• 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
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Sheldon

Billy Hayden was my barber on Church rd before the Swan across from Harveys Bakery loved the smell of fresh baked bread. Billy had CONDOMS for sale in his shop! There was also a newsagents in the shops where the barbers was all this torn down now I guess. Is the Armoury still there as you go towards the Cov rd? als there was a pub near there between the Cov rds . John Crump OldBrit. Parker, Co USA
 
I'm pretty sure that the bakery at the Swan was Hardings, not Harveys. I can remember the smell and the taste of their fresh warm bread on a Sunday morning bought from a little shop in Station Road Stechford just round the corner from Iron Lane.

All of the buildings at that end of Church Road have gone to make way for a retail mall. The only original properties left standing as you go from Yardley School towards the Swan are a few houses and shops on the left just past Harvey Road. The right hand side of Church Road and the buildings in The Causeway are now buried under a car park and the route of the road has been diverted around the car park looping across what was part of the Oaklands recreation ground.

I remember the gents hairdressers although I never used it and that every barbers stocked condoms - "Anything for the weekend sir?"

Pubs that I can recall in that area were The Yew Treee , which is now a trendy bar, the New Inns (on the oppposite side of the Coventry Road to Hardings) which has been rebuilt, the Swan which is no longer (an office development stands on the site) and The Old Bull at the junction of Waterloo Road and the Coventry Road which was demolished in the widening of the Coventry Road but which has been replaced by The Old Bill and Bull (using the old Hay Mills police station - hence the Old Bill).

Progress?
 
Last edited:
Definitely Hardings bakery at the Swan. I used to have to cycle up there from Garretts Green on Sundays if we ran out of bread. You could buy the freshly baked bread from a little shop opposite the bakery. I seem to remember there were restrictions on what they could sell on a Sunday. You could buy fresh ham but not tinned ham!
 
Yes Harding's bakery at the Swan had its own stables and delivered bread by horse and cart. The horse knew the round as well as the delivery man and would just walk on to the next house. We loved as children to give the horse a treat when it was nose bag time. We lived in Bray's Road so the round must have been quite big.
 
I see The Chestnut Tree public house {later an Indian restaurant} in Sheldon Heath Road, has now been demolished. I think they intend to build houses there.

Nick
 
THE ELMS? Is it on Barrows lane? by the shops if so i worked on the cart house with a hay loft and my best man my ex csm lived there or am i wrong i sure you people can put me right.
 
Hi, does anyone know of an old TB sanitorium that may have been in the Sheldon area during WW2. My mother was in such a place at that time but I cannot remember whether she was in a hospital in Sheldon - or I may have it totally wrong and her friend was Nurse Sheldon. Anyone know about such a place in Sheldon please?? I attach a photo of the sanitorium circa 1942 ish.:courage:Gladys friend at TB hospital.jpg
 
Hi Traceyj - do you mean the photo of the TB sanatorium my mother was in during the war? If so I reattach a photo, see if this works. I would love to hear anything about the San you can tell me, my mother died many years ago and never got round to telling me anything about it. I am not even sure exactly when she was there but Dad visited her in his army uniform during WWII.TB hospital low res.jpg I have no idea who the lady is in the photo, I presume a fellow inmate and friend of Mum's.
 
no this isn't the place i asked my dad if he knew of a sanatorium in Sheldon he cant recall one,the building next door to my parents was Sheldon rectory
 
traceyj, An early photo of Sheldonfield or The Rectory.
 

Attachments

  • Sheldon The Rectory ( Sheldonfield House) Coventry Rd c1925.JPG
    Sheldon The Rectory ( Sheldonfield House) Coventry Rd c1925.JPG
    121.3 KB · Views: 113
Remember the prefabs in Sheldon Heath Road, i lived opposite in the 50's/60's, they were two deep and we used to play around the pathways between much to the annoyance of the residents, great for snowball fights and war games.
 
Hello the 2 ladies on the photo with the bus are my mom and my nan. Apparently my aunt Mary proctor at the time lived near the Radleys and my mom and nan had been to visit her. My mom later went to live in fallindale road off brays road. This was our family home until 2008. Over the moon that I have found /seen this photo, thank you Jenny
 
re#362. I too was 'bussed to Bordesley Green from Este Road/Sheldon Heath, remember the escort who played spoons.
The teacher I remember was Miss Shellard. We transferred to Blakenhale, as you say in 1951, at that time the hall was unfinished, My class teacher was Mr. Garrison, whose parents ran a toy shop in Alum Rock near to The Capitol cinema. Like you I was captain of cricket coached by Mr. Pearmain, but unlike you we won very little. I was one of the first from Blakenhale to pass what was called 11+ although I am certain I was not 11 until the October after I started at KEGS Camp Hill. I lived in Hadland Road right near to the school, the caretaker's, Mr. Green, house backed on to our house.
After school took an apprenticeship, and worked in automotive industry until retirement. So in no way famous.
 
devonjim said:
re#362. I too was 'bussed to Bordesley Green from Este Road/Sheldon Heath, remember the escort who played spoons.
The teacher I remember was Miss Shellard. We transferred to Blakenhale, as you say in 1951, at that time the hall was unfinished, My class teacher was Mr. Garrison, whose parents ran a toy shop in Alum Rock near to The Capitol cinema. Like you I was captain of cricket coached by Mr. Pearmain, but unlike you we won very little. I was one of the first from Blakenhale to pass what was called 11+ although I am certain I was not 11 until the October after I started at KEGS Camp Hill. I lived in Hadland Road right near to the school, the caretaker's, Mr. Green, house backed on to our house.
After school took an apprenticeship, and worked in automotive industry until retirement. So in no way famous.
Click to expand...



