I was born and raised in Ocker Hill, Tipton used to be in South Staffs but now part of the West Midlands. Tipton in its heyday was the most industrialised towns in the Midlands.
Summers were very warm, winters bitterly cold, with weeks of smog from the coal fires the industrial chimneys and smelting furnaces etc. We lived in a house my Grandfather built, my father was born in and my mother still lives there till this day. Originally two 3 bedroom semi's knocked into one detached house. It had a large communal yard with the Anderson shelters tuned into pig sty's and the other houses built by my Grandfather for his children lead off the communal yard. So we lived in very close proximity to paternal grandparents, many of my uncle's , aunts and cousins of vastly different ages.
Whilst we did have relatively all mod cons with indoor plumbing, bathroom and separate toilets, my Dad refused to get central heating until he experienced the benefits of central heating at my house. Winters' were always concentrated in the one room around a roaring fire until North Sea gas was rolled out and coal fires were replaced with gas fires.
I remember well the heavy frosts, not only were the windows iced up overnight but also the curtains on really cold nights. I remember there being a stew on so when we came in from a night out we could settle down in front of the banked fire, feeding our faces before heading to bed>
Good old days
