Christopher Dodd

[p_prod_uk]

Hello,

I'm in the process of making a scrapbook for my dad's birthday and need a little help! After half heartedly planning his present in my head for 8 months, it suddenly appears there is only a week left to The Big Day - so I'm rushing to get it done!! :explode:

I have a few things which I can't find on the internet (info/photos of etc) and wondered if anyone could help?

Just to give a brief background - my dad (Christopher Dodd) was born in Handsworth in 1950 to Hilda Dodd (nee Hines) & Christopher Dodd (sr) and moved to Harborne in approx 1956/7. He was an only child and my grandad died when my dad was 12. He attended Greenmore College and is married to his childhood girlfriend, Anne Dodd. (nee McFarlane, from Troon.)

1) I'm looking for a photo of Murdock Road as he lived at number 123 when he was born.

2) Looking for a photo of Bishop Latimer's church in Winston Green

3) Looking for a photo of 32 Spencer Street circa 1950's as his father owned a jewellery factory there. I'm unsure of the name (Dodd Ltd?) but I know it became Dodd and Rogers Ltd in 1962. There is a jewellery shop who buy and sell and their trading name and address is D & R Jewellery, Vyse St, but I don't know if this is anything to do with Dodd & Rogers from years ago.
Co-incidental name maybe??

4) Looking for a photo of Carless Avenue, Harborne as he lived at number 76 when he was about 6 or 8

5) Needing a photo of the Central Methodist Church

6) A photo of Cherrington Close, Redditch, as he lived at number 18

7) Haven't been able to find a photo of B'ham Town Hall circa 1960 (Ordered one from central library - archives - but they couldn't find it)

8) A photo of B'ham Repertory Theatre circa 1960

9) A photo of the Alexandra Theatre circa 1960

10) Looking for a photo of Dr Cyril Christopher. He was a lecturer at B'ham School of Music and was the organist of Carr's Lane church in the city centre. He taught my father the organ.

11) Needing a photo of Dudley Road hospital circa 1950

12) Needing a photo of Danzey Green circa 1940 and a photo of any churches there?

13) Needing photo circa 1955 or Harborne Collegiate (now demolished, but was on Court Oak Road at the foot of Woodville Road)

14) Needing photo of St. Peter's Church and/or the organist George Miles

15) Looking for anyone who may know the whereabouts of my dad's 2 old school friends; John Sewell and John Scholar. Both will be 58-60 now i think

16) Can anyone find a decent photo of George Thalben-Ball, the city's famous organist? I can only find small ones which won't print clearly

17) Looking for a photo of The Black Horse pub at Illey, circa 1958/60ish

18) Looking for a photo of The Bell at Bellbroughton pub/restaurant circa 1958/60ish

19) Looking for an old photo of Lewis' rooftop playground circa 1950's/60's

Hmmm....didn't realise I had quite so much info to find!!!

If anyone could help I'd greatly appreciate it. Am off back to Brum tomorrow armed with my camera to do the 'after' shots of Dad's old houses...bet the OH is wishing he hadn't taken a day off work now!!

Thanks in advance,
Nicky

ETA: My Dad had an article written about him in the B'ham Evening Mail in about 1969/70 as he was (at that time) the youngest church organist in B'ham. Does anyone have any idea how I can get hold of a copy of this article - as it would be amazing to give him it!!

 

[Phil]

Nicky

At a first quick look I have come up with these photos, The dates may not be what you require but at least they are something to fall back on.

Birmingham Town Hall
The Alex John Bright St
The Birmingham Rep Station St
The Bell Belbroughton.

I'll have another search later.

Phil

 

[mikejee]

Concerning 32 Spencer st, The firm was listed in 1950 as Chris Dodd, manufacturing jeweller, and shared with The Talbot Jewell Case & Box Co.In 1950 it was the only firm listed (but not necessarily there) at thaT address, and by 1962 it was Dodd & Rogers, sharing with F W Pool, jewellery plate case makers. It (and the address disappeared between 1963 and 1966.
Mike

 

[Phil]

Nicky

Have you tried trawling the web, I have just had a quick search and have come up with these. I don't think the dates matter as buildings don't change much over the years.

Phil

Central Methodist Hall
St Peters Harborne
St Peters Church Organ as designed by George Miles
Bishop Latimer Church
Danzy Green High St & Church.

