My mother Gladys May Currier was born on the 4th May 1917 and was brought up on Arden Road. She was the youngest of ten children. There was Minnie, Sarah, Lilian, and my mom Gladys. Of the boys there was Jack, Charles, Jim, Albert, Harry and Freddie. My grandmother Rebecca who unfortunately died before I was born was bedridden with chronic asthma. My mom told me that in her very young days when it was mainly horse and cart and if anyone was ill they used to put straw all over the road by the house of the person ill so the cart wouldn't make a noise as it was passing. Imagine that, how times have changed. Mom told me that the front door was never locked and neighbours were always popping in to see how "Bec" was and have a chat with her. My mom had to leave school at 13 to help look after her mom and do odd jobs here and there.
She married my dad Tom Edmonds at 17 and one year later my sister Shirley was born. They managed to rent a house at the very bottom of Austin Street, Nechells. Three years later my brother Tom was born.They had just got some decent furniture for the house and, of course, during this period the Second World War was raging. My dad during this period was an Air Raid Warden not being able to enlist due to ear problems. He'd had one operation on his ears when only chloroform was being used but that's another story. During one raid when my dad was out on duty their was a direct hit on their house but luckily my mom took my sister and brother under the stairs and lay on top of them. They had a dog and she put the dog in a cupboard. When the all clear was sounded my dad came rushing back to the house only to find that the only thing standing was the stairs and they were all safe, but homeless,still they had their lives which is more than some poor souls had.
They dug the cupboard out of the ground and out jumped the dog. Shortly after this terrible episode they managed to rent another house at the top of Austin Street and were there until approximately 1960. Going back to Arden Road one of my mom's brother’s Freddie who was only about eight at the time was playing football with probably another brother or a mate in the entry when the ball went into the road and Freddie ran after it and, unbelievable for the era it occurred when there was hardly any cars about, but he was run over and killed by a car. The car wasn't going to stop but a man across the road who had witnessed it ran after the car and jumped on it's 'running board' and the driver stopped. That's all I can remember about the incident but it was a terrible tragedy and my mom told me more than once about it. One of her other brother's Jim when he was older, of course, played professional football for Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City. He ended up living in Denton, Manchester and years ago my husband and me took her to see him and it was a lovely reunion as they hadn't seen each other for years Mom told me that Uncle Jim used to be on 10 bob a week which was a lot in those days.
As time progressed after the war my dad worked at the Gas Works as a Pipe Fitter. My mom did part time work at Lewis's in their fashion department and when at work she used to wear Lewis's clothes to model them, well she did have a lovely figure and nice legs too, not bad to say by this time she had had her last child.
There were five of us in total from the oldest to the youngest, Shirley, Tommy, Trevor, Ann and Gary. Unfortunately we lost our Shirley in 1990 due to chronic asthma.
During our lives in Austin Street our parents kept us well fed and clothed and took us on holiday to Great Yarmouth, Rhyl, Blackpool and even to Cornwall so all in all, thanks mom and dad.
She married my dad Tom Edmonds at 17 and one year later my sister Shirley was born. They managed to rent a house at the very bottom of Austin Street, Nechells. Three years later my brother Tom was born.They had just got some decent furniture for the house and, of course, during this period the Second World War was raging. My dad during this period was an Air Raid Warden not being able to enlist due to ear problems. He'd had one operation on his ears when only chloroform was being used but that's another story. During one raid when my dad was out on duty their was a direct hit on their house but luckily my mom took my sister and brother under the stairs and lay on top of them. They had a dog and she put the dog in a cupboard. When the all clear was sounded my dad came rushing back to the house only to find that the only thing standing was the stairs and they were all safe, but homeless,still they had their lives which is more than some poor souls had. 
During our lives in Austin Street our parents kept us well fed and clothed and took us on holiday to Great Yarmouth, Rhyl, Blackpool and even to Cornwall so all in all, thanks mom and dad. 
