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Aston Reservoir
- Thread starter Mayfield
- Start date
cookie273uk
master brummie
Looking at the central domed structure, which I remenber as a covered seating area as a child in the 30's and 40's, that certainly is Aston rezz or rezzor as it was referred to. I've hired many a rowing boat or canoe there. Incidently, the craft on the right looks somewhat overeloaded to me! The 2 chimneys on the left are probably a factory in Lichfied Rd. I was born in Queens Rd a few hundred yards from there in 1930, left in 1934 and returned in 1943 till 1948 Eric
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cookie273uk
master brummie
mabz, I think the sea cadets used Brookvale Park, they certainly did in the 1960's but maybe they once used Salford 'rezzer' at the time the pic was taken, it certainly has the looks of a training boat. has it got a date on ?? looks about 1920's certainly before I was born. The building to the right of the domed building was the boathouse, at the rear behind the row of trees would have been Salford Parks sports centre and running track. Eric
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HI ERIC
You are quite correct it was aston resser ;[ salford park ]
the building you are speaking about on your left was inded the cover area for waiting for the rowing boats to come in ; and the big chimmney building you refered to was the boat keeprs lodge and the parks department house combined for the park keepers
and yes the big boat was for the sea cadets traing which later was moved to edbaston in early years for the vernon sea cadets traing there in resovoir rd
and i would like to remind you that yes behind that wall which was the lichfield rd end of coming out of aston hall rd
on the corner coming around from aston hall on the bend passing the last few houses joining the lichfield rd was a couple of factorys
where one had a chimmney stack in a small distant you could see they knocked down the huge wall seperateing the ressor
and built the old type flats that have been there for donkeys years since i was a little whipper snapper from my early days of beginning of life
being dragged around by my old man whom often walked us around there and watched whilst we played and sat in under that haven of seating
and then that opened up the whole resser that you can be sure of whilst waitng with our dad for an boat to come in and the boat keeper would call you across to the mooring edge ; where you got into the boat i lived along the lichfield rd from it all
we all called it the aston ressor but as time marched on we or most of the astonians called it aston resser; or salford park resser
and that name came into force when they built the cycleing race track for competititions at that resser and published in that name
have a nice day eric ; best wishes astonian ;alan
You are quite correct it was aston resser ;[ salford park ]
the building you are speaking about on your left was inded the cover area for waiting for the rowing boats to come in ; and the big chimmney building you refered to was the boat keeprs lodge and the parks department house combined for the park keepers
and yes the big boat was for the sea cadets traing which later was moved to edbaston in early years for the vernon sea cadets traing there in resovoir rd
and i would like to remind you that yes behind that wall which was the lichfield rd end of coming out of aston hall rd
on the corner coming around from aston hall on the bend passing the last few houses joining the lichfield rd was a couple of factorys
where one had a chimmney stack in a small distant you could see they knocked down the huge wall seperateing the ressor
and built the old type flats that have been there for donkeys years since i was a little whipper snapper from my early days of beginning of life
being dragged around by my old man whom often walked us around there and watched whilst we played and sat in under that haven of seating
and then that opened up the whole resser that you can be sure of whilst waitng with our dad for an boat to come in and the boat keeper would call you across to the mooring edge ; where you got into the boat i lived along the lichfield rd from it all
we all called it the aston ressor but as time marched on we or most of the astonians called it aston resser; or salford park resser
and that name came into force when they built the cycleing race track for competititions at that resser and published in that name
have a nice day eric ; best wishes astonian ;alan
cookie273uk
master brummie
Astonian, my late Brother in Law, who was the caretaker at Thomas St school after his National service was a member of a cycle club at Salford Park, but it was a dirt track type cycling on a cinder track adjacent to the resevoir (he was a Bham Brummies speedway supporter at Perry Barr). He spent his childhood in Priory Rd of Aston Hall Rd so he was closer to Salford Park than me. Sorry to go slightly of thread. Eric
HI ERIC
How are you mate ; i hope you are well, yes i remember it well the old dirt track
before it was all done up professionaly for the sports competititions we was peering over the high fences when they started to do the proffessional track oh yes i forgot to mention them moderenising the little cafetera by the little gardens they remoderenise and made it bigger
