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Old street pics..

Damp coal also weighed heavier. our Coalman had set of scales on the back of the cart and would weigh the bags before delivery, any shortages were made up from a small loose amount which included bits that fell onto the trucks platform. My Mom and neighboring housewives would check each bag and told the man not to top up with slack.
Despite theses measures our cellar ended up with quite a heap of slack which my brother-in -law eventually made into briquettes using a low percentage of mortar.
Talk about "waste not, want not!
Cheers Tim.
Ps this may explain some of my miserable habits.
 
hi tim i well remember our dad making up slack bricks and i can still smell our cellars even now:rolleyes:
lyn
 
Lady Penelope said:
Tim, our slack went into blue sugar bags which then went on the back of the fire and produced lots of smoke.
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ln the late 1940's when we had a real cold winter l think the coalmen went on strike , l remember dad would mix slack and mortor and put into tin cans after they set they would end up on the fire, and if i remember right we only had a fire at night as there was such a shortage,even with a load of coke and l think a lot of factories cut hours due to a coal shortage...Brenda
 
Lady Penelope said:
I remember a similar coal lorry coming to deliver coal to the pre-fab in Court Lane. For some reason I was absolutely fascinated by the coalman as he emptied the sacks of coal into our ex-Anderson shelter coal house. I can still remember the smell. Mom was always telling me to keep out of his way and one day he put his foot on the step to write the pink divi slip and trod on my hand. My nail fell off later and I was very proud to tell everyone that the coalman did it! That picture really brought back memories.
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Didn't you ever have to down with a wheeled conveyance of any sort to the coalman who had business on Chester Road, near to Sycamore/Beech Road, is that what those two roads were called?
There was hairdressers nearby as well. He used to weigh it out very carefully, I remember that some people had walked from Enderby Road with old prams to buy coal if you could call the crumbly dust we got that.
Bob
 
"Slack" - there's a word I've not heard in a long time (re coal). Always liked the sound of slack being scooped up on the shovel we used to fetch the coal from our coal shed with. Although as others have pointed out, slack was a pain to burn - produced loads of smoke and not much else. We'd always have slack left at the bottom of the shed when all the big pieces had been used up. My dad would chuck a shovel of slack on the fire at bedtime so it would smoulder through the night. Don't know if it served much purpose, but there was no arguing with my dad! Viv.
 
Pedrocut said:
Nutty Slack!
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l also remember when we got some coal with slate in it ( well thats what dad called it ), it would spit and make a hell of a racket until it burned down, thats when the fire guard was useful as it would spit red hot embers out as it was burning...Brenda
 
All the coal I have even bought here in Devon and that is over a period of sixty years has been of small pieces, so very little slack. Slack has to be bought from the coal supplier. Slack is great for laying over a reasonable fire in order to keep too much air from causing it to burn too rapidly, especially if you are out for a while or just want background heat during the daytime.
I do recall the large lumps of coal delivered to the house when in Warwickshire. They required the use of a coal hammer and consequently slack would be made when breaking up these large lumps.
There is, in my opinion no beating a warm open fire - it heats the whole room and seems to heat the fabric of the house as well. Central heating, which I have but rarely use, seems to redden the face and dry the air. :eek:
 
Our pre-fab had a sort of central heating system which was supposed to pipe hot air into the other parts of the hours from the living room where the fire was. Don't think it was too successful as my bedroom was like an ice-box in the winter.
 
brenda barr said:
l also remember when we got some coal with slate in it ( well thats what dad called it ), it would spit and make a hell of a racket until it burned down, thats when the fire guard was useful as it would spit red hot embers out as it was burning...Brenda
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You could tell if it was slate, it would almost explode when hot. Our mom would not put up with slate in our coal, and would often go down the cellar and shovel up as much as she could and put it in a sack and carry it up to the coal man's yard at the top of our street and dump it in front of his house, telling him to burn it himself!
Dave A
 
Hey remember if you threw a bit of salt on the fire you got blue and other colours flaring up, chased away those little dragons that lived in those tiny caves in the fire.
My medication kicks in about this time!
Cheers
 
I'd forgotten about the blue flame you could see in the fire sometimes. I was told it was from gas within the coal. Next time we have a coal fire I'll have to try your salt trick.
 
Various metals, such as steel, or copper nails, tins etc., and which are in pieces of scrap wood for burning, will give some bright blue, green and shades of orange/red colours.
As that old fogey Selwyn Froggit would have said "magic". :D
 
Getting back on thread ;) I saw an old picture (mid1920's) of Christ Church Buildings in Victoria Square, the side that swept from Colmore Row into New Street.
In large gilt letters, on the face of the building there were signs advertising - from the top downwards - world famous Swan Pens, a central was one for Thrutchley & Percival, the lower was for the AA (Automobile Association). At street level was an insurance sign. The lower part of the building was, I believe a Lyons Corner House.
Swan Pens has a history but I cannot find who Thrutchley & Percival were. They must have been important to have signage in such a prominent place. The did go into liquidation in 1928 so the London Gazette reported.
 