 

[p_prod_uk]

you guys are very good at this!! Yes I had searched all over the internet (did about 9 hours yesterday) but am obviously not as good a searcher as most of you!

The pics provided are perfect. I had found the Bell photo but think I'll just put it into black and white and cheat a bit!

The info re: Spencer St is fantastic!! When I last when to Central Library I couldn't really come up with anything, so it's a great start. I'll try and research the related names given and see what I can come up with.

The photo of the organ designed by George Miles is perfect - thanks so much!

Will keep you all posted after my trip to Brum today, and keep any more ideas coming!

Thanks all so much

 

[p_prod_uk]

Is it Danzey Green or Danzy Green?

 

[Phil]

Is it Danzey Green or Danzy Green?

Hi Nicky

It is DANZEY Green Tanworth In Arden, its just my illiteracy showing through.

Phil

 

[mikejee]

To add to my earlier note, the firm appeared at no 32 between 1940 and 1943, when it shared with the Talbot jewell case firm(again), who apparently afterwards moved next door before moving back later. there probably wasn't any connection between The other firms I mentioned and Dodds, other than that they shared a building. Sometimes there could be six different firms sharing an address, each with its own room or set of rooms.
mike

 

[p_prod_uk]

https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-C.html#CH

is there anywhere like this that I could try and find the jeweller's stamp my grandad might have used?

 

[p_prod_uk]

To add to my earlier note, the firm appeared at no 32 between 1940 and 1943, when it shared with the Talbot jewell case firm(again), who apparently afterwards moved next door before moving back later. there probably wasn't any connection between The other firms I mentioned and Dodds, other than that they shared a building. Sometimes there could be six different firms sharing an address, each with its own room or set of rooms.
mike

Hi Mike, thanks for posting. Yes I just meant I was seeing if the other businesses were still trading, on the off-chance that they were and I could get in touch to see if they kept historical photos of their time at number 32.
Thanks

 

[p_prod_uk]

We've just done Spencer St for 'now, photos and Vyse St. D + R Jewellers are no longer at 41 Vyse St and did some asking around but no one knows where they went. Just trying to negotiate city centre to get parking!!

 

[Di.Poppitt]

The only photo I can find of George Thalben Ball,

Replacement for lost photo

 

[jennyann]

Found this website about Choirs with three larger photos of Sir George Thalben Ball on: https://www.boychoirs.org/choirmasters/historic/hdir003.html

He used to come and play free lunchtime concerts in l960 at the Town Hall which was across from my office in Queen's College Chambers. If it was wet and cold it was a great way to spend a lunch hour listening to him play. I still like organ music today....it's all those Sundays spent in church when younger that did it!

 

[jennyann]

Found another group photo of Sir George Thalben Ball OBE...finding out more and more about this famous man as I look around. This photo was taken with The Temple Choir in 1928.

I have found references to him being involved in a couple of movies. Music for "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" in 1964 and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" the l956 version."The Man who knew too much," (1956), (Alfred Hitchcock), starring James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles and Ralph Truman; there is a scene shot inside the Royal Albert Hall, with Sir George Thalben-Ball playing the organ." Quote from Celebrities Playing the Organ in Films". Also, he played the organ for Edward Lough who recorded the very famous "O For The Wings of a Dove" which still continues to sell today, sales being in the millions.

This photo can be enlarged if you go to this site:https://www.cathedralmusiclinks.org.uk/1344/538765.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*

I could spend hours reading about this man as there is so much to learn.

 

[p_prod_uk]

Hi Jennyann, thanks for the links and info on GTB, the info on him is great and pics are perfect.

Didn't get home till midnight last night and was exhausted (having only had 3 hrs sleep the prev night thanks to insomnia) so didn't get time to update you all with how we got on. Will update tonight after work, but we didn't manage to find the article on my Dad - only got throught a few months of microfilm though as it's very time consuming!!

Does anyone know if the Bham Evening Mail has records of their own articles from the 60's? My partner called them yesterday late on and staff had left for the day, but the lady who he spoke to said they should be able to help. However, on speaking to archive staff at the library, it seems that the paper only have info on papers post-2000, as they threw away all older archived info. Does anyone know if that is true?! Seems odd that they would just throw them away and not even give them to the library achive dept.

