| Description | An interview with Anita STANTON, a married woman with one son, one daughter, who is a Caretaker, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Anita STANTON’s father was a Building site worker, born in Ireland and her mother a Factory worker born in England. In the interview, she talks about …
' Logged by Sonia Southern
01
Born in 1947, back to back housing in Colman Street, Duddeston.
02
Describes houses communal toilets, mice and rats in toilets. She was scared of going to the toilet at night.
Explains about inside of house, sharing bedrooms, no electricity.
03
Council never maintained property; there were bugs in the home.
1.20” Rent man came Monday, half a crown rent or two bob etc. never any discrimination about not paying rent, no eviction took place.
04
Schooling, Saint Matthew’s.
47” Horror story about an air raid shelter and the teachers having a trap door down to an air raid shelter, which they used for naughty children.
2.20” Education, learnt the basics and manners and respecting your elders. “When that teacher was there you stood still, and when she said ‘you follow me’, you followed her”.
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Continues about education, milk monitor and milk was the treat of the day.
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Continues about milk and sharing Jammy Dodgers.
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1953-54, Redevelopment of Duddeston. Explains how it used to be a neighbourhood and a community.
1.00” Explains about housing visitor and her role.
2.17” She had no idea of what living in a back to back house was like.
2.50” Standard of housing depended on which area you would be moved to.
08
Housing officer decided on your relocation. The clean people were moved to better areas such as Alum Rock and Erdington and the others would be sent to Aston.
40” No-one could afford fancy bedding so everyone put into a kitty to hire a bedding bale, which they passed along.
3.00” Explains about inspection of house.
3.57” The callousness of how the officer inspected the bedroom.
09
Continues to tell of inspection.
1.00” If the officer then asked “where would you like to go?”, you then knew that you had passed the inspection.
1.30” Whilst the mother was deciding on where she wanted to live, Mrs Stanton was taking up all the bedding etc and passing it on to the next door neighbour.
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Officer didn’t realise that she had been looking at the same bedding and drinking from the same cup in every house she inspected.
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Moving, waving people off to never see them again.
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They got the house they wantedin Alum Rock and she was about 6 or 7. Goes on to describe the house e.g. gardens. Road was called Bamford Road.
1.08” “We didn’t know any of the neighbours”, mother didn’t mix.
1.40” Stayed there for seven years but never really settled. Mom wanted an exchange, which you had to arrange yourself.
2.12” Mother had contacts in Duddeston so she easily got an exchange and moved back to Nechells Green, Rocky Lane.
2.52” “Deep down we all knew that we’d moved out there and we couldn’t let Nechells go, and I think that was the hurting part”.
3.19” When they moved back they didn’t realise that the community was split into Nechells, Vauxhall and Duddeston.
3.49” People in Nechells didn’t care about how the privet looked, they were more concerned about how they got on.
13
Talks of bus journey and letting people sit down.
2.00” Education, Sunday school. Enjoyable in her day because they went to playing fields and swimming on a bus. Manners were still a great thing.
4.12” Went to an all girls school, goes on to explain about the contact she had with boys.
4.47” Mentions how there was no sex education.
4.54” Story about a letter sent out to parent from school. It was 2 years before she found out that it was about a pregnant pupil.
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Continues to explain about letter.
2.00” Education, never expected to achieve anything.
4.00” Never had careers teachers.
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Discrimination between pupils.
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11-15, no exams or pressure about homework. No one to one teaching.
1.20” Late 50s, early 60s Talks of fashion and records.
2.50” Last 3 months of school went to see about jobs, mostly factory or shop work.
4.02” Story about first job.
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Continues about first job.
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Mid 60s aged 18, found a job in a shop with better money.
1.11” Story about how the extra money helped. Explains about the first television and better food, electric fire and bath towels.
2.20” Talks of the toys her sister got to have that she didn’t.
3.06” Story about father.
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Tells of Irish relatives.
30” Talks of Irish Catholics and work.
1.51” Story about her Nan.
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Story about an unmarried couple who were in the family way.
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Story continues.
3.00” Explains how Nechells has changed, mentions tower blocks, flats and new cultures.
4.24” “It was as though we blinked and everything that we knew had all gone”.
4.38” Gives a description of her area.
22
Talks about tower blocks
1.00” Familiar landmarks of Nechells.
2.20” “ When you’ve been bred and born in Nechells you know exactly where you are. You can close you’re eyes and you can go back and you can stand in that street”
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More land marks, Saltley Viaduct and the Gas Works. Mentions Star City in place of Gas Works.
1.27” 1969, Describes her home (Background noise).
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Mentions houses built on school site.
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Late 60’s early 70’s, Another house move.
2.24” Social club.
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Meeting husband.
1.52” “ We’re still in love with each other, life still just surrounds me and him”.
2.15” Sex before marriage.
4.11” Mentions how her Catholic upbringing reflected on her views regarding sex.
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Continues to discuss the consequences of getting pregnant and having to marry.
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Sunday school.
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Role of religion as a child.
1.08” Father seen as a foreigner to her grandfather, because he was Irish.
1.30” Describes the Catholic religion and how it dominated family life.
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Describes her marriage and her religion..
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Parents marriage. Father Irish, mother Protestant.
3.30” Describes how Irish men were seen as being drinkers and not family orientated.
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Talks of buying their house and mortgages.
1.30” Bringing up children and working.
3.09” 1970s and working mothers.
4.01” 1980s single parents move into flats due to change in law.
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1984 Her work in local community centre.
2.30” Talks about how the area has changed in comparison to today.
4.06” Late 80s Nechells became a multiracial community.
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Continues about multiracial community.
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Discusses photograph taken in Evening Mail Oct 3rd 1999.
24” Anecdote of picture content, Silks Café and remaining houses on Colman Street.
2.21” “ For this row of houses every one of them including the back ones, were either grandmothers, cousins or daughters. That’s how Colman Street was, it was a family Street."
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