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The Unity Club Summer Lane Help Needed

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
hi folks i need all hands to the pump please....this coming october sees the 150th birthday of the unity club ...original one that was on the corner of summer lane and new summer st demolished and the new one is now in new summer st..some of you will know prof the owner from the forum meet ups we held at the stag pub when he was landlord there...he intends to put on a bit of do in october to celebrate a club that did so much for the poor and destitute of that area and of course is still serving the community today...what i am trying to do is find out the exact date in october 1868 of when it first opened as a date would help in planning the celebrations...i have already asked mike to search the newspapers for any info but so far he cant find any that give the info i am after....if anyone can help with any newspaper articles from any year really that would be great as i need some background info into exactly what the club did although we do have an idea...thanks folks for any help and here are the 3 photos i have of the old unity club of course if anyone has anymore floating about would love to see them..

lyn

unity club.jpg unity%20club.jpg unity%20funeral.jpg
 
brill froth looks like an extension to my first photo...road under repair...noticed on yours it say birmingham unity club not just unity club..wonder if this is why mike could not turn anything up in the newspapers looking again at my photo 1 i think it does say birmingham above unity....cheers

lyn
 
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hi alan...i am pretty sure my photo (pic 1 post 1) and frothys were taken at the same time as both show road under repair..i think froths photo was taken just a tad further along summer lane as it show that little gap whereas my photo is taken bang on the corner and the gap is out of shot but as said any information that anyone can find out about this club would be appreciated

lyn
 
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They held celebrations on the centeneary in 1960, but unfortunately do not give exact date. but the "Friday next" referred to would have been the 21st

Birm post.14.10.60.jpg
 
Just realised that says 1960 !!. Later cutting gives date as 21.10.1960
 

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thank you mike and oh dear its looking as though the info i was given is incorrect in that the unity was formed in 1860 not 1868 as i was told...if this is correct we have missed its 150th year which would have been in 2010...how strange because thats the year we held our forums xmas meet there in the dec....i will have to get in touch with prof and find out where his info came from but at a guess i would say from a local who uses the unity and told prof he was at the 100th celebrations...very good chance he got the years mixed up but did get the month correct

lyn
 
Just found this thread. The only help I can offer is that the two photographs with the "Road Under Repair" barriers were I think taken in 1947 when there had been a fire in the club's building. You can see the charred rafters in both photographs. The barriers had been erected (I suspect) to keep folk away from the building in case debris fell into the street. No help with identifying the date, but it does add a bit to the history.
Does any one know what number the Unity Club building in Summer Lane was?
I'd like to hear if you all get any closer to finding out when the 150th anniversary is (or was).
 
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337a that's where it was in 1962, that was also the address of Birmingham unity equitable money society...
 
hi outercircle as said on post 10 the unity was formed in 1860 so its 150th anniverary was in 2010..jim the unity and birmingham unity equitable money society were one and the same thing...will need a kellys look up to see what number summer lane it was..

lyn
 
hi folks i need all hands to the pump please....this coming october sees the 150th birthday of the unity club ...original one that was on the corner of summer lane and new summer st demolished and the new one is now in new summer st..some of you will know prof the owner from the forum meet ups we held at the stag pub when he was landlord there...he intends to put on a bit of do in october to celebrate a club that did so much for the poor and destitute of that area and of course is still serving the community today...what i am trying to do is find out the exact date in october 1868 of when it first opened as a date would help in planning the celebrations...i have already asked mike to search the newspapers for any info but so far he cant find any that give the info i am after....if anyone can help with any newspaper articles from any year really that would be great as i need some background info into exactly what the club did although we do have an idea...thanks folks for any help and here are the 3 photos i have of the old unity club of course if anyone has anymore floating about would love to see them..

lyn

View attachment 122210 View attachment 122211 View attachment 122212

Evening Lyn seems weird I have actually got the second picture on my drawing pad at the moment , the one with the signage over the ached door . At the moment I'm having trouble getting the wording to the right proportion around the door but I'll press on , I'll let you know when I've finished it
 
ok...hopefully your dad can confirm that the photo i posted on the summer lane does show his old house

lyn
 
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