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Aston Hall

It was my playground, always there and taken for granted. Now of course I just love it.

The Rat Pan was/is, not sure if it is open now, on the corner of Bevington Road and Trinity Road.
 
It was my father and his brother's playground too and later on I used to go with my friend Margaret, whose relatives ran the E.M.Oliver newsagents on Witton Road, to play in the park. My father, who lived in Wyreley Road, Witton attended Albert Road School for all of his schooling and so the hours and hours playing in Aston Park on the way home from school made many happy memories for him. My brother and I drove up and down all the streets when I visited, that they may have taken on their way home from school via the Park.

I had to visit the area when I came to Brum late last year. When walking under the stanchions of the Doug Ellis stand on Trinity Road there now so near to the edge of the Park I felt very nostalgic because that is where we played for hours on the swings, the roundabout and the big slide. It was a great afternoon for me. I took the train from Four Oaks to Aston Station on a Friday afternoon. I was surprised to find a lift at Aston Station.
I saw the Brittania pub on my way to Church Road. It was raining lightly and quite gloomy. I wanted to go into Aston Church but it was locked. Next time I will make an arrangement with the staff to have a tour. John Houghton's Aston site https://astonhistory.net/ has some wonderful photos of the interior of the church.

I made my way to Witton Lane and wanted to visit the shop on the Villa grounds to buy some souvenirs for my son. There was a game the next day and the gates where open for deliveries so I got to see the pitch. It looked wonderful since it had rained.
I finally found my way into the area where the shop was and had a great time shopping in there. I came out and walked back to
Witton Lane and Trinity Road and up the driveway to The Holte. There was no one in there except the staff and I told them I wanted to have a look around, It is very nice and I am so glad that it has survived because it was a very sorry sight for so long and not much hope was held out for it to be saved. I then walked up the hill to Aston Hall, a route I have taken many times. The Hall was closed by then and the rain was steadly coming down. It looked wonderful even in the rain. The cafe in the Stable Block was closed. I made a mental note to go back on a better day and I will. There was absolutely no one around which didn't bother me. I returned to Aston Station rode up to the platform in the lift and caught the train back to Four Oaks.
 
Hi Wendy and jennyann,

My mother was born in Manor Road in 1918 and she often talked of the happy times in Aston Park. You could see a section of the pitch of Villa Park from the hill, and she used to go in towards the end of the matches and collect the cigarette cards.

She would watch the auction programmes on the TV and always say that she wished she had kept the hundreds of cards, she would have made the price of a few pints!

But oh dear! I must say that even at the age of 91 she had no time at all for Doug Ellis!

Best wishes Peter.
 
Hi Pedrocut: I know a lot of us wished we have saved our cigarette cards that we played with. I remember seeing that man
on the British Antiques Road Show who had a huge collection. Lovely to know that yourMom had some great times in Aston Park
too.
 
Aston Hall.
There are five squirrels to be found in the long hall,the same as the Ansells motif.
It was, I think,the emblem of the Holte family.worth a look,and it keeps the children happy,finding them.:)
 
Its also a nostalgic area for myself......
My late father and grandparents lived at 130 Wyreley rd......Dad would have gone to Deykin Ave school.....
Naturally we were all Villa fans over the generations with Dad first taking me around 1960 to my first match.
I have vivid memories of Aston Hall by candlelight.......a night that ignited my passion for the English civil war.....
Grandad (Sam) had allotments and i remember them having a few pints at the Barn on Witton Rd while i had pop and crisps in the car.
I too will visit Aston Church on my next visit back to the U K.
 
great pics kel...so pleased that you and the children enjoyed the trip....

lyn
 
Thanks for posting your late uncle's photo Peter. Brings back memories when us kids from Holte road used to slide down the hills there in the snow on anything flat we could lay our hands on. Jean.
 
hi all.i loved aston park and the .padlin pool but when i was a kid no way could you get me in the hall.it had a strange smell.and i was afraid of the place.
 
Pete I remember the smell too but I used to go in with an adult. They used to say a ghost walked round with his head under his arm in the long gallery I think?. Jean.
 
hello.jean that is what i was afraid of.GHOSTS. and still am i might seem daft but i see em. 3 since i moved here.
 
Hello Pete you can keep em. No that sounds awful but Aston Hall has got an awful lot of past. I am a descendent on my mom's side but the baby was born the wrong side of the bed so no claim I am afraid. Jean.
 
Pete I remember the smell too but I used to go in with an adult. They used to say a ghost walked round with his head under his arm in the long gallery I think?. Jean.

View attachment 58989

I did not think to post this photo by my late uncle Tony as the quality was not so good, but all the talk of ghosts made me change my mind. This must have been taken around the early 60's, and he had written on the bottom that this was the position of many ghost sightings.

All the best Peter
 
Talking about being thrown out, I got chucked out of Lewis’s in the 50s for jeering at the man selling an apple de-corer. He said “Ladies, they cost just half a crown, and if you were to go to the Ideal Home Exhibition at Bingley Hall today, you would be charged 2/11d.” Whereupon I shouted “Big Deal!” Next thing I knew I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown out of the door. The last thing I heard was the salesman saying “And to think, I was going to give the apple to that boy. But before I hit the street I managed to shout back…”You can stick your apple…”
 
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