The Girl from Guildford Street: Growing up in working class Birmingham 1957-1968

I was born in Birmingham in 1955 but I grew up in a very different setting as my parents bought a new build house in Handsworth Wood before they got married. But I do remember an aunt (moms sister) and uncle and cousins who lived in Ladywood when we were children. Very deprived areas looking back but we were children and it wasn’t until I was older that I realised the difference. Most of the author’s experiences I experienced too which brought back so many memories. The sayings, the way everyone always dressed up, our schooling - we went to Catholic schools so very similar. I still just remember my first day at school! Playing outside all day - being told ‘don’t come home til tea time’ 😂😂 We used to go off up The Lanes - now Sandwell Valley Country Park and play on the old WW2 gun sites - So dangerous but nothing ever happened 😂 Supporting The Villa or The Albion but never fighting about it. The music, the fashions, Thunderbirds and Dr Who. Wonderful wonderful memories.Read this book if like me you were born in that era and want to reminisce but also read it as it’s a fantastic record of the social history of growing up in Birmingham too.

Great bookLove it

The author expertly captures the world of the child, the minor events which can cause either desperate misery or extreme happiness. And so evocative of the era; the food, drinks, games and TV programmes that were such a large part of a child's life: Harvo loaf, beef dripping, camp coffee, kisschase, Fireball XL5 . A poignant book, looking back on a world where most working class people in Birmingham were employed in manufacturing industries, sadly all now gone.The end was really good, so poignant, looking back on that world and all the people that have gone.

This touching and funny book brings this decade vividly to life and will make many baby-boomers nostalgic about their own childhood. I think the author's parents would be extremely proud of how their daughter has made their very different personalities shine through. A pleasure to read about working class lives lived decently and well, despite the obstacles of poverty, deprivation and attendant ill-health in the early years.

Enjoyable read

Self reading , didn't enjoy it ,boring read .