Moseley B13 Magazine July 2021 Issue 520

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B13 MAGAZINE

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JULY 2021 ISSUE 520

C O V D N A L A CE C LO IN 3

MOSELEY

THE RETURN OF

MOSELEY

FESTIVAL MOSELEY MUNCH

FOOD TO SUMMER IN

MEMORIES OF MOSELEY RAILWAY STATION

SUMMER TREASURE HUNTING

GEOCACHING IN MOSELEY

PART ONE

A MOSELEY ARTIST

JUDITH FLEETWOOD-WALKER

MOSELEY B13 MAGAZINE

JULY21 EDITOR Mark Baxter (editor@moseleymagazine.co.uk) THE TEAM Ian Cook, David Isgrove, Stephanie Silk, MariaArroja Ferreira, Tipton, Debbie Aldous, Max Jalil, Martin Jeffers, Jobe Baker-Sullivan, Izzy Knowles, Yonatan Yon, Alex Jenkins, Jenny Gwynne, Mitch Schofield DESIGN Andy Wickett (andywickett@gmail.com) CONTRIBUTORS David Spilsbury, Moseley Local History Society, Jane Barry, Rhiannon Simpson, Matisse ThornFinch, John Newson, Chrissie Smith, Judith Fleetwood-Walker BUSINESS MANAGER Martin Jeffers PROOF READER Jane Barry SOCIAL MEDIA Maria Arroja Ferreira TREASURER Leanne Holloway (accounts@moseleyb13.com) ADVERTISING Yonatan Yon DISTRIBUTION Izzy Knowles,Martin Jeffers BOARD David Isgrove (Chair) Stephanie Silk (Editorial) PHOTOGRAPHER Position Vacant COVER IMAGE Tom Radcliffe MAIL Moseley Publishing House Ltd. Moseley B13 Magazine, c/o: Moseley Exchange, 149-153 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JP. ONLINE instagram.com/moseleyb13mag facebook.com/MoseleyB13Magazine twitter.com/MoseleyB13Mag PHONE 0843 289 3665 COMPANY SECRETARY Position Vacant LEGAL STUFF Moseley Publishing House Ltd is a non-profit voluntary run company based in England and Wales. Company No. 07786560.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or part, without express permission.

All material is believed to be correct at the time of going to print.

WORDS FROM THE

EDITOR

Fingers crossed that this new issue finds us celebrating England winning the Euro 2020 final, along with some decent summer weather and a better situation in regards to the pandemic. If your optimism levels are a little depleted of late, I hope we can help to lift them with some inspiring content.

Moseley Festival makes a welcome return (pages 8-11), albeit with a more gentle version to fit in with the obvious limitations of 2021. Jenny takes another Moseley Munch with memories of Maine helping to inspire another mouth-watering recipe to try out this summer (12-14).

We have a whopping six-page history special, kicking off with part one of Chrissie Smith’s Memories of Moseley Railway Station (21-23). Chrissie’s detailed descriptions of life at Station House are an excellent and emotive read as we prepare for the arrival of a new station for our suburb.

Keep believing!

Mark

08 OUTLETS Farmers’ Market (Village Green) plus: A and R News (320 Yardley Wood Road) Aiden McDonnell Hair (56 St Mary's Row) Drinksville (23 Woodbridge Road) Greenhill Garage (89-91 Billesley Lane) Indigo Foods (50-52 St Mary’s Row) Ladypool Cycles (404 Ladypool Road) Maison Mayci (148 Alcester Road) Moseley Post Office (149 Alcester Road) Newslink (3 Alcester Road) Nima Deli (103 Alcester Road) One Stop (117 Billesley Lane) Oxfam Books and Music (101 Alcester Road) Palmyra (13 St Mary's Row), Select & Save (174-176 Alcester Road) Spend and Save (211 Swanshurst Lane)

2021 PUBLICATION DATES

ISSUE COPY SALE Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

17 Feb 17 Mar 21 Apr 19 May 16 Jun 14 Jul 18 Aug 15 Sep 20 Oct 17 Nov

27 Feb 27 Mar 24 Apr 29 May 26 Jun 24 Jul 28 Aug 25 Sep 30 Oct 27 Nov

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NO.79

12 INTHIS ISSUE 04

NEWSHOUND

08

MOSELEY FESTIVAL

10

FESTIVAL FASHION

12

MOSELEY MUNCH!

15

MOSELEY MINUTE

16

MUSIC REVIEW

18

TREASURE HUNTING

20

RETIREMENT

21

MOSELEY RAILWAY STATION

24

MOSELEY HISTORY

26

MOSELEY MEMORIES

28

A MOSELEY ARTIST

31

POEM PAGE

28

BY MARK BAXTER

NEWSHOUND

Tipton, the B13 Newshound Twitter: @B13Newshound / Instagram: @tiptonb13

DAVENPORTS ISN’T COMING TO MOSELEY

The banner says: “Davenports Coming Soon”. However, in a surprise move, plans to open a pub and small hotel on the site of Moseley’s former HSBC bank have been abandoned.

The Davenports bar which was set to replace the former HSBC bank at 97-99 Alcester Road was due to open this year and be called The Counting House, reflecting the building’s connection with finance, which ended when the HSBC bank closed in 2016.

However, the plans for a small hotel and bar have now been scrapped, as a statement from a PR agency speaking on Davenports’ behalf made clear.

The statement said: “Like so many businesses, plans have changed and altered course throughout, and as a result of Covid.

The Moseley site no longer fits within our strategy, so we are looking to sell what would be a prime spot for many other types of businesses.

“That said, we have recently opened a pub restaurant in Stratford upon Avon which despite early days, has been very popular with residents and visitors to the area.”

The empty prime site Moseley accommodation at 97-99 Alcester Road is now being advertised by estate agents Stephens McBride who say: “We are of the opinion that the premises would be suitable to be utilised on the basis of a coffee house/ wine bar/ restaurant/ retail.”

Those interested in the site should contact Robert Taylor, BSc, MRICS: 0121 706 7766 robert@ smbsurveyors.com

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MOSELEY IN BLOOM TO HOLD ANOTHER POP-UP PLANT SALE ON 4 JULY Moseley in Bloom is holding another Pop-up Plant and Garden Paraphernalia Sale on Sunday 4 July, 2-4pm, at 50 St Agnes Road, B13 9PN. Prior to the sale, donations of plants, seedlings and paraphernalia can be dropped off at 15 Thornley Close, B13 9UQ. They can also be brought on the day to 50 St Agnes Road. Note – donations must be portable. Further information is available from doctorcarolmiller@gmail.com .

Despite the lockdown Moseley in Bloom volunteers continue to work on projects to make Moseley cleaner and greener. These include organising planters and hanging baskets in the streets, working with schools and running the ever-popular Open Gardens Weekend, as well as collaborating with businesses, council officials and other community groups to enhance the environment.

Although reduced, many of the group’s activities have continued during the pandemic.

You may have noticed that last year, during the lockdown, Moseley in Bloom (MiB) produced a regular newsletter to keep in touch with the community. The group has also been responsible for planting up and maintaining the ‘modal filters’ that form part of the Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme in Moseley.

Nathan Dunn, writer and performer In the first few years of its existence, MiB won seven Gold Awards in the Heart of England in Bloom campaign and was eight times designated Best in the Urban Communities category. MiB was also awarded two Silver Gilts and a Silver in the RHS National Britain in Bloom awards.

