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Growing Up In Brum - Roy Blakey Inspired.

farmerdave said:
Hi Roy. I always enjoy reading your posts. In some of your recent posts I have been unable to open the image. I wonder if it is just me? I am seeing a small white cross in a black square inside a larger white square. If I click on it or on the lettering in blue saying "click image for larger version" then the screen becomes dark and nothing opens. Perhaps one of the technical experts could help. Thanks. Dave.
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I can see the pictures but I can't enlarge them now - I used to have no problem.
I am using my pc at work, haven't tried on my Samsung mobile.
 
I can't enlarge the recent ones but when I went back to an earlier post then I still could. I am not sure why but think the older ones are jpeg files and the latest are png files. I don't know why this would make a difference but it seems to.

Janice
 
I think Janice has got it - I uploaded a picture recently and wondered why it would not enlarge. Once I re-loaded it as a Jpeg it worked.
 
Roy Blakey said:
As you say Dave, if one of the technical experts is looking this way maybe they might be able to help.
Best Wishes
Roy.
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Hello Roy - The images you have posted are in 'png' format rather than the usual 'jpg' format. If you are producing the pics with an iPad you probably need to adjust the settings to produce jpg. I can't see them on my laptop using the normal enlarge method but a 'right click' on the images downloads them and then I can see them.
oldmohawk ...
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Sorry - while I was fiddling with my iPad the problem had already been solved ...
uc
 
Hello Roy - Just done a few checks with my iPad. If you are taking screenshots of the iPad screen they are always in PNG format. There are free iPad Apps available for converting png to jpg.
 
Thanks everyone. If I right-click on "click image for larger version" and then left-click "open link" it seems to work and give me a large image. Dave
 
Roy Blakey said:
THE HOME MADE STREET TROLLEY.
I don't think that there was anything more enjoyable than the times that the kids spent with their home-made Trolleys.
Every angle was explored and tried out with these proudly owned " Plank and four wheeled " concoctions.
One-upmanship was always in the mix regarding each kids individual trolley.
Performance and Presentation was always to the fore.
Fastest in any downhill race was the most important aim.
Whose trolley had the best looking pram wheels always caught the attention.
Whose trolley could seat more than one gained some interest.
Trolleys with a bit of decoration and paint looked good as well.
Many of the trolleys didn't have built in brakes so the main means for the driver of stopping, or slowing down was to place and drag their feet on the ground. If they didn't get this right " Scuffed shoes or boots" would surely get them into trouble with Dads and Moms.
A spin-off for the Moms was that the kids were quire happy to use their trolleys to assist them transporting groceries or heavy items back from the shops.
We kids living in Kingstanding were lucky because the area was blessed with some lovely hills for us to race down.
Just had to try and remember to look after the boots though.
Photo :
View attachment 101721
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Into the 1950s in the 'growing up' process and one of our family members made an upmarket 'Rolls Royce' version - probably with some help from his dad. They lived in Kingstanding.
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oldMohawk. With reference to my iPad photo postings problems. Thank you for your kind advice, it would seem that it has already helped ' farmerdave '.
Ive got a feeling though that the problem stems from something that's not lining up from MY end.
It seemed it all began when I carried out an " APPLE " update recently. After the process I noticed that there was an introduction of an iCloud Photo Library.
Now, when posting photos on the forum I get a small selection box appearing on the screen which requests that I choose one of three headings :
(1) Take Photo or Video.
(2) Photo Library.
(3). iCloud Drive.
Note : If I recall right, the " iCloud Drive " choice did not appear before the ' update ' took place.
I have been using the ' Photo Library ' for forum photo postings ( as I have always done in the past ).
I know very little about the workings but I do have a suspision that the problem is in this area.
Incidentually, testing out the recent photo postings that I have put on the forum, I too cannot get a responce from touching the ' image '. A blank screen follows.
Any further observations or advice would be appreciated oldMohawk.
Bye the bye, what a cracker that street trolley was.
Best Wishes.
Roy.
 
Hello Roy - I recently upgraded to iOS 9 and have just noticed my iPad now has some security features which have changed the way images upload. I am investigating to see what Apple have done.

One strange thing, in your post #827 (and other posts) I can see that you have uploaded an image of an iPad screenshot and it is jpg format, but maybe that was before your recent iOS update.

Roy Blakey said:
Incidentually, testing out the recent photo postings that I have put on the forum, I too cannot get a responce from touching the ' image '. A blank screen follows.

