• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Erdington

The new YMCA building in Erdington is an abomination, it must be the most ugliest building in Brum!
 

Attachments

  • ymca.jpg
    ymca.jpg
    226.1 KB · Views: 46
It looks very similar to the new Bournville College at Longbridge - which I think looks awful. Some people may consider these buildings to be on-trend, I however find the shape and colours very 1960's - an era of building styles I could quite happily live without.
 
Looks like the draftsperson had the cad setting wrong and accidentally dragged a corner. If he/she had only dragged the corner a bit further it might have actually have been very good.....a flat line. Make it so.
 
sx.jpeg
I have posted this on the Erdington thread because one of the shops was here.
 
About the wooden buildings in Spring Lane, yes I can see that they were probably ex army buildings. Its just that seeing the women & children in the photo I wondered if they were used for temporary accommodation after the war like the prefabs were.

Phil
do you still have a copy of that picture? my parents where living in those huts in 1948 when i was born,and i am trying to find out about them. i would be most grateful for any lnfo. thanks. pete.
 
Great photo Viv just as I remember it. I can still see the lovely lights hung on chains inside. I went there often.
 
John can you re-post Erdington High Street please as I can't get it and I have so many memories of the place.
Thanks. Jo.
 
Hi all,

Just catching up with this thread.

I have many vivid memories of Erdington and lived there from 1974-1988

I grew up on the estate (Glenthorne Way) which was built next to, what at the time was called Glenthorne Youth Treatment Centre and was a young offenders institute/prison. Both my mum and step dad both worked there and that entitled them to a house on site. Glenthorne was on the Kingsbury Road, just opposite Rookery Park.
I went to school at Birches Green (then later Hodge Hill).
Most of my childhood was spent hanging around the Hight St and i spent a lot of time at the swimming baths and the library, or just knocking around the graveyard reading headstones at the Church. I used to work on a market stall at Wilton Market on a saturday (is Wilton Market still around?)
I joined the Army in 1988 and have not been back to Erdington since, although I am planning a visit soon.

Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my old photo's of Erdington (including all my school photos) and some priceless memories in a house fire.

Despite searching high and low across the internet, I can't seem to find any old photos of Glenthorne YTC or of Birches Green School. Would be delighted if any of you fine people could direct me to any that you know of.
 
Lynda. Ann Harris was my dancing teacher for tap and ballet. Mom had to buy a tambourine for me which we put ribbons on and my first pair of pink satin ballet slippers I wasn't very good but at that time I wanted to be Moira Shearer!. I used to go to Cecil Road for lessons on Saturday mornings. I remember being in a show at the YMCA on Reservoir Road and singing Happy Days are Here Again.

jennyann

As a newbie to this forum I am still reading and catching up with so much nostalgia and finding posts that trigger so many childhood memories for me.

I too went to Ann Harris's school of dance in the 1950's , she had a son and daughter if I remember rightly?

My most enduring memories are the shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome.......'Happy days are here again'.... yes indeed!

I still tell people that I 'trod the boards of the Birmingham Hip.
 
Hi

For those of you interested in Erdington's history, there's a book out on Erdington Cottage Homes - the children's homes off Fentham Road (The Gardens) - The Children of the Homes: a century of Erdington Cottage Homes. It covers the history of the Homes from when they were built as part of the workhouse until when they closed in the 1980s and has memories of people who lived there as children as well as bits of information about the history of Erdington generally.

You can find it on Amazon but the postage is cheaper from www.childrenscottagehomes.org.uk/bookshop
 

Attachments

  • high qual cover for flyer.jpg
    high qual cover for flyer.jpg
    261.8 KB · Views: 14
Here is an ariel view from the 1920s, it's from the ariel photography website, it shows Erdington infirmary (Highcroft) on one side and the Cottage Homes on the other.EPW021001.jpg
 
Funnily enough I spent weeks trying to find that very picture and get permission to reproduce it in the book. I did get permission in the end but then couldn't believe it when it turned up on that website free and available just the other week. What is particularly interesting about the photo is it clearly shows the deep green of the superintendent's lawns (the big house in the middle of the drive) and the brightness of the asphalt yards that the children's houses had.It is also interesting to look at modern aerial views (thanks Google!) and see how little the street has actually changed.
 
Re: Erdington as we know it.

Lovely memories thanks for posting the link.. I went to the high street often my brother was manager of Tescos early 70's.
 
Re: Erdington as we know it.

Brings back memories for me too,from the late 60's and 70's used to go into Erdington from Sutton with nan to the markets, especially the one diagonally opposite Woolies that used to sell material, nan and mom were keen seamstresses and knitters. Can remember Owen and Owen and had my first fob watch from Roberts jewellers in York Road (I think), lovely engraved one, still have it sadly doesn't work now, washed once too much!! And again in the late nineties and noughties, Micks nan lived in Stockland Green/Erdington and used to go to the "village" on the ring and ride, or with us if we were visiting, his mom and dad got married at St Barnabas too
Sue
 
Re: Erdington as we know it.

Hi Sistersue61: Lovely memories for you. The Erdington Market on Barnabas Road is still going strong. I too used to go there regularly with my Mother years ago. I have a friend who lives close by and she knows all of the market people who are there today. When I visited she took me around to all of the stalls that were open and introduced me to the owners. It was such a friendly place to visit and has hardly changed over decades. There is a photo and many others on Keith Berry's site that can be found at https://www.pbase.com/beppuu/erdington
 
Back
Top