• 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

Onion Fair

I am sure that is Mrs Kelly the boss in the middle/middle row top photo.
I was a bit confused by the ICI/IMI relationship. Dad has just explained that before the war the ICI (Imperial Chemical company) was formed by a consortium and that was what that part of the company was called when my Gran first worked there, but after the war it became known as IMI (The Imperils metals company - a subsidiary of ICI) because they’d been involved with making copper and brass for munitions during the war and to the best of my knowledge was still called that when she retired.

..
apparently she was transferred to the Zip Fasteners Division and stayed there until she retired.
 
The link with the Onion Fair and your nan being in charge of the roast was it was arranged by the IMI If I remember correctly.
 
The link with the Onion Fair and your nan being in charge of the roast was it was arranged by the IMI If I remember correctly.
I’d not heard about that before. I do know the Prices/Chapmans had strong links to the fair. They were very friendly with Josephine and Albert Hedges and Annie Rogers and Alf Farmer who spent their honeymoon night at 49.
 
Last edited:
My recollection of the Onion Fair is a bit embarasing.
I'd just returned from National Service, went with my wife and leaving the fair she was walking just behind me I reached back and took her hand , we walked on for several paces then I turned to speak to her and it wasn't her but another lady, contentedly holding on, my wife still a couple of paces back grinning. :oops:
:grinning::grinning::grinning::grinning: love it. i bet the woman thought it was her luck day.
 
This was the Onion Fair in 1873. I think this was held in the Bull Ring. Maybe the Onion Fair mentioned earlier in this thread took its name from this fair. It was obviously originally a fair at which onions were sold.

There were several posts about the Onion Fair in the Bull Ring thread which I’ve now copied to this thread, so those posts may not have been seen by readers. Viv.042950DB-DF17-47A9-BB12-E4B1E01BC74C.jpeg
 
Ned Williams book "The Birmingham Onion Fair", states that By 1860, local tradesmen businessmen were worried that onion sellers and horse traders were OK, but showmen were unwanted and should be banned. In 1875 the regulations were changed and wild beast shows,, shooting galleries and the pitching of any show or exhibition was banned from the fair in the Bull Ring, But that an attempt to keep alive the "fun of the fair" had been made by establishing a rendezvous for stalls and exhibitions on a piece of waste ground in Aston
 
Well that clearly explains it Mike thanks. I did wonder exactly what was on offer at the Onion Fair as well as onions. And, in any case, can’t imagine there was much space for too many side shows in the Bull Ring. Viv.
 
Ned Williams book "The Birmingham Onion Fair", states that By 1860, local tradesmen businessmen were worried that onion sellers and horse traders were OK, but showmen were unwanted and should be banned. In 1875 the regulations were changed and wild beast shows,, shooting galleries and the pitching of any show or exhibition was banned from the fair in the Bull Ring, But that an attempt to keep alive the "fun of the fair" had been made by establishing a rendezvous for stalls and exhibitions on a piece of waste ground in Aston
Ha ha this made me smile "a piece of waste ground in Aston" it was called the Serpentine Ground and I loved the Onion Fair. Even though we had no money just the bright lights , watching the rides and the side shows. You could smell the roast on the spit as you walked in through the gates. The Candy Floss stall. (Never did like Candy Floss) and then just being able to wander around. I remember the boxing booth and even as a nipper I could not understand why anybody could even try. One of the side shows was a Tattooed Lady. She would'nt look out of place these days. Just grateful to have these memories. I drove past a couple of years ago and its now an industrial estate.
 
Ha ha this made me smile "a piece of waste ground in Aston" it was called the Serpentine Ground and I loved the Onion Fair. Even though we had no money just the bright lights , watching the rides and the side shows. You could smell the roast on the spit as you walked in through the gates. The Candy Floss stall. (Never did like Candy Floss) and then just being able to wander around. I remember the boxing booth and even as a nipper I could not understand why anybody could even try. One of the side shows was a Tattooed Lady. She would'nt look out of place these days. Just grateful to have these memories. I drove past a couple of years ago and its now an industrial estate.

This took me back. I was a youngster back in the fifties, and would catch the bus from great Barr, and then walk from Wellfield Road, Perry Barr, to the Serpentine Ground. I loved the Onion Fair so much, that later, when I started to do bits of radio, I did a piece for Carl Chinn's programme, on BBC Radio WM. I took the old memories I had, and recorded them as verse. Yes, I took some artistic licence with my memories, but it is all there in essence. I called it "Me Mom Said".
 
Back
Top