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Once I left Hawthorn Road Junior Boys and started at Aston Grammar I lost interest in history lessons. In the juniors it was part of learning about life, but after that it was passing exams, most of which seemed to be about English battles and kings or queens. There was no room for local...

Bernie, The following info comes from four Kelly's directories: In 1921, No 20 Sun Street was occupied by John Geddes, coal dealer, but also by David Thomas Waldron, greengrocer. The property was on the north side of the street, about two-thirds of the way from Bristol Road to Spring Street, if...

That's a likely story, Alf! But I agree the Jewellery Museum is really worth seeing, and the article is very well written - informative and interesting without going over the top. Thanks Alf for drawing our attention to it. Peter

Even if they are elaborately groomed and posed, those pictures are a wonderful technical achievement for the time, and still a powerful record of the devastation caused by those terrible battles. Thanks for putting them on. Peter

Yesterday I travelled from Marylebone to Birmingham and back on a train run by Britain's latest railway company, Wrexham and Shropshire Railway. The main reason was that the Virgin main line through Rugby was closed for the weekend again, and I guessed the alternative Chiltern Railways service...

I've also missed this post until tonight and can only say, although I went to Aston Grammar from 1944 until 1950 and took quite an interest in what was going on locally, I don't recall the accident to the boy on the corner of Park Road and Tower Road. I spent most lunch times exploring, and my...

Congratulations to Mike and John for producing a very presentable web site. It must have been an awful lot of work, but I'm sure we all think it well worth their effort. In the circumstances, I agree it's a good idea to drop the forum facilitity, seeing what sometimes happens. It is such a pity...

Reading people's recent comments about the loss of the Bristol Road trams prompts me to mention my futile efforts as an 18-year old student to fight the long-established Corporation plan to abandon the trams in July 1962. I had already been a member of the Light Railway Transport League, based...

The project had good coverage on English Television too, BBC 4 TV is running a steam railway series at the moment, and I have seen a one hour programme twice already. It is an amazing story -- especially how modern methods of building are so much more accurate and efficient than ever before. But...

That is a fantastic photo of the pigs being driven down Deritend - from the tram rails but no wires, it must date between 1885 and 1907. Thank you John. I'm just doing somje work on John Hanson's map of 1778 which shows the beast market at that time in Dale End, north side, and the swine market...

Here are two more old pictures of Victoria Square, this time from the early 1880s, after the Council House had been opened but while horse trams could still run through between Hockley and Bournbrook. (They soon divided the line, Hockley and Handsworth cars terminating in Colmore Row; and...

Isn't it rea Street turning left into Bradford Street, opposite the Anchor? The tram would be out of service, running empty to Kyotts Lake works, and the bus was presumably running back to Hockley depot, where I think all those Leyland-bodied PD2s were based, from the Yardley - it would have...

Isn't it the bottom of Holloway Head. The 33 tram would be turning out of John Bright Street en route to Ladywood (what a genteel name for that part of Brum) and the elegant building straight ahead in the distance is or was the Scala Theatre/Cinema. Peter

Just noticed - on the first picture you can read the bus stop sign has the route number 43 ( Nechells of course), so it probably was a regular working after the Old Square terminus had been wrecked. Can't say when, as I was out of Brum by then, but I think it was not before 1963. Peter

Kathryn, both those addresses would be a ten-minute walk from Rosebery Street tram depot, built for the Lodge Road route which opened on 14/04/1906, followed by the electrification of the former steam trams to Bearwood, run by the Birmingham & Midland Tramways Company, but with the Corporation...

Mike, thanks for the reminder of 296. As I remember, it was a one-off sample PD 2/1 in 1947, which was followed by the Brush-bodied batch 1656-1755 in 1948-49, Leyland bodied 2131-2180 in 1949 and Park Royal bodied 2181 - 2230 a few months later. Only the Brush bodies conformed to Birmingham's...

ChrisM, Lovely photos of a super garden. My dad's best friend lived on the Chester Road next to Puddepha's shop on the corner of Bridle Lane. He did a good job with his garden too, and from it you could see the stand at Barr Beacon. Sometimes we would walk there and back - about 30 minutes each...

Chris M, What a brilliant contribution! I was devastated by your commentary of the picture on the linked site, because I know Berlin quite well and love to be there - we were walking along the Charlottenstrasse only six weeks ago. My wife Barbara's grandfather had a commercial stationer's...

Reverting to pmc's pic of the ENSA bus, (#201) It looks very much like a dinky toy I remember having in 1939. I don't have any old Dinky Toy catalogues, so I can't say anything more about it. the blancmange shape of the bodywork impressed me at the time, but I never saw a picture of a full-size...

A fascinating question. Have you looked in the 1851 census returns? That would narrow down the date they arrived in Birmingham. I would guess that they travelled by train from Bristol Temple Meads, or somewhere beyond and changing. They would then travel through Gloucester, Cheltenham, perhaps...