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Air raid shelters

We had an Anderson shelter in our garden in Tyseley. It had wooden steps down into it. I have no memory of using it in anger I was born at the end of 1940. It was covered in soil and was planted I seem to remember with sage. There were brick and concrete shelters at two of the primary schools that I went to, Acocks Green and Drummond Rd. Bordesley Green. The entrance to the one at Acock's Green served as a place to skim "fag cards". The one at Bordesley Green was strictly out of bounds.
I think that many of the Anderson shelters that stood above ground were built as sheds after the war using surplus sections of corrugated steel, there was one in a neighbours garden in a house that wasn't built until 1948.
 
Ref my Post #359 :
I believe the shelter was being installed after my grandad and family had been bombed out of another house 4 doors down. In that house they had used one of the metal table shelters inside the property. I suspect they were hoping for more protection by putting a shelter in the garden of their replacement home …. and dug it deep!
 
Here's another photograph of a shelter, this one in Oldknow Road, although it looks only half way complete to me.Oldknow Road 1940.jpg
 
badpenny said:
Here's another photograph of a shelter, this one in Oldknow Road, although it looks only half way complete to me.View attachment 125539
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Not only did everyone used to wear a hat,although not here , they also wore a waistcoat. However let's cut from the air raid shelter to the mystery of what the two on the left are doing,saying and is it two women or a man and a woman. Unfortunately with all the gender confusion these days I have lost the ability to distinguish one from the other, myself at 82 I am no longer sure what I am, so I use it as an excuse to use ladies changing rooms in high street boutiques.
Bob
 
you be careful with those changing rooms bob...we dont want to lose a valuable member:D

lyn
 
Certainly looks like bomb damage Mort. Very surprising to see whole window frames next to the fence. Must have been blown clean out of the houses. Viv.
 
My first thought was 'bomb damage' and a close look at the persons there are actually five females gossiping on the left and the top of another head leaving the scene at the bottom :)
 
Eric Gibson said:
My first thought was 'bomb damage' and a close look at the persons there are actually five females gossiping on the left and the top of another head leaving the scene at the bottom :)
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Oh dear "five females gossiping" you'll have the feminist after you.o_O;)
 
i know i have posted the pic on pot 365 before ..just trying to find it but im pretty sure the caption said it was bomb damage

lyn
 
The photo is on the Shoothill site, but says no more than it's Oldknow Road and categorised under WW2. Nothing more specific.

Can anyone deduce from the damage where the bomb landed (presuming it was a bomb) ? At first I thought it might have hit the houses behind the two groups of people, but the blast path looks as though it might have come from the other direction, through the boundary fence, blowing down the picket fence towards the house. Not sure. Viv.
 
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I never thought that it could be bomb damage, although i am aware that ordnance did fall on Oldknow Road.

The chap on the extreme right is believed to be my Grandfather, but i can't be sure about that.
 
badpenny said:
I never thought that it could be bomb damage, although i am aware that ordnance did fall on Oldknow Road.

The chap on the extreme right is believed to be my Grandfather, but i can't be sure about that.
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And there is the proof of how remiss we have all been. I suppose it is to late to ask him now, but then I never asked any of the important questions of my past family history....alas and alack
Bob
 
Yes too late to ask him now, he didn't survive ww2 and unfortunately i never knew him.

I am beginning to wonder now where the bomb fell in Oldknow Road, and how close to my Grandparents house it was..
 
badpenny said:
Yes too late to ask him now, he didn't survive ww2 and unfortunately i never knew him.

I am beginning to wonder now where the bomb fell in Oldknow Road, and how close to my Grandparents house it was..
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Sorry my comment was out of order a d I will delete it if you would prefer
Bob
 
No Bob, it's ok i didn't take offence, no need to delete your post..

