• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

What A Wonderful Site

A

Annveitch

Guest
Hi i,m new to the Birmingham Forum, but while i have been waiting to be accepted i have been reading some of the subjects people have posted. I was born in Sparkbrook and lived on Stratford road till I was about 5, we moved to Lea Hall road and lived there till after I got married (1964), my parents lived there untill the mid 90,s. My mother died in 1988, but my father stopped there untill his health started to deteriorate and he moved back to Worcestershire (where he was born) to live with my brother and sister in law. My maiden name was Holland, I went to Lea Village school, from the infants right through to the seniors, i would like to hear from any one who remembers Lea Hall/ Lea Village/Kitts Green from the 50,s to the present.;)
 
Hi Ann and welcome to the forum. I went to Byng Kenrick and had relations close to Lea Village, so knew it well. And my first home was in Sparkhill, off Stratford Rd./Stoney Lane. Hope you enjoy the forum.

Ann
 
Thanks for the welcome Ann, we lived opposite st. Agathas church on the Stratford Road, we moved to Lea Hall road to look after my Grandfather. My husbands sister and brother went to Byng Kendrick.;)
 
I started at Byng Kenrick in 1960, and it was just a girls' school then. They must have gone there much later, after it joined with Central boys. There are others on here from Lea Village area. If you use the search box at the top, you can find the threads where Lea Village/Hall has been mentioned.
All the best Ann
 
Hi Ann and welcome to the forum.

I lived in Leamington Road, Sparkbrook, B12, from 1944 - 1966 first at N° 58 then at 2/66 . My cousin from Leamington Rd, Frederick, is also on this forum.

Graham.
 
Graham.


Thanks for the reply, we used to live at 254 Stratford Road, opposite st. Agathas church, I was only there till I was about 5 but i can still remember it. My Mom used to go shopping on Ladypool road, I can remember how busy it was, and there was a pub on one of the corners (i think) can,t remember the name of it, My Mom and Dad used to go for a drink in The Angel, is it still there I wonder? one of my uncles used to live in Newton Road Sparkhill. He lived there all his married life he died in 2003 at the age of 96 his name was Maurice Holland.

Ann:smile2:
 
Hi Ann - welcome to the site. I grew up in Handsworth quite a way from you. The forum makes you realise what a huge number of communities make up Birmingham and there was something special about them all and probably still is. Where do you live now?
What an amazing life your father must have experienced, he was born about the same time as my parents. Although my dad died in 1972 he still felt he had seen some amazing inventions and developments in his life time. :) Mo
 
Last edited:
Ann,

Amazing that your uncle lived there for so long! Our house along with the whole of Leamington Road is no longer there, they built a school on the site, the Nelson Mandela. There was a pub on Ladypool Road called the Red Lion and many people from the area used to go there.

Graham.
 
HI Mo--- Thanks for the welcome, I was born in 1944 and moved to Lea Hall about 49", I live in Sheldon now, not a stones throw from where i grew up, we have been here since 63" and no intentions of moving, wev,e got nice neighbours and the road is quiet and we aren,t ones for moving around. My Mom used to work in Handsworth Wood, Church Road or Lane can,t remember which, she used to clean for a doctor and his wife, they had a large 3 storey house the back garden came onto a park i,m not sure whether it was Handsworth park. I used to go with her sometimes during the school holidays, she used to catch the 16 bus at Whittington Oval and it used to take her all the way to Handsworth Wood. My Dad was born in Evesham and my Mom was born in Dudley, I was looking at your web sight and noticed your ancestors were from Gloucester, so were my Fathers family on his Mothers side. There names were Hartwell they moved from Gloucester and settled in Badsey in Evesham Worcestershire. I,m the only true "Brummy" in our family my eldest brother was born in Plymouth and my other brother was born in India, my Dad was a long seving soldier in the Worcsester regiment and moved back to Birmingham just before he finished in the army(1944) his family from Evesham moved to birmingham during the war i suppose because the employment was better here than in the country. :smile2:Ann
 
Hi Graham, yes it was a long time to live in one place, he told me they paid about £400 for it its worth alot more now. I can,t place Leamington Road but there again i didn,t live there that long and i wasn,t at an age where i could go off on my own.My parents had some friends who they were in India with when my Dad was in the army, I think there name was James, they had shop in sparkhill/brook i used to go there with my mom and all i can remember was the shop was on the corner of a side road and there were some steps next to it leading into a park or recreation ground any ideas where it was?


