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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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Trying to identify the uniform in post #414, I came across this pic and wondered, did they always stand like that in Maypole ? :rolleyes:

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horsencart said:
My first thoughts were that he was/is a Bus Driver/Conductor with the red ? I think that the two lapel badges were for good driving? I stand to be corrected
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I wondered about the Midland Red. Most of my bus rides were on the Midland Red and I don't remember double breasted jackets unless he bought it himself. The round badge seems to show he is on the buses in some capacity.
 
Reminds me of when grandad drove a bus.I don't remember windows opening like that though only the ones that slid sideways. The ladies have very long skirts. What colour would the bus have been. Ours were maroon all over.
 
Its WW2 in Colmore Row and a trilby wearing foreman watches the workers removing railings. Very sharp points on the railings look lethal - no health and safety in those days !

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Onlookers are probably thinking 'Ere we go again'. The railings etc may have been removed, but we soon wanted them back ..... and the wall, and the nice, green turf, and the trees ..... From the 'Colmore Row & Environs Conservation Area Appraisal' 2006. Viv.

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It was after the war that they decided to tell us it was all in vane, as the cast-iron was no good for war production.

Nick
 
Thanks Viv, I'll have a look on streetview and see what they have done. I think I've read somewhere that most of the railings they removed in WW2 were not actually needed but it was probably good for morale.
Phil
ps...Thanks Nick, didn't see your post as I was typing mine...
 
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I've had a look on streetview 2009, they have put some nice high railings there and sharpish arrow points on the tops.
Well done Birmingham !
 
i remember the railings been taken down at Burlington st school also a lorry would come around and ask for old pots and pans...mom let me go out and give a saucepan suppossidly for the war effort..Brenda
 
Hi Brenda - I remember taking an old saucepan to Beeches Rd school, something to do with building another Spitfire we were told. We also had a big thermometer thing on the side of the school so we could see how much money we had contributed. We were very patriotic in those days.
 
Trams had no steering wheels ! So this driver had to get out and change the track to make sure his tram went the right way. It has caused a bit of a hold-up and the tram conductor appears to be standing in front of the Beehive lorry to let the car overtake.

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Nico said:
dad went on about Dickie Seats.
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Just noticed your post - Dickie Seats - Should puzzle younger motorists on here ! We certainly had some funny names for things back then, see them in this pic of a Triumph Roadster. It reminds me of my 'happy go lucky trip' on a sunny Saturday in 1954 to Southampton in a Triumph Roadster speeding across the Salisbury Plains singing along to Guy Mitchell's latest hit. I sat in the middle of the three across bench seat and don't remember ever seeing anyone sitting in a dickie seat.

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wessex said:
George Mason!
Lots of those around in Shirley when I grew up.
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George Mason's on Hawthorn Rd Kingstanding was probably the earliest self service grocery shop I remember. Not like the later supermarkets but simply with shelving along small aisles where you helped yourself and took it to the cashier. But it wasn't a check-out as we know it. Must have been an early type of supermarket. The shop on the end of that parade was a furniture shop which allowed you to buy on HP (oooooh a dirty word!). When you went to pay your weekly HP instalments you had to go and pay at a little cut out hatch with an 'office' behind. This was at the back of the shop where customers couldn't see you. It all had an air of 'less respectable'. My mum bought a couple of items on HP there (without telling mu dad). She got a modern three piece suite (like fake G-Plan) with upholstery in a mustard colour and an orange carpet. I used to go with her to pay the HP instalments. My dad was definitely not amused at what she'd done! Viv.
 
paul stacey said:
I remember George Masons, and the Triumph Roadster, and my mom was always singing Guy Mitchell songs.paul
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Truly Truly Fair, Chick a Bum Chickerack, Belle Belle my Liberty Bell dand sang. Feet Up Pat him on the POPO, when they had me etc etc. For Ever and Ever my heart will be true. Someoe here will be suffering now you have started me off.
Nan shopped in Geo Masons in Cov with me in tow. I liked the ladies in Masons. They wore drab washed out looking faded nylon overalls (not trousers) Nan saved her Daz coupons for plastic flowers and she saved for a tin patterend rubbish bin we ended up with one in every room. They also had biscuits loose in square tins with a glass lid. It was not a big shop. She liked to be served on the till by Dereen. (Doreen). My friends mum got stuff on tick at the corner shop. I asked mum what tick was. She sucked her breath in through her teeth. We don't have that she said we pay up front or we go without!
 
Guy Mitchell came to the Gala Bingo or the Hippodrome in Cov he must have been 80, I was told he looked good and sounded great. Dad like Michael Holiday too.
 
Vivienne14 said:
HP (oooooh a dirty word!).
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HP - My dad called it the 'never-never'. I remember when he first used it to buy a car. The excitement that first day as we proudly looked at it parked outside the house. Next day the paper work came through and he realised that the sum of the instalments was twice the price of the car !
 
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