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Bordesley green

Many thanks David, your comments are encouraging to a Newbie clod. Here is my final shot of that bit of BGE. It is accompanied by the following comments "On its inward journey into the City, car 315 has descended the hill from the original BG Terminus (where I lived by the way, see other photo for the Paper shop where I worked between leaving school and first and only job), and has just passed Fourth Avenue. It is opposite the newsagents shop of Horace Field, which carries a large hoarding for John Bull magazines, as well as one for Wills 'Star' cigarettes. Does this resonate with your queries re; Beardes v King etc?

I am 5 years older so just about remember the Trams..tokens even...and all the Clippies and Drivers from the 53 and 54 buses called in Smith's Paper shop for their Evening Mail and packet of Woodbines, so I got to know some of them quite well.


Dennis
 
Dennis, you don't really live up (or down) to your description of a "Newbie", and you certainly could never be termed a "clod"; neither word would be apt for someone who obviously has a sincere, deep interest in the east of Birmingham. The treasure of photographs you've posted on this very thread illustrate your enthusiasm for Bordesley Green and Stechford.
Just one small observation - not a criticism - but a precision; I think the caption of the shot of the tram could be slightly improved because it’s well past Fourth Avenue and, in fact, has already reached Third Avenue. Perhaps our experts who have access to directories could confirm that Horace Field’s newsagents shop was actually on the corner of Third Avenue.

Bordesley_Green-Third_Avenue.JPG


You’ll have to help me out with the shot of Stechford – or propose it as a quiz! – I just can’t place it. It must be a very long road because the shop number is 348 (?). But Bordesley Green East hasn’t got a gradual left curve in it - ummm, has it? I’m lost. David
 
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Not sure if that is Stechford it looks like the row of shops just past the Richmond left hand side Bordesley Green East. Dek
 
Yeah boys, spot on. I have posted loads of stuff on this Forum under the Richmond Road thread, so I won't repeat myself. But here are some hitherto unpublished shots of that Terminus exactly opposite Denton Grove where my Nan dragged me up, and Richmond Rd round the corner where I lived and my parents also occasionally entered the fray...

The last mile or so of Tram track was extended to Stechford in 1926. Previously it ended at the Broadway (Belchers Lane). This corresponded to the large scale building expansion on both sides of the River Cole and beyond. Almost joined up to Yardley at Stoney Lane, but this came later.
 
Regarding the photo of Harry Smith's shop at 346 BGE near the junction with Stuarts Road, can anyone remember the name of the road that ran from Stuarts Road to Station Road? It was widened and renamed as a continuation of BGE in the 50's.
 
Icarus, It becomes The Meadway and downhill it goes over Station Rd, Stetchford, Police Station on the left and on to Kitts Green and on to The White Hart pub. Len.
 
Lencops... Yes, but what was the original name of the short road between Stuarts Road and Station Road/Stoney Lane before it was widened and renamed BGE in early '50s? Upto that time, BGE ended at #358 (Stuarts Road) and, by 1955, numbers continued up to about 480 (ending at Stoney Lane). The Meadway starts at Church Road.
 
Well after many phone calls to Brum City Council and digging through their web site , i was no nearer finding out what the place names around "The Legs" monument represented, and then in a blinding flash of inspiration ( or perspiration ) i realised that it, and photos that i have of another such monument have (placename,INTERCHANGE. They are in fact i think placed by Centro Travel , the one at Saltley actually bears the Centro logo .
So i will endeavour to glean information from them , i will i think have to go into their office which is of course in Bordesley. Max
 
Icarus said:
Regarding the photo of Harry Smith's shop at 346 BGE near the junction with Stuarts Road, can anyone remember the name of the road that ran from Stuarts Road to Station Road? It was widened and renamed as a continuation of BGE in the 50's.
Click to expand...

Remember it well Icarus, it was Royston Road. My mate Baz Dorman lived there at a house called "Pabajoto" . There were some scraggy old trees that separated the turnaound for the trams and buses, and the beginning of Royston Rd, Here's a 1938 map to prove it
 
"Just one small observation - not a criticism - but a precision; I think the caption of the shot of the tram could be slightly improved because it’s well past Fourth Avenue and, in fact, has already reached Third Avenue. Perhaps our experts who have access to directories could confirm that Horace Field’s newsagents shop was actually on the corner of Third Avenue."


Yes, I though this was incorrect David, but that is what David Harvey wrote and I was a bit too unsure to correct it in my post without confirmation. Glad to see I was right! Cheers.
 
Oh and here's roughly the same area maps from 1887 and 1905 to see just how much change there was in the subsequent years...
 
Great stuff, Dennis. :thumbup:

Your Dormans lived at 24 Royston Road and when the road was renamed their address became 424 Bordesley Green East.
 
