John Smith: Keeping Up With The Smiths

John Smith, from Brisbane, Australia, got in touch. He was born in Balsall Heath in 1947, lived at 144 Clifton Road and attended Clifton Road School. Here is what he had to say... I was born in 1947, the youngest of 6 boys born to Mary and Harry Smith who lived at 144 Clifton Rd, Balsall Heath. I went to Clifton Rd School and then to Lordswood Boys Technical in Harborne. Easy recollections are living in a small house with too few bedrooms and six boys having to top and tail in bed. Initially we lived 9/144 at the end of the alley in a house backing onto a 'bombed building site' which was basically our playing area. There were a number of bomb shelters around that we also 'set up camp' in. I think mum was the unofficial midwife. We had six male cousins 'the Cooks', also living in Clifton Rd. The Gladstone Arms was the local pub and The Railway Arms at the top end of Clifton Rd. Playing in the road outside the pubs, while parents were inside, was the norm occasionally getting a lemonade and a packet of Smith's Crisps. At five years old I was actually run over by a car after being chased into the road. I think that drinkers from the Gladstone Arms actually lifted the car up so one of my brothers could pull me out from underneath. I ended up in Birmingham Accident Hospital with some broken bones and a head injury but no lasting damage.
The Alhambra was a popular picture house and another cinema near a park (Little Park?) I remember horse drawn milkcarts and the rag and bone man. The coronation of Queen Elizabet was celebrated with a street party and a bus ride. I think at different times there were various tensions in the street focussed on whoever were the latest 'newcomers' be it Irish, West Indian, or Pakistani. The 'teddy boy' era and gangs created a significant level of violence with gang fights in the park. There were a number of eccentric characters, one I think unkindly called Frank the Tramp, the other Mad Mary who swept the pavements.