Many readers will remember the planting of the area round the old Meteor car showroom (now Marks & Spencer) for which, in 2009, MiB was awarded a Certificate of Merit. Although the group no longer enters for these awards, MiB still tries to maintain the standards. All of these activities have to be funded and, as a charity, Moseley in Bloom has to raise money each year to support its achievements. Income comes from sponsorship and fund-raising, including the Open Gardens event and other sales opportunities. Over the past two years, Pop-up Plant Sales have been a great success.

Local gardeners contribute spare plants and unwanted gardening materials and local residents pay what they can at the sales.

In 2020 three sales raised around £700, and the first sale in 2021 raised just over that amount. Group members hope to see Moseley residents at the next sale on 4 July when that sum may, with luck, be exceeded!

Payments can be by cash, credit card or phone-pay and the funds raised will go towards planting projects in public spaces around Moseley. For further information please see https://www.moseleyinbloom.org.uk

BRINGING ART TO EMPTY PROPERTIES IN MOSELEY Have you seen the artwork in the old Boots shop window? The new artwork has been installed this week by local Moseley artists Helena de Reybekill and Martin McNally: do take a look if you’re passing.

Moseley Community Development Trust is working with local landlords to try to bring some art to Moseley this summer to brighten up central Moseley, particularly in some of the empty properties.

If you’re a local artist or group interested in displaying your artwork in Moseley, please contact Moseley Exchange (0121 449 8585), who will ask you to fill in a short form, and will get in touch when an opportunity arises.

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LEAF LOVERS BIKE CAFÉ OPENS

In case you haven’t noticed, a new café has opened next to the Dark Horse.

Leaf Lovers Bike Café is saying a big welcome to Moseley and a thank you to everyone who has popped in so far at 145 Alcester Road on the site previously o c c u p i e d by Little Blackwood, and before that, Cheval Blanc.

Leaf Lovers Bike Café say they are open daily from 8am - 8pm, serving up their signature coffee, vegan pastries, and brunch items. Definitely worth a visit.

SCHOOL PAYS TRIBUTE TO EX-PARK HILL PUPIL AFTER HOLIDAY DEATH Tributes have been paid to a schoolgirl who had a 'quirky sense of humour and a talent for kindness towards others' following her tragic death on holiday earlier this year. A JustGiving Page has already raised more than £1,500 for charity.

Safia Lardner, from Moseley, was on her Easter half-term break when she fell from a cliff at Sandy Bay, near the Devon Cliffs Holiday Park, in Exmouth, Devon, on April 16.

The 13-year-old was taken by ambulance to hospital where her death was confirmed, an inquest was told.

The teenager's former school, Park Hill Primary School, in Moseley, said they were "very sad to learn of the death of Safia Lardner". In a touching tribute, the school posted on its website: "Safia was a much-loved Park Hill pupil of whom many of our staff have very fond memories. She was a thoughtful girl, with a quirky sense of humour and a talent for kindness towards others. We will all miss her. As Safia enjoyed caring for birds, we are raising money for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in her memory."

Solihull-born Safia was holidaying with her parents in the popular holiday hotspot.

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed at the time that the death was not being treated as suspicious. An inquest has just been opened with Senior Coroner for Exeter and Greater Devon, Philip Spinney, confirming he was waiting on the results of a post-mortem examination to establish a cause of death. A full hearing is due to take place in January next year.

The JustGiving page was set up by the Moseley school in Safia's memory. To donate go to https://tinyurl.com/3mfe4erc ‘CUPPA AND A CHAT’ IS BACK! Enjoy small-group conversation, nature and a friendly cuppa with ‘Cuppa and a Chat’, held in Moseley Park and Pool from 1 to 3 pm weekly on Mondays, (excluding bank holidays). Please book by emailing: rhiannon@moseleyexchange.com . If you have any questions, feel free to call 07926 999442.

Ian Cook

COMMUNITY

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Just to Say Dear Editor, I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed reading Jenny Gwynne's ‘Moseley Munch’ foodie articles.

When I took full advantage of her recipe and made Wild Garlic Risotto (published in the issue from May) for lunch with friends it went down an absolute treat. Really delicious it was and the fragrance lingered enticingly until every last morsel was eaten.

Turned out it was also tasty cold!

I love the wild garlic in my garden.

Even more so now I know how to cook with it.

Cheers!

Tessa Lowe

MOSELEY

B13

MAGAZINE MEMORIES! August 2015: Moseley B13 Magazine and Tipton, our Newshound, featured in La Nuova Sardegna, the national newspaper of Sardinia.

The article told the tale of Tipton’s journey from the Italian island to the UK - and becoming the B13 Newshound! Tipton had been abandoned as a puppy in the town of Castelsardo, Sardinia.

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THE RETURN OF M The streets of Moseley will also be brighter, as they’ll be lined with community-made bunting. Local children and community groups have been getting creative, and nifty lockdown sewers have stitched apart but together.

They’re creating something to bring the festival vibes alive, which can be used and borrowed for future events.

Back in March 2020, we’d just started the early stages of planning the Moseley Festival, and like everyone, we didn’t know quite what lurked around the corner.

Fifteen months later, we’re beginning to emerge from our individual experiences and come to learn how things have changed. While we still won’t be able to have the full Moseley Festival experience (and crowds!), the small team behind the festival are keen to put on a gentle programme of events for the Moseley

community to welcome in the summer holidays.

With shifts in guidelines and new-found skills in keeping events COVID-safe we’ve moved the festival back a few weeks. You can find exhibitions, music, art and community shenanigans across the weekend of 23 -25 July. We’re embracing the outdoors, to make things safer, and keeping our fingers crossed for fine weather to welcome a host of interesting events and surprises.

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Moseley Together and Moseley Road Baths have been collaborating with local artists Jane Thakoordin, Margaret Murray, Owen de Visser and Taneisha Deans to collect and bring to life lockdown stories of people who’ve been volunteering, and also those who were advised to shield.

Playing with ideas of being vulnerable but also valuable, expect to find photography, textiles and illustrations popping up in venues around Moseley accompanied by heartfelt stories of the past 16 months.

Friday 23 July will see a Midsummer Fashion show take place in Moseley Park, where local fashionistas can enjoy an outdoor catwalk show embracing local shops and Brum-based brands.

There’ll be stalls so visitors can buy items that take their fancy. In keeping with eco pledges, we’re also hosting a swap shop at the event, so now’s the time to have a delve into those wardrobes and have a seasonal update without the carbon footprint.

MOSELEY FESTIVAL Local charity Moseley Misfits are dedicated musicians with a community core. They’ve expanded their sessions from a make-yourown band to a community choir and capo guitar group.

Hear all the good stuff they’ve been hosting for the last year, keeping people connected and in tune with a free Sunday afternoon concert in Moseley Park.

Visitors can also make a whole evening of it and enjoy dinner or drinks in one of our many high street eateries or bars!

On the Saturday, perhaps after a tasty local brunch, we’re inviting people to experience a treasure hunt at the Chantry Road bric-à-brac yardsale from 10am-1pm.

Finally, on Sunday, you’ll also be able to join local reveller and crisp fan Craig Pullen for a quiz with a difference with Trivial Matters, rustle the grey matter and have a hoot all at the same time! Evening of Sunday 25 July, Patrick

Kavanaghs.

