The River Tame will, on occasion, reassert itself with full effect. Most recently, the 2007 floods have ingrained themselves in the memories of all who were effected, but this was not the first time that the river decided it wanted its floodplain back from the people who had built their homes and livelihoods along it. Above and below, in the pale sepia photographs, people are getting on with things in the 1930s.
In 1947 there was an exceptionally harsh winter, followed by a particularly rainy spring and summer. The river can be seen below, after deciding that Tame Road was a good route to follow, but the milk is still being delivered, and in the second picture (below) the milkman throws the glass milk bottle to a damp-footed resident. The post-war attitude seems to be to just get on with it. Only a few years previously this area was a focus point for German bombing, what with the ammunition factory nearby; the river must have really felt like a tame adversary compared to the bombers.
In the 1970s (below) Tame Road was flooded again; the three kids in the foreground look just about ready for a 'one, two, three, JUMP!'.
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