1939 Onwards I Remember

A Memory of Harborne.

I was born in 1939, the year war started, and remember being lifted out of bed in the middle of the night and the barrage balloons looked like big elephants in the sky. I also remember the table shelter in the lounge which I was put in with my brother, and my Mickey Mouse gas mask, reddish with a tongue and green on the bottom, it smelt funny. I remember going out and picking up silver paper that had dropped from planes, and also the sweet tins, black, with malted milk tablets, which were given to us by Uncle Bill in the Army - these were given to the soldiers. And I remember cod liver oil, and malt, and ration books - the clothing one was pink.
I lived at 428 Harborne Park Road, next to the gully which led to Woodleigh Avenue. I walked to school each day to the junior school in York Road. I walked four times a day up Metchley Lane because I did not like the school dinners. In winter it was deep snow and very cold. My friend Anne and I and her mum would go the Royalty cinema. We would walk back down Harborne Park Road on the green bank. I remember Woods the sweet shop before you came to the Golden Cross pub. Mrs Wood always gave an extra teacake sweet, which was round and flat with coconut sprinkled on top, and chewy.
I remember the Queen opening Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and waiting by the Golden Cross and waving to her, she was with Princess Margaret and the Queen Mum.
I remember my dad ran the YMCA in War Lane. I used to have my hair permed in Harborne Lane by Mrs Withers. My head was covered in big clips then attached to plugs on a machine that fried my hair into tight curls which were unmovable for months. Mum thought it looked great but I wanted long hair, plaited like my friend Anne.
At Christmas, I remember a big coal fire burning in the front room and it had a nice smell. My Christmas tree sat in the window on a table with nothing but a couple of paper chains across it which I made at school. On Christmas night I  would stay awake and Mum would come in and put my bag of presents next to my bed. I would  get a colouring book nicely coloured by morning. Once I got a wooden monkey in between two sticks, you squeezed it and it turned over.  
My grandad moved in to live with us, he was widowed and he fell and broke his leg. He would make me toys, including a doll's cot and a dolls' house. I felt so proud and lucky. Puppy dogs were always running around our house, as our little dog Trixie was always getting out and having pups. I cried when my favourite puppy Fatty was taken to sell at John Lewis pets corner.
The day came when Grandad decided to sell his house and Mum and Dad ours and we moved to number 12, Court Oak Road, Harborne. Life in Court Oak Road was different, my dad and grandad later died. My trip to the Harborne Library was nice, I enjoyed picking my Enid Blyton Famous Five books. I used a shilling pocket money and would cross the road by the horse trough and go to Woolworth and buy a little bottle of Evening In Paris scent or California Poppy. I sometimes bought sweets from Baugns near the Duke of York pub. I remember the Laurel and Hardy plate outside this shop. I went for walks to Queens Park on a Sunday and in the week paid a visit to the institute for the blind with Mum that was just up the road. I used to visit my uncle who worked at the bus station in Lonsdale Road, and we would buy a cake from Wimbushes on the corner and he would go in the Duke of York pub leaving me by the door, it smelt of stale beer and toilets. Just down the road near Pramland there was a toilet, Mum went in to use it once and got her dress caught in her knickers and she walked up the road showing them. Two boys shouted 'Hey Mrs, you'r eshowing your knickers!'. Mum just said 'Oh gosh' and replaced her skirt and said 'Well, they are clean'.
I used to go to the cinema a lot and get someone to take me in if it was showing A AND U or  DOUBLE A. I never had to pay, someone would take pity on me and sit me down and even buy me an ice cream. I always offered the money. Ballroom dances at the YMCA were fun also. I would stay up late those nights. I was allowed lipstick and a nice dress. My silver peep toe shoes were in fashion. My dress was 10 bob from the C & A sale rack, but I felt like a queen.
I used to love the old shops in Vivian Road, I would go for a penny, pop up the steps and I would buy these strange root sticks to chew. I remember also going in with a school friend and putting our hand in the font of St Mary's church, it was silent and and we thought it creepy and dared each other to go in and do that and really believed we would die very soon for doing so. Feeling we were lucky we would often do this stupid prank.
St John's Sunday School was a place where I met my friend Pat, and we went to a fete in the Vicarage gardens in Wentworth Road. I remember Stoddards the butcher, we went in each Saturday, my mum and I, and the Old Harborne Cinema in Serpentine Road called the Bug House. I remember hot summers and I dropped my china headed doll after a bee stung me. My doll's head was in a dozen pieces, and I cried for ages until gran got it replaced at the dolls' hospital. But I hated her new face. Somehow it looked very sad now.


Added 07 May 2009

#224694

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