Our last home in Brum

[Di.Poppitt]

In 1962 I was pregnant with our second child, and we rented a flat in Fentham Road, not quite in Aston its postal address is, or was, Birchfields. The road runs from Birchfield Road down to Trinity Road. The house was Victorian, with three floors, and our flat was on the middle floor. We could see the Villa flood lights from the back window.

Sally was born at the end of August and three weeks later Brian had to leave us for three months, he was rejoining the RAF and had to start his induction training. Our son Steve was two so life was pretty full, and I had friends and family who were great.

Two doors away a house had been converted into a warehouse, storing all sorts of food including dry goods. Despite all of the goodies stored there a mouse found its way across the divide and decided it liked my kitchen better. I'm not fond of mice now, but I got paranoid about that one. It jumped me everytime I set foot in the kitchen after dark, its favourite place was the kitchen bin. In the end friends arrived armed with mouse traps and told me to pack a bag. So I left with them and stayed away for a week while they caught the monster. It defied their efforts for days, but finally its end came, caught in the trap set in the firegrate in the livingroom

The winter of 62/3 started early and the weather was bittlerly cold, the flat was like an ice box. I bought a couple of electric fires in Witton and hauled coal up a flight of stairs, but soon had the place snug and warm. In the meantime the couple from the bed sit on the top floor had done a midnight runner with some of the goodies from the flat on the bottom floor, so the top flat was left empty as it was going to be redecorated - big mistake. The water pipes froze overnight, thawed each morning and flooded our flat. After about the third or fourth day the water hd to be turned off. Great no more flood but not a drop of water either. Never mind I trundled the washing to the 'bag wash' as mom insisted on calling the launderette in Witton Road. The loo was another problem. Then the good old Brummies took over. The corner shop opposite to us was where everyone chatted, and my neighbours heard of my water problems and turned up with electic wash boiler, tin bath and buckets all filled with water. There was enough water to flood a battleship, and they kept it coming. Finally the landlord isolated the water to the top flat, and life got back to normal.

As we got near to Christmas up went the tree, Brian arrived home just in time for us to eat our Christmas dinner together as a family on our own for the first time. It was a humble chicken, but with all the trimmings.

We left in February 63, with the roads still covered in sheets of ice. Everything we owned in those days fitted into the boots of three cars, and a couple of roof racks. We drove off in a convoy, our days in Birmingham were over.

 

[Alberta]

Diana,Oh how well I remember that 62/63 winter.I lived in a flat in Washwood Heath Road,it was owned by Ernie Lucas a well known ironmonger.I was pregnant with my first son and had to evacuate to my moms in Erdington because the waterpipes froze and the outside loo was unusable.The upside to that winter was watching the kids enjoy the games in Ward End park.the lake froze and they were able to skate and sledge right down the hill onto the frozen water.
Living as I now do in my comfortable semi with all mod cons it seems a million years ago.

 

[Di.Poppitt]

Glad you could share the memories Alberta. It was a real baddie wasn't it.
Yes it does seem like a million years away, but it was when they started to talk about this coming winter being predicted as the worst since '67, that started me thinking of 62/3. I reckon we can handle this one, with the comfort of central heating and warm fleeces.

 

[jennyann]

Winter l962/63

I will never forget the Winter of l962/63, especially Xmas Day. The weather was bitterly cold as I remember it. My father who worked for the Midlands Electricity Board, was officially off that day, a rare occurrence in his line of work at Christmas. Mom got up early as usual to put the Turkey in the oven along with everyone who cooked a Christmas Dinner that day. We were all electric in our house. We had previously had a New World gas cooker. Before long with all these households cranking up their electric stoves and other appliances, the system literally blew in the few substations we had locally, leaving houses without power.

It was absolutely freezing in the house. We also had electric fires so that was that as far as heating was concerned. Before long the phone was ringing for my Father to go into work and then there were a succession of callers at the front door asking for my Father..... everyone wanted to know what was going on. My father called in and told us that the main fuses in the substations were blowing up due to the heavy use of power and as soon as they were replaced they would "blow" again. He had a van load of expensive fuses which would blow sometimes before he could lock the substation door behind him after replacing a blown fuse. At home we all gave up and went to bed the only place in the house where we could keep warm!!!!! The power eventually stayed on in the late afternoon and the turkey was cooked by ten o'clock that night. It was a different Christmas Day all round.

What follows is what I was told by my Father and what I experienced at that time personally..... In l962 there were many more electrical appliances available to the general public on the market than ever before and people were buying washing machines, spin dryers, record players, hair dryers, kitchen appliances, etc. big time. However, the availablility of power to run all these newly acquired appliances was simply not in place.
Substations were being built in the suburbs to provide power but not fast enough. Houses were generally heated by coal, gas and electric fires with many more people buying electric fires all the time.
Electric power points in houses were minimal fortunately as it would have affected many more people who would have been plugging in electrical heaters, etc. that particular Christmas.
People were buying all these new electric appliances and to this point in l962 the system was coping reasonably well. However, with the freezing cold weather and everyone switching on heaters, ovens, etc. the system was failing. People who had gas cookers, however, had no problems. I believe after that winter many more substations were built and the power system upgraded to meet the demand.

 

[Di.Poppitt]

Our flat was all eletric Jenny Ann, we were lucky and didn't get the power cuts, that really would have been the straw that broke this camel's back.

We did buy electric goods, the fires were replacing the old smelly Valor parrafin heaters. I had a Flatly electric drier, which was a cabinet with wooden rails across the top. You put your washing in and warm air wafted gently round it. The kitchen was like a Turkish bath, because it took so long to dry the clothes, but I used to switch it on empty and use it as a heater in that cold winter.

 

[jennyann]

Hi Diana, I remember using a Flatley Drying Cabinet at Fentham Girls School in Erdington in our Domestic Science room in the mid l950's. That school was built in l906 (still stands today but is an Educational Centre not a school). The classroom was a mix of domestic technology through the decades. The Flatley Drying Cabinet was viewed in amazement by most of us and was only used to dry laundry project items when it was raining outside where a line was strung up in a small courtyard to dry such items.. The clothes horse was all we knew!!!!!! I can imagine that the drying cabinet warmed up your kitchen but I bet it was expensive to run.

First year students only did laundry as well as sewing their cap and aprons for the cooking lessons in the following years. There was only one electric iron in use for a class of over 20 girls and the rest were flat irons which were heated on a flat grill like stove which was gas powered and got very hot on the surface. Students were assigned two flat irons for their ironing project, usually pillow slips, Dad's hankerchiefs, tea towels, etc. When one iron cooled down you went to the stove and with a pot holder type cloth lifted off your other flat iron. It was quite something to see all those flat irons heating up on that ancient stove and a bit dangerous carrying them
across the room!!!!

In a half day lesson your laundry item might not be quite dry enough
to work on and the Drying Cabinet could be used as a last resort. Does anyone else remember the flat irons and drying cabinets at school.