I was reading an article by Carl Chinn, in The Birmingham Mail. He mentioned “The Birmingham Wheel” in Avenue Road. I’ve recently found out that a relative of mine worked there, (sadly now deceased). Does anyone have any info on the wheel please, as I can’t find any mention of it here.
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The Birmingham Wheel in Avenue Road
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john knight
signman
The only Avenue road I knew was from Rupert street down to Aston road, never knew of a wheel there, used to get coke when I was about 8.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
The only Birmingham Wheel (other than the big wheels in the city) I can remember was the one off Venetia Road off Garrison Lane and if I remember it was connected to the probation services and was something to do with Go Carts and was started in the 1970's or 1980's and I believe it has all been taken over now by a commercial venture now.
Just to say I re-checked the Carl Chinn article and it definitely says Avenue Road. I think it’s referring to a factory in Avenue Road, Aston, as my relative did factory work until she retired. It mentions his Aunt Win being seen on the bus from Erdington in 1990, to go to work at the Wheel.
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I think 'Midland Wheel' as opposed to 'Birmingham Wheel' is most likely.
The book In and Around Aston Through Time by Ted Rudge has the following:-
The original newspaper article has, at the foot, a photo with a caption saying "..A group photo in the playground of St Marys, which stood between Whitehouse Street and Avenue Road .." so I think it is fairly certain which Avenue Road is being discussed.
The book In and Around Aston Through Time by Ted Rudge has the following:-
The original newspaper article has, at the foot, a photo with a caption saying "..A group photo in the playground of St Marys, which stood between Whitehouse Street and Avenue Road .." so I think it is fairly certain which Avenue Road is being discussed.
An interesting problem as in many ways 'Google wasn't our friend'! Calling a road 'Avenue Road' hardly helped, and 'Birmingham Wheel' links to far too many references to Ferris wheels. What did it refer to anyway in the original article? A pub? A factory? A place for go-karting?
First step, check the original article and check to see if we had missed anything. Was this unknown place actually in Nechells, as there was talk of buses? There, right at the bottom, was some strong evidence of which Avenue Road was the subject. Some searching around 'Wheel', 'Nechells' and 'Avenue Road' took me to the book and pretty conclusive evidence that the place name had got confused and that it was a factory. So I then went looking for the company, which I found. Back to the forum to report results... only to find that ace detective pjmburns had been on the job too!
There is a fine balance to be struck when researching, always work from the source material, but realise that it might have errors. A bit of speculation often finds some leads but can they be linked back to the source and do they stand scrutiny?
Some years ago I found that online my great-grandmother had been 'stolen' and married off to a different husband. The researcher there had 'speculated' that a nine year-old girl on the census was the same as his seven year-old ancestor with the same name in the same village. On the other hand I speculated that an Irish priest, remembered by my aunt, might have been an Australian priest, son of an Irish-Australian catholic, who went on to found a school. I emailed his photo to the school and its secretary said that I was right! We then went on to complete the formal paper trail. Not the 'proper' way to do it!
Good work everyone! And don't necessarily believe what those old aunties say!
First step, check the original article and check to see if we had missed anything. Was this unknown place actually in Nechells, as there was talk of buses? There, right at the bottom, was some strong evidence of which Avenue Road was the subject. Some searching around 'Wheel', 'Nechells' and 'Avenue Road' took me to the book and pretty conclusive evidence that the place name had got confused and that it was a factory. So I then went looking for the company, which I found. Back to the forum to report results... only to find that ace detective pjmburns had been on the job too!
There is a fine balance to be struck when researching, always work from the source material, but realise that it might have errors. A bit of speculation often finds some leads but can they be linked back to the source and do they stand scrutiny?
Some years ago I found that online my great-grandmother had been 'stolen' and married off to a different husband. The researcher there had 'speculated' that a nine year-old girl on the census was the same as his seven year-old ancestor with the same name in the same village. On the other hand I speculated that an Irish priest, remembered by my aunt, might have been an Australian priest, son of an Irish-Australian catholic, who went on to found a school. I emailed his photo to the school and its secretary said that I was right! We then went on to complete the formal paper trail. Not the 'proper' way to do it!
Good work everyone! And don't necessarily believe what those old aunties say!
