Doreen Ellis

Well, my father used to run into Smithfield market in Birmingham and the lorry was loaded up the night before. He used to start off at about four o’clock in the morning to get there fairly early, and in the school holidays, myself and my two younger brothers, we used to sometimes go with him and that was quite a long day.

Loaded for market

We just used to go in for the ride. He unloaded it at the market and then the traders came in and bought it from there.  We used to keep chickens and this day, I remember, we had some bantams that used to roost in the barn where the lorry was already loaded up to go to market and, it wasn’t until we got to Birmingham, that we realised that a bantam had been on the top of the lorry and had survived all the way! So he was put in a box and brought back home.

Click on the link below to hear to Doreen tell the story.

Greyrick Farm, Outbuildings and the jackdaw.

It was originally called Greyrick Farm. But then it was changed to  Greyrick House. My grandfather lived there to start with and my parents moved in.

(Anne: Do you know when it was built?)

No, I don’t actually. He bought the property and there were lots of outbuildings. There was a stable, what we used to call “the malthouse”,

(Anne: For brewing?)

Well, not in our time but it may have been, I don’t really know. The “Potato House”, as we used to call it , where they used to sort the potatoes and grade them. As children, we used to play in these buildings and we could , they were quite derelict,

(Anne: They weren’t in proper use then?)

They weren’t . We used to play in there and climb up the different storeys. We used to have lots of other children come round to play because there was so much space, so much to do.

(Anne: Did you have dens and things?)

Yes, we used to make dens, make soap carts out of old bicycle wheels, things like that. Especially my brothers. I remember my one brother. He brought home a jackdaw one day. And kept it and tamed it. They are very clever. I can’t remember what he taught it to do. But I remember, when he let it out, in the end it had to be disposed of because it used to go through people’s open windows and take things. I don’t remember details of what. But there were one or two complaints.