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Summer Lane

G'day Max,
My mom helped John Douglas with his research when he wrote "A Walk Down Summer Lane".
She knew it all so well,she was taught the words of the "Summer Lane song" from the bloke who wrote it in the 1920s.
She was very frail towards the end of her life, however,she retained a needle sharp mind.
 
How wonderful Ray. Its a smashing book, you should feel proud that your Mom helped. Max
 
Does anyone know of a Brewery Street in the Summer Lane/Nechells area of about 1870? I cannot seem to find a trace of it.
 
Looks like Brewery Street still exists today, not sure if its the same one but is in the right area, if you paste B6 4JB into Google Maps it should find it for you
 
hi roy...not much left of brewery st now...just one old building on the right as you go up the street...there is new developement work going on at the moment....its just off newtown row..next to manchester st...here is a map..hope this is of help to you..

lyn
 
catkin may be right about the funeral being of "its time" looking at the photo made me pull out my grandmother Elizabeth Lewins funeral bill from 1937, the funeral company was hodgson and son hockley hill, it consisted of a hearse and a pair of horses, three carriages and pairs of horses, one dozen memoorial cards and all attendances. now i know these were very dificult times so i suspect my mom and dad must have had insurance policies as they did on all us kids. poor as people were i couldnt imagine anything more humiliating than a paupers funeral.
 
hi tommy..how interesting that you have your grandmothers funeral bill...does it happen to say how much that type of funeral would have cost...

lyn
 
hi tommy
I Would imagine that even in those ot would have been rather expensive even in those tough days of the thirtys and with the inflating years its now
Astaanomical charges no wonder the hodingsons in later years decided to go into the market of making there own coffins as they did
they moved from hockley hill up to summer hill up by the spring hill libary and thats where you could see them making there own coffins down the side of there offices
on the subject of being humiliated by having a paupers funeral i do not think it was shamefull to have a paupers funneral in my family tree and its my grand parents
family whom was wealthy had a paupers grave at key hill in the gone bye days of yester years it wasinthe central libary i found this isolated name in the draws of the libary
after tracking down where to find this death of there son fropm handsworth recordstrned out to be a paupers funneral
but as you same about being humiliated in public because i think they removed a body in a black van in those days but today they call them the hospital vans
the main thing the person was burried i think personaly in this day and age there will be a regular thing to come because of the soaring cost of today
people are likely to be burried in there garden or in woodlands and useing the green aproach but we are now running out of space
and they are thinking of taking our human parts from ourbody in the not so distance future and thats the goverments thinking
but as you say in those days people was always and concerned as being out casted and worried other people such as there neibours what are they gonna think
me i do not care two hoots what people will say when i am gone but there again no one knows whether there is a heaven or hell to we cross the boundries
and whom knows even thou we cannot respond to our love ones gut you may be able to heart them talking about you no one knows
tommy where was your relative buryied where was she from did you say summer hill
i hope you have a nice day best wishes Astonian
 
Yes I have seen a few funeral bills but yours sounds quite grand where was the funeral? Of course it would have been difficult for families who's realatives were buried in public graves but remember these still had to be paid for. I imagine in these hard time families were more concerned with feeding the living.
 
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hi astoness, re your question about funerals, my grandmother was buried in witton cemetry, as are all my family, speaking of which, i think your right about running out of plots so will have to get up there and buy my plot,, that is where i want to be buried, i know a lot of people go for cremations today but i just dont think its natural, i would be quite happy about any hospital taking any of my body parts, if it helps anyone else,--so long as they dont take my "SOUL" hodgsons charged , £15 1\12, 6P, THAT IS FIFTEEN POUNDS ONE AND A HALF PENCE AND SIXPENCE, i think, with all this metric i,ve lost my way, it was made up of a pair of horses and a hearse, three carriages and three pairs of horses, so that would be four in total, that cost £11, 10S. REMOVAL FROM HOSPITAL, 7s and 6p, cemetry charges, £15, 1-1\2 p, 6p. the picture taken could even have been hers in actual fact, now i rang hodgsons up to question them about the costs etc, they seemed to feel it would have above average for a funeral which suggests it may have been covered by insurance, i know---well i only recently found out that my mom had us all covered, even her brothers with the royal liver friendly society, she paid 1pence a week, , so she must have been paying out some 13pence a week from the early 20s.. i have -am trying to find out about her mother ,, ANNIE LOUISE HIPKISS, she died at the age of 41, leaving my mom to bring up her 5 brothers, i wonder if perhaps she had to have a paupers funeral, which made my parents so keen to keep up insurance, i know times were harder then but i feel there must have been a stigma to have a paupers funeral. perhaps even more so. i dont know.
 
hi tommy and thanks for all that information i found it most interesting...you could not even buy the flowers for that price these days..the sad story about you mom being left to bring up her siblings is one so common of the day..good luck with your research and if you need any help there are so many on this forum only to willing to help you...

lyn.
 
