Aston, Lozells & Witton Photos Reposted thanks to Ray Griffiths...

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

and now we come to 4 photos for which i am eternally grateful to ray for posting the first time round...villa st..this is where i lived from the age of 5 until i was 18...i am still not certain yet if one of the lads playing outside this cafe just up from our house is my eldest brother..if any the one on the right but like i say i cant be certain...however in the long shot pic of villa st on the left towards the bottom by some trees you will see about 3 children playing outside where my house would have been one dressed in yellow..i am totally convinced that its of at least one poss 2 of my sisters..they would have been out playing with the brady children who lived next door at no 120

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Fantastic yet again Lyn. I hope these pics are in a museum somewhere ?

hi bazz...no that are not as yet in a museum...ray griffiths has the original glass plates of the photos..

lyn

 

[Wendy]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

How fantastic I think this is the memory of the area for most of us. The photo of the swimming baths is lovely that is where my Dad and his brother and sisters used to go. I have saved it for my family tree.

Maybe if they were in Carl's archive even just the copies, they would be safe. Many thanks to you and Ray for sharing them.

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

morning wend...and thats the swimming baths where the teacher ducked my head under the water while i was learning to swim...scared the life out of me...yes i agree about these pics being in an achive but like i said they are not actual photos but on plate but it maybe an idea to copy them to disc and let carl have a copy...i will see what ray thinks...i do believe he has some more to sort out that even i havent seen so hopefuly when he has the time he will post them for us..

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

ok folks this is the last of what i have saved..a true insight into the history of these areas of brum...

waterworks road/union road



wheeler st



wheeler st looking towards lozells road with gerrard st on the right



wheeler st



wills st/hunters road

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

wills st..i know there is no pub name but this is the waterloo pub...demolished..



wills st looking towards hunters road with the angel pub on the right...our dad won lots of trophys playing darts for this pub...



wilton street



witton lane..holt hotel



witton road




witton road

 

[Big Gee]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Great pics again, Lyn. Many thanks! I used to go swimming at Victoria Road Baths at least 5 times a week. There was a coach who had been on a British Olympic team, but I'm blowed if I can remember his name - might it have been Graham Williams? Definitely Graham, as that's my name. I've also got a vague memory that 'Victoria Road Hall' was known as Dyson Hall. If correct, that's where my parents met when they were both in a musical society.

Big Gee

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

witton road.


witton road



same shot as previous pic but a block of flats has sprung up...

thats the lot folks...

lyn

 

[BazzM]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Cheers again Lyn. And a special big thanks to Ray, without whom we wouldnt be able to be transported back in time.

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

no probs bazz and a massive thanks to rays friend who took them and who could quite easily have binned all these images...we all owe him a great deal...

lyn

 

[Big Gee]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

I missed the pics of Witton Road, very familiar to me as we lived in The Broadway. The large white gable-roofed building, the premises of A J Lees Ltd, used to be The Empress Cinema. I don't remember it as a cinema, but my dad was a regular before the war, a real flea-pit apparently. Next door to the right is the premises of G & S Swingler Ltd, chain-makers, and when I was a nipper I'd stand and watch them hammering the hot metal when they left the doors open on a warm day.

The first pic on Post 69 is the junction of Witton Road and Trinity Road. The shop on the left was Harts Greengrocers, formerly W H Sims & Co. Bill Sims was my mother's cousin, always Uncle Bill to us, and his wife was Hilda, who my mother used to describe as being like a galleon in full sail. Bill sold the shop when he retired to Gerry Hart. All long gone now, as is the shop. I'd guess that the photo dates from the early 1970's - is that about right, Lyn?

I'm wondering how many hundreds of times I walked from The Broadway up Witton Road to The Model Mecca, the model shop close to the corner with Lodge Road.

Big Gee

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

yes big gee they all date from middle 60s i dont think any are later than 1972..thanks for your memories..keep em coming..


lyn

 

[Wendy]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

These are sparking some memories. I spent a lot of time in Witton Road in about 1964, I was aout 10 or 11 and stayed with my friend Jane Lawton who's mother had the hairdressers on Witton Road named Linda Jane. The shopkeepers were lovely and I remember we had a few sweets and pop given to us....oh happy days!

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

yes wend happy days indeed..everytime i go through these pics i am in a time warp lol...just goes to prove how important images are to the forum..not only do they evoke memories but if we see a pic or see some info ie the roman kilns at perry barr or the buriel ground at oscott lane we want to find out more about them and so we are learning something all the time about birminghams history...brilliant stuff...

lyn

 

[Big Gee]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Strewth, my memory-cogs are working overtime...does anyone remember Buckingham's Chemist on Witton Road? The manager Mr Hawkins was the dead spit of David Suchet as Poirot, with his little waxed moustache and his endless politeness. My mother thought the world of him!

Big Gee

 

[Richie]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Fantastic collection of photos Lyn. You are a star!

Judy

Talking about a "star".. in posting no.3 of a couple of days ago, the picture of Aston Cross and the photo of the 'Lucky Star' driving school car aiming towards the white mini coming the opposite way. I'm sure the Instructor will be "Thanking his Lucky Stars" -the entertainment show produced near there in the early 1960's(?)- if a calamity is to be avoided!

