Being A Child Was It Hard In Brum Did You Get Into Trouble?

being a child in brum it was hard for some of us some was better off than others its a good job for me that i did not have an older sister i don!t think it would have gone down well at school in girls gear it was always hand me down things mend and make do or go with out

so how was it for you?

i was a little sod when i was at school i was always getting the stick and i was always trying to swap things or up to no good but my teacher loved me putting x on my school work when i did it

what did you do or make what games did you play?

Paul As far as hand me down clothes was concerned. I think my life would have been a nightmare, as I had five older sisters. Until I was Fourteen I thought my name was Bugger off out. Mind you it did get me out of cleaning an a load of other jobs. i was just sent out to play. SB

Being the oldest out of 7 I at least escaped the ignominy of hand me downs. But when I lived with my maternal grandmother (the Scotch one) she had relatives that lived in Canada. In the 50's they used to send clothes parcels to her.

Some of the clothes that were sent couldn't be got in England at the time and I was the envy of some of my mates.

As for getting into trouble at school and out of school it was second nature to me. If I didn't get the cane at school at least once a week then it was because I was off school sick. Out of school we were always being told to bugger off down our own end. When we got up our own end we were told to go and play somewhere else.

Phil

We were lucky we had places to play in. There was a big (very big) field just five minutes walk from our house. Seven miles out of town, in the Fifties and Sixties we almost lived in the country. My Mom hat walk three quarters of a mile to the post office in those days.
This big field had two massive bomb holes which turned into great ponds. There was a rope tied to a tree on which you could swing out on over the pond. It's a wonder no one ever drowned. You would at least have been extremely sick if you swallowed any of the water. there were loads of Frogs, Newts and that kind of thing. My God in that field were anything we wanted to be. Robin Hood. Commando's, etc etc etc. It was better than any adventure park.
Of course that all ended and the whole thing was totally ruined when the Council in their wisdom turned it into Garretts Green Industrial estate. SB

Morning,
Being the eldest of 4 I was lucky in the clothing aspect.
I was guaranteed to get the cane after every school holiday for climbing on the roof at Cromwell Street to retrieve the ball.
At that time 1948 ish the school was opened for us to play in,but we mainly ventured to Spion Kop and further afield.

Being an only child till I was 11 I was ok on the clothes front.

I remember the cornies SB a great playground.

Mum and dad had a huge garden and I set it up as a place I could set up jumps and ride my horse which happened to be a broomstick.Imagination is a great thing.

I set up mums shed as a library and my mates used to borrow books.

Hours spend playing tennis against the hous wall.I am still pretty good at it now after those hours of practise.How mum put up with the constant thump I will never know.

We used to go to the swimming baths,Blakesley Hall,the golf course over by the cov rd.

Denise yes the Cornies were great, we didn't realise it at the time though.
You say you used to enjoy Blakesley Hall, well if you are ever in the area I thoroughly recommend having a look now, The house is in excellent condition, there is a visiting centre with a gift shop, period style gardens and tea rooms. There is also ample free parking. Just up the road you will find St Edburghs (Yardley Old Church) a beautiful old building in fine condition and in the setting of Old Yardley village and park. SB

SB & Denise

You see this is what us kids from the slums missed. We had to endure playing on the streets and bomb sites. Even then I bet we had a better time than you thought was possible. Occasionally on high days and holidays when with four copper penny's we could be transported to the Lickey Hills for a day. As good as it was, we could never seem to breathe in that rarefied air that was called "fresh air".

Phil

I think any kid will enjoy the freedom we had because a childs imagination is a wonderful thing.

Any bit of scrub land would do because in your head it was so many different places.

The kids are so protected these days.

Phil although we lived out in the Bush, as long as we stayed clear of the wild animals and the Rangers we had our fun.
Most of us (and lucky for us) didn't know about the slum side of Brum. Your Brum was the Old end with all it's Character and Characters. Our Brum was the new Brum with many of our Neighbours coming from the old areas. Being born in 1950, just after our house had been built, most of the kids I knew, only knew what we grew up with. The big disaster with the slum clearance that I heard of was the great break up of communities. It' s a pity more couldn't have been done to refurb some of them. SB

When it boils down to it, we all had it easy as kids compared to some. How do you think we would shape up to these poor things only about 50 years earlier. You can see why people like Percy Shurmer campaigned for free boots for the slum children of Birmingham. I think I had a hard childhood, but I look at photos of these poor urchins and I think to myself. "We didn't know the meaning of hard times"

Phil

Phil we all know is what we grow up with, todays kids would shrink back in horror if they went back with Doctor Who and they were left just 80 years ago. They would be looking for the mobile phones, calculators and Pizzas. One whack from a teacher (if there was a school) and they would be calling the Police and finding no Television they would even have to talk to people. Yes mate yesterdays kids had it hard but most of them grew up with a personality, they were not just clones copied from the Telly. God help the Armed Forces if conscription was ever needed. SB

SB

I look at that photo and think those that didn't die in the trenches of WW1 probably died of some disease that can be cured today by a pill. Even if that pill had been around then, they probably would have still died because they couldn't afford it.

Phil

Hi Paul,
Poor, Poor, compared to me, you, Denise Phil John and Toady were wrapped in cotton wool, and SB, the mans a Toff.
The first time I saw a butchers shop window I thought it was the scene of an accident, and we all thought knives and forks were jewelry. For heating our Mom used to suck an extra strong mint and we would sit round her tongue.

I couldn't resist it, I miss Les Dawson, and a few other comic's.

Five sisters and two brothers and just our Ma to bring us up, who worked when she could and in the early days reluctantly accepted hand outs from the St, Vincent De Paul Nuns, that's the Nuns with those fantastic winged hats, I say handouts but its said that there is no such thing as a free lunch, so the loaves that Mom received came with the assurance that all the children would attend Mass every Sunday, (in their dreams) We all got to work as soon as we could to make ends meet.
Mom used to dress us lads out of the Army and Navy stores on Spring hill, it wasn't just the British forces either. I lived in fear of having to go to school dressed as the Tzar of Russia (see Les Dawson). No, I was quite Hip as they used to say, and fitted in well with the early couldn't care miss match fashion that left the Mods and Rockers looking square. White well, nearly white pumps with busmans trousers with the a narrow red strip down the sides a gold silk shirt that I was given by a trapeze artist when I was mucking out the elephants at Chipperfields Circus all finished off by a Firemans double breasted tunic with the silver buttons. I might have looked like one of the Rolling Stones, but I have the sneaky suspicion that I could have looked like one of the circus clowns.

Being poor never did us any real harm. We, each of us, has Moms grit, and understand the things that have real value, as we see the world.
PJ.
P S yes, wrapped in cotton wool.

Lost my thread with my previous post.
Trouble and I were blood brothers. The Nuns expelled me, the only reason I can come up with is that I laughed when I shouldn't, I was never disrespectful or abusive to any, but I was utterly useless at school lessons and had serious trouble reading.
The only school I could get into was Barford Rd, Winson Green, it was like a breath of fresh air had a lot of fights at first then all fine.
Had no trouble with the police to speak of, if I wasn't in bed or school I was working at something or other. A few mates were alwasys in scrapes with the Police and some fell into that criminal frame of mind and later had time for nothing else, they became consumed by it, yet we all started out the same, horses for courses.
I'm no saint but it wasn't hard to stay on the straight and narrow, for me.
PJ