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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2013 8:41:02 GMT
This article appeared in the Birmingham Mail on the 13th February, 2013.
Memories of Ashted by Les Robinson.
Don't let the past disappear forever
I found so much of what Les has written to be applicable to me!
A person’s family name binds he or she to all those before who carried that name, all those forebears whose lives are lost but whose genes and blood run through us and help make us what we are.
Yes, of course each of us is a distinct personality and our upbringing and environment deeply affect us and help to make one person an individual – but we are not just isolated beings going through life separately. For good or ill we are fastened to those of our kin who came before, to those amongst whom we live, and to those yet unborn.
Just as much as we are part of a long line of family history so too are we linked strongly to the place to which we belong and which has helped define us. A sense of belonging and local patriotism has played a powerful part in English history.
Loyalty to our county, our town, our district is shown in many vital ways, from our county regiments to our football, cricket and rugby teams, from our workplaces to our schools, from our places of worship to our municipalities, from the pub we drink in to the shops we spend in. We cannot escape who we are and where we come from.
And yet too many of our long-standing place names are slowly disappearing in the face of official indifference and ignorance of their meaning and impact. One such is Ashted, which Les Robinson brings alive for us. He writes that:
It used to be called Ashted Row and our house was directly opposite Dr O’Keefe’s, or ‘The Doctors houses’. They knocked them all down in the early 60s as part of the inner city ‘Slum’ clearance. Slums... how dare they give them that label. Ashted Row held some of the finest examples of Georgian houses in the City. And one of those so called ‘slums’ was also my home. Ashted Row formed me and gave me my education. I learned to read and write whilst living there, I also learned about love, laughter, life and sadness.
Nechells gave me my values and my respect for other people and how they chose to live.
It also gave me community spirit back there too. I remember our doors were left open, that kids could play out late. I knew the seasons were defined and we all lived there in the knowledge that there was a better tomorrow. But what I really loved was that our neighbours took the time to chat over the fence while the sun was going down.
That part is gone now, at least for me. They built a monstrosity calledTrentTower in exactly the same spot as 143 Ashted Row. By knocking down one home that held 10 people, they put up a square soulless block that held 85 families: 85 families without a garden to play or sit in, 85 families whose children had no trees to climb, who never dug a hole or made a bonfire. Those same families who never made a snowman or sat in front of a roaring coalfire toasting pikelets . . . and we call it progress. I could weep
I’m sure those 85 families living there had values equal to mine. I’m sure they have their hopes and aspirations. I’m certain too they have their dreams. I just wish they hadn’t all chosen to live on mine.
I only remember it as a big hole in the ground, literally an old ‘bomb peck’. From what I gather Holbrook’s was a pickling factory and took a direct bombing hit in the war. You can correct me on this as that is what my father told me after his Sunday lunchtime drink down theRoyal Oak on"Great Lister Street. Dad’s memories after 16 pints of Ansell’s Bitter weren’t always something to be trusted.
Holbrook’s ran alongside Ashted Row and from the top of a 55 or 56 bus, you could see into its ruins. There were a row of little cellars half exposed touching up to the Ashted Row side and the one year we found some steel helmets and a few gas masks. I remember it was the scene of many battles as we each built forts and hoarded loads of stones for our next epic battle.
The one year in our newest stronghold, Derek had lit a fire and Alan had got hold of some potatoes. On a late autumn night we held the potatoes on sticks and burnt them to a cinder as we talked into the night. We never spoke of dreams or of faraway places, that was beyond us then, and we never spoke of tomorrow. I was 12 and we only talked of today. And the burnt potatoes? They were lovely and the company? Ahh, the company was great.
In the ever growing ‘nanny state’ that we live in today, where petty minded people enforce petty minded rules, my mind often goes back to the things that we were not only allowed to do but actually encouraged to take part in. I remember those little hard back razor blades they used to hand out in class. No one ever seemed to injure or cut themselves as we whittled bits of cardboard or sliced up newspaper on class projects.
The school gym was a deathtrap. We used to leap on and off open backed buses never caring if the vehicle had actually stopped, no one told you off, no one ever said be careful.
We used to go up SuttonPark< and Ward End to hire paddle boats, again, no one questioned the fact we were only about 10, the only thing that really counted was our ability to pay. Just imagine a 10 year old kid trying to take a boat out these days.
No adults told us off either for playing in derelict houses. We were encouraged to make go karts that had no brakes or ways of stopping. And these we’d race down the hill weaving in and out of cars.