Bang on Icarus, Joan & Tommy (bless him), son Barry and daughter Pauline. Hence PaBaJoTo, 424 it was. Tommy had the best 'blue nose' I have ever seen. Thanks to many hours in the Richmond bar, but mainly in the North Star...a great raconteur. Barry was a butcher at Roy Thompson's opposite the Richmond, until he later left and worked at Forward radiator until his untimely demise. I miss him like crazy still. Like Tony Smith, Harry the Newsagent's son and heir. Both died young. So sad.
 
Icarus - you may remember some of the Birmingham City footballers used to lodge in Winstanley Rd in those days. Poor lads. Malcolm Beard and Terry Hennesey always pooped into Harry Smith's paper shop Sunday mornings for the Sunday papers and the Sports Argus. They were only on a few quid a week then. Terry Captained Wales and looked like he'd just finished the night shift at some factory...no big flash motors then. I also remember often seeing Bertie Auld walking to the 54 bus stop from his digs near Bierton rd School. How times have changed.
 
Nice photo Lyn, made me laugh the garage is Camp Service Station , LOL max
 
Hello there Lyn,
A very similar photograph was posted a month or two ago.
The Evening Mail does it again !! This isn't Bordesley Green, and I don't think it's even Bordesley! As Max has noticed, it shows the Camp Service Station which was just beyond High Street Bordesley on the Stratford Road, so I suppose it's Camp Hill. The A41 leaves Birmingham as the Stratford Road before becoming the Warwick Road and the No 37 Hall Green service never touched Bordesley Green.
A wonderful photo though; the original wasn't so broad. David
 
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hi david...thanks for the correction...if i dont know the area i am posting i do rely on you good folk with more knoweledge than i to spot any wrong captions...

cheers...

lyn
 
The photo is on the junction of Farm Rd and Stratford Rd if i remember the garage on the corner also ran a Coach business . Dek
 
I agree, what a wonderfully evocative photo from lyn - and Nick and David are right I think. Here is the Google shot of same area. I walked up that hill for three years from 1953 - 56 to school at the top of Camp Hill before they kicked us out of our lovely Gothic Reformatory and sent us even further to Kings 'blasted' Heath. Remember it well. It all looks a bit sterile and soulless now...boo, sob.

D
 
Dennis, I didn't know that those Blues' players lived in Winstanley Road but I remember that others lived in Sheldon - Brays Road and Olorenshaw Road in particular. Often saw Jackie Stewart waiting for the #60 bus after a game. You're right about the lower player wages in those days, I have the original cheque dated 18-9-1969 for £8/9/4 being Trevor Francis' first week's professional wage with Blues and signed by Alan Instoe.
 
Hi Dennis,

I spent 2 years there between 1954 and 1956 too before being exiled to Kings Heath.
Did you also have to do stone picking on the new cricket pitches at Cartland Road
before the grass was laid! Happy days!!

Kind regards

Dave
 
Yes Dave. Like the Chain Gang in an American Penitentiary. Good square though in the end, saw off David Brown bigtime once....missed the old Fives Court though. THe new ones were never the same. Sigh...
 
To get back on message, anyone ever hear the term my nan used - "As thin as a Ted Haynes rabbit"? Ted Haynes was the greengrocer at the shops next to the Broadway. Next door was Gardners, the American Milk Bar clone?
 
Icarus said:
Dennis, I didn't know that those Blues' players lived in Winstanley Road but I remember that others lived in Sheldon - Brays Road and Olorenshaw Road in particular. Often saw Jackie Stewart waiting for the #60 bus after a game. You're right about the lower player wages in those days, I have the original cheque dated 18-9-1969 for £8/9/4 being Trevor Francis' first week's professional wage with Blues and signed by Alan Instoe.
Click to expand...

You remember Jackie Stewart - him play wit' no teeth in? You must be right ancient. You'll be telling me next you remember Jackie Lane and his big throw-ins and Robin Stubbs and Orrible Orritt? And you STOLE Trevor's first wage packet? You swine Sir!! He was my hero and then some...give it him back. Saw him in Waitrose, Hall Green a few weeks back and he looked down to his last Rolls Royce Silver Cloud...
 
Dennis Williams said:
To get back on message, anyone ever hear the term my nan used - "As thin as a Ted Haynes rabbit"? Ted Haynes was the greengrocer at the shops next to the Broadway. Next door was Gardners, the American Milk Bar clone?
Click to expand...

Wow, just been past that row of shops and Gardners is still there (in name anywat)!!! Surrounded by 'change' and huge Bangladisation.

How did they DO that? Is this a record. To my certain knowledge they have been a Milk Bar/Sweet shop since 1955....amazing stamina and fortitude.
 
Just thought i would let you ex Bordesley Green people know that the old Police station has now been sold. !!!!
 
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