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Wartime Yardley

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Dated Nov 1940

I am in the process of sorting some old clippings/scrapbooks of wartime Birmingham left to me by a relative and thought that this may be of interest to followers of this thread.
I do have several other pics from these clippings of bomb devastation in Birmingham and suburbs that I could post or start a thread on, if there would be any interest.
Regards,Keegs.
 
i have been trying to find this photo of Lily road for years,so thank you so much for putting it on here! my great granparents and grandparents lived in Lily road and told me about the bombing many times!
 
Sheldon Tony,
This is a photo of, not Vera road as it says, but Patrick road opposite and to your left of where you lived. Old brit John Crump is in front of the hand cart and my Grandfather is standing in front of the gate bottom left with his hands in his pockets.
Dave




crump-rem10.jpg
 
Eddie 14 said:
Keegs ,for goodness sake do not through them away. You have probably got more than the b'ham mail.

Dave
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No chance of them being thrown away,too much history in them to be lost.I think, when time permits that I will start a thread as there are some interesting pics of city centre bomb damage as well as some of the suburbs.

Cheers,Keegs
 
Keegs,
My Father was a constable in the Bham mounted police and all through the war they were stretched for man power when Bham had had a raid. Some mornings he would come home late as they had being doing a rescue in the City, he rescued some people in a church one night only to get injured himself by a piece of glass falling from the roof and nearly cutting his hand off a the wrist. A month in a splint and he was back on duty.
Dave
 
Dave,
It's little stories like that bring history to life.This is such a great site.
Keegs
 
Eddie 14 was the damaged house in Patrick Rd rebuilt as I can't remember a house with a different design. If I remember correctly there is a bungalow in Vera Rd which is different to the other houses.
 
Tony,
The picture that I put on post #94 had a driveway between the two houses which cannot be seen, Nos 40 & 42.The worst hit was no 40 as the bomb went through the back of the house and damaged no 42 as well,so it was pulled down and left half of the semi until after the war. Mr& Mrs P.Jones lived in the remaining half that was undamaged, both passed on many years, maybe they were still alive when you were there.
The bungalow in Vera Rd No22 was always a bungalow, opposite there a bomb blew out the front of the pair of semis next to the detached house which although basically undamaged it had moved on its footings, it was taken down brick by brick and rebuilt after the war. I helped Mr Reeves to take it down along with many of us lads.
There were pictures of that damaged house on the Forum before I joined and Len Copsey asked me to identify the photo as they ( the Mail) had got the roads mixed up as you can see from the one in Patrick Rd.
Dave
 
Thanks Eddie. I havent been to Patrick road for years but might go back next time I visit the UK to look at the houses you have described. I lived there for 17 years but had no idea of the history and events you have related. Interesting
 
Hi All,

Yardley suffered a tragedy in June 1944. 2030 (Yardley) Squadron, Air training Corps, which was based at Hobmoor Road School near The Yew Tree ,went to RAF, Wymeswold, Leicestershire for a weeks training. RAF Wymeswold was an Operations Training Unit. On the day of our arrival we were told that an exercise was planned for that night and 8 of us would be required to assist, We all volunteered and 8 of us were chosen at random. We set off at about midnight in an RAF lorry driven by a WAAF who had an RAF sergeant sitting beside her and there was an RAF aircraftman sitting in the back of the lorry with us cadets. Whilst travelling on the outskirts of Leicester there was a terrific bang and the offside of the lorry was torn away. Our lorry stopped with the WAAF driver screaming hysterically. None of us knew what had happened but we found three cadets and the RAF aircraftman lying in the road many yeards away. They had all been sitting on the offside of the lorry. The aircraftman and Cadet Sergeant Ken Harrison and Cadet Kenneth Beech were killed instantly. Cadet James Brogan died a few days later.

Our stay at Wymeswold carried on but we returned home one day early as the funeral of all three cadets was to be held the following day. I returned home to the news that my brother Arthur, who was serving with Bomber Command, was missing after a raid on Krefeld in Germany. The funeral of the cadets was held on Saturday, 24th June 1944 at Yardley Old Church followed by burial at Yardley cemetery. Ken Beech and Ken Harrison lie side by side adjacent to the Crematorium and their graves have Commonwealth War Graves headstones. James Brogan lies in the Roman Catholic section of the cemetery.

I must add that none of us received any trauma counselling , there was no such thing then. Think of the millions killed in both wars and civilian who endured the bombing. There was no counselling whatsoever but the country has not become a raging lunatic asylum. I believe modern day counselling for trauma is a con and those practising it are making a fortune. As a retired police officer I am ashamed of those officers at Hillsborough who claimed damages for trauma caused by what they had witnessed.

Finally I must add that it transpired that we had been hit by a stolen American Army lorrry. The driver, a British paratrooper, was later arrested and appeared at Leicester Assizes charged with manslaughter. (There was no charge of causing death by dangerous driving in those days) He pleaded Guilty was sentenced to 18 months in prison. This was a light sentence for those days and it is assumed that the Judge took into account his excellent army service throughout the war.

