Birmingham

    Birmingham Bull Ring , Statue of Bull 

                                                                              Birmingham markets, Birmingham Bull Ring.

Selfridges department store was built in 2003 , the building has 15.000 aluminium discs fitted on a blue back ground on the outside of the store. It cost £60 million pounds to build.

 In the 1940` Selfridges was sold to John Lewis. It is now  partly owned by the Weston family who own Primark and British Sugar among others.

 in 2013 a drama series is being shown on ITV about the life of Mr Harry Gordon Selfridge and the beginning of the store in London

Rotunda .Birmingham City Centre 

Built 1965. In 1974 pub on the ground floor of the Rotunda was the site of the Birmingham Bombings

                                                                                       London Zoo Camel ride. 1950`s

                                                                                Photo from Cheryl de Carteret[ Flickr]

                                                                                    Photo of her husband as a little boy

 

Photo. Taken going through Conwy Station North Wales

 Ben Brooksband. 

This was the style of train we travelled on in 1950`s.

Travelling on a train was enjoyable as we wasnt restricted to our seats.

 If we was in a corridor train we was allowed to stand in the corridor and look out of the window as we travelled along to our journeys end.

 To have the window open and smell the smoke from the engine was magic.

  The coaches of some local trains were of the old third class style and had a door each side of the coach. no access to toilets or the rest of the train.

 These coaches were phased out.

 DAYS OUT and HOLIDAYS

Our one enjoyment was that as a railway family we could enjoy free travel for so many times of the year. we didnt need a car . To get to the station we hire a taxi and from then onways until we arrived at out destination we travelled by train.

 In 1950`s to get across London it was easier to travel on the underground from mainline station to mainline station. Sometimes our luggage was sent on in advance. ready for us as we arrived at out hotel.

To keep costs down always we had sandwiches and a flask of hot drink.

 

Birmingham shops and markets.

 With free travel we travelled to Birmingham New Street for a day out to stock up with  meat and fruit and snacks from the markets.

 

 London Zoo

 We was lucky enough to ride on a camel and an elephant while visiting the zoo with our parents.

 I had been to the zoo when i was about 7 years old. The Sunday school in Far Cotton Northampton had a trip to London Zoo

 

Heathrow. 

 

 Terminal 2 Queens Building. Roof Gardens. Lots of people plane spotting. I believe this has now been demolished.[2012] It was an exciting place to visit as the planes fly over our heads before landing.

 

 

 

Kensington Roof Gardens.

 I would like to visit Kensington Roof Gardens high above the city . Now owned by Richard Branson. Built on the roof of a department store.

As we shopped in the 1950`s at Barkers store. My father would tell us that there was a garden built on the roof of Derry and Toms the Department Store in Kensington High Street. [ a garden in the sky.]He never did get to visit it.On telling my friend about the garden, in February 2012 she and her husband visited the gardens and was pleased they went. The flamingos and ducks were by the pond . They had their wings clipped so wont fly away over the roof tops of London.The staff were very pleasant and helpful.

Kensington High Street . London.

  We would travel to Kensington High Street .London for clothes shopping. Visiting Barkers department store. The building is still there .

 A whole foods market from Austin USA now occupy the building.

Sometimes it was for material to be made in to dresses or coats by a lady ,Mrs Ping who lived in Southampton Road Far Cotton. Northampton .

 She earnt her living as a dressmaker.

 Our mother liked to buy clothes there for us.Sometimes she would treat herself to a new hat.

 She always wore a hat and carried them off really well. Something i havent been able to do.

One year i choose an imitation fur coat from Barkers Store in 1960`s. I still have the coat.

 Another year our parents decided that we would have  a kilt skirt made in our tartan. It was researched in a book on the premises of Barkers and found that we was entitled to wear a tartan in the name of Anderson.

 Former Barkers Store. Kensington High Street . London

photo.flickr matto matto

Kensington Roof Gardens  designed by Ralph Hancock in 1938

There is a Spanish Garden, Tudor Garden, English Woodland Garden all growing on top of the former Derry and Toms building. It covers one and half acres. there is wild life there too including ducks and flamingoes

photo. flickr.eric

 Kew  Botanic Gardens.

 Very large water lilly pads

                                                                       The Palm House.   Kew Botanic Gardens. London.

A good day out at Kew gardens in 1970`s only a few pence to get in .The palm house was like being in a tropical island . Included in the greenhouse  with lots of palm trees was a coffee plant with young coffee beans growing on it. Something we had never seen before.

                                                                            

Southport .

 Day out with  the British Rail Group 

 

 Petticoat Market London

A busy day at the market.

 A day trip out with the British Rail Group

photo . unknown

Petticoat Market.London 

Liverpool Lime Street Station 

                                                                            Liverpool . River Mersey[ Ferry cross the Mersey]

Liverpool was a city we visited nearly every year to go shopping  for material to make clothes and shopping at the indoor market for food.

 We enjoyed walking round and site seeing. We visited the Cavern where the Beatles performed. It was opened in 1957 at 8-12 Mathew Street. in 1973 British Rail enforced the closure so they could built an underground rail link. The Cavern was moved to the other side of the street at 7-15 Mathew Street.

