Tile cross/ marston green / dorridge

[Annveitch]

thanks ian,
i,d asked people before about the plane but no one could remember it, thought i,d dreamed it, me and my friends went up there must have been sometime later and we could see the indentations in the ground.
The sweet factory someone mentioned was in bell lane next to the bell pub, wasn,t it called walkers at one time?

 

[ragga]

They also had Constellations flying out of Elmdom.
the plane with 3 tails .

 

[Graham S]

Doing a bit of digging, I've found that a Don Everall Aviation Dakota, registration G-AMSF, crashed when an engine failed as it climbed away from Elmdon in 1960; depending on the wind direction on the day, it could well have come down in those fields. No-one was killed in the crash, though I have no info on injuries.

Cheers
Graham

 

[dereklcg]

Don Everall, did,nt he run coaches, as well way back when?
amazing how the old Grey cells come into use when the memories jogged
grt picture though of elmdon we remember i our youth
Derek.

 

[Graham S]

Yes, he did; it's been unkindly said that he started out with a few clapped-out old buses, and worked his way up to a few clapped-out old planes!

Graham

 

[welder]

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure you're wrong there; Dakotas were regularly working scheduled flights in & out of Elmdon until well into the 1960s, possibly even the very early 70s, and the last DC-3 in service was grounded only in 2008. It may have been the last BEA Dakota into Elmdon, as I believe they were replaced in the BEA fleet by Vickers Vikings and Viscounts around that time. In fact there's a Viscount beyond the terminal building on the postcard.

Cheers
Graham

Graham, you are quite right, it was BEA's last Dakota flight and I well remember my first sighting of the Viscount, a far more modern looking plane.

Ian

 

[welder]

thanks ian,
i,d asked people before about the plane but no one could remember it, thought i,d dreamed it, me and my friends went up there must have been sometime later and we could see the indentations in the ground.
The sweet factory someone mentioned was in bell lane next to the bell pub, wasn,t it called walkers at one time?

Ann, the sweet factory next door to the Bell was owned by the Moseley family, in around 1960, at least.
I was in 1st Marston Green Scout Troop and one of the Scoutmasters was one of the Moseley family. He frequently brought bags of assorted sweets and chocolates with him.....he was very popular!

Ian

 

[Annveitch]

thanks ian, i couldn.t recall who first owned it but i am pretty sure that before it moved it was walkers, a couple of women who used the old cabin used to work there and of a christmas they used to bring in sweets and chocolates.

 

[lencops]

It was Moselys sweet factory in Bell Lane, then was occupied by Walkers Chocolate who make chocolate products for super markets with the stores name ie- Tescos, Morrisons and many more companys, Walkers now have a ultra modern fully air conditioned & temprature controlled factory on Coventry Rd, Hay Mills at the top of the hill going towards the City, by Brickfields Rd. Len.

 

[Annveitch]

Len is that the large building on the left hand side going towards town?

 

[lencops]

Anneveitch, Yes that is Walkers on the hill before the old Adelphi Cinema. Len.

 

[Ann B]

This photograph was taken approx. 1920. It shows a signpost at the junction of Bell Lane, with Tile Cross Rd. on the right and Mackadown Lane on the left. The barns were part of Malthouse Farm. St. Giles' Nursing Home stands there now.

Ann
(Replacement )

 

[Neville Philpott]

Just to correct an earlier post about BEA aircraft operating into Elmdon,

the three tailed airliner was in fact an Airspeed Ambassador.

BOAC operated the Constellation but did not serve Elmdon until much
later on, and then with the VC10.

 

[SoulSister1949]

does anyone remember the prefabs in pitfield rd ? they were by a big dip called the tip. i lived there at no 9 the sandcroft. my friends were donald & dennis JAGGS .i was born there and we had to move in the early 60s as we were told that they were going to pulled down, they stayed up for nearly another 10 years i believe. id love to have some pics or no someone from there. please get in touch........

 

[dereklcg]

does anyone remember the prefabs in pitfield rd ? they were by a big dip called the tip. i lived there at no 9 the sandcroft. my friends were donald & dennis JAGGS .i was born there and we had to move in the early 60s as we were told that they were going to pulled down, they stayed up for nearly another 10 years i believe. id love to have some pics or no someone from there. please get in touch........

hello SoulSister, i knew a Dennis jaggs lived in chelmsley moved to Tamworth,is it the same person? regards dereklcg

 

[elly]

Hi Helen, I was born in the downstairs front room of 200 Elmdon Lane, as were my brother and two sisters.
Bit of a coincidence, there were only two Whitakers (with one T) listed in the phone book when I was a younger man, and both were in Elmdon Lane, Marston Green. Both had sons called Ian which caused some confusion for people using the phone book to call one or the other, I was about 14 years older than the other one and a colleague once rang and asked if Ian was coming to the pub? The reply was "Doubtful, he's just gone off to the Cubs". Wrong Whitaker!
Your husband may remember me or my brother Alan or sisters Mavis and Peggy.

