Page 22 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Figure 3 148 Grange Road, Small Heath - 1950’s

With a family of six in a small 2 bedroomed 2 up - 2 down house, space was
extremely tight, and conditions were harsh.

I have one memory from those tender years that may have been planted
years later by my dad and brothers. In the early ‘60’s traffic was so light, kids
played in the street. Apparently I was often to be found scrabbling in the dirt
and cobbles as my dad fiddled about with some crate of a car.

One day he was fixing the brakes and left a milk bottle containing a purple
fluid by the car. To an inquisitive and thirsty three-year-old, it was pop. Half a
pint of brake fluid now sloshing around in my system, I was soon having my
stomach contents pumped out at the General Hospital in Birmingham City
Centre.

Small Heath at this time had not improved much from Victorian times, when
these same cobbled streets and drinking establishments were ruled by the
famous ‘Brummagem Gang’, disreputable pickpockets and thieves known
for barbaric violence, who became known by their more recognisable name
‘The Peaky Blinders’. Small Heath had been their hunting ground and
although they had since faded into history, conditions in the area had not Page22
improved out of the slum category.