The toys we made were lethal, slate tipped spears, tack guns, bows that would drive an arrow 6 inches through you. We owned air rifles and had only one roller skate.
We ate that much sugar in the guise of Kali that we ran round like headless chickens. Chips were my staple diet yet I had the body of a Bolivian racing snake. Our houses were either burning hot or freezing cold, and sometimes so damp our clothing steamed when we put them on.
We built bonfires and the kid in charge was only around 13. We used to walk the canals and explore tunnels, we’d play over the brickworks at Landor Street. We’d stand on the railway lines as trains roared past us at 60 mph only feet away.
We used to play on building sites and I remember HumberTower and the wheel and rope which we used to swing side to side along the block.
We jumped from 3rd storey windows into a pile of builder’s sand and buried ourselves up to the waist. We dug tunnels which we booby trapped then forgot where we’d laid them.
But we made it through, you see it was life and being an adult that wore us down, not our childhood, never our childhood.
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Post by bernie120g on Feb 7, 2013 12:37:26 GMT
That all sounds familiar Ray and like the man said that's what's different today no community and too many petty rules
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Post by jhedger on Feb 7, 2013 14:09:20 GMT
Well written and sound philosophy! Jan
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Post by planetmalc on Feb 7, 2013 15:44:17 GMT
This article appeared in the Birmingham Mail on the 13th February, 2013 Memories of Ashted by Les Robinson. Lend me your time machine, Ray - I need a lottery win!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2013 16:56:31 GMT
This article appeared in the Birmingham Mail on the 13th February, 2013 Memories of Ashted by Les Robinson. Lend me your time machine, Ray - I need a lottery win! Oh shucks, always in front of meself [according to the wife !!]
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2013 9:08:52 GMT
Sometimes, it's the little things that make me chuckle most !!
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Post by vince on Feb 10, 2013 22:55:40 GMT
tbh I cant really see what the fuss is about. Leicester council are probably used to finding Richard the Thirds in car parks. Sometimes, it's the little things that make me chuckle most !!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2013 17:10:49 GMT
Just a little self-indulgence. I was out shopping in Worcester today with my Daughter.
I came across this little Austin A35, the owner let me sit in it and asked me if I wanted to have a spin around the car park,
which I did with pleasure. Another long gone era of driving.
Three piccys at 6 second intervals.
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Post by pedro42 on Mar 5, 2013 9:51:57 GMT
Just a little self-indulgence. I was out shopping in Worcester today with my Daughter.
I came across this little Austin A35, the owner let me sit in it and asked me if I wanted to have a spin around the car park,
which I did with pleasure. Another long gone era of driving.
Three piccys at 6 second intervals.Brilliant Ray.
What a handsome model. The car doesn't look too bad either!
Hope you enjoyed yourself. Looks like a de-luxe version with headlamp covers/deflectors and wing mirrors (probably retro-fitted?). Love the little side lights on top of the wings.
My Dad had an A35 van which he parked overnight and at weekends in a rented garage half way up Betram road on the LHS where there was a bit of waste land and a few basic garages.. He cut windows in the side of the van for us kids to look out of. Then he was annoyed when he realised that he'd have to pay higher road tax!! On the photo showing the interior of the car, is that the the windscreen wiper control or the indicator switch on top of the dash board?
I can still remember the smell of the seats!!
Wasn't the A35 the precursor for the Mini? It had the same "A"-series engine as the Mini (and the Austin 7 & Austin Ruby before it)
Pete
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Post by vince on Mar 5, 2013 10:21:16 GMT
Just a little self-indulgence. I was out shopping in Worcester today with my Daughter.
I came across this little Austin A35, the owner let me sit in it and asked me if I wanted to have a spin around the car park,
which I did with pleasure. Another long gone era of driving.
Three piccys at 6 second intervals.Brilliant Ray.
What a handsome model. The car doesn't look too bad either!
Hope you enjoyed yourself. Looks like a de-luxe version with headlamp covers/deflectors and wing mirrors (probably retro-fitted?). Love the little side lights on top of the wings.
My Dad had an A35 van which he parked overnight and at weekends in a rented garage half way up Betram road on the LHS where there was a bit of waste land and a few basic garages.. He cut windows in the side of the van for us kids to look out of. Then he was annoyed when he realised that he'd have to pay higher road tax!! On the photo showing the interior of the car, is that the the windscreen wiper control or the indicator switch on top of the dash board?
I can still remember the smell of the seats!!