when they started to extent the front gardens that being the lawns on your walk way in the resser at the main gates down on your left hand side
you had to walk off the mainstream of the pathe and a little walk way into it and then they built those old type flats which wass at one timed
was private residence i recall a ladys neibour of boner hollonds in lady wood whom was a chimney sweep for the area he bought he cross keys pub in steward st and his daughter married a chap named ron they had a motor scooter and they got married and took the care takers job and they got a flat there over lookng the resser dont worry you did not go off track on the resser by saying what you did there could be members whom was not aware of that track its like the one that was up key hill half the hockley people was not aware of it as it was consealed they would have never seen or
known it was there for years until brought it to the attention of the members forum its great eric ;
take care of your self best wishes astonian alan
How are you mate ; i hope you are well, yes i remember it well the old dirt track
before it was all done up professionaly for the sports competititions we was peering over the high fences when they started to do the proffessional track oh yes i forgot to mention them moderenising the little cafetera by the little gardens they remoderenise and made it bigger
when they started to extent the front gardens that being the lawns on your walk way in the resser at the main gates down on your left hand side
you had to walk off the mainstream of the pathe and a little walk way into it and then they built those old type flats which wass at one timed
was private residence i recall a ladys neibour of boner hollonds in lady wood whom was a chimney sweep for the area he bought he cross keys pub in steward st and his daughter married a chap named ron they had a motor scooter and they got married and took the care takers job and they got a flat there over lookng the resser dont worry you did not go off track on the resser by saying what you did there could be members whom was not aware of that track its like the one that was up key hill half the hockley people was not aware of it as it was consealed they would have never seen or
known it was there for years until brought it to the attention of the members forum its great eric ;
take care of your self best wishes astonian alan
David Weaver
gone but not forgotten
Hey Astonian, when I was a nipper, before the war, I was down the Ressa and a bloke caught a pike and when he tried to get the hook out of its mouth it grabbed his hand. He danced around shouting and there was quite a bit of blood. Best laugh in years it was. The next week he was back again with a big bandage around his hand and we kids sat nearbye for a repeat performance but nothing happened. Dissapointing really. Regards, David.
hi david
nice to hear from you again yes many years ago the aston resser was full of them big fish
i had heard the story of some-one catching it years ago ;
in around 1952-3 our neibour albert gough whom lived up cromwell terrece oppersite our house and his mother used to make
a fruit cake every week with out fail she would make one for her self and for our mom to feed us the whole ten of us
but young albert he worked at buttons in portland street he was a great fisherman
he went down the resser and he had caugha big pike and it was huge; and he dashed up the lichfield rd home with it
and it was still breatheing and he filled a big tin bath up and put it in the garden for all us neibours in the terrace to come and look at it ;
we ws all amazed by its size it was a great big size and a whopper as it was trying to swim around in the tin bath ;
yes it was always packed by fishermen every day of the weekin the aston resser shoulder to shoulder all around the resser
when i was a litter nipper i had a little net one summer evening when we used to get thou.s indian summers if you remember
and the masses of starlings used to flock over brum to the city centre especialy every sunday afternoon and late evening
there was hundred of them ifnot thousand but as i went to theresser i caught a proper fish not a stickle back ; but a nicecoloured fisf as i picked it up out of henetold horris the parkie came just passing me and he seen me with the fish putting ito my jar
and he shouted from his bike ; you can put that back in the water young man i was really upset over it
then later in years i noticed the deteriation of the resserand the disapearance of cuckoo bridgeand the disapearing of ripping up the old tram lines
and the trolly busses and the slow introduction of those brand new single deckers of the midland red buses and the double deckers
and the cream corporation buses from tyburn rd to the city centre and short heath nancy bill whom lived next door to the nechells pub facing the baths live there inthose old house was a conductor on the64 route as kids we was amazed to se a man with lippy and earings on the plat form ;
as kids we never heard of it nor ever seen itbut learnt of stories about the city centr from our parents about the city centre pub
being well known for this type of thing where men would dress like this but after a wek the novelty of seing this man standing there on the platform