Anyway, must dash as back to work today :-(

 

[Astoness]

HI NICKY...SO PLEASED THAT YOU MANAGED TO FIND THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE... IN THE 60S THERE WAS A PHOTO AND A STORY ABOUT MY DAD AND HE CANT REMEMBER IF IT WAS IN THE MERCURY OR THE MAIL...SO I TRAWLED THROUGH 10 YEARS OF MERCS ON MICROFILM...TOOK ME WEEKS OF BACK AND FORTH TO THE LIBRARY....ALL TO NO AVAIL SO I ASSUME IT MUST BE IN THE EVENING MAIL..I MUST PLUCK UP COURAGE TO START LOOKING... YES I HAVE ALSO HEARD THAT ABOUT THE PAPER NOT KEEPING ARCHIVES BEFORE 2000....GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR MISSION AND IF I COME ACCROSS ANY PICS THAT YOU WANT I WILL POST THEM FOR YOU..

LYN

 

[p_prod_uk]

Hi Lynn, sorry but no we didn't manage to find the article :-( Bad news about the library not keeping their old papers/info. Looks like I won't be able to put the paper article in my scrapbook as it's Dad's bday on Tues next week and can't get back to the library before then :-(
Thanks for the reply and good luck hunting for your father's article too!!

 

[Wendy]

This one may be better the British Library Newspaper Collectons.

Newspapers
The British Library
Colindale Avenue
London
NW9 5HE
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7353
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7379

E-mail: [email protected]

 

[jennyann]

Just thinking that the Main Library in Brum must have microfilms of local newspapers on the 6th Floor going back further than 2000. I looked up the Archives and Heritage section of the Birmingham Gov pages and they have a PDF attachment right at the bottom of the page which can be opened as a Word document listing all the newspapers they have at the Main Library on microfilm.
Here is the link: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/Gener...EM_ID=49095&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=13150

 

[jennyann]

Hi Nicky: There is one John Scholar listed on the Friends Reunited web site.
No details just a listing and there is one John Sewell listed in the Birmingham area for the dates you mentioned with some details. You can access the site at www.friendsreunited.co.uk You could send either of them a message through this site and it's free to do so.

 

[jennyann]

Hi Nicky: Just found a photo of the amazing organ at Carrs Lane Church Centre circa1970. There is also a photo of the Birmingham Rep on this PDF file. The Organ photo is on page 10. Just hit the binoculars and type in the word Organ and you will see the photo. The theatre is on the page above.
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/ELibrary?E_LIBRARY_ID=59

 

[p_prod_uk]

Hi Nicky: There is one John Scholar listed on the Friends Reunited web site.
No details just a listing and there is one John Sewell listed in the Birmingham area for the dates you mentioned with some details. You can access the site at www.friendsreunited.co.uk You could send either of them a message through this site and it's free to do so.

Hi Jennyann, thanks so much for your 2 recent links. I tried friends re-united too, I must be rubbish at searching!!
Do you have an account with FR as I dont't so won't be able to email. I wondered if you would mind sending an email to them on my behalf with my email address? If nit then don't worry, I'm sure one of my friends must have access!

 

[jennyann]

Hi Nicky:
Friends Reunited is free now so just type in web address and look up what you need.

 

[jennyann]

Hi Nicky:

Just put in the names at top menu where it says "People". If you are looking for someone with a more popular surname then on the left hand side is a place where you can narrow it down with places, approximate ages, etc.
If you are looking for someone and you know which school/schools they attended then put in the school and you will then be able to check the names on those pages and the years they were students. I find if I keep it very simple when typing in the info I am more successful. Good luck.

 

[p_prod_uk]

Hi Nicky: There is one John Scholar listed on the Friends Reunited web site.
No details just a listing and there is one John Sewell listed in the Birmingham area for the dates you mentioned with some details. You can access the site at www.friendsreunited.co.uk You could send either of them a message through this site and it's free to do so.

Hi Jennyann,
Have sent a message last night to a John Scholar from FR, although he had no details listed so I have no idea of schools etc. Fingers crossed it's the right one!!
I've just searched for John Sewell and there are unfortunately none with the same school as my dad. (Harborne Collegiate/Greenmore College)

 

[mw0njm.]

a cutting from the evening mail. 1980
he was my brother