While we hope restrictions will be eased by then, please be assured that we’ll be taking all the necessary steps to ensure we’re following the latest government guidance to keep people safe.

If you’d like to add to our festival line-up or to volunteer, please contact Rhiannon@moseleyexchange. com on 07926 999442.

For up-to-date information please follow Moseley Festival on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Rhiannon Simpson

On the same day, Moseley Summer Fête in Moseley Park will be free to attend from 12-3pm and will include over 35 stalls of homemade wares and community groups. Expect games and art installations, tombola, ice creams and of course cake and tea from the Women’s Institute.

As we enter the summer holidays, we’re inviting families to join in the Summer of Play pledge and head down to Highbury Orchard and Highbury Estate to explore free play activities from local community groups and ignite the healing power of nature and connection. Sunday 25 July, 1-4pm, free.

Newshound at Moseley Festival, 2019 9

FESTIVAL FASHION

Moseley Festival’s first fashion show highlighting local shops, designers, and Birmingham-based brands is being hosted by the wonderful Hannah Priddey.

Fashion-lovers, those looking for inspiration, and those who just want to take a peek are all welcome.

Hannah is originally from the Harborne area and this is her first time volunteering at the Festival. She has chosen to host a fashion show as it is an area she is interested in and she feels Moseley has a lot to showcase. Here’s more on the show after my chat with Hannah...

Out on the town Whilst traversing the streets in and around Moseley, Hannah came across Kingsway Market where she was in awe at the range of products on offer.

She felt the sellers deserved the opportunity to promote these items.

“It encourages individuality. When you shop with retailers on the high street you run the risk of wearing the same thing as someone else, limiting the way you express yourself.

Vintage clothing, thrift shopping and up-cycling allows for everyone to have access to a wider range of clothing, giving them space to express themselves and their individuality.”

Location, Location, Location “I chose the venue because it’s outdoors and I’m certain we’ll take advantage of all the space showcasing the clothing against a unique backdrop. They also adhere to restriction guidelines allowing us all to come together safely.

Moseley Park and Pool is a focal point of Moseley offering a community hub which is a nice space to bring businesses together and showcase them as there’s so much more for people to see.”

She believes and emphasises that “the location is ideal, as it allows for people of all backgrounds to make new connections within a place renowned for its community spirit.

The ethos of sustainability “The local businesses and sellers drive for sustainability by stocking and up-cycling vintage clothing, which encourages people to repurpose clothing.” She believes this is a driving force in helping to cut down the consumption of fast fashion.

Moseley hosts a lot of eco-friendly initiatives with many recycling points and campaigns.

What do you hope to achieve from this event?

Hannah’s goals for the fashion show are that “local sellers, whether they operate online or from bricks and mortar, will gain exposure in Moseley but also across Birmingham and even further.” She hopes that this will “highlight the styles Moseley and surrounding areas such as Kings Heath have to offer” as-well-as “drive Moseley’s reputation as a stylish borough”.

The event: • Free admission and no tickets needed • Anyone can walk the runway (there will be models showcasing different sellers’ items) • There’s no theme – express yourself!

The fashion show will take place from 6:00-8:30 pm on 23 July 2021 at Moseley Park and Pool. The runway will be on the main path down towards the lake with the sides of the path brimming with “local and repurposed decorations”. There will also be stalls where you can make purchases, helping to support local businesses.

Can’t wait to see what Hannah, the host and organiser of Moseley Festival’s ‘Midsummer Fashion Show’ has put together, or maybe you want to trade frocks and other items you’ve amassed during the lockdown in the swap shop?

Come and see at the Moseley Festival!

If you would like to donate some decorations or enquire for more information please contact Hannah at hannahpriddey@hotmail. com Matisse Thorn-Finch

MOSELEY MUNCH

FOODS TO SUMMER IN

Watching someone tackle a giant steamed lobster for the first time is pure theatre.

Waiters rush over and adorn them with plastic bibs, wet wipes and a selection of bizarre cutlery. Witnesses stand by to see them approach the lobster like a circus bear that has just been handed surgical tools. And inevitably, when one operates on an ocean water packed beast, even the most skilled of surgeons will get extremely messy. The process in deconstructing a whole lobster just seems truly insane BUT – this theatre is summer to me.

When I was growing up in New England, lobster was, and is, in abundance. Any childhood memory of camping up in Maine included a ceremonious lobster clam bake and drives to a special spot for a succulent lobster roll. And then there are my favourite memories of making a mess with lobster at our family home with my grandparents. My seafood-loving Norwegian grandfather would get free bags of unwanted lobster bodies from the local shop and he would stand for hours at the kitchen sink plucking and slurping 12

sweet meat out of the minuscule pockets.

On family lobster nights not only would we tackle the meaty bits, but we would take pride in making the affair a fullblown excavation process with no stone unturned, no meat un-sucked.

When most reminisce on utopian summer days, food is almost always at the forefront of the fantasy. The enticing smells from a barbecue, fried fish and cockles by the sea, sweet strawberries plucked straight from the bush, a cold beer, the list can truly go on and on.

This fact has made me pause and ask, “What are summer or warm weather foods like in different parts of the world?”

Summertime means plentiful amounts of produce, the ability to fish and cook outside, warmer weather and the desire to cool down. The resounding themes for summer food all over the globe are “raw, seasonal, sea, fire and ice”.

In China minimal time by heat is key so cold noodles, cold soups and easy stirfries are eaten. Salads, grilled fish and summer rolls with fiery chilli are beloved in Southeast Asia. In India, it is all about lighter curries, easy street food snacks, fresh fruit and yogurt drinks. And it is no surprise that where fresh seafood is in abundance, from salted herring in Russia to rainbow lobster in Madagascar, it is eaten wholeheartedly in warm weather.

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inspired green sauce and a seasonal orzo salad. **Warning- you might want to use this sauce on everything that is humanly possible: it is quite simply amazing.

Grilled flank steak with a Peruvian-inspired green sauce and a seasonal orzo salad Serves 4 For the green sauce: 50 grams coriander, tender stems and leaves 1 garlic clove 1 deseeded jalapeño pepper or other green chilli (or omit if you are anti-spice) 125 grams mayonnaise 1 tbsp fresh lime juice ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil ¼ tsp sea salt ¼ tsp apple cider vinegar Add all of the ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend very well until it creates a light green homogenised sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning and refrigerate.

And then there is the tastiest cooling down agent for your ‘buds’… ice cream.

From gelatos in Italy to kulfi in India, its popularity is omnipresent.

But the biggest attraction and theme in summering seems to come with a full circle feeling of our most rooted of ancient indigenous origins – taking in the pleasures of outdoor communal eating and cooking with fire. South America, Central America, North America, most of Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia, Australia, Africa all have their outdoor cooking methods from the ‘asado’, the BBQ, earth ovens, spits, the grill…. to open-fire food. It is one of the best feelings to partake in a feast of gloriously large amounts of fish and meats that have been cooked with fire and are accompanied by fresh seasonal salads, cold drinks and sauces.

When I think of summer I can feel the warm evening after a day of sun, smell the sweet briny shells, taste the cool white wine and feel the communal family love for our insane dissecting and noshing skills. But, it isn’t the actual items of food, because its bearings run deeper than us and our physical place on the map. Summer is the sensory experience of sharing, and connecting with loved ones on a beautiful day outside, through food.