Roy.
Click to expand...
I use to be able to view your PNG images on my iPad by simply touching the image on screen but now I have to hold my finger on the image until I can choose to open it in a separate tab.

oldmohawk
 
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THE STREET.
Going back apiece it was amazing how the street gutters seemed to attract many of the kids.
Parents, in general, would continuously warn their children to " keep away from the gutters "
But the street gutter had it's purpose from the kids point of view.
It was a place to sit and to have a little rest between playing street games.
It was an ideal spot to play Marbles along.
It was a perfect set up for carrying out "throw and catch " ball game rebounds.
After a short but heavy rainstorm it was ideal for building little ' gutter dams ' and having a little ' paddle '.
From gutter to gutter, across the road, it was an ideal ' measure ' to use in a " longest hop,
skip and jump " competition.
The street gutter always seemed to be a good place to hunt for " shrapnel " during the war.
Doing a bit of pretend " tight rope walking " along the gutter edge was a bit of fun too.
Photos : Having fun.
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INGENUITY and IMAGINATION.
How the children could create something out of nothing.
There seemed to be not the slightest problem for the children of years gone by in thinking out and performing activities, experiments and adventures to enjoy out in the fresh air.
Every little group seemed to be able to concoct ' let's play ' episodes at the drop of a hat.
Oid broom handles, bits of string or rope, old wheel rims, an old bath tub, old tin cans and bits of wood provided some of the material bits for their next ' let's play ' game.
Applying their imagination they were up and running.

Photo : It's either " Captain Cook " making his first landing in Australia or " Nelson " and his fleet setting out to do battle at " Trafalgar ".
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Photo : Who needs a fair ground, this will do us fine.
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" Charge lads "
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Photo: How about this group of young people.
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Difficult to to put a title on this one.
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FLASH BACK.
Here was a little ' snippet ' of the post war period. For some considerable time after the end of WW2 ' Air raid Sirens ' would be periodically activated ( tested) around the City. If I recall correctly there was no prior warning given that these pretty unwelcome sounds were going to be heard again. As most people know I think, there were two different types of sound created by the wartime sirens. The first sound ( to warn of an imminent air raid ) was a rising and falling sound from the sirens. The second sound ( to indicate that an air raid was hopefully over ) was a continuous wailing sound, THE ALL CLEAR.
The post war test siren sounds were all of the ' All Clear ' type.
I would bet though that everyone within ear shot ( and who had experienced the cities air raids ) would have had a little heart flutter just for a few seconds whilst the siren tests were being carried out.
Glad we had them to warn us all during the war but not happy memories hearing them again.
On the other side of the coin there were pleasant war time ' flash backs ' when for instance an old ' Churchill ' wartime ' up and at em ' speech would be heard. Similarily the sounds of a ' Glen Miller ' big band rendition would put a memory smile on the face of anyone that had experienced some of the sounds of WW2 around the City.
 
For those who did not live in a large city the 'all clear' siren was used to alert retained firemen (usually known as volunteers) to make haste and get to the fire station to answer a call. Even in large towns the additional fire appliances were often manned by retained firefighters. I was once in one of the five towns (of the City of Stoke-on-Trent) when I heard a siren. This was around 1967. Relatives who lived there were quite amazed to find out what the siren was used for. I believe some of the outlying districts of Birmingham also had retained firemen.

Eventually, with the advent of pagers, the siren went quiet and due to costs of maintenance were usually removed.
 
