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See Birmingham by Post Card

Newhall St. Suffolk St. The Council House and Paradise Street
 

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no a post card but not a bad photograph
 

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Here in glorious Technicolor (well almost) is the Town Hall on a beautiful sunny day in the early 1960's.
 

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I don't know if any of these have been done before, but there is an earlier version of Mikes one of the Town Hall.

One of St Philips.

One of Colmore Row whilst in the area.

Then one of Corporation St that must have been put up before.

The final one Manzoni Gardens. How do they get a photo of it that empty. I never saw it that empty even at 5 o clock on a summer Sunday morning on the way home from a night out.

Phil

City Colmore Row Birmingham Cathedral 3.jpgCity Council House Colmore Row .jpgCity Corporation St Postcard.jpgCity Manzoni Gardens.jpg
 
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A quick (?) check through shows none of those fine views have been on before Phil. An index would be useful but how would we get to put it at the start of the Thread now, and would it take up too much space anyway?
 
Mike, I haven't got the answer to your questions, what I know about computers could be written on the back of a postcard.

This looks like a bad fire, does anybody know anything about it? I don't mean are you going to own up to arson, but does anybody have any background to it.

Phil

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As nobody seems to want to own up to causing the fire. I think we need some fresh air in our lungs after all that smoke.

What about a gently rowing across the lake at Cannon Hill Park
Or a gentle stroll through the heather and gorse at Sutton Park.
For the fitter among us we could saunter up Rose Hill at Rednal.
Or perhaps you would chose a walk down the leafy Three Shires Lane at Warley.

Phil

Edgbaston Cannon Hill Park .jpgSutton Sutton Park .jpgRednal Rose Hill .jpgWarley Three Shires Rd .jpg
 
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Back to the City centre to see the General Post Office and New Street over the years. These are from 1895,1955 and 1980.
 

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PMC 1947. I did all those four things you mention and many more. Mom and Dad would normally have been with us as well. Happy days eh.
 
Its taking longer to check the thread for duplication than it is to sort and post the photo's now.

A look down or is it up New St
The same of Paradise Street.
A view along Smallbrook Ringway
A finally a place none of us wanted to go.

Phil

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Great postcards pmc1947. Thanks for posting them. The Corporation Street
streetscape isn't changed in general except when you look towards Lancaster Place.
 
Here is an early 1960's view of the Smallbrook Ringway looking towards the Bull Ring where St. Martins spire is on the skyline. Note the lads in short trousers, wonder what has caught their attention. In the foreground there they have 'parked' a scooter and a pedal car. Soon an unclad girl called Hebe would be reclining by where the lads are standing. (Perhaps they were looking out for her!). Hard to believe these boys could be in their 40's or 50's now.
 

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Mike

Those lads, I know they were probably only from Lee Bank just down the road, but can you imagine parents letting their kids of that young age wander in that close to town these days.

Phil
 
Phil I know what you mean, todays and future children will never know the freedom that was there until the 1960's. We were lucky to have seen and enjoyed those days. It's those same kids from Lee Bank that probably found their way up to Chamberlain Square and paddled in the fountain before getting home in time for tea.
Mike
 

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Here is an early 1960's view of the Smallbrook Ringway looking towards the Bull Ring where St. Martins spire is on the skyline. Note the lads in short trousers, wonder what has caught their attention. In the foreground there they have 'parked' a scooter and a pedal car. Soon an unclad girl called Hebe would be reclining by where the lads are standing. (Perhaps they were looking out for her!). Hard to believe these boys could be in their 40's or 50's now.

It's hard to believe that we OURSELVES are in our 50's or 60's now-or is it??!!
 
Smallbrook Ringway again...
 

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Mike, is it o/k to post these like this or should I enlarge the text?
 

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When I have got through these I have a few colour pics but I wil finish these first.
 

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Mike I found one with a bus on it.
 

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Not a postcard as such, but I can't see why more capital is not made of the fact. So I cobbled this one together myself.

Tokiens Two Towers.

Phil

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Not a postcard as such, but I can't see why more capital is not made of the fact. So I cobbled this one together myself.

Tokiens Two Towers.

Phil

Phil,
Pity you couldn't market that one. I've often thought it would be interesting to produce postcards but think perhaps it's a bit late in the day. According to Royal Mail statistics fewer people send them now than ever before.
Mike
 
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Still on Smallbrook Ringway and it's the 1970's. Davenports Brewery is still trading, going by the Morris Marina van. Along past the Albany Hotel on the left, the Centre City building is under constuction.
 

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Just want to say thank you and well done to everyone who has put photos and cards on here. For us exiles it bring back good memories and as I am now into family history gives me a sense of life in Brum in the 1800's/early 1900s.

Here in Leeds there is a website "Leodis" which is an archive of photos, mainly from the City Engineer's department, but your cards etc are better because they come with comments and snippets of information.
 
Do you realise it just took me a full seven minutes out the the short span of life I have left to do a very quick scan through this thread to check out that these pc's have not been posted before. My poor old eyes are not so good these days so don't blame me if I post in error.

We have

Corporation St

Erdington Village
Keepers Pool Sutton Park
Snow Hill Station

Phil

City Corporation St xx.jpgErdington Village.jpgSutton Coldfield Keepers Pool Sutton Park.jpgSnow Hill Station Postcard.jpg
 
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Phil
I don't think I ever saw the old new street station. However i've just realised that I have an uncoloured version of your new st photo in my new st folder and another coloured version in my snow hill folder. Can I take it that it is correctly labelled here?
Mike
 
Mike

I have rechecked and you are right its another case of a photo with the wrong caption. It does look as if it is New St. Take a look at this photo and you will see what I mean, I think the trouble lies in the fact that in the early times all these stations looked more or less tha same inside.

I will exchange the photo on my last post for one I am sure is of Snow Hill

Phil

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Another one I cobbled up myself. A sort of Birmingham through the ages.

Phil

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I like that compilation very much Phil. Amazing to see the changes over the years to the Bull Ring area, and an excellent way of showing the change. It is unrecognisable from the early picture isn't it? Not sure whether it is for the better or not, but the new Bull Ring complex does grow on you a bit, and I have now visited it about three times - both times I have taken the opportunity of going into St Martins Church, where many ancestors were baptised/married/buried - a thing I never did when I lived in Birmingham .....
 
Judy

The trouble with getting old is that we come to dislike change and we want things to continue on in a way that we are familiar with. I hate change when it is done for no reason. I hated when the original Bull Ring was demolished and the concrete monstrosity was erected.

But I came to love it as did many others of my generation. we thought it was the best city centre in England, but eventually when it began to age and became shabby we began to see how cheap and poorly planned it was.

Now we have this new incarnation, I am sorry to say that I have not yet been in to Birmingham to see it, although I have been into the city for several reasons I always seem to avoid the Bull Ring. Perhaps its because I will not like what I see, I really will have to stop this silliness and go and have a look.

Phil
 
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