Here I have made a summering meal of grilled flank steak with a Peruvian-

For the orzo salad: 225 grams orzo (or any other small pasta) 220 grams cherry tomatoes 100 grams fresh corn on the cob cut off the cob (about 1 ear) 1 garlic clove thinly sliced 2 tbsp plus ½ tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided

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4 steaks of your choice (personally I love flank or a bavette) taken out of the refrigerator one hour before grilling.

Rub the steaks with a bit of olive oil and generously season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

I’m not going to tell you how to grill a steak – but I will give some tips: You want your grill or pan smoking hot, and you do not want to touch or move the steak when it first hits the heat until it is time to flip – this will give you the best char.

I have invested in a £11 digital meat thermometer, and it is my best friend.

For medium rare I take the meat off to rest when the internal temperature reads rare (49°C) because the steak will continue to cook when it rests and it will give you a perfect medium rare result.

Please let it rest! Let it rest for at least the duration that you cooked it.

Slice it and serve it with green sauce and the orzo.

100 grams Greek feta 1 thinly sliced spring onion Any green fresh herb such as mint, coriander, thyme to garnish Lime juice and salt to taste Boil a pot of salted water and cook the orzo until done. Drain in a colander then rinse with cold water. Toss it in ½ tsp olive oil and set aside.

In a sauté pan heat ½ tbsp olive oil and add the corn, tossing and cooking until it starts to pop and turn a light brown colour, then plate to the side.

Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and the garlic. Cook tossing until the garlic turns a light brown, then sieve the garlic out.

Add the tomatoes and toss in the oil, cooking them down into blistery pieces.

You may need to squish and tear them a bit with a fork. Take off heat and season with some salt.

Toss the orzo, corn and (if you love garlic) garlic back into the pan and add it to a serving dish. Squeeze a bit of lime juice, mix and salt to taste.

Garnish the orzo with large crumbles of feta, spring onion and a few sprigs of fresh herbs.

This dish is great served immediately at room temperature or it can be refrigerated and served chilled.

Jenny Gwynne Jenny is “The Salty Chilli”, an obsessive cook and food writer who lives in Moseley.

To read more check out her Instagram @thesaltychilli, and her blog www. thesaltychilli.com .

For the steak: 14

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eventually evolved into the heartwarming tale which is now available on Amazon and at Waterstones. The story is aimed at 0-7 year olds but most age groups would appreciate it.

Former Moseley resident Deborah Halter became inspired during lockdown to put pen to paper and write a children’s book. Deborah had moved to rural Henley in Arden before lockdown and whilst living on a farm was charged with the task of caring for a baby lamb called Bon Bon. The story developed and

ROADS OR STREETS?

All roads lead to Rome, proverbially. Hence the Alcester Road and Pershore Road did lead to those towns.

A road was about through movement, you rode down it, so as to get to somewhere.

Streets, however, were in towns and primarily for access to the houses, shops and premises that lined the street. A place for people to interact.

When railway suburbs like Moseley and Kings Heath were built, people escaped the crowded and insanitary

Deborah is currently on a tour of nurseries/ primary schools doing readings of the book and signings for children to take copies home with them. If you are a school that would like to take part please contact the magazine.

A Lamb Called

Bon Bon

Deborah is giving 10 per cent of the proceeds of the book to the NHS so your support would be very much appreciated.

You can purchase the reading book and a colouring book from Amazon and it is also available as a Kindle e-book with or without Audible. streets of the old town and it was decided to call everything “roads”. This created a confusion that has continued to this day: is your road actually a street? Is it for the people who live there, or for through traffic?

Of course, almost no one had a private car in the 19th century. The new “roads” in Moseley were built wide enough for horse-drawn carts to deliver milk and coal to the houses; also for street trees to cast shade. It worked, and it produced an attractive residential street scene.

to Alcester and other towns were linked to the trafficgenerating motorway system.

Worcestershire was set to drive to and from the city, morning and evening. All of our original streetscape was “improved”, tarmacked over and asked to do the impossible, to become “Car City”.

For a few months in 2020, the COVID virus delivered much lower traffic levels.

We heard birds singing and chatted to neighbours from a safe two-metre distance.

Everyone was temporarily living in a low traffic No-one foresaw the demand neighbourhood. Maybe we for every family to own a are returning to normal, but car, then for every adult is normal actually right? Does person to drive and park. The it work? Which is it to be for trams had been removed, the 2020s and 30s: roads or along with the suburban rail streets? stations, and most people gave up cycling. The roads John Newson 15

MUSIC REVIEW – “WHAT TIME IT IS” horns create a classic homophonic build, complete with some lovely dissonant clashes, adding a bonus percussive timbre to the track.

Loz also builds up tension with gorgeous crunchy Nile Rogers-style 7ths to give it that disco drive, major 9ths in the keyboard and guitar respectively to ‘cool’ it before the track gets too hot to handle.

My favourite line would have to be “It’s time to dance like there’s nobody else in the room”, a slightly more verbose version of those kitsch signs you get from B&M that say “dance like nobody’s watching, sing like nobody’s listening”, which my mum loves to hang around the house. Thanks to the isolation brought on

by Covid-19, I am very used to dancing with nobody else in my room – except my housemate, of course, who is busy in the corner absolutely groovin’ out to Loz’s track. “Daaaaamn!”

Reviewing a rather racy number from Loz Rabone, ‘What Time It Is’, isn’t a parody of Chico from The X Factor’s 2006 hit 'It’s Chico Time' – it’s a way more suave, funk-inspired tune, with Loz ably producing the entire track himself. The best way to describe one’s reaction to this three-minute love-inspired funk track is in the laconic words of my housemate, who was sitting next to me and caught about two seconds of the instrumental section.

‘What Time It Is’ was released May 12th “Damn!” he said, in a “that’s so god-damn 2021 by Loz Rabone funky!” sort of way. It’s fair to say that Loz https://www.lozmusic.com/ has been added to my housemate’s Spotify playlist.

Loz is singer–guitarist, who boasts an Jobe Baker-Sullivan impressive 500 cover songs in his normal repertoire, from 1960s to present day, and 2020 was clearly going to be a busy one for him, entertaining clients in pubs and clubs around the Midlands. What a blessing it is then that he converted those weekends not-gigging into weekends creating, so gifting us with new music.

Loz employs all the means necessary to produce a catchy disco track, complete with keyboard horns, bass, drums, guitars and piano – and Loz’s own sultry tones, doubled and harmonized for maximum effect. He can be forgiven his use of keyboard brass, seeing how difficult it is to get a brass section into a room in Covid-stricken measures, as well as the fact that his execution is just so tight. The 16

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STAR FOR STEVE ‘Steve was born in Harborne in 1941 and in July will celebrate his 80th birthday. He still lives in Birmingham and has devoted his many talents to the city, including years of fundraising for causes including Birmingham Children's Hospital.

‘When you consider the impact Steve has had on this rock city, one of the greatest in the world, it is strange to many, that his star on Birmingham's Broad Street isn't already there.’