Jeez! It's my old cobber, Jim Wilkes! Well, I'm blowed. Good to hear from you! I heard you married Eunice from across the road from us.....Younger sister of Thelma. We had a few run-ins with their father, I'm afraid.
I live here in Australia, as does my brother, Bob. My other brother, John, lives in Redditch and my sister, Viv, lives in Shropshire. I have had quite a bit of contact with the Morrows(no. 16) - George lives in Spain.....Isabel lives in Western Australia. I also bumped into Trevor Hughes (no 26) on one of my trips to England.

I remember you well, Jim. It was always a mystery to me about your father. He obviously left the family but came back to visit periodically. You only played with us kids in the street spasmodically. Why was that? You chose not to, though everybody liked you.

Do you remember Reggie Povey, (lived in Blakenhale Rd.)who also went to KEGS at Camp Hill? We had an email from him not so long ago - He lives in Canada. And David Boswell, (no 8) who also went to Camp Hill ? Did you realise that people on both sides of us took their own life(no. 8 ..... Dave's father, and no. 12, the de facto of Mrs Johnson. ) I hope it wasn't us.


I enjoyed reminiscing, Jim. Plenty more where that came from.

Ray
 
img001.jpg
Coronation 1953. Your brother John on left, Isobel Morrow, right of centre with sword, my now wife Eunice 2nd from right. Not sure of the others but may include Valerie and Trevor Hughes.George Morrow and I won the three legged race on that day. Reg Povey lived next to the midwife's house. Midwife was very busy on a post-war estate. Mainly home births in those days!
I think the grammar school system whereas it did encourage some social mobility did at the same time separate you from your local mates as by the time you had travelled home sometimes an hours journey plus there was homework to be done each evening.
As you say mom and dad did split up in about 1951, in later years dad kept a pub in the city, The Clarendon in Temple Street. Mom died 1994 and dad 1995. I probably have half siblings somewhere but I don't really know for sure.
I am still in touch with Len Pow who was a class mate at Blakenhale and lived in Sheldon Heath Road, but now lives in Abertillery S Wales, another one married to a Welsh girl. I remember a Christmas party in your house perhaps 1960. Dave Boswell's sister Valerie was another that went to Camp Hill.
Eunice's sister Thelma lives in Minehead, Somerset, their younger sister who went to Sheldon Comp Jo died at 39 from cancer. My two brothers live in UK, Ray who survived leukaemia with the aid of fantastic stem cell technology lives in Hall Green and David lives in Ipswich.
We were right vandals as kids remember the bonfires on the island at the end of the road, we thought nothing of taking axes to chop down trees on local farm land to build the fire, and the dens roofed with corrugated iron dug in the fields at the back of Blakenhale.
 
No, there was no sorting office there in Lyndon rd sheldon. It was just the Sheldon telephone exchange I worked there for a few years in the early 70's.
Wendy
 
the photo 380 of Babbs Mill on the River Cole, is off Gressel Lane, Tile Cross. crossing the bridge left to right you arrive at the lake at Kingshurst. The original Sheldon Hall is further down Gressell Lane, it's a restaurant today, the road continues to the junction by the White Hart PH
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Does anyone remember the model railway that used to be at the back of the houses on Horse Shoes Lane.

It was accessed either through someones back garden or via a narrow gulley and into a field behind the houses.

I'm not sure what gauge it would have been but the track was raised off the ground and you sat astride the stock.

I wonder whatever happened to it, would be about 1955 or thereabouts....
 
Hi folks, I visited the 'Stanley James' hardware shop in Sheldon recently, and they had a small display of photos of the shop from years gone by. One of them was an old picture of the Radleys Shopping Centre. I was kindly given permission to post it on this site, so here it is. I had to take a 'photo of the photo' so apologies for the quality. I haven't seen this one before. Hope it's not a repeat post!
sheldon pic 1.jpg
 
That takes me back, just looking at that pic reminds me of winter days, grey ,walking along sheldon heath road to the shops. I remember going there xmas 1962 ( i think) start of the big freeze. Snow on the pavements until easter.
 
Another photo of the Radleys in the 50s. This is the row that now has the second hand shop, barber, pet shop as well as Stanley James. Sorry about the quality- it's another 'photo of a photo'. As I said in my previous post, I was given permission from the owner of the photos to post them on the site. Really hope it hasn't been posted before!

sheldon row of shops 1950s.jpg
 
Thanks for your comment Stars. I didn't think it was worth posting this one because of the limited view and terrible quality- The photo was behind glass! But here goes anyway. Anyone need a well made wheelbarrow? No plastic to be seen anywhere!

sheldon davis.jpg
 
I remember the prefabs on Sheldon Heath rd and the Radleys.
there was a shop (paines ) a shoe repair shop where there was
a gully that ran at the back of the shops. I used to go up the back
of the shops where I would go and meet a man who would take
my moms betting slip, this was before he got his betting licence.
i don't think that would be a good idea these days. Happy days
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top