Ann:grinsmile:
 
Hi Ann - I'm pleased you looked at my web site, I have to do some work on it but I don't know where the time goes.
There were several doctors on Church Lane, she must have worked for one just past Hinstock Road going away from Grove Lane. Those houses would have backed onto Handsworth Park.
I liked living in Handsworth as a child as we used to go to the farm and play in the hay fields. We were always going to the park and down to Perry Hall Park on our bikes. That was a long time ago now but many of the memories are still quite fresh. :) Mo
 
Mo, the doctor my mom worked for was a bigwig at Dudley Road Hospital, he was a "Mr" she used to clean his house. Opposit to where he lived there were some flats I think they would call them apartments now, and Noel Gordon (Crossroads fame) lived in one of them.
 
Annveitch said:
I think there name was James, they had shop in sparkhill/brook i used to go there with my mom and all i can remember was the shop was on the corner of a side road and there were some steps next to it leading into a park or recreation ground any ideas where it was?
Click to expand...

Ann,

The only place that I can remember like that was coming from my old school, Dennis Road, then down some steps into what we called 'the little park'. On the other side of the park was Ladypool Road with a motor bike shop on the corner.

Leamington Road ran between Stoney Lane (opposite Fulham Road) and Ladypool Road.
 
graham

I can,t really remember where it was, I know we used to walk there so it couldn,t have been far all I can remember was the shop and the steps up into a park. My Dads brother who lived in Sparkhill used to be a member of the Sparkhill Harriers I think he used to be some kind of distance runner but that was way back in the 20s or 30s. I think he won a few medals, my Dad said he used to be a good runner, he was always running away from school (ha-ha).
The last time I went down Stratford Road must have been about 8 years ago, I used to work with some one who lived in Florance Avenue off Poplar Road, its changed a lot all thats there now seems to be Indian Restuarants, sahri shops and carpet shops.
We used to go to the Embassy a lot when we were kids roller skating and i can remember a shop by the embassy we used to go in after skating and have an Ice Cream Soda, any recollection of that?
ANN:smile2:
 
Hi, I am new to the forum too and I lived in Kitts Green, H urstcroft Road to be precise. I also went to Lea Village Girls School and so did my sister Maureen Preen born 1941 and I am Angela preen born 1951 We must remember some people we both knew, do you remember Eddy;s Cafe? Regards Angjim
 
angjim.
still live in Kitts Green I see, iv,e just posted a reply on the lea hall sight to you, and then came across the post on this sight, EDDIES CAFE. do i ever, i spent most of my misspent youth there, you are a bit younger than me and your sister is about 3 years older but you may remember Jackie Mcgrady,(ju-ju) Mavis Richards had a sister Hazel, Mary Mellabar lived in Whychbold, Sandra Barnes lived on the Meadway, god my brain is acheing thinking so much, your sister might have known my husband Colin Veitch lived in Foxdale Grove off Yockleton road, bit of a rogue when he was younger but like fine wine mellowed with age. i,m going to have good think and remember nameslol
there was the Frankses, Bagshaws, Collinses, Jaquie Atkinson(big rons sister) my brains gone dead. going to think some more
Ann
 
thanks Graham, i will have a look at it later, another thing i remembered about when we lived on Stratford Road, there was a murder in one of the house just gown the road from us must have been about 1947/48.
 
Hi Ann.

So I can see that this is a very old thread but noted that your name was Holland. I'm looking to trace the whereabouts of an Edith Rose Holland who lived at 39 Long Street. Her dads name was Frederick Holland

Edith married William Locking and they had a big family - The Locking's (funnily enough!) grew up on Long Street.

I don't suppose you remember a Greek family by the name of either Loizou Savvitsikkis or just Loizou and in particular a man known as Cowboy?
 
Ann is no longer a member of the site. she may, on occasion visit it as a guest, but will not receive notifications of posts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top