Jim the Hat and his friends are gathering signatures in Moseley, including at the Moseleyites Jim the Hat and John Brocklesby Farmers’ Market. Or you can sign it online are calling on Westside BID (Business here: Improvement District) to include a star for Brummie legend Steve Gibbons in the Broad Street Walk of Fame. https://www.change.org/p/walk-of-starsThey have launched a petition highlighting committee-grant-steve-gibbons-a-star-on-thethe star’s charity work and amazing career, birmingham-walk-of-fame spanning over 60 years, and say a star would be a fitting recognition of Steve’s contribution to his home city – especially as in July, Steve Izzy Knowles celebrates his 80th birthday.

The petition states: 'His achievements are too numerous to list but began with the legendary 1960s band, The Ugly's, this eventually leading to the Steve Gibbons Band. In the 1970s Steve managed to define the essence of rock music at that time.

With Steve's truly great vocals and his brilliant songwriting ability, and a world class band to boot, Steve's music blew audiences away, and attracted the very best musicians and vocalists, to be inspired by what he and the band delivered. His audiences often included some of the true greats, including Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne and Noddy Holder, to name but a few, the echoes of which still reverberate today.

‘Steve went on to tour the United States with The Who, and then the world on his own account. He continues to bring his music to fans old and new to the present day. Having said all of that, his greatest talent is his grin!

17

SUMMER FAMILY TREASURE HUNTING THAT DOESN'T COST A THING! FREE Summer family adventures? Surely not?

Some can be found simply, just by being given their GPS location within a metre or so – and then you have to look and find. Others give clues to a final GPS location or by leading you through a trail. For example, there’s a great ‘Middle Earth Trail’ running down the River Cole near Sarehole Mill.

What do these have in common – Muggles / Middle Earth Trail / Moseley Dovecot / Highbury Park?

The answer? Challenge, fresh air and fantastic treasure hunts wherever you are in the UK or abroad (if you can get there). And

Sometimes, they disappear over time: Ten years ago, I knew there was a location on the Green in Moseley near the bus stop. But could I find it??? For five months, before every Farmers’ Market when there was no-one around (no Muggles watching), I’d look for it.

Eventually I found it – a very small magnetic cylinder that looked like part of the railing that it was stuck to, obscured by the hedge. Inside there was a small paper strip with another location – which took me to Highbury Park and a tree within whose roots I found the

Found it - geocaching

who doesn’t like a treasure hunt?

I suggest you don’t read any more if you dislike treasure hunting …

National Trust geocache search

Across the world there are millions of caches or ‘geocaches’, small waterproof treasure boxes/jars hidden outdoors which could be anywhere – from amongst tree roots to behind old bricks in a wall of a disused railway. Anywhere, in fact, where an enterprising person has found a way to hide one. I even hid one just off a beach in Antigua, West Indies.

treasure cache. Very clever! There are other ones in Highbury Park – and one even near the Dovecot in Moseley.

However, you have to watch out for ‘Muggles’. These are ordinary people who aren’t geocachers. Nothing to do with Harry Potter but it’s fun to call them Muggles if 18

So what do you need?

Time, a sense of fun, a means of using coordinates (East/West and North/South) with either a GPS-enabled device like Garmin – or the app on your phone. A pencil and your own small ‘treasure’ to put in the box.

When I was in Antigua, I left two items with tags which had unique tracking numbers enabling me to track them across the world. One was a Lego man – with the tag description “Go West Young Man” – and a Lego horse “Go East”. The Lego man got all the way up into Northeast Canada and the horse to Northern Ireland, before they Geocache2 eventually vanished – presumably becoming you’re a kid! It’s one of the laws of geocaching part of children’s Lego sets. There are also geocaching coins with unique tracking that you never let a Muggle see you find or numbers as well. So if you find one, pick it up, hide a geocache. They might be curious and log it online so the owner knows where it is remove or damage it. and then put it into another cache as far away as possible, logging your deposit.

So how, what, where, who?

Where?

If you google geocaching.com and put in your location, you can see where all the geocaches are in your area. You’ll need to sign up: the basic level is free.

Many National Trust places have geocaches.

Check out https://www.nationaltrust.org. uk/geocaching. It makes a visit far more interesting for the family.

• Next, if you’re game to try, download the geocaching uk app onto your smartphone.

Sign in.

As Countryfile says “The biggest treasure hunt in the world is right on your doorstep.

It’s free, it’s easy and it’s called geocaching.”

• Choose a hidden cache you want to find and enter its co-ordinates/details. This is also called a ‘Waypoint’. There are different levels of difficulty.

Who? Anyone! Try it this summer: and please take some photos and let us know how you got on. Whether you’re by a beach, in a wood or park or up a mountain, there’ll always be one waiting for you to find!

• Now go looking and use your wits to find it. It’ll be within 1-3m of the coordinates.

• Inside is a log book: fill it in and return it to the box.

Have fun as we hopefully gain our freedom!

• Inside will be small ‘trinkets’ which could be anything from a rubber to a Lego piece – you never know. You can take one IF you put something back in yourself. So always have a pencil with you AND something small to put into the box for someone else to have.

David Isgrove

• Return the cache to its hiding place making sure no Muggles are around.

• Log your find on the geocaching site.

Geocaching 2 19

Remember that from 2028 onwards you won’t be entitled to your state pension until you are at least 67.

WHAT WILL MY RETIREMENT LOOK LIKE? 2- How much more do I need on top of the state pension?

Think about what type of lifestyle you want to lead when you stop working and how much hat is going to cost? £1000 per month, £2000 per month. £5000 per month?

When most people are asked how much they need to save for retirement they have no absolutely no idea. According to Loughborough University’s Retirement Living Standards, as many as 77% of people in the UK don’t know how much they should be saving each month or what size of pot they will needto fund the lifestyle they wantwhen they stop working.

For your individual scenario you will need to work out exactly how much you will need but some ball-park figures (according to the Consumers’ Association magazine, Which?) are:

Have you thought about how much money you will need each month when you are no longer working? Hopefully, if you have a mortgage, you will have paid it off by the time you stop working, but what about your other living costs? How much do you need each month to have a comfortable standard of living?

◦ £25,000 per year for a retired couple to live a ‘comfortable’ lifestyle (£19,000 for individuals) to cover basics and luxuries such as eating out, European holidays and hobbies.

For the vast majority of people, the state pension alone will not be enough.

The state pension is currently just over £9,000 per year for an individual with a full (35 years) NIC contributions record.

◦ £40,000 per year for a retired couple to live a ‘luxurious’ lifestyle, one that might include long-haul holidays and a new car every 5 years.

Here are two key questions that you should be asking yourself.

So, it is very likely you will have a gap.

1 – How long will you need your pension income to last for?

What next? – Seek advice A good financial adviser can work with you to establish two further key questions, specific to your circumstances.

None of us know how long we will live but one thing is for sure, on average people are living longer.

You could be retired for a very long time.

◦ How much will I need in my pension pot?

The average life expectancy at birth in the UK is 79 years for males and 83 years for And females. One in five males and one in three females can expect to live to at least 90 (Office ◦ How much should I be putting away each month? for National Statistics - ONS) Regardless of your circumstances, the sooner you determine the answer to these two questions the sooner you can get a plan in place to work towards your ideal retirement.

The ONS also reports that if you have made it to 65, on average you can look forward to another 20 years. So, if you plan on retiring in your mid- to late 60s, it’s reasonable to assume that your pension income will need to last for at least 20 years – and if you plan to retire earlier than that you will need more.

