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Greenway Street, Small Heath

We were busy with our own shindig at the other end of Greenway Street, & it was very odd thing that we did not mix very
much with folk at the top end of the street, perhaps it was because we would have gone to different schools? I never understood the "us & them" attitude to be honest.

skylark
 
I grew up thinking it was 'Greenaway St' as that's how Mom always said it.....it was years before I found out if was without the 'a' in it!! I think some of her family lived there at one time....it was always referred to as Greenaway tho.....was it just my Mom or did others call it that??
 
skylark said:
Hello Laurabelle, your relatives must have had the shop at No 6 Greenway Street (we lived in the terrace behind the shop).

skylark
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No. 6 sounds about right. As you turned into the street the shop was on the left opposite the Oxford Pub and Fruit & Veg premises. The shop had a customer front door, but if the family needed to access the "back door", you had to turn left into the first terrace. The back door was really a side door off the terrace. At the top of the terrace on the right hand side there were a couple of steps up which took you to few more terraced houses. In this terrace I seem to recall a tall lad with fair hair. I think his mum was quite short, a little bit stout and had grey hair. Could have been his Grandma. He was quite a bit older than me so I guess his birth year was around 1942'ish. He sometimes played street games with us and was good fun. I lived in the third terrace. I remember my Aunt introduced a small amount of fruit and veg to the shop and upset the Fruit and Veg man opposite something rotten. Behind the Fruit and Veg Shop lived the O'Dell family. I think he was a coal man with a large family. I went to school with one of his daughters. The whole area was a maize of terraces and footpaths with umpteen tiny houses packed into a small space. Quite an architectural/planning accomplishment, but the Victorians were good at a lot of things.
 
Yes, Laurabelle your memory serves you right. We lived at the 3rd house behind the shop, all our houses were 2 up 2 down, & we shared the outside loo with our next door neighbours. The houses opposite us ( up a couple of steps) were over 3 stories, but they had a celler as well...but once again the four houses shared 2 outside loos, but they also had a "brew house" in which they could boil water for the washing. The tall lad must have been one of the Chester family. I only knew the shopowners by their surname, I think one family was called Brown & their daughter may have been called Yvonne. For the life of me I cannot recall the surname of the very nice couple who came next..but I was married & left B'ham in 1963...although my Mother stayed in Greenway Street for many years after that time.

Margaret
 
It's great when it all comes together. The shop owners were as you say May and George Brown and they had one child called Yvonne. Yvonne and I went to dancing school every Sunday morning opposite the Sacred Heart Church between Small Heath and Hay Mills. Yvonne had some lovely frocks and when she grew out of them my Mum bought them for me. I also had some old "dummy" window stock to play with, e.g. Stork margarine etc. Just empty cardboard. I used to play shop with them at home. Yvonne worked in Boots, Birmingham city centre branch for many years. I often said hello but unfortunately each time I had to remind her who I was???? When they sold up they moved to another shop on the Pershore Road selling ladies separates. May was a business woman through and through. Whatever she touched she made sure it was profitable. Sorry, no information about the couple who moved in thereafter.
 
dose any one rember peter fumagally he lived in greenway street my stocktons the best meat and petato pie in small heath
 
the barbers was called tonys just before they knocked it all down, i was 10 with a mass of ginger hair and my mum brought the k tell four in one hair cutter , which was a razor blade anyway i decided to give myself a trim the result was i had a trip to tonys to have my head shaved, it was the summer and people used to stop the cars just out side the oxford arms and give me money because the thought i was ill i wore a hat all summer and made a fortune in between minding cars for the match
 
Well that's amazing, I lived at the bottom of the Cov and we always referred to it as Greenaway Street - with the A - In fact just reading the above is the first time I'm aware that all these years we were wrong. So Dolphie, it wasn't only your mom...
 
My gt. grandmother Kezia Johnson lived at 10 Court, Greenway St. according to the 1901 census with her 3 daughters and my g.father Harry. I thought it must be Small Heath.
Sheri
 
Does anyone remember the Johnson's who lived in the first house in cattell road on the junction at coventry road,they made spirit levels during and after the war.They were quite a large family,i was born in the house in cattell road in 1952 later when i was older my dad took me to stocktons pie shop on saturday mornings and we would eat a pie in the car.My father and his broyhers all had motorbikes and later sidecars to transport their young families about.The house is long gone and is now the front car park at bham city.Happy memories
 
I have just revisited your thread and realised that your Martin family are relatives of mine via Gwendoline McNab who married Victor Martin. I have many photos of them and likely some of his family. Please contact me if I am correct and I can send you stuff. Regards -
 
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I lived in Greenway st from 1934 till 1963 and got names of most of children that lived there
good memory's



Sammy Heard
 
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Hi If anyone from Greenway street is interested Fred Burnette who lived at the top end next to Susan Maughan is hopeing to do a Greenway st reunion if he gets enough response ? I will PM you his email if anyone is interested.

Pat
 
Burnt penny cakes lol Yes they move to top of Bordesley Green Donald the son ran but unfortunately he died young ,shop still there as far as I know .
 
The same thought crossed my mind, Postie. The Worralls who lived in Green Lane and went to Little Green Lane School and may be Marlborough Road ?

Annie
 
My Great Gran MaryAnn McNab was the Manageress of the Williams Steam Laundry and my Gran and Grandad owned the shop just by. Gerald Humphries.
 
My Grandparents (the Rice family) lived in the first house in the Courtyard back of 19 Greenway Street. I remember regular visits in the 1950's-60's. At the top of the path between the houses stood a lampost and to the left and right in the corners were the shared outside toilets with bench wooden seats. I was told a story of a cow being driven to the slaughterhouse breaking free, running up the path and getting stuck in there. Perhaps it thought it was a cow stall? I also remember an old lady who made and sold wonderful bags of homemade "troach" to a secret recipe. My great grandparents who lived in the courtyard next door (Cross and Trewollah) were tram drivers who worked up and down the Coventry Road. My Dad, as a lad, had to take his crystal set to be recharged at the shop over the road.
 
harryrages said:
Hello there. My Dad was born and grew up at 14 Greenway Street in 1920 - his mom and dad - Bill and Lizzie Humphries kept a shop there - next to Stocktons Pie shop. Dad's Gran - Mary Ann McNab managed the Electric Laundry for years.
Regards - Gerald - Argyll.
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Did your dad carry on with the shop? I was born 1949 and remember buying penny bottles of home made pop at Humphries in the 1950’s. Definitely a man and woman in the shop. Did they sell just sweets and tobacco?
 
After looking through this thread I see no photos, I have just posted this photo on the Coventry Road Police Station thread, but it should be here as well.

Small Heath Greenway St .jpg
 
terry carter said:
Who was living in Greenway Street a year before the start of WW1?

Thanks

Terry
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Hi, the Dalley family were on the 1891 Census at 84 Greenway Street, later one of the children on that list brought up his family at number 75. That house got pulled down in the late 50s. The family remained in the Street until 1975.
 
Couple of pictures from my late Dad to those interested in Greenway Street - Don Stockton with my Gran Lizzie Humphries. She and husband Bill kept a shop a few doors up from Stocktons. A 1925 Calendar from Williams' Electric Laundry. Dad's Gran Mary Ann McNab was Manager there.don stockton and lizzie humphries.jpgwilliams' electric laundry 12 greenway street 1925.jpg
 
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