I've just seen the reminder about Bonfire Night - my brother and his mates sometimes would allow me to go with them to get "the plunder" for the bonfire - we'd spend most of the autumn half-term collecting it.  Then we'd make our Guy Fawkes and pester all the local workers to give a "Penny for the Guy", the proceeds were used to buy our fireworks (or spend on sweets!).

Great site, Mac, many, many memories are evoked.

Regards

Jo Bowkett (Josie Curley)

Now bonfire night is approaching, I look back to when I was growing up in Ladywood, and how much an occasion it was for everybody, it was more a social gathering.  The adults used to do baked potatoes, & chestnuts on the fire.

Bangers were 1/2p to 1p each, rockets 2p and sparklers a 1p a packet, mind in those days money was tight.  Us kids used to take it in turns to guard our bonfires, in case the others tried to pinch what we had collected, or set fire to them.  

No such thing as organised bonfires in those days, so it was up to us what we made of it.  As anyone else got any memories of their bonfire nights, or the build up to it, I'm sure the people who look at the site would like to read about them.     

My memories were going down to my cousin's, Sheila Elliman in Shakespeare Road (the bottom end), where the bonfire stood in the yard next to a big shelter.

All the neighbours and kids used to gather round, potatoes were put on the fire, I never did find out if people actually eat them or indeed find them!

The sights of rockets shooting in the air and wondering where the stick had fallen; catherine wheels that would never go round no matter how the pin was stuck through into the post; the thought of how dangerous they were never crossed our minds in those days.

I used to save in a Firework's Club, which was run by a lady who owned a shop in Ladywood Road, called Millie's