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A thought has occurred to me that there are quite a few of us who belong to this area, and that it would be nice to celebrate our memories together. We could go into Boulton House first, then - if I can get in touch with whoever runs it nowadays, I would like to go into St Michael's church to...

I thought I posted a suggestion last night that the original pic was Queen's Drive looking towards the Market Hall, but now I'm quite cofident that it was from Worcester Street looking the opposite direction. This is the strength of this website - it enables us to record bits of history together...

Pic no. 1 can't be Moor Street station, because it's a goods yard. There are a few Great Western vans to be seen, but I haven't a clue where the photo was taken. As a nipper I used to look down at Hockley depot, either from upstairs on a passing tram or from All Saints' School, where my gran...

I also have a lot of memories of that part of Villa Road. I was born just over half-way down on the right (building's gone now, it was a fairly big terrace house used as a private nursing home specialising in births. In 1950 my dad, who had been organist at St Mark's, Washwood Heath moved to St...

Mikejee, I was interested to see mention pf Blankensee's. My maternal grandpa worked for them in the difficult years around 1930 to 34, and lost a good job when he was only about 50, and when he found himself on the dole. For the next five years or so my grandparents lived mainly from letting...

Yes, Maggie, it was the Railway Inn, which has survived almost banything else in that area. The last time I should have seen it but didn't was from the train last October before the 60s night do. There were so many other things to look out for on the train, I couldn't say whether it's still even...

This thread has been busy tonight, but with good reason - what a dreadful proposal this is! I love libraries, and well remember the old Central Reference and Lending Libraries as a schoolboy in the 1940s and a student and later in the 1950s. I genuinely thought a new library would be a big...

Sorry I shan't be able to make it on 25 April. I'm playing for a wedding (by long-standing request). Have a good time anyway! Peter

At the risk of continuing off topic, and adding to the mutual self-admiration society as well, I wouldlike to add that I have always been amazed at the skill of the signwriter. I remember in 1948 or 49, when I was doing O-level and A-level art at school, the No 5 bus would take me past the Yew...

Sorry I forgot in my half-awake state to add the pic of the Yenton terminus last night when I sent my last post. Here it is on the left, together with another showing the Sutton New Road when it was new, together with the horrible post office. Peter

Mal, you're absolutely right. Sutton New Road was built as a dual carriageway to take the traffic out of the High Street, which was a busy shopping centre in those days. I never liked the New Road, and it interrupted pedestrian access to the High Street from the Short Heath side, but pedestrians...

Frothy, if you look at Mikejee's map again, you can see how the old St Bart's Church was slightly to the left as you look along Park Street, and just past Duddeston Row, or Albert Street as it now called. In other words the likely location of the old church is right at the top of your plan, just...

Just caught up with this post. I think the answer is fairly simple really. The premises were and I suppose stil are Nos 1 and 1A Bordesley Street. That's on the south side, just after you turn in from Park Street. You can see one of the enormous street lamps in Park St. In 1956 No 1A was Wood &...

It seems a pity to me that there is so much stigma against workhouses. The early ones were set up to provide shelter and an opportunity to work for people who found themselves in trouble, by no means always through their own fault. In those days the alternative was starvation, and the people...

Hello Jeoffry, I'm no expert on these matters, but from observation over a few generations, I can't help thinking that the rules were one thing and the goodwill to help someone out was another. In Victorian times, there was a terrible stigma against illegitimacy, and officially the Roman...

The Post Office building in the picture was the one between Hill Street and Pinfold Street. The pic also shows New Street going off on the left. So much for the place. Now the date: between 1904 and 1907 - that type of bus (Milnes-Daimler) was delivered in two batches in 1904 and 1905. but they...

As I remember, the ruling maximum height for double deckers used to be 14' - 2" until around 1950 when they relaxed the controls on height, width and length, and 14' - 6" became the maximum height. I believe the metric equivalent today is almost exactly the same, but the practical experts can...

Frothy, That picture in Rea Street is interesting for the fact that it was taken in the very early days of the war (hence white bands of paint on lamp posts etc, and route 84 ran between Albert Street and Stechford via Deritend. On that occasion, the service car was diverted to Hill Street...

Another lovely picture, Mike. It's probably early 1930s - Apart from the lack of traffic you can see the original bow collectors on the trams, as supplied when the trams were new in 1928/9. BCT engineers patented a different kind of contact pan (the horizontal member which makes contact with the...

Mikejee, Thanks for your explanation - so it was a commercial fire insurance company that produced those maps - this explains why the maps show the overall height of the buildings and the lantern lights on the roof. But in that case I don't see why they had to show the thickness of the walls...