Martin Jeffers, Moseley 07507 634432 20

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MEMORIES OF

MOSELEY RAILWAY

STATION PART ONE in 1867, which became part of the LMS (London Midland and Scottish Railway) in 1923. The station closed in 1941 due to wartime economies and never reopened.

Harry Snary, my grandfather, was station master at Moseley, Kings Heath and Kings Norton, a job he took over after first being asked to take on Birmingham New Street as Class 1 Station Master. He declined that and took the link line between Moor Street Station, Birmingham and Kings Norton Station, otherwise known as the ‘loop’ or ‘link’ line through Camp Hill, Moseley, and Kings Heath, by-passing Birmingham City Centre. Highly significant for me and my brother was the fact that diverted trains around the city meant that we saw Great Western, LMS, and trains from much further afield passing by. A real treat!

Trains normally went to Kidderminster, Worcester and Bristol. My brother and I remember waving to trains – you always did that back then – such as the ‘The Cornishman’ (GWR) to Cornwall.

Station House

Moseley can look forward to a new station in the next couple of years, built on the site of the original station, if all goes to plan. As we prepare for its return, Chrissie Smith looks back at her very personal memories of the lost station as well as the railway station house...

Moseley railway station was part of the Midland Railway Camp Hill line, opened 21

The house was built high up from the station level, on a site at the top of the embankment (at the same level as St Mary's church). I used to pop through a gap in the fence, and search round the edges of the churchyard for wild flowers.

The family stayed in the railway station house at Moseley after the station was closed and Harry retired, until his death in 1975, when it was bequeathed to Iris Gwendoline Crocker, his daughter (my mother). I believe she and family would've liked to have moved into Moseley Station House from their semi-detached house in Kings Heath, where she lived after marrying Alan Codrington Crocker. But she was advised to sell it to the council, as there were plans to build a bypass through its location, and she wouldn't have been able to sell it on the open market with plans for it to be demolished hanging over it. So she was forced to sell it, at less than its market value.

I have many fond memories of Moseley Station House. Mum and I, along with my older brother Roger, used to visit every Saturday. We would take a few bits of shopping and have lunch, which was always a wonderful beef stew, followed by rice pudding . After washing up, the oldies would sit down and have a nap. In wet weather, I would amuse myself indoors playing solitaire or building playing-card houses.

Harry Snary, Moseley station master

Having worked his way up through the ranks in 1906 from a porter in Whissendine, in Rutland, where he was born, Harry then became station master in Gretton, Northamptonshire, a small village now in the shadow of Corby, from 1921, when my mother was born (they were still building Gretton railway station house at the time, so my grandma had to stay with a lady in Gretton village; I don't know where Grandad stayed, possibly the pub!). When he was offered the post at Moseley he moved with his family to Moseley Village, where they took up residence in Railway Station House, some time in the late 1920s/1930s. He used to tell tales about the railways in the Great Depression. My mother remembered travelling up by train from Gretton with her dog, border collie Rex, and cat, Blackie. The house was substantial, built to the requirements of the railway. Several railway station houses were exactly the same, including Gretton and Moseley, so much so that furniture etc. was moved into the same position!

Mum Iris Crocker with border collie Rex outside Station House.

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Most of the engine drivers knew Harry, and sometimes used to drop lumps of steam coal off, for him and his family to use on the fire in the house. That was the only form of heating in the house. And steam coal was the best! There was an open fire in the living room, with a kettle stand on the left, and bread oven on one side, plus a cupboard to the right of it, which would be where my grandma, Agnes (aka Aggie) would leave her bread dough to rise in a panchion (which I still have).

Blackie the cat could often be found in this cupboard, a nice warm place to curl upon a pile of newspapers.

The approach to the front door along a path guarded by a holly (lollipop-shaped) tree on either side of the path. Inside was the front room, which was never used, kept for best if ever there was a visitor, containing a china cabinet, with all the treasures including two ostrich eggs which Harry brought back from Aden, where he served in World War 1 (as well as on the Western Front as one of the first ever Royal Flying Corps wireless operators).

The living room contained the fireplace, easy chairs, and grandma's treasured Singer treadle sewing machine. There was also the TV (one of the first) and a large dark wood sideboard with integral mirror and shelves. Off the living room was the kitchen which was a long narrow room, very cold in winter, with original butler sink, wooden draining boards, and a ceiling-mounted wooden airer, a pulley maid, to dry clothes on. There was a small very cold pantry with meat safe, and a small washhouse (which was the same size as the pantry) containing a dolly tub (I used to help with the dolly and mangle) Next to the wash house was a toilet, built as part of the house – a rare thing in those days – it might as well have been outside as it was so cold in winter.

In fine weather, I had quite a large plot of garden to run around in. There was a path that led along the top of the embankment to Woodbridge Road, so called because it

used to have a wooden bridge over the railway. It was quite an isolated path with the railway platform level down below on one side and the backs of some terraced houses and gardens on the other (Laburnum Grove), but this was the official route to the house. It was hardly ever used though, unless I was sent to one of the shops on Woodbridge Road. We mostly used the slope from the house to platform level, then cut through a path between the spinney, which was on top of the railway tunnel, and a working men’s club (later to become an outlet for car sales), out onto St Mary's Row, opposite the junction with Oxford Road.

Roger’s first vehicle a Ford Thames 5cwt van which he had in 1965, parked outside station gates showing the steep slope up to Station House.

My mum, Iris, used to catch the train to work. It was handy having a station master for a dad as he would hold the train while she ran down the slope a few minutes late! She too worked for the railway, in the fine Victorian (1838) Curzon Street building with impressive columns at the front (as at Euston station, but not quite as good), near Birmingham city centre.

This was the original Birmingham railway station, which is now a Heritage building.

Chrissie Smith Next month: Wartime, winter days and later years spent at Moseley Station House 23

Brackley Dene, front view, 1898

Between 1876 and 1888, Althans Blackwell (c. 18501929) and his wife, Agnes (1847-1898), lived at 341 Moseley Road. In the four years after that they lived at ‘Monterey’, 11 Park Hill.

In 1892 they moved to ‘Brackley Dene’, 30 Chantry Road (Figs.1-3). These house moves illustrate the upward mobility typical of many living in Moseley in the nineteenth century.

Chantry Road was formed

by W.Taylor Esq. in 1893, and was built up in the 1890s by

a consortium of gentlemen, the Moseley Park and Pool Company. They purchased 14 acres of land around the lake in Moseley Hall Estate to provide a park, and to prevent infilling with inferior housing. The company leaseholders divided the land into generous plots on which to build themselves large houses. Althans Blackwell was a member of the consortium and was able to build Brackley Dene in 1892 on a plot that backed onto the park, the first house built in Chantry Road.

Althans was forty-two years old and his first wife, Agnes forty-five when they moved into Brackley Dene.

The Blackwells – both Birmingham born – were Baptists, but they had to worship at Kings Heath until Moseley Baptist Church was built in 1888 in Oxford Road.

Althans Blackwell paid 6s per quarter in 1876 for the rent of two sittings at Kings Heath Baptist Chapel.

Althans Blackwell married Agnes Reading in 1876.

