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Formans road tornado

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
not the blitz....this damage was caused by a tornado in 1931...

pic courtesy of carl chinn
 
hi rob...sorry i cant answer that one but i am waiting for one of our members to email me a pic of his grandmothers shop which was also damaged in this tornado along with a newspaper cutting...when i receive them i will post them on here....

lyn
 
It looks from the photograph that reconstruction was taking place. I can see vertical scaffold poles in the foreground and the inevitable sign about prosecuting trespassers!
 
hi folks....sparkhill boy (graham) has sent me this wonderful pic and newspaper cutting and asked me to post them...its about the tornado that hit formans road...his grandmother owned the shop in the picture which was obviously badly damaged...

thanks graham...what a great piece of family history...

lyn
 
happy to help graham..ive just downsized the cutting and i am posting it again to see if it reads a bit better...

lyn
 
Interesting that there have been fairly recent tornados in that same general area of Birmingham - I think I read that there is some odd geographical reason for it , can't remember the details though!
 
Was there tornado damage in that area fairly recently, i seem to remember seeing it on the news,perhaps its our tornado alley
like the american one only smaller
 
Here's what cinema-goers would have seen the following week -
[video]https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=5692[/video]
 
Lyn
Below is a cutting from fifty years after the tornado. telling of how one reader of the Ev.Mail remembered it

Tornado_1931.jpg
 
Thanks for the newspaper piece Mikejee, it's surprising how all these threads come together eventually. Now I know the name of the lady that was killed outside my Grandmothers shop in Formans Rd. I don't recognize the name but will do further research.

Graham.
 
Hi
it may be a bit late answering your post.i have just found your picture of the tornado damage in formans road.
The reason i was intersted is that the front door on the right of the shop ,isthe house were my father andhis family lived
at no 109 .when dad married he moved into no139 were i was born in 1935.
 
Hi, I'd like to ask if anybody has any more information on the Tornado of 14 June 1931 - I think it was a Sunday? Specifically more detail on its track.

I've dug through most, if not all, that can be found from Googling 'Birmingham tornado 1931' and similar phrases, and have found a list of areas the tornado passed through - to wit: "Hall Green to Small Heath and thence to Bordesley Green and Erdington." (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1495122/Classic-studies-of-British-weather-twist-the-truth-on-tornadoes.html)
I've also spent some time examining the decoration on buildings on Google Streetview, attempting to match the buildings shown in 1931 photos of the damage (no luck there - they may have had to demolish, after all).
The detail in the article posted by Mikejee is excellent, but I would like to trace the path further. Can anybody help?

 
mikejee said:
Lyn
Below is a cutting from fifty years after the tornado. telling of how one reader of the Ev.Mail remembered it

Tornado_1931.jpg
Click to expand...
My mom lived in this house above the shop in the 50’s/60’s for a couple of years as a child and often tells us stories of how haunted it was. She hated living there as the upstairs landing was a terrible place and often had ghostly activity. The very bad atmosphere was made even worse when her dad cleared away rubble in the cellar. A lady had died when taking shelter from the tornado the lintel above the shop door fell on her.
 
Lmandrews said:
My mom lived in this house above the shop in the 50’s/60’s for a couple of years as a child and often tells us stories of how haunted it was. She hated living there as the upstairs landing was a terrible place and often had ghostly activity. The very bad atmosphere was made even worse when her dad cleared away rubble in the cellar. A lady had died when taking shelter from the tornado the lintel above the shop door fell on her.
Click to expand...
I'd desperately love to hear more about these ghost stories, if possible, please?
 
Some additional information on the Tornado, I have cleaned it up as there is some foxing spots on the original doucument

1667468454089.png
 
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