Nice memories to stumble in to unexpectedly ...
I remember the Mill Stores very well.
From the mid 50s to somewhere around mid '60s we lived in Middle Acre Road which is curvy- parallel to Stonehouse Lane and not far behind the Mill Stores, separated by a smallish run of open land back then probably not much more than 120/30 yards across if even that. Our house was pretty much directly across that open area from the MS, back garden facing back garden.
I remember there being a fairly large tree about half-way between, which was on the edge of a ditch that ran through the middle of the patch of land, seemed 6 feet deep or more back then but would no doubt have been 3 at the most. That's how childhood memories work, yes? And the tree permanently had a hefty rope hanging off an upper branch hanging out over the ditch, and was great fun to swing on from one side to the other ... or not-quite
I also remember that land as the safety margin when potting at targets in the back garden with my air rifle (thanks Dad!) hung on the wire fence at the bottom there, or objects stood on the posts there, or other things like clothes pegs on the washing line - I'd mostly pot at those from my bedroom window so that the pellets would be going sharply downward and would hit the ground perfectly safely in the garden.
I was happily plinking away and doing pretty well I thought, when one time Dad came out to watch and join in a bit too, and he just reminded me to be sure everything was safely placed with nothing behind that a miss might cause any damage to, especially when I was laying prone on the grass and so aiming a little upward at some things occasionally.
And I said something like "Yes Dad, I always do" hastily hoping that I always did ...
And with a chuckle Dad said "... because we wouldn't want to be breaking any of the Mill Stores' windows!" And in that second I remembered that just one time earlier there was still this one target, an empty cigarette packet still stuck from earlier on that bit of twisty wire where a mesh fence is secured to concrete posts, that I had taken a pot at after I was done with just the boring old bulls-eye target that I'd just placed on the ground and leaned against the fence for me to plink at lying prone .... which meant that to get the cigarette packet I must have been shooting a fair bit upward from there, and I'd had to put a good 3-4 shots through it before sending it flying off the bit of wire! I hope the windows survived!!
But back to the FRONT of the Mill Stores ...
I went to Lordswood Tech, so each morning would head toward either the #12 bus stop right at the end of Clapgate Lane on the corner of Stonehouse Lane and Stonehouse Grove right by where Jiggins Lane feeds in to it, or off in the opposite direction and get the #22 from Barnes Hill right at the end of "My" road, both heading to Harborne to get the 11 to the school gate or sometimes just walk.
However, going for the #12 had inbuilt tension lol, because from about half way to the stop I was in Mill Road (as in "Stores") and could easily see a long way back up along Jiggins Lane which was where the 12 would be coming down from Bartley Green ... and of course, I was always watching out in case I might suddenly need to run the rest of the way to make it in time because a bus had appeared at the top-end.
And it was very borderline if a bus did appear right at the moment I first was able to see to the furthest point there ... and it was near-impossible if it was already well toward the bottom turn! You could cut the tension with a knife, lol.
But I had a backup!
Two even, because firstly if beating it to the stop by sticking to the footpath looked doubtful, I could forget that and instead sprint a diagonal across a piece of open land between Mill Road and the bus stop corner, and very likely make it okay. And secondly, as an alternative to that but also WAY more appropriate if the bus was already a long way on towards the stop, I would sprint like mad and turn right at Stonehouse Lane instead of left, and dash to make the next bus-stop along which was ... right opposite the Mill Stores!
And the only question mark was whether the bus actually needed to stop at the first stop! If it did, then I'd definitely make it to Mill Stores stop in time, but if not and it just sailed past it without even slowing much other than for the bend, I had a race on my hands!
What I said earlier about the tension? Multiply by ten before the bus reached that first stop, then fifty if it went straight past without stopping and was bearing down on me from behind!
So yeah, The Mill Stores (named from which Mill? Anyone advise?) was absolutely a landmark for me, plus I would now and then be sent on an errand to buy something that might have been missed before, or just run out ... milk maybe or sugar or whatever. A bar of chocolate for going was always welcome too
And I preferred to go there rather than set out in the opposite direction and head to the little parade of shops on Barnes Hill just up from the #22 bus stop, because I had to pass a girlfriend's house on the way
and sometimes I miiiiight be a little longer with the errand
Like I said, nice memories to stumble in to unexpectedly.
TQ
