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Air Raid in or near Nechells

Also at the risk of getting my legs slapped for being off thread (moderators please remove or move if you need to).

In addition to John's excellent photo here are some more, The rear entrance, inside the market and Percy Shurmer clock which stood over the Market Offices.

Phil
 

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rocketron

To continue with the correct thread. Here is a photo of the aftermath of a fire at Newtons which I assume was the results of the bombing. I'm also adding a photo of Thimble Mill Lane on which you can also just catch a glimpse Newtons .

Phil
 

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Thanks for recording your mother's memory, Ron.

The discrepancy between her memory and what appear to be accurate semi-official records is quite striking. It does seem as though the rescue of the many people in Newton's basement without casualty is a fact (and must be regarded as something of a miracle). So the question is: why should your mother's memory have been so different? What I am wondering is whether there was another incident in the vicinity with which this one has got confused over the years. Alternatively, in those days facts were hard to come by - newspapers and radio broadcasts mentioned no detail of the effects of specific air raids for obvious security reasons - and I wonder if the reports of casualties at Newton's could have been a rumour which circulated in the area at the time and was never officially contradicted. Shall we ever be able to get to the bottom of this?

If one looks at Phil's excellent image of Newton's, it's a wonder anyone survived.

Thanks also for the pictures of the Market Hall. Whenever I walked past its blackened walls as a small boy in the mid-1940s, I was always told by my father what a splendid structure it had once been. Now one can see it.

Chris
 
hi steve
just found your post and accessed the barra website did a search and found my uncles name listed unfortunate for him but good research info for me
phil b :( :)
 
Hi "Master Brummie"

The photo of Newtons is in Long Acre and I used to live up the entry next to the Newtons Wall.
This photo must have been taken in the late 50's as Newtons was further away during the war.
regards
Bob
 
Hi,
I worked at LH Newtons in the late 1960's. I t was indeed bombed during the war and the equipment was moved to Tamworth where they picked up a lot of local people to work in the factory. At the end of the war the damaged factory in Nechells was rebuilt and the equipment moved back to Brum. When I worked there in Nechells there was still a chartered bus coming in everyday from Tamworth carrying the poeple who had been working at the factory when it was relocated to Tamworth and still lived there. I left there in 1974 and the bus was still running every day to Tamworth and back .Fond memories of a lunchtime pint at the Mitre, just around the corner from Newtons and Saturday night dances at the social club upstairs in the factory. Great times !

Charlie.
 
Welcome to the Forum, Charlie, and many thanks for that interesting insight into Newtons in the postwar years. I hope you will be able to make further useful contributions to the Forum in the future.

I have taken the liberty of quoting your information (with appropriate acknowledgement of course) on my Newton air raid website page.

Chris
 
Chris,
In the book Heroes of the Birmingham Air Raids by Michael Minton there is a copy of the report of an air raid on 9th & 10th April 1941 taken from The London Gazette.It records a fire on the premises of L.H.Newton & Co. Ltd. bolt, nut and screw manufactures,Thimblemill Lane,Nechells where a number of incendiary bombs had hit the building setting the upper floors alight when a High Explosive bomb landed on the building pierced all four floors and exploded on the ground floor making a large hole and exposing part of the basement......."The fire spread rapidly and involved the whole works making it necessary to evacuate a large basement shelter housing 400 employees, several of whom had been injured and were receiving treatment in the first aid department".......for their part in the events of that night Fireman William Bennett AFS was awarded the George Medal..Fireman James Meers AFS the British Empire Medal and Kings Commendation to Philip Bermingham or Bermington (report/index spells it both ways) of the 5th Birmingham Battalion Home Guard.The BARRA site lists one death at the site on that date

Could this be it

Colin
Hi I’m new to the site my grandfather was Fireman James Meers who was awarded the British Empire Medal . My father sold it in the 80’s and it ended up in the collection of a Mr M Minton who died in the mid 90’s I am trying to track the medal down and bring it back home to the family
 
Hi I’m new to the site my grandfather was Fireman James Meers who was awarded the British Empire Medal . My father sold it in the 80’s and it ended up in the collection of a Mr M Minton who died in the mid 90’s I am trying to track the medal down and bring it back home to the family
Put an advert in this magazine, that's how we found ours.https://www.isubscribe.co.uk/Medal-News-Magazine-Subscription.cfm
 
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