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Aston Hall

It was built for the visit of Queen Victoria on 15th June 1858 to open the Hall and Park to the public. The photo is stated to be 1880s, so it must have (assuming date is correct) remained for some years
 
I looked back and found some previous pictures and information about this "glasshouse" (1858 - 1924?) - on the earlier pages 3 (post #80), 7 (#182, #201) & 8 (#234 #239), as well as some other informative posts on this, on and around those pages. Hope that helps clarify a couple of points.
 
John L said:
I looked back and found some previous pictures and information about this "glasshouse" (1858 - 1924?) - on the earlier pages 3 (post #80), 7 (#182, #201) & 8 (#234 #239), as well as some other informative posts on this, on and around those pages. Hope that helps clarify a couple of points.
Click to expand...
Thanks, it was there quite a few years then!
 
Lady Penelope said:
Astonian, I have a programme somewhere from the event. It was produced by a lady named Gwen Lally who Mom always thought was 'a bit odd', very dramatic and dressed like a man if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

Your Ladyship the latest article on the Historic England Blog gives us a detailed picture of Gwen Lally…


heritagecalling.com

Meet Gwen Lally, the World’s Pageant Master

We know that there was more to the world’s pageant master than met the eye.
heritagecalling.com heritagecalling.com
 
The account of the Pageant explains that Gwen Lally used mime to music rather than have a narrator, or provide the actors with words. The first week was subject to rain and the pageant committee wildly underestimated the costs.

'The Pageant made a spectacular loss of £11835, despite a massive attendance of 137545. There were many who felt that while the Birmingham Pageant was certainly a financial failure that crippled the city's finances, it yet succeeded in its aim of raising the city's profile and boosting civic pride. The Birmingham Post noted that whilst the cost to the city had been dear, 'At the same time it is felt that the pageant achieved a very great success and was the means of arousing a civic consciousness attracting a considerable amount of attention to Birmingham.' The Sub-Committee report into its own spectacular failings ended a scathing report with a quotation from the Birmingham Post the previous week: 'Whatever the deficit, and the reasons for it, perhaps it will be best to regard the Pageant of Birmingham as an adventure that drew the attention of Great Britain to "The Hub of Industrial England" and gave its humblest citizen a civic pride that should endure long after the dead past has reburied its dead.'

Source: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/7f5ea52e-1e7a-36f8-a15f-6ed710045038
 
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