• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Brookvale Park & Witton Lakes

I liked the pics of the park Pete, my brother Les learned to sail there and kept his 'Laser' in that yard. Tommy And him have now got a yacht in the Greek Islands. For the life of me, I can't see where the channel is between Brookvale Park and the coast though..........how did they get out? :)
 
Thanks once again DF for posting the pics of Brookvale Park. It looks a bit forlorn now but in the summer it is beautiful there. Sorry sights of the cupola building rotting away. Most recognizable buildings such as the band stand,boathouse and unusual seating areas have all gone. I am thinking that other pic of the shed like building is of the old Sons of Rest meeting place. I might be wrong, whatever, it is it looks awful.
The abandoned MEB building is a shock to me too. I wonder what will
become of the place. It's a big building and cost a lot of money.

The best part of the pics is seeing the houses along George Road
looking on to the park without the fencing. The people who live there have a great aspect to look out on every day.
 
Had many a good night playing bowls on the MEB green for the "GEC MAGNET" So sorry to see it all gone.
 
Nice photo but, yes, sad circumstances. My brother and I used to go across
Witton Lakes and into the Wyreley Birch Allotments, probably on Spring Break.
I can remember the early rhubarb breaking the surface of the soil on the
abandoned allotments. We sometimes used to pick some if had grown enough. It was lovely in a pie. Later on the whole area was covered in wild blue lupins.
 
Handsome Alf

Alf,:) who is that handsome man in the photograph.? i have one of my brother taken when it was all wild and Jennyann must have seen the same sight as we did in the spring and summer. My mother and aunt used to take us and the neighbours kids to play hide and go seek it was full of wild lupins all the colours of the rainbow...Cat:)
 
I had to have another look yes its me:)

But I'll keep checking to see if it changes
 
I lived in Rosary Road an often went down to brookvale park with my brothers, i remember playing pitch an putt for 5p, also went down to catch sticklebacks with a net
 
jennyann said:
You're right Mazbeth...The Golden Cross.......I last went in there in 1985 with my brother and in one part all the tables were made from antique Singer sewing machine bases! :) I think there is a Golden Keys somewhere in the area. Liked the story of you and your friends in the loo and I am sure the pub was handy for sports teams to imbibe after their games. There weren't many local pubs in that area at all. You had to go up to College Road, in one drirection, to find a pub or up to Stockland Green (another pub now gone, Stockland Hotel) and along Shortheath Road and over to Station Road to the Red Lion...almost forgot The Leopard in Jerry's Lane not that far from the Golden Cross. :elephant:

I also remember the baseball teams that played in Witton Lakes. I was fascinated by
their uniforms I remember.
Click to expand...

Don't forget "The Crossways" pub at the top of Perry Common Road. I think it's been turned into flats now though.

Mark
 
We moved to Perry Common (Hastings Road) in '69, from Hanley Street, close to the city centre, and the first time I saw Witton Lakes, I thought I was on a different planet!! So much GRASS!! And the lakes. I'd only seen things like that on the telly! My brothers and sisters and I went there as often as we could. We would walk to the overflow at the end of the lakes and fish for "tiddlers", but put them back so we could catch them again next time! The things kids think!

When I went to Perry Common Comp, we sometimes had to run the figure 8 around the lakes for PE class. Some of the kids would hide in a bush until we ran past them again, and pretend they had done the whole thing!

Does anybody remember the prefabs along the Perry Common Road side? We used to go "scrumpin" there, amongst other places.

Mark
 
Thanks Frothy can see the unkempt Garden now, I think we had only been there about a year 1948 and Dad was still testing the local Pub. I've got one with the view ruined, but the Garden is better
 
Interested in this forum, although I see it has not been updated for some time, I lived 1943 to 1965 In George Rd where the front rooms over looked the park. I can add some further detail to some of the discussions as the Brookvale Park was our stamping ground. Re the boat house, this originally had open sides with a very thick bannister rail around it. The circular area had regular Sunday band concerts in the 50s. I have a Photo of my brothers and cousins taken with the bandstand in the background from about 1950. Originally it had a flight of steps up to the upper level but these were replaced with ramps from either side. The Brookvale sailing Club of which I was a member used the Bandstand as the dinghy racing command tower. Re rowing boats, I spent a small fortune hiring these at 2/6 per hour or 1/3 for 30 minutes. The trick was to ensure you were down the far end or behind the island when the boatman called out your number as your time was up. On the lake side of the building was a large white clock so you could see how long you had been on the water. Sea cadets kept a large rowing boat on the lake which probably took 12 cadets. The park had a hawthorn hedge to its boundary with George Road for its entire length,through which there were a number of access holes to save us using the gate.The photo showing dingies on the hard were "graduates" belonging to the sailing club used for training.Shops along George Rd were Glasspooles grocers at the bottom of Mere Rd, with Van de Pols(Dutch) green grocers opposite. (on rhs looking up the hill). On the lhs of Mere Rd wer the sand banks fefore the houses were buil. Chippy was on corner of Doidge Rd with a sweet shop and chemists opposite. On the corner of Rosary Rd was a newsagents. The MEB building was put up on waste ground which stopped us taking a short cut to Slade Road School.I still have the School class photo of about 1950. Good winter sport was to sledge down Mere Road, straight up a ramp across George Rd and hopefully hang a left before going in the lake. There was a few drownings in the lake and I remember boats out "dragging" for the bodies. Also in winter it was quite usual to have a foot path over the ice from the Mere Rd gate to the entrance to the GEC works over by the tea house. The swimming pool was demolished when I remember it and all that was left was a surround that you could walk around to fish.It had arches under the surround from the lake that let the water into the pool area. The lake had a bomb in it during the war which was from a stick of bombs destined for the GEC, one also demolished No 175 which became our house after it was rebuilt, and the others took out houses in Doidge Rd and Gladstone Road.
hope this is of interest.
mike
 
Thats a great story Mike, as I spent most of my working life at GEC the walk round the lake was my lunch time treat(That if we did not go bowling at the abc bowl) just had about had enough time to do one lap before getting back to the office.
As a kid fished many a time of the old pool foundations, all gone now,its good we have these photos to look back on I hope you folks keep them comming.
 
I worked just over the road from the GEC and skated on Brookvale Lake one lunch hour, probably 1962/63.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top