Greenstreet
New Member
My dad Charles Bannister lived at No 44 (?) Butler Street in 1905. He attended St Aidan's Chuch as a lad. The Priest (Fr. Dencer ) allowed the boy Charles to sit in the vicarage library there on wet days, mainly because Charles' mother found him a bit of a handful. FR. Dencer was my godfather. My dad left school at 12 years. but he was hooked on reading and remained so all his life. My grandfather William, previous to his marriage lived in Garrison Lane. He was skilled in instrument making, gunsights. clocks, watches etc. and worked at B.S.A.. My aunt Amice trained as a teacher and taught at Tindall Street before becoming a headmistress in Gloucesterhire (circa 1945). In 1944 I was taken to the Circus at the bottom end of New Street with all the kids she taught at Tindall Street. I still remember the beautiful lady contortionist who was billed as "The Boneless Wonder" Charles remembered being out of work for 3 years in 1926. Later he had various jobs, including Dunlop Rubber, Pearl Button cutting. Eventually he trained as a Psychiatric Nurse and worked at Rubery Asylum for the rest of his working life. He was a kind and gentle man who taught me many things. Years later (1970's) my son Tim, Williams great great grandson helped to start the Birmingham Wheels Project & Urban Farm almost under the shadow of St Aidan's. What goes around,comes around !