In #4 The picture with the caption Stechford Rd., Yardley is in fact Stockfield Rd., Yardley. The name can be read on the left hand shop window and Mikejee a while ago produced a map that showed these shops as opposite Waterloo Rd in Stockfield Rd
 
Hi old mowhawk
Its Amazing what you have retreived for us i can recall alot of them
on the subject of the pink gothic i recall that boozer and the beer was lousy as i recall
on berners street photo ,thanks i could see my old mothers house when i was young and single then
It was the very first house next to the school at the bottom and six doors from the pub on the corner of berners street
and right on the corner of gerrard street
And yes it is the number eight bus coming out of Ickneild street and turns across to farm street
there is an early one of those with a policeman on point duty in a white coat in the middle of the road
I used to get the bus down from springhill get off there and cross over to the right
And jump on the twenty nine a bus to pheasy estates terminus to my auty floss
where she lived down on that hill that was there
Mow , keep digging my friend bring them to the fore indeed
best wishes Astonian,,, Alan,,
 
devonjim said:
In #4 The picture with the caption Stechford Rd., Yardley is in fact Stockfield Rd., Yardley. The name can be read on the left hand shop window and Mikejee a while ago produced a map that showed these shops as opposite Waterloo Rd in Stockfield Rd
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Hi Jim,
The photo is img618.jpg in the original thread and also img618.jpg in this replacement thread, so the old and new images are the same. However searching led me to your post#4533 and with your local knowledge it must be Stockfield Rd. I will edit the text in post#4 and if the pics get edited back to the original thread the text can be altered there. The pics in this replacement thread are links to the BHF Image Host and with two windows on screen could easily be copied and pasted into the original thread.
 
There are a great number of photos here which I am sure some people will find interesting - even if it only a second look. It is good to see them again. I have looked at those on the first page (first page on my PC anyway) and here are some observations.
Highgate Street 1960. The Standard Vanguard car. We had them in the RAF, my didn't they roll like pigs.
Clifton Road, Aston 1969. Busy yes indeed. It seems to be going or returning from school time.
Wilton Street, Lozells 1960. The builders yard, was it a former bomb site?
Bristol Road 1967. The repair place, again was that a previous bomb site? or somewhere simply demolished?
Stratford Road 1952. One of the AEC Regents, 1633 GOE633 - the subject of a recent thread here - can be seen on the 31A service.
Taylor Street/Bloomsbury Street 1966. In Bloomsbury Street there are two houses with light coloured bricks. Were these a reversion to a dwelling from a shop or similar commercial use.
Hurst Street 1967. I hope the George Mason driver wasn't in a hurry to get out.
Stratford Road Sparkhill - another gap between two buildings.
Bull Street 1961. WOT!? No traffic?
Conybere Street Highgate 1959. Love the row of chimney pots.
 
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Hi Radiorails, lots of questions and comments ...:)
To save uploading pics I often linked to some of the pics in the 'Old Street Pics' thread so I was particularly interested in them.
I suppose the present day Brum looks shiny and maybe 'nice' but I still like to look at the 1950s/60s/70's pics showing the scenes I knew when I was young.
 
Soho Hill (No8 bus etc). It appears that the lorry in the foreground had a cargo of acid carboys, packed in straw in a metal basket.
Kingstanding Road 1961. Lovely Triumph Mayflower car and it looks rather like nurse Gladys Emmanuel is making one of her calls.
St. Johns Church, Ladywood. Tram tracks still in situ twenty years after the last tram.
Bagot Street. Any connection with these folks?
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/canning-co-electroplating.47438/
Adderley Street 1956. A Morris Post Office Telephone van is parked.
Berners Street, Lozells 1954. What a strange structure, I wonder what the history might be? The view in one direction - whatever it might have been - is well and truly hidden behind the hoarding.
 
tim eborn said:
Hey remember if you threw a bit of salt on the fire you got blue and other colours flaring up, chased away those little dragons that lived in those tiny caves in the fire.
My medication kicks in about this time!
Cheers
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Salt (=sodium chloride) would have coloured the flame strong orange/yellow. As Radiorails mentioned different metals give different coloured flames - this is what gives different fireworks their colours.
 
1957.jpg
Forgive me if any of these have been posted before but I am attempting to do several things at once. 1/e sorting out a large number of saved images, postcards, jokes and other stuff whilst attempting to make progress with h Teddy Bear sewing.
 
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