Brackley Dene, rear view, 1898 24

MOSELEY

HISTORY

THE BLACK

CHANTR She was a partner with her brother, Nathaniel Cracknell Reading, in the family jewellery and chain-making business, a silversmithing and jewellery factory at 186/7 Warstone Lane in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham. On his marriage, Althans took over Agnes’s half of the business.

He had been an accountant clerk there.

Many middle-class Moseley marriages were forged locally or through religious, family, business or social connections. The Blackwells were a middle-class couple with live-in servants. They had one servant when living at 341 Moseley Road in 1881 – Anne Keen, aged twenty-eight; one in 1891 at Park Hill – Marion M Rastall, aged twenty-five; and two in 1901 at Chantry Road – the housemaid, Minnie Eales, aged thirty-three years, and the cook, Alice Breakwell, twenty-four years old.

Althans and Agnes enjoyed a varied social life. A subscription to the Wesleyan Philharmonic Society cost Mrs Blackwell 5s in 1878, season tickets for Mr Stockley’s Orchestral Concerts in 1878 cost 12s and two tickets in 1893 and four in 1893 for the Birmingham www.moseleyb13.com

Y SOCIETY

Y GROUP

KWELLS OF

RY ROAD Choral Society cost £1 8s 0d and £2 16s 0d respectively.

They subscribed to the Birmingham Central Literary Association, which cost 5s in 1879-1880, bought their magazines at 2s 6d, and subscribed to the ‘Ladies Room’ at the Birmingham Library at a cost of 2s in 1897. They attended The Lord Mayor’s Fancy Dress Ball on 22 April, 1881, at which Joseph Chamberlain was dressed in a Cabinet Minister’s Court dress and Miss Chamberlain as a fifteenth-century Burgundian Duchess. They contributed to charitable causes and Agnes subscribed a guinea annually to the Moseley Hall Convalescent Home for Children at Moseley Hall.

In 1897 Althans Blackwell donated 5 guineas to the Lord Mayor’s Portrait Fund honouring Councillor James Smith, who lived at ‘The Dingle’, Wake Green Road, Moseley. Althans Blackwell was the chairman of the committee for the Birmingham Midland Hospital for Skin and Urinary Diseases in 1915.

Althans and Agnes Blackwell were married for twenty-two years but had no children. Agnes died on 26 June 1898 in Bellagio, Italy, aged fifty-one, and was buried there. Death was an ever-present part of life in the nineteenth century and the middle class followed a range of rituals. On 12 October 1893, Agnes Blackwell had bought a ‘Black Plush Mantle’ and a ‘trimmed felt bonnet’ at £7 4s 9d, from Birmingham General Mourning Warehouse.

In 1901, Althans married his second wife, Alice Barnes (1866-1947), seventeen years his junior. She was the sister of the wife of Althans’ brother-in-law, Nathaniel Reading. They had two children, Sybil (19021991) and Eric (1904-1970).

Althans died in 1929, Alice in 1947 and Eric in 1970 whilst on holiday in Italy. Sybil Blackwell lived at ‘Brackley Dene’ until her death in 1991, making a continuous family occupancy of about 100 years. Neither Eric nor Sybil had children. Sybil’s death was front-page news and she was described as a ‘Jewellery Heiress’, who, after personal legacies, left

half her large fortune to the West Midland Baptist Association and the other half to various charities. The sale of the house attracted national attention because the building and its contents were original and reflected the lifestyle of a lost era.

The family were buried in Brandwood End cemetery.

Janet Berry Visit our website for more information on the Blackwell family and Chantry Road (https://moseley-society.org)

Agnes Blackwell

Althans Blackwell 25

Working-class culture had its own local languages, called by middle-class academics ‘slang,’ but often having complex and ancient origins.

Sadly, they are disappearing beneath a flood of international terms, forming a new culture.

The ‘men’ in my title are good starting points.

Mr Sandman

The Sandman is a European mythological figure who appears all over the Continent, and much of The Americas and areas colonised by Europeans.

My own experience was of a beneficent figure who sprinkled sand in our eyes to induce sweet dreams. Elsewhere it was different. In Scandinavia he was vindictive, punishing children for disobeying their parents. Across other areas, he was both rewarding and punishing, but always enforced parental discipline.

He was not just the character in a record, Mr Sandman, Send Me a Dream, on ‘Children’s Favourites’ most Sundays. He goes back

even before his first mention, 1812. Children have always woken in the morning to find gritty bits in the corners of their eyes from dried tears.

Clinkerman I came across Clinkerman as an apprentice at ‘The Austin.’

As trainee engineers, we worked in every department at some time. West Works was where bodies were made from sheet steel, then transferred to South Works for painting, fitting out, and on to the Car Assembly Building, on ‘the airfield,’ where driveable cars were born.

In West Works, I served under a much-respected foreman building the first jig for the ADO15, later known as the fashionable but lossmaking Mini. Behind his back, he was ‘Clinkerman’ and I asked a workmate why. He laughed, “Haven’t you seen the way he’s always got a finger up his nose when deep in thought? Well, in the Black Country, that’s ‘clinker.’”

“You mean like ‘bogeys’?”

MOSELEY M

MESSR CLINKER, B

plans. Suddenly a large piece of clinker dropped on the drawings. He was so engaged in scrutiny that he never noticed their stifled laughter.

Bogeyman

Goya's 'Que viene el Coco' Here Comes The Bogeyman The Boogeyman is Coming circa 1797

Although ‘bogeys’ did “Yes, that’s Brummie for bits occasionally feature in my childhood, it was the of ‘clinker.’”

Bogeyman we knew best.

Then he told me of Versions occur all over the something that happened Indo-European language area, once. Clinkerman was a going back over 1500 years. brilliant practical engineer.

My only encounter with a When designers were planning production of a new bogeyman was pre-school.

My brother Alan and I shared model, they didn’t summon a double bed in the middle him to their offices in South bedroom. The door was Works, but trekked over to left open, so Mom could West. Body assembly jigs come if we cried out. On were built on large cast-iron this occasion, I woke in a bases for stability. One day, pre-dawn light and became neatly suited designers were hunched around Clinkerman, aware of two giant bogeymen looming over us. I felt fear as he contemplated their 26

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MEMORIES

RS SAND, BOGEY & CO but didn’t cry out and stared at them. Gradually I noticed they were not moving.

Realisation crept up: they were our raincoats hanging on the back of the door!

Throw the Belt Off! Dad left the railways to get away from never-ending shifts and became a security guard at a plastics moulding factory in Mary Street, Balsall Heath, where Mom was an expert ‘flasher.’ She was so good at trimming the thin sheets where moulds met that she was put to training newcomers, all underpaid women, of course. If she mentioned something that had cropped up at work, Dad would say, “Throw the belt off, will you?”

I assumed he meant the belt on her work apron, but I learnt differently.

The Millwrights’ Shop at Longbridge was the only workshop still driven by overhead shafting. It hung the full length of the shop, driven by a large electric motor outside, where a static steam engine had once stood.

There were pairs of pulleys at regular intervals along the shaft, a drive pulley keyed to the shaft and a free-running idler. On each of the machine tools beneath was a lever which threw the driving belt from one to the other. When I heard a foreman say ”Throw the belt off, lad,” to another

apprentice, I knew where Dad had got the expression from. He had a number of certificates attesting to his machine-shop experience in the British Army in India in the early 1920s, after all.