I am reading a book at present it is called "From Summer Lane" written by John Douglas.It is very funny in parts.I dont know if Lyn has read it as there are mentions
of Villa Street and Nursery Road.Moss.
 
hi moss...no i havent read that one...thanks for telling us about it...is it a new book or will i have problems buying it...

cheers

lyn.
 
Hi I read this the book way back when it first came out,great storyline of the harsh life and at times humourous life of working class brummies, steve
 
Does anyone remember or have a picture of the shops and houses in Summer Lane from the corner of Cowper Street going down away from Birmingham. On the corner of Cowper Street by the school was a chemist shop, next I think was a sweet and ice cream shop then a butchers,there were some houses and further down a small clothes shop, next door number 179 was my grandparents greengrocers shop, Deathridge, my uncle also sold cycle spares and did cycle repairs. I think they took over the shop about 1910, after grandad died my granny kept the shop going until it was knocked down. As a child I used to love weighing fruit and veg on the old scales, my uncle made me my first two wheel bike which we had to get home to Selly Oak on the buses.
Pamela Y
 
i pamela..i have a pic showing the horseshoes pub on the corner of cowper st/summer lane and it does show a view looking up the lane but im not sure if its the shot you are looking for..if you would like me to post it i will...
 
View attachment 64824, View attachment 64823hi guys, looking at the pictures of summer lane i noticed a picture of the bull pub, my family lived by the bull and i wondered if anyone could pick out this pub?, it is a mitchells and butlers pub and with the white render could it be the bull? could anyone recognise some of the men in the picture? the second from the right is my dad jack lewin, who was a barrow boy, next to him third from right is harry dossiter, i would like to put a name to the faces.
 
hi tommy...thats a great pic thanks for posting it but i dont think it was taken outside the bulls head as that was an ansells pub in the 60s although i guess it may have been michells and butlers before that...there are pics of all the pubs on the lane under the summer lane pubs thread and if you have anymore pics of the lane we would love to see them as they are few and far between...it would also be great if anyone can put some names to the faces...brillient.. by the way do you know what year the pic was taken...

lyn
 
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mossg said:
I am reading a book at present it is called "From Summer Lane" written by John Douglas.It is very funny in parts.I dont know if Lyn has read it as there are mentions
of Villa Street and Nursery Road.Moss.
Click to expand...

Is that the correct name of the book Mossg?
 
Thats a new one then Mossg, i have one written by him called " A walk Down Summer Lane " so i will keep my eyes open for the sequel. Max
 
hi lyn, i left summer lane before i was one so havnt got a clue, i doubt if it could have been mitchells if it was ansells in the 60s, did pubs sell to each other? my wife suggests it may be the lights as that was mitchells and butlers, certainly it was taken in the lane, no where else, my dad and harry- twink- dossiter look about 30--35ish which dates the picture around the mid to late thirtys, also it would have been well before 42 as my parents left the lane by then, i saw harrys son a few years ago and told him about this picture, offering to get him a copy, he was very keen but i lost contact with him. i should think for anyone to remember the other guys in the picture they would have to be in there 90s, pushing it a bit but surely there are sons or daughters out there? who know what there dad looked like at that time? thanks for the interest.
 
hi again tommy... the st georges taven nicknamed (the lights) was on the corner of hospital st and tower st and the pic i have of it say its was another ansells im afraid..dont give up on someone spotting their rellies on that pic of yours.

lyn.
 
Hi Astoness, thanks for your answer but I don't think it is the right view that you have. I can't think what was on the other corner going towards Birmingham where we caught the bus or on the other side of the road.

Regards Pamela
 
Pamela Y said:
Hi Astoness, thanks for your answer but I don't think it is the right view that you have. I can't think what was on the other corner going towards Birmingham where we caught the bus or on the other side of the road.

Regards Pamela
Click to expand...


hi pamela....just for your interest here is the pic of the 3 horseshoes pub..corner of summer lane/cowper st...
 
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