OVER THE GARDEN FENCE.
There were quite a few occassions whereby Mums would look forward to a break and a little chat with some of the other lady neighbours. One of the most opportune spots for this was either the front door step or over the garden fence.
The terms for some of these chats went under various headings such as " gossiping " , " tittle tattle " , " canting ", or
" having a gas ".
Whatever they were called I think it was good to see these ladies having a well earned little break here and there.
I recall as kids, playing out on the street, that sometimes we would hear bits of these Mom to Mom conversations going on. There were some really amusing and quirkie figures of speech that we would hear and I recall a couple of them that has always stuck in my mind.
Visualize this one.
Here you had one of the Moms explaining how she had met this other person the day before and what had been said :
" I met her, you know the one I mean and she TURNED ROUND to me and said ------( descriptive comments ) -----. I wasn't having that so I TURNED ROUND and said ------- ( descriptive comment )-------. You know what, she TURNED ROUND to me and said --------( descriptive comment )-------. I TURNED ROUND and I told her -------( descriptive comment )--------. She only had the cheek to TURN ROUND to me saying ------ ( descriptive comment ) ----. So I TURNED
ROUND to her and said ----- ( descriptive comment) -----, that put her in her place.
Taik about a TURN AROUND, TURN AROUND.
There was another one which defied the imagination.
That was the sometimes quote " So I had to bite my tonque ",
OUCH !
Of the period, there were many on stage comedians that would have a hey-day, as part of their act, mimicking the funnier sides of these ' over the garden fence ' natters.
Photo : " How's your Harry going on these days."
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A Mothball and Lavender day.
There would be the Sunday's when Dad and Mom decided that we would all go meet one of our Uncles and Aunties.
That could mean a visit from Kingstanding to either Aston, Erdington, Perry Barr or Nechells.
So out of the wardrobe would come the best set of clothes. Dad would bring out his best jacket, waistcoat and his new cap. Mom would sort out her best frock and coat. We kids would have to put on clean trousers, clean shirts and clean jerseys.
For us kids, I recall some of the thoughts that we had prior to starting off.
On the' down-side ' we were thinking that to-day we were not going to be able to play-out in the street with our regular friends ( Dennis was going to give us a go on his roller skates to-day ). Then there was the chance that we might have to sit and be quiet throughout the ' visit ' and why was it that Aunties always wanted to keep kissing and hugging us all the time. Then there's this smell business, our house already seemed to be full of the horrible smell of Mothballs ( it was coming off Dad and Moms clothes that had come out of the wardrobe that was for sure ). We wondered then if Uncle and Auntie were going to put on their best clothes too then their house would probably be going to smell the same.
But on the up-side there were some other things which might happen which we would like.
Fot starters we were going to have a ride on the Buses ( we always enjoyed that). Then we would be meeting up with our Cousins and maybe we might be able to play with some of their toys and games ( even better if we are able to play out on their street, that would get us away from smelling Mothballs as well ). We might be able to stay up late as well ( we will probably not come back till it is well past dark, that would be good ).
Oh heck, we will find a way to enjoy it one way or another.
Wish somebody could invent something better than Mothballs though.
 
The best part was that Auntie always had jelly and chocolate rolls!! We had to sit quiet and stroke all the cats, but as she lived by the "Lickeys" it was a good day out.
rosie.
 
We were always told to mind our P's and Q's speak when your spoken to and always say please and thank you and oh! the smell of moth balls did it ever go away..l know at church it was always the scent of the day on a Sunday...but who knows l most likely smelled just a bad.....Brenda
 
SEVEN FOR THE PRICE OF FOUR.
Period : Around 1938 to 1940.
Frequently during off school periods we would make our way to Sutton Park to explore and seek some new adventures.
This would usually mean that between five to seven of us would meet up on the Kings Road, Kingstanding and having decided that Sutton Park was our destination for the day we would make our way up Colindale Road and then on down Banners Gate Road to the Banners Gate entrance to Sutton Park, on the Chester Road.
The entrance fee, if I remember right, into the park was around a penny for each person.
Most times that our group arrived at the park we had managed to muster up enough pennies between us to pay the entrance fee but I recall there were a few occassions when we had to ' default ' a little. It would have been something like, on these occasions, when our group numbered about seven and moneywise the best we could drum up between us was four pence, that we had to perform our little ' default ' procedure.
So a quick split in in group. Four with their pennies up to the Park gate and proceed to pay their entrance fee to the Park Gate Keeper. The other three of the group would have to scoot up the Chester Road apiece and scramble under a gap in the park fencing and into the park and trust that the Gate Keeper was being kept occupied sufficiently dealing with the legal payers at the gate.
We would all meet up again in Westwood Coppice ( keeping it quiet for a while until we were out of hearing distance of the
Park Gate Keeper) we were then able to start our explorations and adventures around all parts of that fantastic park.
Looking back, there is very little doubt in my mind that some of those Park Keepers new exactly what was going on with all of these sorts of mischievous kids bits but as long as it didn't involve any damage around the park or inconvenience to others, they would ' turn a blind eye '.
Bless em.

Photo : " Banners Gate " , the Gate Keeper and the entrance to endless adventure.

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Nice memory, Roy. I think that residents of the Royal Borough were allowed in free at that time. We lived the wrong side of the boundary, in Streetly, but there was an unmanned pedestrian entrance opposite the golf club in Thornhill Road and that proved to be very useful! Otherwise it was a question of walking through the manned entrance in Streetly village with an air of confidence and a ready answer in mind if challenged. Mr. Beech was the keeper there and the family lived in the adjacent cottage.

Do I remember another unmanned entrance opposite the Parson & Clerk?

Good on the Banners Gate keeper for turning a bit if a blind eye.

Chris
 
Yes, Sutton Coldfield residents could get into the park for free but I think you had to show a card.
An aunt and uncle of mine lived in New Oscott, just over the Birmingham boundary and we sometimes borrowed their card so we didn't have to pay!
 
