Just read through the postings on this thread, and some lovely stories, and photographs. During the war years, I was boarded out at Blackwell, and would often take the opportunity to walk through the Lickey Woods, and in spite of being in the middle of an horrific war, it was always so peaceful, and some days I could walk without seeing hardly a soul, except a couple of friends, and an adult that accompanied us.
At that time I was around eleven years of age, and on one of our trips it was not so peaceful.
A friend, and myself, were running through the fern, and the bracken, when the ground gave way underneath us, my friend falling in first, right into a wasps nest. The lady that was with us, we called her Finky, was Austrian, and a nurse. Dear Finky did no more than also jump into the nest, in an attempt to to save us from further pain. We all received masses of wasp stings, our arms and legs became swollen, and wasps were being pulled out of our trousers, and shirts. Absolutely true.
We were rushed back to the school, into the school surgery, and treated by the doctor, who had been alerted. We all survived, but I have never forgotten the episode.
On a separate issue, in my teenage years, I often returned to the Lickey Hills for a tram ride, and a day out.
A few years back I returned to Birmingham, and drove along the Bristol Road, noting that the tram central reservation areas are still there, but out of use, the road looking more like a normal dual carriageway. With all the current plans to reduce gas emissions, surely they could be brought back into use with a new tram type route?
Eddie