Nechells lost

[Kandor]

My last posting was really about the sense, that in some way because they destroyed Nechells I felt 'Robbed'
But of course it had its upsides too.
I never really lost many friends while they knocked Nechells down, but that was simply because I lived so far away.
Most of the places my School friends lived in, were bright and Shiny,
Queens Tower, High, Home, Severn Tower, Thames etc they all held hundreds of children, most of whom I went to school with.
But as they pulled my area apart they transformed dry and dusty streets into the playground of my dreams.
Whole streets of deserted houses were ours to roam..
Cellars and empty rooms became our Castles, our Dungeons and our forts.
Old abandoned mattresses were piled up in yards for us to to jump like daredevils onto from the second story window.
We found wheels off old Prams in their hundreds and with pried up wooden planks we built go-karts by the score.
Lots of you will remember Bonfire nights as you scrabbled around for bits of wood or furniture to burn..our Bonfires towered 20 feet high and we collected wood by the barrowload..with the joists we threw on our fires, it was still burning 3 days later.
We played hide and seek in courtyards that now echoed the memory of whole generations that had walked its cobbled stones..
We loaded up with stones and spent hours knocking out windows..
We collected Lead and old Iron that was more or less there for the taking.
At times it was like living in a haunted dream..total quiet accompanied only by the still burning streetlamps.
And then it was our turn..Ashted Row was one of the last to go and for too brief a time we walked the silent rooms of our homes and cellars..
It's strange to think that I have no fear of those dark or silent places..I guess it still stems from the hours we spent hiding, playing our childhood games in darkened rooms and darker cellars..
I'm sad as I write this..I realise sitting here just exactly what I've lost..what WE'VE lost..our childhood, our innocence..our homes.
Worse still, we will never see their like again.

 

[Wendy]

Les, it is always sad when anything from our past is taken away. Yes times change but no one can take away your memories, as you say we must share them and write them down. So that other's can share them to. I have heard people say there is nothing interesting about my life. I disagree everyone has a story and later generations would be so pleased to read a diary, a family bible, a notebook especially if its backed up with photo's etc............. so go on write it down preserve the past!........Wendy

 

[rowan]

Ah Les.............but you have taken us into the picture book of your memories and how delightful thoses pictures are...............innocent play (with a good dose of mischief!), young lads finding their feet into the big wide world, where nowadays parents darenot let their youngsters go and therefore denying them their memories of the freedom that our generation had.
Many thanks Les, for letting us peep into your memory book......it is quite delightful. Please do "open" it again in the near future:great:

 

[BazzM]

Les. How well I too recall some of the things you mention. Having spent many years living in Queens Tower, I especially remember with great delight, the bonfires you mention every November 5th. Those fires truly did stay alive for 2-3 days, and the height of them... Memories are very special things. So thanks for sharing them with us again. Barry.

 

[jennyann]

Kandor, your vivid description of a true boy's "Adventureland" will twig many a memory for so many people even though it was a huge upheaval for all concerned to leave their homes and neighbourhoods. Your imagination would take you on such adventures in the remains of the homes, etc. I envy your description of the bonfires on Bonfire Night they must have been so spectacular. We always had a hard time finding decent wood years ago in our area and had to ward off "Bonfire Material" gangs on the days close to Bonfire Night. Your memories are very special to you and they are all we have in the end.

 

[mike-g]

Ive recently been back to the street where I was born and raised. Having seen what todays inhabitants have done to it I wish I could have seen it pulled down.

 

[neachelite]

kandor,i think we were one of the last to leave nechells,(1975)and me and my 2 brothers had a great time just like you,on the bomb pecks and in and out of the old houses,dragging old flea bitten settees and old furniture peppered with woodworm,into what we thought was the most complete house,and tryin to be grown ups with our own house,then we would get bored and throw the furniture out of the windows and then break all the windows with half bricks, we would have been caught easily if there was any one around,cos wed be rolling on the floor with tears in our eyes and an achin belly,but like you say ther would be empty streets one after the other,(nothin like the sound of breaking glass and the brick bouncin across an empty wooded floor)specially when your bruvs come gambollin out the front and back door lol,and i remember all the gardens had gone wild over the summers that theyd been empty and was overgrown with ,poison ivy,foxgloves and forests of purple lupins,aaaahh theyll never take them memories from me.

 

[fellowkev]

Hi Kandor,
I have read your marvelous boyhood recollections (and those, too, of Cromwell and Alf, and others), with fascination. As I imagine a scene of empty streets, of dust, debris, and derelict houses, one nagging question comes to mind, a question that begs an answer: where did all the people go?
This sort of thing seemed to happen all over Birmingham more or less at once. I mean, a 20 or 30 years period of renewal is in this great city’s long history—the city of “A Thousand Trades”, a relatively short span of time. The dislocation, the disruption, the continuous migration of large pockets of the city’s population is a story worth talking about.