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Chelmsley Wood

Carolina, it really took me back.
I first lived in Chelmsley in 1968,I knew the Rev Trevor Hextall , a lovely man who died too soon.
Brought memories of my children when they were young seeing the photos of John Justins,I used to get their uniforms from there.
In those days we had Foster Bros, Justins, Sainsburys, Mothercare ,etc. sadly all long gone
 
We had a John Justin here too. Remember the smell of your crisp new uniform. I hated it as I didn't want to go back to school. And a Foster Bros. We went to Chelmsley Wood doing my family research, I remember a clock on a flowery island. My biological great grandmother lived in Chelsmsley Wood in a strange to me type of terraced house which had the garages underneath and the front door then the rest on top. it was very small by a river. On the other side was a business park.
 
Nico, was the rest of the property all on one level ,if so the council call them mews flats and I think your relative may have lived in Bushbury croft, the mews flats there have the River Cole to one side and across Chester Road which runs in front of the flats is a small business park.
 
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Hello Alberta, no strangleley most had 2 floors above their garages. The Garages have different numbers to the house numbers which was confusing for us. She didn't have a garage though and had just 2 storeys and a tiny window downstairs so I don't know what was on the ground floor.Maybe it was a flat? It was Cambridge Drive and one address calls it Marston Green but the Brummie relatives call it Chelsmley Wood. She had lived in a big house in Five Ways before that. A woman of mystery.
 
That was great carolina. Lots of views i remember, and i saw the Queen & Prince Philip when they came to the opening. Nice memories, thanks for the link.
 
I have a 3 story town house like that above, except mine is a traditional brick finish and not cladded. The garage is part of the house and not numbered separately as |Nico states, although there are one bedroom mews apartments above rented garages. I live in Conway Road by the river Cole and we have both types plus 2 story town houses without garages. Eric
 
Lovely photo's all laid out neat and tidy, the first residents must have thought they were in heaven, I wonder what it looks like now though.
 
Terryb Cookie and Josie Alberta and all, yes it was like the one in Terryb's photo except there was no garage underneath it was/is on the end of a row facing right all the others face the road(and are on top of garages.) We had not seen houses built new like that before. In France there are lots of houses with garages underneath. Old and new some go right down steep in to the ground with the house still on the ground floor. Your houses will be good for the new climate change and the torrents I would think. Maybe have a boat house underneath!
 
Paul Stacey, you are right. When i moved to Chelmsley (Peace Walk) with my parents, our house had just been built, and on the other side of the pavement they were still building. Everything was so new. Even the bus service. We only had the 169 & 193, and i know for a fact that the 169 only came on the estate as far as Pine Square, and then we had to walk the rest. By the way, in those days Pine Square was used by the contractors for their equipment (site offices, diggers, machinery etc). But what a great shopping centre we had then.
 
I have been here since 1987 and in my opinion the shopping centre as deteriated and that deteriation as increased since they built the new Asda a couple of years ago. I was surprised to find the owners of the shopping centre are American (and in Liquidation) and were responsible for closing down our very popular bottle bank opposite the police station (also closed to the public) last January, even though it is not in the shopping centre ! I obtained this info from a Green Party councillor but he failed to say what power they had to close the bottle bank, and they (the owners) would not give a reason why they wanted it closed. Eric
 
Eric, it's usually lack of funds. Or that's the excuse they give (cuts). My friend was the chief recycling officer here till their job was axed. The recycling dept is classed bythe council as non profitmaking therefore is always 1st to be cut. If the company is privately owned I would think they would have to pay to have the recycling done. Your recycling dept will know if they are responsible or not. We have blue bins for bottles and paper here too emptied like our dustbins. All our sub police stations have been closed or closed to the public too. Try the council web. If its anything like ours I went round in circles though. Be patient! Best Wishes Nico.
 
Eric, I don't think it was the town centre owners rather the council because they closed the recycling centre at the British Legion , Clopton Crescent.
The reason I was given was that people were fly tipping , which they were and that we have regular collections for our recycling.
There is still a bottle bank at the Labour club.
In October Chelmsley residents get another wheelie bin, Paper, cans, Cardboard. Plastic and Tetra cartons but we still have to put glass in a seperate box.
 
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