 

[sidwho]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

bee gee, post 59 ref victoria road, sally ann. just oppostie the sally ann was another church complex which streached over to lichfeild road, the green gates. where could i find a good high scale map to ponder over to see if i am correct about this. kind reguards sidwho

 

[Dave Bath]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Great pics again, Lyn. Many thanks! I used to go swimming at Victoria Road Baths at least 5 times a week. There was a coach who had been on a British Olympic team, but I'm blowed if I can remember his name - might it have been Graham Williams? Definitely Graham, as that's my name. I've also got a vague memory that 'Victoria Road Hall' was known as Dyson Hall. If correct, that's where my parents met when they were both in a musical society.

Big Gee

Hi Big Gee,
It was actuallly Ken Williams. I used to see him training sometimes when our class went there from St. Mary's. Little did I know then that some 15-20 years later I would marry his niece Barbara.
Ken is alive and well and still swimming in his 70's. He may be swimming in the 2012 Olympics!!

 

[Astonian]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

hi grah
yes those big green gates was the extention of the methordist church that was on lichfield rd
and he black out shop which you see next tothe green gates was a crocery shop i am just trying to think of the name which was and has been there for dponkeys years before i was born dirctly across the rd was a gully which took you into park st and waiwright street if you walked thriough it
as i did and my friends when going to take on a gang in the bottom of thre park street my aunt and cousins lived at number 10 park street
but getting back to the greengates the actual church entrance meaning the church door was only a couple of doors away from those green gates building
it was like an annex for the church meeting place and functions for all those religous people of the church connected
yes there was abit of a church around the corner on victoria rd facing the sally army which we used to attend ourselves and yes there was abit of a high wall but they built concrete stps vebntualy it was facing pugh rd and the church closed down years before ;
and this old church was taen over by D.E ,R , television rentals and sellers of aston ; as there ware houseing ;
and across the rd from the green gated building was my grand parents shop [ coffee shop for many donkeys years old
which was pased through the family from whom knows when thomas jelf whom lived in a big house around the back of park stret in sandy lane
it went through the family of jelfs from one to another and my grand father sold it to his sister ivy where we held the coronation party for selected people of our terrace which was cromwell terrace just up along the rd which was about one hundred and fifty yards from those green gates you mention ;
in the end the shop was sold to the person whom nwas a member of this forum her parents she was called flower girl ;
she done an article on growing up in the flower shop in which was she said her parents turned thast coffee shop onto a flower shop
she was here afew years back but not heard from her since on the forum ; unless she as changed her name
she also stated if i may put this that charles was a dummy of the jelfsbut he was the cleverist of the jelfs the only bad thing and problem he had
that he was a gambler he had to betting shops along with coffee shops around aston he himself like my grand father his brother
they liked the high life and like most of us liked women ; thats was there down fall
grah ; soprry if i waffled on abit ; i thought i would put the record straight i hope people did not mind me for that ;
best wishes to every body and have a safe day ; astonian ;; alan ;

 

[john knight]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Here's a map, and photo I've adjusted contrast on,hope no-one minds.<img src="https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=74573&amp;stc=1" attachmentid="74573" alt="" id="vbattach_74573" class="previewthumb"><img src="https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=74574&amp;stc=1" attachmentid="74574" alt="" id="vbattach_74574" class="previewthumb">

 

[sidwho]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

many thanks john knight, for the map and all those who have had input on this thread, kind reguards sidwho

 

[sylviasayers]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

The photo of Yates Street Baptist Church brought back so many memories for me, I used to go the Brownies there, and during the war the hall was used to distribute ration books and clothing coupons. The back of the church had been bombed and was in ruins during my time at the Brownies. The pub on the opposite side of the road was The Mazzepah.

 

[Astonian]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Hi grah ;
don,t you mean buckinghams was on the corner of park rd and victoria rd at the traffic lights out sde the shop ;
yards from the victoria picture house and across the rd there was a pub ; ust cnnot put my finger o9ntat at te momet and te news agent right next door to the pub where i done a paper round and it was at the top of the hill from the sally army
and yes he did look like perio best wishes astonian ;lan ;

 

[brenda barr]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Alan,thank you so much for the information on the church,my fathers family attended it all his growing up years,it was a weslyan methodist church and from what l can gather a very strict tea total doctrine l never knew my father to drink so l guess his early teachings stayed with him, my g/parents were very active in the church and l was lead to believe active with the salvation army too....l also can'nt remember the name of the "croc shop" on Litchfield Road, but lt did have a club you could pay into and when something came up that one liked there was always money to bye it, l still have part of a tea service l bought there about 55yrs ago....Brenda

 

[Big Gee]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Hi Alan,

Buckingham's did indeed have another branch where you say, on Victorian Road. Mr Buckingham used to go around in a car nearly as old as he was - he was a little old man when I was a kid.

Hi Dave,

Hm, strange. I could've sworn his name was Graham. Never mind, I got his surname correct. A big strapping muscular bloke he was, very different to us puny mites.

Big Gee

 

[carolina]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Lynn fantastic photos thanks for all your hard work. Do you have any of Unett Street?

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

sorry carolina ive no pics of unett st im afraid..

lyn

 

[carolina]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

Never mind but thanks anyway Lynn.

 

[Astoness]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

carolina i may have one of unett st somewhere but it wont be from this batch of reposts ive done...how old do you want the pic...

lyn

 

[mossg]

Re: Aston and lozells pic reposted...

carolina i wonder if you have seen these picture before?they are Unett street in the 1950s i guess.Moss