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Sutton Park

Thanks Alf..........I was sweet 16 and never been kissed!!! :eek:

We lived in Clifton Road Sutton so the Scouts were just "next door" so to speak.

It was a great event and many a pen pal relationship was set up because of it.

Ahhhhhh happy memories of golden days ::)
 
Anyone know anything about Crystal Palace that was in Sutton Park on the site were the Old Fair Ground
was in the 50's -60's
 
Hi, Cromwell, I remember the Crystal Palace in Sutton Park, I used to walk there when I was a kid in the early 1940,s  I seem to remember it was made of all glass panes, and they had tables in there and you could get tea  and a sandwich. The Fair had a roller coaster, bumper cars and a couple of round abouts and a few side shows.  Happy Days.

                        Have a nice day,  Wally. :D :D :) :)
 
It was still there in the 50s and Sunday evenings  had dances with Big Bands .
Ted Heath Band with Dennis Lotis, Dicky Valentine and Lita Rosa singers.

I'm sure it still had a bit of a Fair Ground there at the time but I'll stand correcting.

Note: One of the first jobs I had was cleaning cars at a Used Car Plot near the Midland Red Bus Station Digbeth and the Boss either owned Crystal Palace or Leased it because he gave staff free tickets for the dances.

Was it called the Orange Grove?
 
Thanks for that Alf . A fellow called Job Cole laid out the plans for Crystal Palace in 1878 when built it had accomadation for 2000 people for shows etc.
Photo of Rowtons Well taken 1900
 
Being Brummies and not Suttonians, we were expected to pay a penny (twopence for grown-ups I believe) to go in at the various main gates, like Banner's Gate. We normally nodded in a knowing way and wouldn't be charged, but a more certain trick was to use the tiny side gates on the Four Oaks side, where all the visitors were residents of the Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield, who could get in for nothing. Streetly was Staffordshire and definitely foreign, while Banners Gate and the Parson & Clerk gates were nearly Birmingham and there were staff to charge you for admission.
I have lots of memories of Sutton Park, but I wonder, does anyone else remember when a large part of the open land north east of Longmoor Pool was used by the army for tank training during WW2. We had friends who lived on the Chester Road at Streetly, and they had to put up with the noise of convoys of tanks going from thier base to the park.
Peter
 
Yes  Peter, I remember all the things you mentioned,plus I remember one time I was in

there through Banners Gate and there had been a grass fire and it was still smoking. I

found a dead rabbit with all the fur burnt off and I walked out the gate with it under my

coat. When I got home, Mom skinned it and we had  rabbit stew for dinner.

Another time in there I was paddling in a creek and stepped on a peice of glass and cut

the side of my foot open, had to ride my bike home with the blood pouring out of it. I still

have the scar to remind me. But now they are all happy memories of my childhood. I sure

had a lot of happy times in Sutton Park because I lived so close to it.

                    Have  a  Nice  Day,  Wally. :D :D :D
 
That map is really fascinating, Crom. Checking it up with modern maps, the stage coach route was almost exactly as the Chester Road (A 452), but with a lot of different names. You can see how it left the London-Coventry-Birmingham road at Stonebridge (81 miles) and passed through the middle of Castle Brom (75 miles), past Pipe Hall (Pype Hayes Park now) and a place then called Blue Bell, which I would guess was the house later called Berwood. Across the Sutton Road (A 5127), and on to what became New Oscott, with the predecessor of College Road (A 453) clearly shown. After that came the Parson & Clerk, and a slight bend to the right which I don't think was as much as appears on the map.
At first sight I thought the road turned right along what became Thornhill Road to Streetly and Four Oaks, but I don't think that is right, as later on the route passes through places like Stonnall, like Chester Road does today.
I love looking at old maps. You can get so much out of them with a bit of mental effort.
Cheers
Peter
 
Peter here is another stagecoach map which is quite intresting out of the same book
 
I might as well put another map up as some of us might want to leave Brum for a day out
 
Peter ,
you are correct about the tank testing ground,
the tanks came from the Wolsey factory,
Do you remember the POW camp just inside Banners gate?
was later to become the US army post office
 
was not the US POST OFFICE by the town hall & the main gate where the post office sorting office is now? or was that another one in Sutton?
ASTON
 
Aston,
the one I mentioned,
was just by the woods inside Banners Gate,
as I said it was a POW camp before,and there was a piano
there for some time after it was unused
 
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