Wasn't the A35 the precursor for the Mini? It had the same "A"-series engine as the Mini (and the Austin 7 & Austin Ruby before it)
Pete
The A series engine went into all of Austin Morris Wolseley Riley etc small cars including Minis etc for years. A real triumph of British engineering. Then in their infinite wisdom, I think BMC sold the design to Datsun, who made them for their small cars like the Datsun Cherry, which they sold here, in their millions. Meanwhile, we fitted Honda engines in BL cars, although I could be slightly wrong about that. Funny old world.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2013 10:28:18 GMT
Just a little self-indulgence. I was out shopping in Worcester today with my Daughter.
I came across this little Austin A35, the owner let me sit in it and asked me if I wanted to have a spin around the car park,
which I did with pleasure. Another long gone era of driving.
Three piccys at 6 second intervals.Brilliant Ray.
What a handsome model. The car doesn't look too bad either!
Hope you enjoyed yourself. Looks like a de-luxe version with headlamp covers/deflectors and wing mirrors (probably retro-fitted?). Love the little side lights on top of the wings.
My Dad had an A35 van which he parked overnight and at weekends in a rented garage half way up Betram road on the LHS where there was a bit of waste land and a few basic garages.. He cut windows in the side of the van for us kids to look out of. Then he was annoyed when he realised that he'd have to pay higher road tax!! On the photo showing the interior of the car, is that the the windscreen wiper control or the indicator switch on top of the dash board?
I can still remember the smell of the seats!!
Wasn't the A35 the precursor for the Mini? It had the same "A"-series engine as the Mini (and the Austin 7 & Austin Ruby before it)
Pete
Hi Pete,
Yea, it was a neat little car with only 32888 miles on the clock !
The switch on the dash was the indicator.
And as I remembered, the key-barrel had the key numbered stamped on it, in case you lost the key I suppose, but realy, all you needed was a screw driver to turn the barrel.....
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Post by vince on Mar 5, 2013 14:53:13 GMT
Brilliant Ray.
What a handsome model. The car doesn't look too bad either!
Hope you enjoyed yourself. Looks like a de-luxe version with headlamp covers/deflectors and wing mirrors (probably retro-fitted?). Love the little side lights on top of the wings.
My Dad had an A35 van which he parked overnight and at weekends in a rented garage half way up Betram road on the LHS where there was a bit of waste land and a few basic garages.. He cut windows in the side of the van for us kids to look out of. Then he was annoyed when he realised that he'd have to pay higher road tax!! On the photo showing the interior of the car, is that the the windscreen wiper control or the indicator switch on top of the dash board?
I can still remember the smell of the seats!!
Wasn't the A35 the precursor for the Mini? It had the same "A"-series engine as the Mini (and the Austin 7 & Austin Ruby before it)
Pete
Hi Pete,
Yea, it was a neat little car with only 32888 miles on the clock !
The switch on the dash was the indicator.
And as I remembered, the key-barrel had the key numbered stamped on it, in case you lost the key I suppose, but realy, all you needed was a screw driver to turn the barrel.....
And the same key number fitted the door. Most petrl stations used to have a rack of FP and FS numbered keys for sale. Dont spose it mattered much though, cars were easy to steal anyway back then.
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Post by planetmalc on Mar 8, 2013 17:33:23 GMT
Bob Palfrey had one of these, probably not the deluxe model but it did have a dark blue go-faster stripe on its light blue sides. The clock went up to 80mph - and it could do it! I remember going up to Blackpool in it on a Bank Holiday in 1964, with Graham 'Tat' Attwood and Micky, a couple of Gondola regulars. On the way up, we palled up with a couple of Stafford girls who were in a pretty new mini and were racing them, flat out, up the motorway, and both cars had the same top speed. The A35 may have looked a bit homely, but it could shift!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 19:19:05 GMT
Bob Palfrey had one of these, probably not the deluxe model but it did have a dark blue go-faster stripe on its light blue sides. The clock went up to 80mph - and it could do it! I remember going up to Blackpool in it on a Bank Holiday in 1964, with Graham 'Tat' Attwood and Micky, a couple of Gondola regulars. On the way up, we palled up with a couple of Stafford girls who were in a pretty new mini and were racing them, flat out, up the motorway, and both cars had the same top speed. The A35 may have looked a bit homely, but it could shift! Hi Malc,
The one thing that shook me when I got in was the room, or lack of it! But boy did the years roll back.... Ray.
ps - will send you a pm over the week-end.
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