whom we called nancy bill i presume isreal name aint nancy bil but as litlekids thats what we called himwhen the bus stopped
out side the garage on lichfield rdand where the claribelle coaches garage was
any way dave i must go now and i must stop waffling on have a nice day best wishes alan astonian
nice to hear from you again yes many years ago the aston resser was full of them big fish
i had heard the story of some-one catching it years ago ;
in around 1952-3 our neibour albert gough whom lived up cromwell terrece oppersite our house and his mother used to make
a fruit cake every week with out fail she would make one for her self and for our mom to feed us the whole ten of us
but young albert he worked at buttons in portland street he was a great fisherman
he went down the resser and he had caugha big pike and it was huge; and he dashed up the lichfield rd home with it
and it was still breatheing and he filled a big tin bath up and put it in the garden for all us neibours in the terrace to come and look at it ;
we ws all amazed by its size it was a great big size and a whopper as it was trying to swim around in the tin bath ;
yes it was always packed by fishermen every day of the weekin the aston resser shoulder to shoulder all around the resser
when i was a litter nipper i had a little net one summer evening when we used to get thou.s indian summers if you remember
and the masses of starlings used to flock over brum to the city centre especialy every sunday afternoon and late evening
there was hundred of them ifnot thousand but as i went to theresser i caught a proper fish not a stickle back ; but a nicecoloured fisf as i picked it up out of henetold horris the parkie came just passing me and he seen me with the fish putting ito my jar
and he shouted from his bike ; you can put that back in the water young man i was really upset over it
then later in years i noticed the deteriation of the resserand the disapearance of cuckoo bridgeand the disapearing of ripping up the old tram lines
and the trolly busses and the slow introduction of those brand new single deckers of the midland red buses and the double deckers
and the cream corporation buses from tyburn rd to the city centre and short heath nancy bill whom lived next door to the nechells pub facing the baths live there inthose old house was a conductor on the64 route as kids we was amazed to se a man with lippy and earings on the plat form ;
as kids we never heard of it nor ever seen itbut learnt of stories about the city centr from our parents about the city centre pub
being well known for this type of thing where men would dress like this but after a wek the novelty of seing this man standing there on the platform
whom we called nancy bill i presume isreal name aint nancy bil but as litlekids thats what we called himwhen the bus stopped
out side the garage on lichfield rdand where the claribelle coaches garage was
any way dave i must go now and i must stop waffling on have a nice day best wishes alan astonian
pigsonthewing
New Member
Although I'm logged in, I can only see the text "Attached Thumbnails" and not the image. I've tried two different browsers (Chrome & Opera). How can I see the image, please?
B
BernardR
Guest
As posted elsewhere the site was attacked a few weeks back and all photos were lost. Members are - where possible - reposting. Sadly where the original poster is no longer a member then it may not prove possible to replace certain photos.
Not sure which photo started off this thread any image(s) seem to have been lost, so here’s Phyllis Nicklin’s view of Aston Reservoir taken on 20/5/1957. I wonder if she took this from an aeroplane ? If she didn’t I wonder where she might have been standing.
Is that a pumping station (red brick building to the left ?
Some history of the Reservoir from the Birmingham City Council site. “Aston Reservoir (also known as Salford Lake, Salford Park Pool or Salford Bridge Reservoir), is a nineteenth-century reservoir built by the Birmingham Waterworks Company and formerly used for drinking water extracted from the River Tame”.
Would this have been the main source of drinking water before the Elan Valley project was completed ? Viv.
Is that a pumping station (red brick building to the left ?
Some history of the Reservoir from the Birmingham City Council site. “Aston Reservoir (also known as Salford Lake, Salford Park Pool or Salford Bridge Reservoir), is a nineteenth-century reservoir built by the Birmingham Waterworks Company and formerly used for drinking water extracted from the River Tame”.
Would this have been the main source of drinking water before the Elan Valley project was completed ? Viv.
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With regard to water supply , I would refer you to https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/water-peter-walker.47027/
Thanks Mike. Seems Aston was one of 14 Birmingham Waterworks Co reservoirs in the 1870s. Looks to me that these had been in use (for drinking water at least) for only 20 years, when demand started outstripping supply as the Birmingham population rapidly grew.
Viv.
Viv.
By my reckoning I think the Aston Wells Pumping Station must have been underneath today’s Spaghetti Junction. Probably near my red dot (centre top)? Viv.
