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Erdington

Lady Penelope said:
Hi Flaxley Girl, Nice to see you on the forum. I too went to Erdington but quite a while before you. There's a thread on the forum for the school. Hopefully this will take you there - if not Put Erdington Grammar in the search box (top right hand corner).

Erdington Grammar School

Just to make it clear for anyone who reads this thread later, the photos in post #5 are of the house where Penny's aunt lodged not of the school. I seem to remember that Erdington Grammar school was built in around 1926 but whether it was something else before I don't know. Part of the playing...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

The dance you went to was probably Mother's above a furniture shop. It was originally The Carlton. Oh the days of platform shoes and long skirts!
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I was at St. Agnes' which was in Holly Lane at the Sutton Road end - now St. Edmund Campion - which it became just before I left. I remember the Erdington Grammar girls getting off the No. 11 bus a few stops before I did at Six Ways. I hadn't thought to look for threads on schools - I might end up spending a lot of time here ha ha!

Mothers sounds like an amazing place! I was 10 years too young so would have missed all that fun, but so many bands I would have like to have seen. It is possible it was where I went in 1971, but I'm not sure. I just remember the disco being a long hall. I think it was upstairs - boys round the edge and girls dancing, as we did :)
 
I found this photograph some time ago but the quality is not very good. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to sharpen it up please? It shows the celebration for Queen Victoria's Jubilee. I think it also shows the old post office in the background. I seem to remember a discussion with Lyn about the plaque on the wall. I suppose that would be the ideal place for the P.O. as it was near to the turnpike road and toll gate.
 

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Lady Penelope said:
I found this photograph some time ago but the quality is not very good. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to sharpen it up please? It shows the celebration for Queen Victoria's Jubilee. I think it also shows the old post office in the background. I seem to remember a discussion with Lyn about the plaque on the wall. I suppose that would be the ideal place for the P.O. as it was near to the turnpike road and toll gate.
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I've had a go at upsizing it and sharpening it... not brilliant!

Erdington Celebrations-gigapixel-scale-4_00x.jpg
 
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Pedrocut said:
Whereabouts in Erdington was the picture taken ?
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These photos show the 'village green' at a later date as it was enclosed to celebrate Victoria's jubilee in, I think, 1887. There used to be a plaque which you can see on the column in the coloured picture but it was moved during 'improvements'. Janice posted the black and white photo in 2014 and remarked on the plaque. The shops in the celebration photo are those on the right. The buildings on the left are still there.

The Green Erdington.jpgErdington High Street.jpg
 
Astoness said:
will need to check this but i think victorias diamond jubilee was june 1897
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Firstly, I forgot to say thanks to everyone who had a go at improving the picture. It wasn't a good image in the book in Sutton library but worth putting in and much improved by everyone's efforts.

Lyn, It was her Golden Jubilee in 1887 so that dates the picture nicely. There is a picture of the plaque by ellbrown on flicker
https://flic.kr/p/nG7BVj
. By the time I remember it, all the railings had long gone.
 
PS. I don't know how I managed to insert that picture - I just put a link to flicker. It must be magic - or the wonders of technology!
 
thats great pen so 1887 dates the photo...just goes to show we cant alway believe what google says

lyn
 
Hello Green Genes. Nice to meet you. I'm not going to be of much help with the title of the book I'm afraid. Sorry. I took the photo from a book in Sutton Library and although I thought I'd written the title down, I can't seem to find it. I will continue to look for it though. It was a book purely of photos of Erdington and the last time I went to the library I couldn't find the book which was really frustrating. Many of the reference books have 'gone missing' but as soon as we're able to get into the building I will definitely look for it again.

Is it this building or the spiritualist church you are interested in?
 
Lady Penelope said:
Hello Green Genes. Nice to meet you. I'm not going to be of much help with the title of the book I'm afraid. Sorry. I took the photo from a book in Sutton Library and although I thought I'd written the title down, I can't seem to find it. I will continue to look for it though. It was a book purely of photos of Erdington and the last time I went to the library I couldn't find the book which was really frustrating. Many of the reference books have 'gone missing' but as soon as we're able to get into the building I will definitely look for it again.

Is it this building or the spiritualist church you are interested in?
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Thanks Lady Penelope, that's really helpful. I'm itching to get back into the library, I have a long list of stuff to read up on!
My interest is a little weird, I am looking into Arthur John Leeson, who lived at Leaholme on Short Heath Road. He was a photographer friend of Benjamin Stone. He took the Parochial House photograph (the one most people were pointing to - not the one from the book). Just thought there might be some more of his images in it/there might be one of him in there. There are thousands of photographs in Central Library but they are predominantly glass slides and fragile. He's an interesting chap, was in on lots of organisations and worked as Secretary for the Council.
 
