we would immediately wipe it off again with the back of our hands.
 
Carol,

I think in general that things have got a lot more informal over the years. The Americans were calling each other by forenames even when almost strangers way back in the late 1950s, many years before we got around to dropping the "Mr".

Here in Greece it is shake hands, even amongst the Brits, and kissy-kissy to the ladies. Even some Greek men will do the kissy-kissy thing on the cheek to other men if they haven't seen each other for quite a while (and they are not gay!). Greeks are a lot more tactile than the Brits for sure. Never having lived in any other European country for a length of time, I can't say how far the custom has spread.

Maurice
 
carolina said:
Whenever we met or left somone it was hello or ta ra. Men used to shake hands with each other and raise their hats to the ladies. Now its kiss kiss on each cheek! If we were kissed as kids we would immediately wipe it off again with the back of our hands.
Click to expand...

We didn`t use the back of our hands, we used our sleeves. Sleeves were very useful, especially if you had a runny nose!! Also when it was very cold & couldn`t afford gloves, you could pull your sleeves down to cover your hands.
 
CHANGING TIMES.
I think, as kids, that most of us did a bit of this. Remember that little ' experience ' that we tested ourselves out with whereby we would spread our arms out and have a good ' whirl-around ' to the point that we became ' giddy '. Then it was a case of trying to stay on your feet without falling over until the effects wore off. It seemed to be part of young children naturally
experimenting with ' sensations'. The attraction seemed to be in the feeling of ' light headedness' and a bit of ' wonky ' vision just for a short period.
As an adult you could eventually wonder at why on earth you yourself ever did such a thing.
But as an elderly adult it may be now that you get this giddy sensation ' thrown in for nothing ' as in getting out of bed to quickly or extracting yourself too quickly from your favourite armchair. Trouble is, it doesn't have the same ' fun factor ' somehow.
" Heck, have another sit down, should do the trick, can't remember now what I was going to get up for in the first place anyway ".
 
The Spin Around experience. As carolina describes, I think that the girls, in general , participated in this activity to demonstrate their nice dresses flowing around them. The lads on the other hand, doing their spins, went flat out for the
' giddy ' sensation.
Photo (1) : The more gentle ( display the dress ) approach.
image.jpg

Photo (2) : The full monty " knock out " effect.
image.jpg
 
I was too young to have the sticking-out net petticoats which I think my older sister had. I would still like them!

There was a game which involved a line of children, hand in hand, running around being a train. At or near the end of the line you would be moving very fast (it seemed) and it felt a bit dangerous.

maria
 
Maria Magenta, had a look around the Internet and that linked arm spinning game you mention appeared to be called
" Snap the Whip ". You are absolutely right, the person or persons at the end of the line were expected to take a tumble as the line turned ever faster.
Photo : Snap the Whip.
image.jpg
 
TRIBAL TIMES.
The football ' local derby ' that took place last night brings back many memories right through from childhood and on through adulthood. As kids I recall there were ' splits ' in who supported who within our gang or group. Some were simply influenced by which football team that their Dads or Brothers supported. For others the district of the city that they were brought up in decided their choice. But whatever it was the ' affiliation ' seemed to stay for life.
After match ' mickey-taking ' from the winning team supporters to the losing team supporters was (and I guess always will be ) the norm.
The girls on the other hand, back then, seemed not to be interested in the least as to who had come out ' top dog '.
As we grew up nothing changed because around the city, the same old ' Jibes ' were handed out the next day to the losing team supporters but now we would be hearing it in the factories, the offices and the pubs.
There was not much escape for the supporters of the losing side.
I think one of the most used lines of defence centred around such statements that went something like " Wait till next time mate -- you had a lot of luck in that one-- we will slaughter you on our own ground, you'll see "
Somebody had to win yesterday's derby, but as far as I can make out honours were pretty well shared and neither team were over dominant worth mentioning.
So hopefully to-day the guys and gals will see it pretty well honours shared. Heads up all round and looking forward to the next derby clash.
 
TRYING TO TELL THAT JOKE.
Anyone remember, particularly as a young kid, when you had just heard or just been told a decidedly funny joke and you couldn't wait to tell it to your other friends. You were now looking forward to performing it to your mates and getting some good laughs and the accolades that were bound to follow.
Never seemed to work for me though somehow.
The many times that I would get too excited, rush it, get the lines mixed up ( and often miss-out the bits needed for continuity) in the race to get to that final ' punch line ' that would get the rewarding laughs.
How come many of the other kids could tell a good joke without any trouble.
Jeez, best play it safe and stick with the easy " Knock - knock who's there " one liners.
 
Early Autumn, Sunny day, the kids are out at play.
A typical fun venture that some kids would experiment with would possibly take place when they had just finished a run around in the street and were now gathered on the street corner or the alleyway whilst they got their breath back.
Time to think of another game to play.
The late afternoon Sun is fully out and causing shadows to be thrown everywhere .
Too good to waste, the kids could entertain themselves competing in creating the funniest shadow images on the walls, the floors or anything that would display a shadow..
Good fun.
Ernie done the ' duck ' good. He won.
Photo : image.jpg

Photo : With a bit of practise
image.jpg
 
POSH and RICH.
I mind how occassionally we kids would discuss how some local families seemed to be ' posher ' or ' richer ' than we were.
On reflection there were items that we took into account that were quite comical.
I recall some of the things that we used as a measure of posher or richer.
There were a few families that actually went away to the sea-side for their holidays ( got to be rich to do that ).
What about the families that had the houses that had that extra ' parlour ' room and that indoor toilet ( needed a few extra shillings to pay the rent for those we thought ).
Then there were the families that bought a brand new shiny pram for each new baby born to the their family ( non of your borrow or hand me downs in that family ).
They were definitely rich if they owned that motor car parked on the road in front of their house.
To be able to buy their kid(s) a brand new bicycle for Xmas was plainly a proof of being rich.
Then there was the families with one or more of their children attending Grammar school ( School uniform, bus fares and school meal cost, got to have some dosh for that ).
There were some families that could afford for their pet dog to have a proper dog collar and its own kennel ( that was clearly posh ).
For some of the Moms and Dads of this period a general equivalent to this sort of thing seemed to be covered by the expression " Trying to keep up with the Joneses ".
Can't help but have a smile.
 
Some of my friends had ballroom dancing lessons or ballet lessons, that seemed posh!
One had a car and a caravan...that was posh!! (I never went in either though.)
rosie.
 
Not necessarily - my Dad was a chimney sweep so a phone was a necessity. My Dad was in no way posh.
 
One lad in our class had a hankie,the rest of us just had sleeves! Another lad, always smartly dressed & wore a cravat & for that he was teased mercilessly, & one day i realised i hadn`t seen him for some time. I guess his Mom moved him to another (less brutal ) school. It didn`t pay to be different or posh back then. We kids could be brutal without thinking of the consequences ;-{

Husband takes the wife to a disco. There’s a guy on the dance floor giving it large – break dancing, moonwalking, back flips, the works. The wife turns to her husband and says: "See that guy? 25 years ago he proposed to me and I turned him down." Husband says: "Looks like he’s still celebrating!!"
 
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