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Prefabs

The last time I was down Wake Green Rd all the prefabs were occupied as far as far as I can recall. Now I'm reading that some of them are in a derelict condition. This can only have occurred since they were listed to stop Birmingham Council renovating them (cladding them in brick & tile as they did others of the same type).

It looks like we have the usual scenario with Birmingham and listed buildings. The definition of derelict is in a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect. That describes Birmingham Council's attitude to listed buildings completely.

They must have stopped replacing the tenants as each one moved out or died I suppose, using the old excuse that they were no longer fit for human habitation and because they were listed they would cost too much to repair.
 
I forgot to add to my previous post that I hope that Birmingham Heritage are able to do something about them in situ as I wouldn't like to see them carted off to be rebuilt elsewhere.
 
Phil said:
I forgot to add to my previous post that I hope that Birmingham Heritage are able to do something about them in situ as I wouldn't like to see them carted off to be rebuilt elsewhere.
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so do i phil...they are after all part of our history..

lyn
 
The caption on this photo says Garrett's Green and shows prefabs on the left and a walled island with a large tree. I've not been able to locate exactly where it was and I would think the prefabs are long gone and maybe the island has been altered and the tree removed. Nice car in view with the driver probably making a phone call. One child on the left appears to have roller skates and those nice wide pavements would have been ideal to skate on.
GarrettsGreen.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
The caption on this photo says Garrett's Green and shows prefabs on the left and a walled island with a large tree. I've not been able to locate exactly where it was and I would think the prefabs are long gone and maybe the island has been altered and the tree removed. Nice car in view with the driver probably making a phone call. One child on the left appears to have roller skates and those nice wide pavements would have been ideal to skate on.
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Here's how it looks now..Pic. taken from the corner of Elmay Road.
 

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Mickymoo said:
Here's how it looks now..Pic. taken from the corner of Elmay Road.
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Thanks Mickymoo that looks like it, so the old pic was taken looking up Barrows Lane. I notice the wall on the island has been lowered. A search shows only a few mentions of Elmay Road on the forum.
 
It was a hill that went up to the Cov road I think? My Drs office was at the corner of Cov Rd.
 
oldMohawk said:
Thanks Mickymoo that looks like it, so the old pic was taken looking up Barrows Lane. I notice the wall on the island has been lowered. A search shows only a few mentions of Elmay Road on the forum.
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Yes,that's right,the photographer was standing in Barrows Lane,on the corner of Elmay,looking towards the junction with Garretts Green Lane on the right and Ollerton Road going to the left.
 
Thanks Robert. I suppose that might put a different priority of preserving them, depending on how much asbestos had been used in their building. Quite ironic really, as when they were built they were intended as temporary housing. Viv.
 
When I was a lad, I remember watching my dad sawing through sheets of asbestos to build a chicken house ... :rolleyes:
 
The prefabs along the Warwick road & up Sunfield grove, in Greet, were made with flat asbestos sheets with what appeared to be shredded asbestos between,i'm amazed i'm still around after living in one for 20+ years,going to school next to the Lucas factory & working in the motor repair trade for over 50 years.
 
sheldontony said:
That old pic of Garretts Green lane really took me back. Any idea of the date. I had forgotten the prefabs.
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Looking at the pic I cannot see any TV aerials on the houses so that might give some indication of the date. The Sutton Coldfield transmitter started service on 17 December 1949. As I look at the old pic I'm wondering what the cable is which sticks out on the left side of the nearest telephone pole with a thin bracket about 4ft down from the bars.
 
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That's just a support cable for the pole oldMohawk, instead of putting it at an angle it's been tensioned closer to the pole to avoid accidents.




oldMohawk said:
Looking at the pic I cannot see any TV aerials on the houses so that might give some indication of the date. The Sutton Coldfield transmitter started service on 17 December 1949. As I look at the old pic I'm wondering what the cable is which sticks out on the left side of the nearest telephone pole with a thin bracket about 4ft down from the bars.
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Ogri said:
Lived in the prefabs in Greet opposite the greet inn for 20 years, they were made of asbestos sheets,when i think about scraping the walls to decorate & drilling to fit things think im lucky to be here to day,i have fond memories of the ice patterns on the inside of the metal framed windows during the winter & sun bathing on the flat roof in the summer,we left in 69/70 for a new life in Chelmsley wood,but soon moved on.
Ogri
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Ogri

One of my best friends called Tom Jones lived with his mom and dad in a prefab opposite the petrol station close to the bridge, did you know him?
 
Hi Oldgreetboy2
we left there in 71/72 , dont recall the name but the first prefab past the bridge did have a disabled lad living there until around the 70s
& by that time i was working & getting around so probably wouldn't know a lot of people who moved in after i left school.
 
On the topic of prefabs, I lived in one of the Valley prefabs on Billesley Common for 12 years. We loved living there, even though they were very cold in the winter.
 
hi rita built to house people after ww2 i dont think the prefabs were expected to be around for as long as they were but i believe a lot of people loved living in them

lyn
 
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I lived in a prefab in Umberslade road Selly Oak for ten years. Lovely home and lovely memories. We lived opposite Muntz park which had a dell that held dances at weekends in the summer with live bands. These prefabs had really good size gardens and my old dad grew almost everything. Really happy times there G.
 
Looking at this forum pic from a post in the Kensington Rd thread I can see some prefabs in Woodside Rd Selly Park on the left in the pic.
The original pic was a photobucket loss from the linked thread so replaced 03/08/2017
SellyParkStPaulsConventSellyParkRd.jpg

In a 1945 aerial view there are also some prefabs visible in Selly Ave.
Selly Park 1945.JPG
 
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Pedrocut, I well remember the wooden draining board - especially on Christmas afternoon. Mom had 'done the draining board down' with Chloros - pink bleach if I remember correctly, and scrubbed it well. Late afternoon we would be plonked on there in just our vests ready for a wash prior to going to Nannies house by Witton Lakes. I can still remember the smell of the bleach and the feel of the damp boards!
 
Having always lived in a house with bathroom - even in the RAF baths were available - I cannot say that I have ever been on close terms with draining boards of any type. :) I do remember wooden ones, which I am sure were usually removable for thorough scrubbing.
However, my memories of wooden draining boards are of my late father, of blessed memory, using them when at a family party for his party piece of tap dancing. Tap dancing was, of course very popular in the twenties and thirties when he was a young man but he kept it up well into late age. He was far more fleet of foot than I, as I never really managed to be a good as he was. ;)
 
Radiorails, I seem to have misled you - we had a bathroom in the pre-fab but this wash a quick wash and brush up before we went to the party. We would have had a bath and hair wash the night before.
 
Radiorails said:
Having always lived in a house with bathroom - even in the RAF baths were available - I cannot say that I have ever been on close terms with draining boards of any type. :) I do remember wooden ones, which I am sure were usually removable for thorough scrubbing.
However, my memories of wooden draining boards are of my late father, of blessed memory, using them when at a family party for his party piece of tap dancing. Tap dancing was, of course very popular in the twenties and thirties when he was a young man but he kept it up well into late age. He was far more fleet of foot than I, as I never really managed to be a good as he was. ;)
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Funny you should mention this, I used to tap dance but I kept falling in the sink. Away from the corn, I remember the prefab in Court Lane and on Slade Road and on Saturday on my tour of my old haunts (my wife hates these tours) I saw that those in Slade Road have been replaced by similar size bungalows. Was their a special hospital here ...Highcroft Hall? My aunt who was brought up in Grays Road, Harborne, married a Yorkshireman, moved to Bradford and was allotted a prefab, I went to stay with them and they enthused as to how cosy it was
 
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