Chris, you mentioning the possibility of an ' unmanned ' entrance to Sutton Park opposite the Parson & Clerk pub definatey rings a bell.
I seem to recall that for a period of time we kids started to use that gate to enter and exit the park and I'm wondering as to why we would have switched our ' entrance to the park ' choice. I'm pondering now wether it may have been something to do with the fact that, at the time ( 1942 ), there was that prisoner of war camp situated adjacent to Westwood Coppice and maybe there might have been some sort of ' civilian restriction ' being imposed on the Banners Gate entrance.
It meant travelling further to get into the park for us, so there must have been a reason.
Ive just had a look at Post #103, page 7, on this thread and I believe that the Parson & Clerk ' gate ' would have been our entrance and exit on that occassion.
Bye the bye, it was a bit of a floating joke around Kingstanding at one time, that so long as you were dressed up ' posh ' enough and you were able to just say " RESIDENT " eloquently enough to the park gate keeper, you could get in for nowt.
 
LINING UP FOR THE SCHOOLS XMAS FESTIVITIES.
I would hazard a quess that about this time of the year infant and junior teachers at schools all around Brum will be making plans for their class and school Xmas break-up festivities. They are probably in the process of deciding what sort of
' play ' that they will ' put on ' for that all important final day were all of the schools individual classes will perform in the school hall in front of all of the schools pupils.
For the children this will be the beginnig of a wonderful run up to Xmas. As always there will be so many things to look forward to for the kids.
There's the acting and singing that they may be selected to perform, representing their own class, up on that school stage.
There's the looking forward to creating their own Xmas decorations that will eventually be hung all around their own classroom.
There's the afternoon, prior to the school break-up day, where-by they will not have to do any sums or spelling lessons because on this afternoon they will be having a cake and biscuit ' classroom buffet ' which hopefully will be provided by all the individual Moms.
There's going to be lots of singing carols as well.
Another good one will be ( it happens like magic every year ) how those teachers who have been stern and strict all through the year, suddenly becoming smiling and friendly and nice and joining in with everything.
I reckon that the bulld-up and the excitement for the school children will be much the same to-day as it has always been .
So, a loverly time coming up for the kids to enjoy.
 
l also remember making Christmas cards and Christmas calenders....it was usually apiece of art paper we drew on and coloured for the card and the calendar was also on art paper either a drawing or a cutout picture glued on along with a little calendar book we got from woolsworth....l wonder if one can still get those calendar books..l haven't seen one in eons.....Brenda
 
When things were hard to get during and just after the war years, we used to make paper chains I can't remember if we did this at school, but we certainly did at home spending many evenings cutting up crepe paper and anything else suitable to make them.
 
brenda barr said:
l also remember making Christmas cards and Christmas calenders....it was usually apiece of art paper we drew on and coloured for the card and the calendar was also on art paper either a drawing or a cutout picture glued on along with a little calendar book we got from woolsworth....l wonder if one can still get those calendar books..l haven't seen one in eons.....Brenda
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I remember making calendars, and also Easter cards (you'd draw crocuses!)

We used to have a class party, and I think each one of us would bring in one item, like a jelly.

maria
 
image.pngTHE OLD " PEA SOUPER ".
Before the Air pollution clean up act had come about and when household coal fires, factory chimney emissions and backyard bonfires were allowed there came the occassions of winter ' smogs'. Sometimes referred to as a " Pea souper "
The city and its suburbs became cloaked in this dence, smelly, " Can't see your hand in front of your face " phenomenon.
There were humorous aspects to these occassions as well as the obvious difficulties that they caused.
There were the stories of some workers returning home, who would have sworn before hand, that they were completey knowledgable of the route home and their local streets ( having done the journey many times before ) but now found it difficult to find their own street and house.
There were stories of buses being slowly ' guided ' by a person walking just a few feet ahead of the bus in order to get the bus load of passengers to their destinations.
There were those who had managed to cycle to work in the morning but then found themselves having to push their bikes back home because they just couldn't identify the roadside gutters and curbs.
Even the household pet dogs and cats ( who would normally love going out for a wander ) decided to call it quits and went back to the front of the living room fire.
There was the possibility also that if anyone had been exposed for long enough in an area that was particularly ' smokey ' that their faces would take on that coal miners ' end of shift ' grime and grubby look.
The school children loved it because as it became aparent that a ' smog ' was about to settle in, they would be sent home from their schools early. The extras for the kids as well was that their local area and streets seemed to take on an eerie and mysterious atmosphere and a game or two of ' hide and seek ' fitted in nicely, seemed to have some extra effect.
As usual though, the Brummies were up for it, factories, offices, transport systems, hospitals, housewives, and services in general battled on through it without too much problem.

Photo : Get this lot sorted out.
 
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