Small Heath Memory

A Memory of Small Heath.

I was born at 54 Herbert Road on January 21st 1940 a war-time baby although I remember nothing of the bombing raids that wrecked a number of the houses in the lower part of the road where the bus garage and the railway line were obvious targets for the Germans, but I do remember the later war years when the street lamps were painted black apart from about a two inch line at the top, and can recall the bonfires and street parties that took place when the war ended.

I attended Dixon Road Primary School from 1944 until 1951 and remember the big freeze of 1947 when we were able to run up the banks of snow and touch the telephone wires and had to dig down through the snow to find our bottles of milk in the mornings.

My first teacher was a Mrs Bates and other teachers I remember were Miss Hilditch and the rather severe Head Mistress Miss Griffin. Later, I went to Ada Road Boys Secondary Modern (which later changed its name to St Andrews Boys) where the Headmaster Mr (Victor) Carmichael ruled with a rod of iron although he was a very fair man. My other teachers were Mr (Donald) Gale, Mr ("Jesse" James and Mr (John) Bee. After Mr Carmichael moved on, he was replaced by a Mr Caddick who was a bit of a wimp and was given the runaround by many of the lads.

Other masters there were Mr Heatherington - a rather bad tempered Scotsman, Mr Sloman a very fiery Welshman with a foghorn of a voice, Mr Osborne - firm and fair with a gentlemanly manner and Mr Yeomans the easy-going science master who liked to be one of the lads!

My best mate was David Doherty who lived at number 13 and who was one of a large Catholic family. We had wonderful times together fishing for newts or tiddlers at Elmdon which was a very rural place in those days, or generally trespassing in places we shouldn't have been or climbing on house roofs or bombed houses. His dad Tom had only one leg but could still move remarkably quickly and would often lay into us with his crutch without compunction. Happy days, but sadly, Dave died suddenly at the very young age of 42. I still think of the happy times we had.

In 1967, the house in Herbert Road was demolished and we moved to a pretty awful maisonette in Nechells, and when I got married in 1969 I moved to Great Barr. My father had been born in Herbert Road and never wanted to leave so when the chance came he accepted a high rise flat in Pritchett Tower almost on the site of the house in which he had been born!

In those far off days, people rarely moved house and neighbours I remember from Herbert Road, were the Cooks next door and the Froggatts on the other side.
There were also an Irish/American family the Grogans who were aloof and kept themselves very much to themselves the Knabbs who had two gorgeous daughters, Mrs Fisher and Mrs Onslow who kept a small grocery shop. In the other direction were the Ingram's, Mrs Brettle and the Dagnall's who also had a grocery shop. In back houses behind ours were the Spencers and the Cartwrights, and across the road lived another good friend George Woods whose whole family were football crazy and all avid supporters of Birmingham City. and a small off-licence which had numerous owners. Lower down the road were Bastocks the Funeral Directors whose yard where bodies were stored and coffins manufactured, always seemed very mysterious and sinister.

Small Heath is very different now and I wouldn't really want to be living there again, but I do have happy memories of my time spent there when it seemed to me to be the best place in the world!