I was lucky to see all four of the Beatles not in Liverpool but in Northampton in 1960`s when they played at the Savoy Theatre, now Jesus Centre near Abington Square. I was on my way to Northampton College when the bus i was on had to stop to let the open top car out from the side of the theatre with the four beatles in the car.

Sometimes we walked down to the River Mersey and crossed over to Birkenhead by ferry.

 

 

                                                                                                          Blackpool.

                                                                  A holiday resort with lots to do if the weather isnt that good.

                                                                       The weather is usually windy as seen in the photo.

                                                                     Easy to reach by train from the Midlands for a day out.

 

 

Blackpool.

 World of Coronation Street

 South Shore .near South Pier

Susan and daughter Sarah  and Alistair , related to the Bram Stoker family through his paternal grandmother.

Both my daughter and her then partner met David Jason of Fools and Horses fame . He asked them if they would be in a film he was making .Part of it was to be filmed on Blackpool North Pier. So it came to be they had a part in A Touch of Frost[ No Other Love] Season 5 . Episode 4 . It was first shown March 2nd 1997

 http://TOUCH OF FROST BLACKPOOL NORTH PIER

   

 

 

                                                                                                  HUNSTANTON.RAILWAY STATION NORFOLK

                                                                                                  from Susie Brown

 A day visit to Clark shoe factory in Street Somerset was a exciting experience.

 I was to travel by lorry with a friend of the same surname. We travelled by motorway for part of the journey and stopped off at a motorway stop for tea.  The rest of the way by narrow country roads to reach Street. We was carrying animal hides to be made into to Clark shoes. we arrived at street  and the lorry was backed in and unloaded.I was allowed to visit the factory and see how they worked. we continued to Weymouth and dropped of goods.On our return journey we carried coat hangers and called at a garden centre in the Midlands to pick up goods to be transported to Northampton









 Folkestone kent.

we stayed near by in our folding caravan with the children . we visited Folkestone for the beach and shops and fish market.

photos I have obtained recently of Folkestone was taken by Roger who has family there.









                                                                                                         FOLKESTONE KENT

 

                                                                                 Swansea .South Wales

 Cardiff South Wales

  I first visited Cardiff to meet my new found cousin Brian Gulliver in 1998. I had an article about me in the local papers and his cousin from near Daventry wrote to him  and told him about me. With in 5 months we had met up and i was invited to spend the weekend with him at his bungalow. just outside Cardiff. we spent the weekend touring round the valley and the coast. also a walk round the town centre . we drove past the Cardiff castle  and visited Barry. I purchased a picture of Princess Diana made out of foil by a local artist. We visited the farm near Cowbridge where the family had farmed. We  kept in touch with one another by phone  every Sunday evening until his death in June 2006.He had told me he was going into hospital the following week as he had a heart condition.

                                                                         Holyhead Rail Station and port.  For ferries to Ireland

                                                  The ships used to dock in the harbour and could be seen from arriving on the train at Holyhead.

             Virgin Super Voyager.

 Travelling between London and Holyhead.

 photo flickr

 nigel capelle 

The journey between the Midlands and Holyhead can done in a day. It doesnt give much time once there. The scenery en route makes up for the time at Holyhead. Once the train leaves Chester the line follows the Dee estuary until the sea comes into view for most of the journey. More to follow.

virgin train 

 www.anglesey.today.com

Edinburgh . Scotland 

 This also was a day out on the train with a railway group.

 It was a long day on the train with just a few hours to walk round Edinburgh.For me it was a late birthday present to somewhere I hadn't been.

 A place you must visit is the  Edinburgh Castle high on a hill, but worth the climb. We took a taxi to the top and walked back down the hill. pass many good shops until we came to the railway station.




















Hunstanton . Norfolk.

At Hunstanton there are lots of caravans and chalets. Holidaymakers like to come to and please them selves what sort of holiday they have. The children are able to have the freedom to enjoy the sea side. 

We had a short holiday at Hunstanton as it was the nearest seaside from the midlands by road.Our folding caravan packed up with clothes and food we set of towing to our destination. myself and the children would be there for a few days while their father repaired the broken drain connected to ours at home. 

We set up the caravan and fixed the gas cylinder with a little help,now was able to sleep and cook food . I was well aware that in 1953 they had very bad floods in that area and lives were lost as was houses. The camp site is lower that the sea . There are sea defenses .I knew that the sea could come over the sea front. We chose to sleep in  clothes and be prepared for anything.

In December 2013 there was major flooding in the area. the sea defenses kept some of sea water back and people were alert to the danger of flooding.

 

 

 

 

Stratford upon Avon. birth place of William Shakespeare

Living in Rugby , it wasn't too far to go for the day out with the family. The town was always busy, full of tourists from all over the world, wanting to see where William Shakespeare was born and where his family lived. Many of the old buildings still remain.

While browsing through a box of old books at a secondhand shop, I came across a big old book containing all the monuments and list of people buried in Westminster Abbey. I knew I had to buy it. It cost £10. this was a lot of money in 1970`s, The book was to provide a useful reference when writing my book on the history of the Gullivers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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