Mind, if he had still been around he would have been 150 or thereabouts by now..
 
hi badpenny i have checked the records and thankfully it seems there were no deaths in oldknow road ..here is a list of those injured which also gives the number of the house where they were injured..do you know the number of your grandads house...in that photo it looks to me as though at least there was damage in at least 3 gardens and on the list of injuries i noticed that numbers 14 and 16 received injuries so maybe the photo shows the gardens of 14 and 16..just a thought

lyn


Results
Last Name Forename(s) Date of Injury Location of Injury Age Civil Defence Status
Collins George 19/11/1940 147 Oldknow Road, Small Heath Civilian View
Collins Len 15/08/1940 16 Oldknow Road, Small Heath Civilian View
Dainty Benjamin 19/11/1940 290 Oldknow Road, Small Heath Civilian View
Simons Frederick 26/10/1940 56 Oldknow Road, Small Heath Civilian View
Smith I. E. 22/11/1940 156 OldKnow Road, Small Heath Civilian View
White Edith 15/08/1940 14 Oldknow Road, Small Heath Civilian
 
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The damage in the picture is explained in the text linked to those stats Lyn, 'parachute mines' , they exploded before hitting the ground so an 'air blast' did the damage hence no bomb crater.
 
It looks as if one shelter stayed intact, but is the corrugated metal at the top of the picture in the garden with all the debris a shelter or remains of a shelter?

Bob
 
I watched the film "Mrs. Miniver" and in their Anderson shelter they had a ventilation hatch with a hinged cover. Also "Mr. Miniver" said the filter on it would turn a different colour if there was gas. Was this true? In the pictures I've seen I haven't noticed any form of ventilation and my shelter just has a doorway! I was born just after the war so thankfully I've never had to use a shelter.
rosie.
 
This was the first ARP tower designed for buildings where basement protection wasn't possible. It was made of concrete and was Home Office approved. Viv.

IMG_0297.JPG
 
Astoness said:
quite amazing that this air raid shelter was still around when this pic was taken....albion st/tenby st dated 1992


img906.jpg
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We had a small air raid shelter flat roofed like this one at the bottom of our garden ,smaller of course, that was over 60 years ago. I have google mapped the old house and garden and it looks like ours and the adjoining air raid shelters are still there, probably as it would take some getting down ! I don't know how dad did it but he cut a hole in the wal (took a long while haha) put a window in there and we played house in it as kids.
 
hi wendy it would be interesting to confirm the old shelters are still standing as there are not many around now..what was your old address?? ps we also played for hours in the shelter 2 gardens up from ours:)

lyn
 
My aunt lived in Couchman Road Alum Rock. She had a surface air rais shelter in the garden with a concerete roof, it must have been a foot thick. Bet that would take some knocking down too.
 
Looking at a pic of ours in post#149 I would estimate about 8" and it had steel reinforcement in it. It did take some knocking down ...:)
 
Hi Lyn,
I lived at 81 common lane sheldon till I got married , my mum lived there most of her adult life till 2004 . It was then sold and extensively renovated.
When I google map it I can see the air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden it shares a wall with the air raid shelter next door. They are at the bottom of the garden on the right hand side looking at google maps .
If I still lived in uk (lived in Australia for 35 years )I would be interested to go to have a look, there was a gully a few houses up the road from us that went to the back of the houses that led onto a small dirt roadway that years ago was access to the backs of the garages there .
It would take some knocking down it was really solid brick with thick concrete roof with pebble stones on it, it would take some knocking down haha.
Wendy
 
Morturn said:
My aunt lived in Couchman Road Alum Rock. She had a surface air rais shelter in the garden with a concerete roof, it must have been a foot thick. Bet that would take some knocking down too.
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My Grandparents had a shelter like that - when I remember it in the 1950s Grandad used it for his gardening tools and storing veg (like potatoes). It looks as if it is still there joined to the neighbour's shelter
 

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My mother and her sister keep having difference of opinions and I wondered if anyone on here could solve it. My Aunt says there were air raid shelters on Stratford Road, Hall Green but my mother has no recollection of these. Does anyone know?
 
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