Coals to Newcastle Youngsters today have probably never heard this.

They would not have seen coal in everyday life. We oldsters knew that all along the Eastern and Southern seaboard, dirty British coasters with salt-caked smoke stacks butted from Newcastle and neighbouring ports carrying various grades of coal for domestic and industrial uses – hence ‘coals,’ not ‘coal’. The most expensive was the extra-pure anthracite which burned very hot and was virtually smokefree.

Most noteworthy is that the first commercially viable railway line in the world was the Stockton to Darlington line, carrying loads from coalfields high above the

Tyne to the river and on to a seaport and exports to the world at large.

Singing Like Old Boots We were a tomcat household. When Dad had a contented one on his lap loudly purring, he would say, “He’s singing like old boots.”

As a railway guard, he had checked trains in all weathers, before giving a green flag to the driver. He would come in and park his boots on the kerb in front of the fire, where they would burble and “sing” like a purring cat.

Concluding These few examples show only a small part of our working-class oral culture.

Many more could be added (‘All around the Wrekin,’ ‘Dudley bugs,’ etc).

David Spilsbury

Cartoon from Punch or the london Charivari Magazine 5 September 1900 by Edward Linley Sambourne 27

A MOSELEY ARTIST JUDITH FLEETWOOD-WALKER

I started painting at an early age, as my dad, an architect, used to give me architect’s booklets of coloured paper to draw on, and my dad and mum used both to try amateur sketching and encouraged us a lot. We have old photos of us all sitting and kneeling on the floor, sketching. One of our early family photographs was of me, age five, holding up a picture I’d created. Us three girls, the oldest ones of our six-child family, often used to draw for hours, together. We liked chalk, pencils, paint and ink. I remember my dad using a penknife to sharpen our pencils. In later life, he took up painting all the important spots in Birmingham, and he was a dab hand and very architectural in his work.

Birmingham Art College and was a nudes and portrait painter, and he taught my mum and dad at life classes. They both encouraged us in how to look at things and how to paint and draw. My dad was very quick at sketching, and while in the war in the Arctic convoys, he used to sketch his shipmates.

I got a grade one O-level in art and was quite disappointed not to pass my A- level at Bournville as well. When I was in my forties I tried doing an AS-level exam and course, but the teacher didn’t really believe in me and I didn’t pass. Nowadays, art focuses less on representational art and is more abstract, whereas I love landscapes, life drawing, landscapes, portraits and still life.

Art as a tradition in our family goes back a long way, to my great, great, great grandfather, William Varley, and his two brothers, who were full-time artists. I was influenced by the fact that my grandfather, Bee, on my dad’s side, was an art teacher at

When I attended art lessons at the Cannon Hill Midlands Art Centre with Bob Ormisher in the 2000s, I loved the inspired way in which he taught, and he taught us to start a painting without drawing first. He was a lovely man, 28

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full of creative energy and dynamism, and was eager to help us paint with a kit in our bumbags to take out of doors. Peter Willock, a quiet, studious man at the MAC, was a good life-drawing teacher and used to have what he called crit.s or critiques where we would talk about what we’d done in the sessions. Bob, a puppeteer and commercial engraver, used to tell us some amazing stories, and was very encouraging and characterful. He was even a blackbelt at Jujitsu! I also met a friendly teacher from another class at the MAC called Paul Bartlett who I used to show my work to, and he was also inspirational and committed.

Paul won ‘not the Turner Prize’ once with his picture of his mother. He also taught at St Anne’s Church Centre in Moseley. I tried that class but it was too serious, without conversation. I like to keep in touch with people socially.

worked in conjunction with Arts All over The Place, run by Cathy Crossley, and exhibited our work with events that included comedy acts, workshops and poetry readings. Helen managed to get a cheap printing press for us and she taught us, along with a woman called Paddy, how to print. We did linocutting and intaglio technique where you have to ‘brine’ and soak the paper first, so that you get an impression when you print using the rollers on the press. It used to be the highlight of my week every Wednesday afternoon. An executive called Julian Cleaver used to meet with us and fund us from the mental health trust. Also two ladies called Jo Neil and Emma Watson used to come to see us to talk business at our meetings. Helen was quite good at organising the group and its exhibitions and was supportive, kind and thoughtful. She had a vision for the group. At that time, I met a community organiser who knew Helen and who filmed and taped me doing an interview video about my art work as a blog. He was very encouraging.

In the 2000s I met an artist called Helen Ricketts and she started off a group of artists and called us the Working Arts Group, starting with around ten members. We used to occupy a room on the third floor at the Custard After a few years, the Working Arts Group Factory and had several exhibitions. We also dwindled, and I tried to apply for funding 29

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to change our venue to the Ort Gallery in Moseley. The funding never materialised and there were also some health issues within the group so things came to a natural end. I meet people every now and then who say they wish the group was still running.

cartology. She demonstrates colour wheels, acrylic painting, and watercolour techniques.

Another influential teacher was Vickie Kilgour at Grove Hall in Harborne, and we tried collage, polystyrene printing, drawing and a range of media. Vickie got us to exhibit mainly in Solihull Library, Blakesley Hall, and the Botanical Gardens. Nita Newman now teaches us in St Francis Hall and has a History of Art class which is phenomenal! She has kept the class going on Zoom throughout lockdown and is charging a very small fee for a really helpful group. We’ve had three exhibitions at the Jubilee Galleries in China Town. She’s a whizz kid of a clever artist as well as being experienced with computing and

After lockdown lifts, I’m going to have an exhibition with my sister at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre. I have already exhibited with them three times. My mother, Pat, has also helped me a lot with framing my work and setting up exhibitions. I’m hoping to set up my own website, and do get occasional commissions, though I’m not really interested in doing it commercially and am happy for people just to see my work. My father would be very proud of me if he were still alive.

At the moment, I paint every day, but anyone can do it, if they start with the basics and keep going. My older sister Sue is very encouraging to me, and loves my work, and After that, I started exhibiting with the sends me subjects to paint. In fact all my Midland Painting Group (which is still running) family encourage me, and my older sister and also the Birmingham and Midland Sue, my younger sister Ruth and my brother Institute, St Martin's, Winterbourne Gardens, Dave all send me pictures to copy. Ruth takes Harborne Library, the Artwork Café, and lots pictures with her iPhone which are very of other places around Birmingham. imaginative.

info@moseleyb13.com

Judith Fleetwood-Walker 30

www.moseleyb13.com

Poetry Page

Covid Tears A passing year The World has shed a

For all my faults and all my fails

Million, million Covid tears.

I am standing in front of a blank canvas

Lord, baptise the World anew.

Painting a picture

Wash our eyes to see

Broken images

the true depths of all humanity

Distorted

created lovingly in your image, all men and women as one.

The eyes are too high The green is too bright

Stir our hearts

The hands are on the wrong side

to recognise, with prayer and action, broken souls, bodies and countries,

But that's me

so that love and justice may flourish.

That's my picture Rid our hearts

That's my love for you

of avarice and greed,

Perfect and imperfect

denuding God’s glorious creation.

For all my faults and all my fail

Spread new growth in mind and earth.

Is thee.

Let us eat together with clearer vision,

Katerina Chamberlain

Stronger footsteps, And deeper love.

Amen.

Helen McNicoll

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ISSN 2050-6090 00515