RE: BACK TO BACKS - 2

#16 by Deleted User , Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:03 am

Interesting pics Lyn,can remember visting an aunt in Ladywood who lived in a back to back and the frontage of that house is a lot grander than the depressing place of my memory.

#17 by Voltman , Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:44 am

Denise, I think were upper class back to backs. They even had a sweet shop.

#18 by Sheldonboy , Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:08 pm

I visited a Back to Back near Saltley Gasworks,in the sixties near Saltley Engine sheds. To get to it you had to go down a narrow alley, which stank of last nights beer. Into a yard with about four ( I think ) houses there. They were very small, as I remember there were about eight people living there. It was a spotless place and very comfortable. It just took me about two hours to find it. SB

#19 by Deleted User , Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:55 pm

You would find many people no matter how poor would be spotlessly clean......a matter of pride.

#20 by astoness , Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:01 pm

hi denise...depending on the ages of the back to backs some were better than others..i think in ladywood and in aston where i was born the houses were not built that well and they used cheap materials and basically just threw them up..but having said that although they didnt have much most folk took pride in what they did have...i had ancestors in ladywood from the 1840s and lord knows what the conditions were like for them and 100 years later mainly due to bad sanitaion and bad diet etc folk were still dropping like 9 pins from disease..i lost 3 out of my 4 grandparents all just in their 40s to TB...the one who did survive was our moms mom and she lived to the ripe old age of almost 101...i have seen lots of footage of the old back to backs and i often think how did anyone survive at all...the one dvd i watched shot in the early 1930s actually reduced me to tears such was the squalor...to appreciate what back to backs were like you really have to pay a visit as the inside of the houses tells a far better story than the outside which of course have had to undergo a lot of restoration.....

lyn

#21 by Deleted User , Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:10 pm

Lyn,I had to vist the childrens hospital each week so have many memories of those houses as my aunt lived in that area,we always used to go to vist after.

It could make you weep what some people had to endure and for some odd reason I have had no desire to vist those houses.Daft I know but it may be history for some but for me I can close my eyes and it is yesterday and I do not particularly like the memory.Daft old narna int I ?

#22 by astoness , Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:32 pm

denise its not daft at all..far from it as i think it all depends on our personal experiences..i have spoken to many people in their 70s and 80s who would not go back to those days for anything and on the other hand those who would love to go back to them...although born in a back to back where our mom.dad. me and my brother shared one bedroom and my nan had the other i can only remember how clean and spotless it was and the same went for the houses of 3 other relatives who also lived in the same street....the one smell that will live with me forever was the lavender furniture polish..came in a round tin and every sunday morning before dinner the house would be given a good bottoming as they called it..and the radio was always on with the adults listening to the archers..think i have said before that i was five we then moved from paddington to villa st and i reckon that house was in worse condition than our nans was but extra space was needed for the ever growing family..six children in all but i count myself very lucky to have had such a happy childhood even though we didnt have a lot....happy days...

lyn

#23 by Deleted User , Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:47 pm

It was where the love was Lyn .

My childhood memories are of sunny weekends in the garden and mums back kitchen and like you the radio always on.Christmas,we never had much the rest of the year but mum always made it magical,god knows how bless her.Gave me a wonderful backbone to my life.Always surrounded by love and for that I feel blessed.

#24 by astoness , Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:16 pm

same here denise..we were lucky wernt we....dont know if you are interested but if you google ASTONBROOK THROUGH ASTON MANOR click on street index then click on paddington st i have written a short account of paddington st with pics of me as a youngster and also some of our mom dad and nan..thats the one who lived almost 101 years...she was a toughie thats for sure....had to be to raise 3 young girls by herself..

lyn

#25 by Deleted User , Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:27 pm

I will have a look Lyn.

Sounds like you had a wonderful mum.

#26 by astoness , Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:49 pm

i did denise..had to say goodbye to her last november but i still have me dad...bless him.. oh just before i go we always went to rhyl for our holidays....happy days there too....thanks denise ive enjoyed the chat..maybe we should start a thread for childhood memories or have we already got one lol

lyn

#27 by Sheldonboy , Tue Jun 29, 2010 6:44 am

I have really enjoyed your back to back posts, I grew up in a council house. It was a good place to be in the 50s and 60s.

#28 by signman ( deleted ) , Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:23 am

My father died when I was 7, and I was the eldest of 4 , 3 boys and a girl who was only 1.
My mother did washing for a lot of the neighbours to earn a few extra bob and we never ever went hungry, she made most of our clothes
and we always had 2 bob on our birthdays which was a fortune considering the rent was 8/4 (8 shillings and 4 pence) per week we all slept in the same room, because the two top bedrooms (attic) had rotten floorboards and were unused.

#29 by Deleted User , Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:16 am

To lose your Father at such a young age is awful.

Raise a glass to all those hard working mums

#30 by astoness , Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:28 pm

john..your story is similar to so many of those days ..i think the women who for one reason or another were left with very young children to bring up were the salt of the earth..and as you say folk made the most of what clothes they had and neighbours would rally round...not sure if i have posted this before so sorry if i have but i can remember when someone in the street got pregnant our mom would bundle up some baby clothes that were not needed and take them round to mrs jones or whoever....they didnt take offence or say...dont offer me charity...they accepted them for the kindness in which they were given and more often that not our mom would end up with having them back lol..glad you are enjoying this thread SB...i loved the 60s especially the music...still buy and play it now...

lyn

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