George Road Erdington

[Smudger]

Yes it must be - thank you very much his name was Thomas Kinning and was there from at least 1910 to 1940- although he was in the Royal Engineers between 1902 and 1915 so not sure who ran the shop in his absence, if anyone . My dad and his siblings were brought up there. Not very good postcard picture below.View attachment 152757

I`ve been in that shop many times but for the life of me i can`t recall the name of the owner. He was a heavy smoker & kept the ciggy between his lips usually with an inch of ash just ready to fall off.!

 

[maq]

Hello, does anyone have any information on 20 George Road Erdington? It would be great if anyone knew anyone who could tell a story about that house.

 

[Donbogen]

MEB had offices on George Rd yet another location i worked on in the 70s

 

[Astoness]

Hello, does anyone have any information on 20 George Road Erdington? It would be great if anyone knew anyone who could tell a story about that house.

what sort of information are you looking for...looks like no 20 is still there ?

lyn

 

[Pedrocut]

In October 1941 a man from 20 George Road, Erdington got 2 months' hard labour for an offence.

 

[maq]

well, the house was crazy haunted. it's a whole story. I wondered if anyone had any experiences in that house like I did as a child.

 

[John L]

Does anyone remember the "Sons Of Rest" on the corner of George Road and Brookvale Road? When I was a nipper I could never quite understand what this meant, and I still have a mental picture of a bunch of old men snoozing in deck-chairs...

JennyAnn, my good friend David Allen worked at R M Douglas - did you know him?

Big Gee

My grandmother told me that it was used by WW1 veterans. It sadly became another victim of arson in 2013 and had been at the park since 1930. Link below:

Erdington Sons of Rest veterans' club destroyed in blaze

The club's members were trying to raise money so they could move from their 1930s wooden clubhouse to a new building

www.birminghammail.co.uk

 

[John L]

A little more on the Sons of Rest. It was established when a group of retired working men, veterans of WWI, met at Handsworth Park in 1927 and one of them, proposed that they form a club. It grew out of concern amongst retired veterans of WW1 that there were no places that they could meet and socialise together and support one another. The Sons of Rest Buildings were places were the retired veterans, men over 65 and later ladies, could meet and socialise. Within a few years the movement had expanded to include over 3,000 veterans with buildings in 36 parks across the West Midlands. The name recognised that they had been "sons of toil" during their working years. Photographs below show a membership badge, a sign from Cannon Hill Park, the first building opened in 1930 at Handsworth Park and a couple taken inside of it, which looked very much like the one in Brookvale Park, from what I was able to see through the windows, 60 years ago :

 

[maq]

Wow, that is so interesting. That could explain why the house I lived in back in 2002 was so loud during the night with sounds of cluttery and of course, the whispers and shadows. I particularly just remember one ghost, a black african elderly woman. I always knew the house had a story of its own. My late father died in that house, and I believe the family with children who moved in after us also had a death in that house (from what I was told by a neighbour when we re-visited when I turned 18). We, as a family of 5, all felt their presence even when my father was alive. I found out recently that George Road was named after a family named Wyrley-Birch George or something like that.
Thanks for sharing

 

[maq]

Thanks for sharing.