Hello,
It's been a while since i've visited the board,- it's been great reading this thread!!
Ian, I think you lived on the opposite side of the Lane to my mother-in-law, I suspect somewhere near the Ford Drift/ Digby Drive end? Si (Hubby), and his brother Graham, lived in a bungalow near Newlands Lane end. I'll ask if he remembers your family when he gets in- although I think you know everyone on this thread!!

Update you later.
Helen x

 

[welder]

Hi Helen, you're quite right. We lived three houses from the entrance to the Fordrift with Digby Drive opposite the Fordrift.

Newlands Lane is around a quarter of a mile away, nearer to the railway station.

Ian

 

[elly]

OOhh, not far at all. I'm not sure, but I think Si might be younger than your lot- although he thinks the name Whitaker rings a bell (give him a couple weeks!!).

He thinks you might remember the French's (Gwen, Ernie and son's Ian and Neil who used to test their motorcross bikes down the lane!), Dave Brown (used to live on the corner of Elmdon Lane and Digby Drive), the Aston's (Lived top of Fordrift and used to own the Butchers), and Sarah? (parents used to own a bacon factory?).

Up Si's end there was was the Jones triplets(Julia, Lee, and Richard, corner of Elmdon Road and Elmdon Lane), Andrew Curry, Collins Wilks, and the Collinsons.

Marston Green mates: Watts, Milan, Farr, Jacob, Burley.

Any thing ring a bell?
Helen

 

[Lloyd]

Talking of Elmdon Lane, did anyone know the Edenborough family at no 57? . Still trying to trace their history (although I've got their ancestry).

 

[welder]

Helen, I well remember Ernie French testing his motorcycles down the lane, he was a bit older than me, I'm sixty this July, but would patiently answer my questions about his bikes.
Dave Brown was a good friend of mine, I used to help him out with welding repairs to the many cars he used to repair for others, he was avery good car body repairer and painter. Indeed, he resprayed GUB 580D, my E-type Jaguar, and did a cracking job. Carmen Red!
George Aston lived in the third house in the Fordrift then moved to Coleshill Road, next to one of his rival farmers, Harry Musson. His butchers shop was in Land Lane.
Sarah? Can't remember the surname but their business was The Stechford Bacon Company.
I remember hearing of the birth of the Jones triplets, if memory serves they were the result of IVF treatment.
The Burleys lived at the top end of Elmdon Lane, a few houses before the station. I occasionally have a drink with Dave Burley who now lives at Furnace End and his brother runs a door, window and hardware shop called Flair, in the centre of Marston Green.
The other names you mention don't ring any bells, regrettably.
Ask Si for his former address, please, and remind me of his surname, if I don't recall him then my brother Alan or one of my sisters, Mavis and Peggy, may well.

All the best,

Ian

 

[elly]

Deleted

 

[changinman1]

Ann...I dont think there was a crash ....according to this snippet ..it simply ran off the runway....and the reg no was different , unless there was more than one incident.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Don Everall operated a Jersey Service from Birmingham Elmdon airport in the fifties first of all using De Havilland Dragon Rapides and then later Douglas DC3 Dakota aircraft of which they had two, one being G-ANEG. One of their DC3s ran off the runway in at Birmingham. G-ANEG was later sold to Executive Air Transport who were based at Elmdon.[/FONT]

 

[postie]

Right, tile cross it is then.

 

[changinman1]

notice there are anderson shelters in all the gardens.....thought they were built after the war ..(the prefabs )

 

[postie]

The picture states, - Tile Cross prefab estate 12th August 1952.
I think lots of people had Anderson shelters after the war, as sheds.

 

[BernardR]

Still got some near where I grew up as they have been protected. I recall one near Trittiford Road burning in the middle of the night. As the asbestos heated the air trapped exploded and it was just like gunfire.

 

[BernardR]

The picture states, - Tile Cross prefab estate 12th August 1952.
I think lots of people had Anderson shelters after the war, as sheds.

Odd but most seem to have the shelters. So did they build them just in case or was the estate commissioned before the end of the war?

 

[col h]

Odd but most seem to have the shelters. So did they build them just in case or was the estate commissioned before the end of the war?

Cheap sheds I think, loads of Gov't surplus stuff still about even when I was a kid.

werent they meant to be buried when they were air raid shelters ?

 

[dereklcg]

Shirestone road, Tile Cross. Hope its the sort of thing you want
​

 

[stars]

Hi Derek
Ii hope you don't mind I tweeked a copy for you so if you right click them you can save it to your
computer.

Regards Stars