Old Boy
 
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Hi All,

Reference my post at 103 I must state that Jimmy Brogans funeral was held at the Catholic church in Stechford. His cortege then joined up with that of the other cadets at Old Yardley Church and then led by the squadron band and the rest of the squadron marching behind we went to Yardley cemetery.

I must also add that my brother Arthur's plane was shot down over Holland and he spent the remainder of the war a prisoner of war.

Old Boy
 
It all seems like a dream! When I think back to my days during the war I had NO idea of what was going on, I remember going to school and seeing bomb damage and thinking NOTHING of it! The nights spent listening for the sirens wail and hearing the vroom vroom vroom of the aircraft overhead and the going into the Anderson shelter my Dad and UncleTom had built trying to sleep only to get up and then go to schoool like nothing had happened. Looking one night south towards Coventry and seeing the RED glow of the city burning! LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY to be alive. John Crump OldBrit, in Snowy Parker, Colorado USA
 
Old Boy said:
Hi All,

Reference my post at 103 I must state that Jimmy Brogans funeral was held at the Catholic church in Stechford. His cortege then joined up with that of the other cadets at Old Yardley Church and then led by the squadron band and the rest of the squadron marching behind we went to Yardley ceme

I must also add that my brother Arthur's plane was shot down over Holland and he spent the remainder of the war a prisoner of war.

Old Boy
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Great story old boy, and glad your brother was ok allthough a prisoner of war.
 
Just seen Kenneth Beech grave in Yardley Cemetry as I walked through, at the time I didn't notice the grave adjacent but will look later, the War Graves headstone is laying down, but so are alot in Yardley due to health and safety reasons, such a shame to be taken in such a terrible accident

The two boys are buried toe to toe just been back and checked need to find Jimmy Brogans grave now
 
Eddie 14 said:
Sheldon Tony,
This is a photo of, not Vera road as it says, but Patrick road opposite and to your left of where you lived. Old brit John Crump is in front of the hand cart and my Grandfather is standing in front of the gate bottom left with his hands in his pockets.
Dave

crump-rem10.jpg
Click to expand...




My school friend lived at No 61 Patrick Road.. I can remember looking through her photo albums... probably belonged to her parents... I can remember seeing a similar photograph to this. Sadly my friend died a few years ago. Georgie.



 
GeorgeG, That photo is definately not Vera Road, it was taken by the B'ham Mail and they got the two mixed up as both Vera Rd and Patrick were hit the same night. A stick of bombs fell in a line as they tried to hit Ingram's again after it was ablaze, thinking they had hit something that was important. Ingram's was at the bottom of our garden much lower down and they missed us by about 150 ft.When it was well alight it was a hell of a blaze as the roof was timber and well tarred felt.
Dave
 
02_Patrick Rd.jpgView attachment 86829
Patrick Road is the photo above and the photo in the Thumbnail below (2/2) is Vera Road

This is the difference between the two.

Dave
 

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Thanks Chris, I could not sort the blooming pictures out, I tried but I thought something was better than none.
Dave
 
lencops said:
Deaths & bomb damage in Lily Rd next to The Tivoli cinema, the photo was taken looking towards the Coventry Rd, they were people i knew, Rest in Peace. Len.
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Hi, do you still have this picture? Will be moving to the street v soon and interested in the history of the road.

thanks, Adam
 
Deleted already shown on 108. Thumbnail still there, whoops
 

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Ann B said:
I've been scanning photographs for my sister in law, Mary Weston. This is a photo of her mother and sister, Beatrice and Pauline Weston, taken in Vera Rd. Yardley, early 1940's. How incongruous is that..deck chairs and a crazy paved air shelter? With that attitude we had to win the war.
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Hi Ann, I currently live at 40 Patrick road and believe the house we are in was originally bombed. I am a school teacher currently learning about WW2 and would love to show the children any photos from Patrick road if you have any?
Thank you
 
Hi, I currently live on Patrick road and am lead to believe it was our house that was previously bombed in WW2.
I am a school teacher and would love to be able to show this to this children!! we used to have a photo but can no longer find it. If anyone has any pictures of Patrick road or close by I would be very appreciative. Thank you x
 
sheldontony said:
Eddie 14 was the damaged house in Patrick Rd rebuilt as I can't remember a house with a different design. If I remember correctly there is a bungalow in Vera Rd which is different to the other houses.
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The house was re built. I currently live st no 40.
 
I lived in 75 Patrick Road from 1975 until 1993 and I saw the attached pics on this site regarding bomb damage for Vera and Patrick road. One day I will pop back to look how it looks now. Not sure the information is correctPatrick Road Nov 23 1940.jpg VERA RD NEW.jpg
 
sheldontony said:
I lived in 75 Patrick Road from 1975 until 1993 and I saw the attached pics on this site regarding bomb damage for Vera and Patrick road. One day I will pop back to look how it looks now. Not sure the information is correctView attachment 114247 View attachment 114248
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Thank you.
Yes the top one is Patrick road, no 40 and 42. There is a drive way leading up to the garages between the two houses, which has always been there. We've lived here since 1999. I'm guessing you might remember john and dianne who used to live on the road along side Mary and her sister who used to live opposite number 40
 
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