Pedrocut said:
Staffordshire Advertiser, November 1933. If you want me to look for further references just say.
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Thank you so much, I totally forgot to look at Staffordshire news articles, forgetting there lots more papers in those days.
You've given me loads more to look at!!!
 
Hi Again Green Genes, I think I've got confused (it happens a lot!) and I thought you meant the other picture. In your post #618 you mention Leaholme and I used to live just round the corner from there. I expect you have seen the picture in 'Images of England, Erdington, Volume II'. If not there is a lovely picture of Leaholme and also one of the garden with croquet on the lawn. Let me know if you haven't seen these and I'll scan them for you.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Hi Again Green Genes, I think I've got confused (it happens a lot!) and I thought you meant the other picture. In your post #618 you mention Leaholme and I used to live just round the corner from there. I expect you have seen the picture in 'Images of England, Erdington, Volume II'. If not there is a lovely picture of Leaholme and also one of the garden with croquet on the lawn. Let me know if you haven't seen these and I'll scan them for you.
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Oh, I can't remember seeing it. Yes, I live very close to Leaholme, or the patch where it used to be, it's very interesting. The Erdington one that is, there are a few jotted around the West Midlands - seems the Leesons named several houses Leaholme!
 
Hi again, I've had a new printer and scanner so I'm afraid this is the best I can do at the moment. Hopefully somebody can improve it for you. They usually do - very nice people on this forum.

I understand that the man in the picture is a Mr Davis.

Leaholme 001.jpg
 
Lady Penelope said:
Hi again, I've had a new printer and scanner so I'm afraid this is the best I can do at the moment. Hopefully somebody can improve it for you. They usually do - very nice people on this forum.

I understand that the man in the picture is a Mr Davis.

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Thanks Lady P, that's amazing! Really interesting to see the house in situ without the infill/Court Farm development surrounding it. It's hard to imagine the setting when you only know the site as a fenced off plot. That's really brilliant :)
 
gingerjon said:
This thread deals with Erdington High Street and the old Village Green. There are other specific threads with links below which may be of interest.

St Barnabas Church https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/st-barnabas-church-erdington.9445/page-17

Erdington Post Office on the Green https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...dington-post-office-on-the-green.44035/page-4

Erdington Picture House https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/erdington-picture-house.47214/page-2

Reservoir Road Erdington
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/reservoir-road-erdington.49127/

Station Road Erdington
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/station-road-erdington.34058/

Pype Hayes https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/pype-hayes.33062/


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Erdington High street

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Thoroughly enjoying looking at the old photos of Erdington. Both my parents were born there in 1911. My Mother in Wilton Road (she went to Aston Commercial School) and My father in Marsh Lane and I believe he went Osborne Rd. School. My grandmother (May Davies)used to take in washing from the police station at the corner of Wilton Road. I do have one lovely memory of my Nan singing "Oh for The Wings of a Dove" at the Women's Guild...all a long time ago!
 
On the Green with the Library (centre) and to the right the Birmingham City (?) and Midland Bank. Possibly 1910/20s. Still a bank (HSBC - or was) but the building’s been replaced with a non-descript modern design. Viv.

C9CA9DE2-8A48-4234-98CD-9AA9C2B99D1B.jpeg

Can’t get the comparable modern Google Streetview due to pedestrianisation. Viv.
F5A9154A-9835-4654-B130-ED98DA670A68.jpeg
 
Just joined, and losing thread at the moment. Going back I noticed a few people had forgotten that the furnIture shop under the Carlton was called "Dale Forty".
 
Mindy Davis said:
Just joined, and losing thread at the moment. Going back I noticed a few people had forgotten that the furnIture shop under the Carlton was called "Dale Forty".
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Welcome to the Forum Mindy!

Yes, parents seemed to buy a lot of furniture from Dale Forty. Growing up never knew what that tag on the furniture was!
 
Richard Dye said:
Welcome to the Forum Mindy!

Yes, parents seemed to buy a lot of furniture from Dale Forty. Growing up never knew what that tag on the furniture was!
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Thank you Richard, it's nice to meet you. I can't remember the tag. My older sisters used to go to the Carlton. I worked in W M Taylors, and the Griddle Inn.
 
Mindy Davis said:
Just joined, and losing thread at the moment. Going back I noticed a few people had forgotten that the furnIture shop under the Carlton was called "Dale Forty".
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Another memory reawakened. I was always surprised by the strength of their windows the way they moved when the dancing was on. I only remember it late fifties. Were Dale Forty a group with outlets in the City?
Bob
 
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